CURIOSITIES OLDEN TIMES. S. BARING GOULD, M.A. AUTHOR OF " CURIOUS MYTHS OF THE MIDDLE AGES, " THE SILVER STORE," ETC. LONDON : J. T. HAYES, LYALL PLACE, EATON SQUAEE. NEW YORK : POTT & AMEEY. 'SAAC FOOT LIBRARY LONDON : SWIFT AND CO., REGENT PRESS, KING STREET, REGENT STREET, W. f^ LIBRARY ^00/ UNIVERSITY OF : -^'^ORNlA dg SANTA I].UlBAi:A CONTENTS PREFACE .... CURIOSITIES OF CYPHER STRANGE WILLS . QUEER CULPRITS . GHOSTS IN COURT STRANGE PAINS AND PENALTIES WHAT ARE WOMEN MADE OF? *' FLAGELLUM SALUTIS " " HERMIPPUS REDIVIVUS" . THE BARONESS DE BEAUSOLEIL MONSIEUR OUFLE THE JACK-ASS OF VANVRES . A MYSTERIOUS VALE KING ROBERT OF SICILY SORTES SACR^ CHIAPA CHOCOLATE PAGE iv 1 27 50 72 91 107 128 148 171 188 205 224 250 274 290 PREFACE. An antiquary lights on many a curiosity whilst overhauling the dusty tomes of ancient writers. This little book is a small museum in which I have preserved some of the quaintest relics which have attracted my notice during my labours. Several of the articles are reprinted from " Once a Week," in which they were first inserted. Dalton, Thirsk, July 2Gth, 1869. CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. CURIOSITIES OF CYPHER. JN 1680, when M. de Louvois was French Minister of War, he summoned before Tsf^p^ him one day a gentleman named Chamilly, and gave him the following instruc- tions ; " Start this evening for Basle, in Switzerland ; you will reach it in three days ; on the fourth, punctually at two o'clock, station yourself on the bridge over the Rhine, with a portfolio, ink, and a pen. Watch all that takes place, and make a memorandum of every particular. Con- tinue doing so for two hours ; have a carriage and post-horses awaiting you ; and at four pre- cisely^ mount, and travel night and day till you B 5i CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. reach Paris. On the instant of yoiu* arrival, hasten to me with your notes." De Chamilly obeyed ; he reached Basle, and on the day and at the hour appointed, stationed himself, pen in hand, on the bridge. Presently a market-cart drives by ; then an old woman with a basket of fruit passes ; anon, a little urchin trundles his hoop by ; next an old gentle- man in blue top-coat jogs past on his grey mare. Three o'clock chimes from the cathedral tower. Just at the last stroke, a tall fellow in yellow waistcoat and breeches saunters up, goes to the middle of the bridge, lounges over, and looks at the water ; then he takes a step back and strikes three hearty blows on the footway with his staff. Down goes every detail in De Chamilly 's book. At last the hour of release sounds, and he jumps into his carriage. Shortly before midnight, after two days of ceaseless travelling, De Chamilly presented himself before the minister, feeling rather ashamed at having such trifles to record. M. de Louvois took the portfolio with eagerness, and glanced over the notes. As his eye caught the mention of the yellow-breeched man, a gleam of joy flashed across his countenance. He rushed to the king. CURIOSITIES OF CYPHER. 3 roused him from sleep, spoke in private with him for a few moments, and then four couriers who had been lield in readiness since five on the j)receding evening were despatched with haste. Eight days after, the town of Strasbourg was entirely surrounded by French troops, and sum- moned to surrender : it capitulated and threw open its gates on the 30th of September, 1681. Evidently the three strokes of the stick given by the fellow in yellow costume, at an appointed hour, were the signal of the success of an intrigue concerted between M. de Louvois and the magistrates of Strasboui'g, and the man who executed this mission was as ignorant of the motive, as was M. de Charailly of the motive of his. Now this is a specimen of the safest of all secret communications, but it can only be re- sorted to on certain rare occasions. When a lengthy despatch is required to be forwarded, and when such means as those mven above are out of the qiiestion, some other method must be employed. Herodotus gives us a story to the point : it is found also, with variations, in Aulus Gellius. " Histiseus, when he was anxious to give Aris- B 2 4 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. tagoras orders to revolt, could find but one safe way, as the roads were guarded, of making his wishes known : which was by taking the trustiest of his slaves, shaving all the hair from off his head, and then pricking letters upon the skin, and waiting till the hair grew again. This accordingly he did ; and as soon as ever the hair was grown, he despatched the man to Miletus, giving him no other message than this : ' When thou art come to Miletus, bid Ai'istagoras shave thy head, and look thereon/ Now the marks on the head were a command to revolt." — (Bk. V. 35.) In this case no cypher was employed ; we shall come, now, to the use of cyphers. When a despatch or communication runs great risk of falling into the hands of an enemy, it is necessary that its contents should be so veiled, that the possession of the document may afford him no information whatever. Julius Caesar and Augustus used cyphers, but they were of the utmost simplicity, as they consisted jnerely in placing D in the place of A ; E in that of B, and so on ; or else in writing B for A, C for B, &c. Secret Characters were used at the Council of CURIOSITIES OF CYPHER. Nicaea ; and Rabanus Maurus, Abbot of Fulda and Ai'chbishop of Mayence in the ninth century, has left us an example of two cyphers, the key to which was discovered by the Benedic- tines. It is only a wonder that any one could have failed to unravel them at the first glance. This is a specimen of the first : .Nc.p.t v:rs:-:s B::n.f:c.. :rch. gl::r.::s.q:.:: m:rt.r.s The clue to this is the suppression of the vowels and the filling of their places by dots, — one for i, two for a, three for e, four for o, and five for u. In the second example, the same sentence would run— Knckpkt vfrsxs Bpnkfbckk, &c., the vowel-places being filled by the con- sonants — b, f, k, p, x. By changing every letter in the alphabet, we make a vast improvement on this last ; thus, for instance, supplying the place of a with z, b with x, c with v, and so on. This is the system employed by an advertiser in a provincial paper, which we took up the other day in the waiting-room of a station, where it had been left by a farmer. As we had some minutes to spare, before the train was due, we spent them in deciphering the following : Jp Sjddjzb rza rzdd ci sijmr, Bziw rzdd xr ndzt : 6 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. and in ten minutes we read : " If William can call or write, Mary will be glad." A correspondence was carried on in the " Times" during Maj, 1862, in cypher. We give it along with the explanation. TTj^WS. — Zy Efpdolj T dpye 1 wpeepc ez mjcyp qzc \Y jzf — xlj T daply qfwwj zy Iww xleepcd le esp tyepcgtph ? Te xlj oz rzzo. Eci'de ez xj wzgp — T Ix xtdpclmwp. Hspy xlj T rz ez Nlyepcmfcj tq zjtvj ez wzzv le jzf. — May 8. This means — " On Tuesday I sent a letter to Byrne for you. May I speak fully on all mat- ters at the interview ? It may do good. Trust to my love. I am miserable. When may I go to Canterbury if only to look at you ? " A couple of days later Bjoiie advertises, slightly varying the cypher : "VTtWS. — Sxbrdktg bdbtewxcv " Tmwxqxixdc axzt" \V iidg pcdewtg psktgexlitbtcc.QNGCT. "Dis- cover sometbing Exhibition-like for auotber adver- tisement. Byrne." This gentleman is rather mysterious : we must leave our readers to conjecture what he means by " Exhibition-like." On W^ednesday came two advertisements, one from the lady — one from the lover. ^VWS. herself seems rather sensible — TYDEPLO zq rztyr ez nlyepcmfcj, T estyv jzf rIo xfns mpeepc delj le szxp Ivo xtyo jzfc mfdt^-pdd. — WWS., May 10. CURIOSITIES OF CYPHER. 7 " Instead of going to Canterbury, I think you had much better stay at home and mind your business." Excellent advice ; but how far likely to be taken by the eager wooer, who advertises thus ? — WWS. — Fyetw jzfc qlespc lydhpcd T hzye Idv jzf ez aczgp jzf wzgp xp. Efpdolj ytrse le zyp znwznv slgp I dectyr qczx esp htyozh qzc wpeepcd. Tq jzt Icp yze Imw-p le zj'p T htww hlte. Ezo nzxqzce jzf xj olcwtyr htqp. " Until your father answers I won't ask you to prove you love me. Tuesday night at one o'clock have a string from the window for letters. If you are not able at one I will wait. God comfort you, my darling wife." Only a very simple Romeo and Juliet could expect to secure secresy by so slight a displace- ment of the alphabet. When the Chevalier de Rohan was in the Bastille, his friends wanted to convey to him the intelligence that his accomplice was dead with- out having confessed. They did so by passing the following words into his dungeon, written on a shirt : " Mg dulhxcclgu ghj yxuj ; Im ct ulgc alj." In vain did he puzzle over the cypher, to which he had not the clue. It was too short : for the shorter a cypher letter, the more difficult it is to make out. The light faded, and he 8 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. tossed on his hard bed, sleeplessly revolving the mjstic letters in his brain, but he could make nothing out of them. Day dawned, and, M^ith its first gleam, he was poring over them : still in A^ain. He pleaded guilty, for he could not decipher " Le prisorinier est mort ; il na rien ditr Another method of veiling a communication is that of employing numbers or arbitrary^ signs in the place of letters, and this admits of many refinements. Here is an example to test the reader's sagacity : § +431 45 2 + 9 +§51 4= 8732+ 287 45 2 + 9 +t= + We just give the hint that it is a proverb. The following is much more ingenious, and difficult of detection. A a B C D E n F G H A d 9 k 2 t X B b e h I r u y C c f i m P s w z Now suppose that I want to write England ; I look among the small letters in the foregoing table for g, and find that it is in a horizontal CURIOSITIES OF CYPHER. 9 line with b, and vertical line with B, so I write down Bb ; n is in line with A and E, so I put AE ; continue this, and England will be repi'e- sented by Bhaeachdaaaeah. Two letters to represent one is not over-tedious : but the scheme devised by Lord Bacon is clumsy enough. He represented every letter by permu- tations of a and b ; for instance, A was written aaarta, B was written aaaab C „ „ aaaha, D „ „ aahaa and so through the alphabet. Paris would thus be transformed into ahhbd, aaaaa, baaaa, abaaa, baaab. Conceive the labour of composing a whole despatch like this, and the great likelihood of making blunders in writing it ! A much simpler method is the following. The sender and receiver of the communication must be agreed upon a certain book of a speci- fied edition. The despatch begins with a number; this indicates the page to which the reader is to turn. He must then count the letters from the top of the page, and give them their value numerically according to the order in which they come ; omitting those which are repeated. By these numbers he reads his despatch. As an example, let us take the beginning of this 10 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. article : then, J=l, n=2, ?r=3, /«=4, e=^5, m=6, fZ=7, l=S, w=9, v 10, o=ll, omitting to count the letters which are repeated. In the middle of the communication the page may be varied, and consequently the numerical signi- ficance of each letter altered. Even this could be read with a little trouble ; and the word " impossible" can hardly be said to apply to the deciphering of cryptographs. A curious instance of this occurred at the close of the sixteenth century, when the Spaniards were endeavouring to establish rela- tions between the scattered branches of their vast monarchy, which at that period embraced a large portion of Italy, the Low Countries, the Philippines, and enormous disti'icts in the New AVorld. They accordingly invented a cypher, which they varied from time to time, in order to disconcert those who might attempt to pry into the mysteries of their correspondence. The cypher, composed of fifty signs, was of great value to them through all the troubles of the " Ligue," and the wars then desolating Europe. Some of their despatches having been inter- cepted, Henry IV. handed them over to a clever mathematician, Viete, with the request that he CURIOSITIES OF CYPHER. 11 would find the clue. He did so, and was able also to follow it as it varied, and France profited for two years by his discovery. The court of Spain, disconcerted at this, accused Viete before the Roman court as a sorcerer and in league with the devil. This proceeding only gave rise to laughter and ridicule. A still more remarkable instance is that of a German professor, Hermann, who boasted, in 1752, that he had discovered a cryptograph absolutely incapable of being deciphered, with- out the ckie being given by him ; and he defied all the savants and learned societies of Europe to. discover the key. However, a French refugee, named Beguelin, managed after eight days' study to read it. This cypher — thougli we have the rules upon which it is formed before us — is to us perfectly unintelligible. It is grounded on some changes of numbers and symbols ; numbers vary, being at one time multiplied, at another added, and become so complicated that the letter e, which occurs nine times in the paragraph, is represented in eight different ways ; n is used eight times, and has seven various signs. Indeed the same letter is scarcely ever represented by the same figure ; 12 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. but this is not all : the character which appears in the place of i takes that of n shortly after ; another symbol for n stands also for t. How any man could have solved the mystery of this cypher is astonishing. Now let ns recommend a far simpler system, and one which is very difficult of detection. It consists of a combination of numbei's and letters. Both parties must be agreed on an arrangement such as that in the second line below, for on it all depends. 12345 6 789 10 47291 10 536 8 Now in turning a sentence such as "The army must retire" into cypher, you count the letters which make the sentence, and find that T is the first, h the second, r the third, A the fourth, R the fifth, and so on. Then look at the table. T is the first letter ; 4 answers to 1 ; therefore write the fourth letter in the place of T ; that is A instead of t. For Ji the second, put the seventh, which is y ; for e, take the second, h. The sentence will stand " Ayh utsr emma yhut^r." It is all but impossible to dis cover this cypher. All these cryptographs consist in the exchange CUEIOSITIES OF CYPHEE. 13 of numbers or characters for the real letters ; but there are other methods quite as intricate, which dispense with them. The mysterious cards of the Count de Ver- gennes are an instance. De Vergennes was Minister of Foreign Affairs under Louis XVI., and he made use of cards of a peculiar nature in his relations with the diplomatic agents of France. These cards were used in letters of recommendation or passports which were given to strangers about to enter France ; they were intended to fvirnish information without the knowledge of the bearers. This was the system. The card given to a man contained only a few words, such as ; ALPHONSE D'ANGEHA. Becommande a Monsieur le Comte de Vergennes, par le Marquis de Puysegur, Ambassadeur de France a la Cour de Lisbonne. The card told more tales than the words written on it. Its colour indicated the nation of the stranger. Yellow showed him to be English ; red, Spanish ; white, Portuguese ; green, Dutch ; red and white, Italian ; red and green, Swiss ; green and white, Russian ; &c. The person's age was expressed by the shape of 14 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. the card. If it were circular, he was under 25 ; oval, between 25 and 30 ; octagonal, between 30 and 45 ; hexagonal, between 45 and 50 ; square, between 50 and (30 ; and oblong showed that he was over GO. Two lines placed below the name of the bearer indicated his build. If he were tall and lean, the lines were waving and jxirallel ; tall and stout, they converged ; and so on. The expression of his face was shown by a flower in the border. A rose designated an open and amiable countenance, whilst a tulip marked a pensive and aristocratic appearance. A fillet round the border, according to its length, told whether the man was bachelor, married, or Avidower. Dots gave information as to his position and fortune. A full stop after his name showed that he was a Catholic ; a sem- colon, that he was a Lutheran ; a comma, that he was a Calvinist ; a dash, that he was a Jew ; no stop indicated him as an Atheist. So also his morals and character were pointed out by a pattern in the angles of the card, such as one of these So, at one glance the minister could tell all CURIOSITIES OF CYPHER. 15 about his man, whether he were a gamester or a dueUist ; what was his purpose in visiting France ; whether in search of a wife or to claim a legacy ; what was his profession — that of physician, lawyer, or man of letters ; whether he were to be put under surveillance or allowed to go his way unmolested. We come now to a class of cypher which re- quires a certain amount of literary dexterity to conceal the clue. During the Great Rebellion, Sir John Tre- vanion, a distinguished cavalier, was made prisoner, and locked up in Colchester castle. Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle had just been made examples of, as a warning to " malig- iiants :" and Trevanion has every reason for expecting a similar bloody end. As he awaits his doom, indulging in a hearty curse in round cavalier terms at the canting, crop-eared scound- rels who hold him in durance vile, and muttering a wish that he had fallen, sword in hand, facing the foe, he is startled by the entrance of the gaoler who hands him a letter : "May't do thee good," growls the fellow; " it has been well looked to before it was per- mitted to come to thee." 16 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. Sir John takes the letter, and the gaoler leaves him his lamp by which to read it : WoETHiE Sir John, — Hope, that is y® beste comfort of y*" affiictyd, cauuot much, I fear me, help you now. That I wolde saye to you, is this only : if ever I may be able to recjuite that I do owe you, stand not upon asking of me. 'Tis not much I can do : but what I can do, bee you verie sure I wille. I knowe that, if dethe comes, if ordinary men fear it, it frights not you, account- ing it for a high honour, to have such a rewarde of your loyalty. Pray yet that you may be spared tliis soe bitter cup. I fear not that you will grudge any sufferings : only if bie submission you can turn them away, 'tis the part of a wise man. Tell me, an if you can, to do for you any thinge that you wolde have done. The general goes back on Wednesday. Eestinge your servant to command. E. T. Now this letter was written according to a pre-concerted cypher. Every third letter after a stop was to tell. In this way Sir John made out — " Panel at east end of chapel slides." On the following even, the prisoner begged to be allowed to pass an hour of private devotion in the chapel. By means of a bribe, this w^as accomplished. Before the hour had expired, the chapel was empty — the bird had flown. CURIOSITIES OF CYPHER. 17 An excellent plan of indicating the telling letter or word is through the heading of the letter. " Sir," would signify that every third letter was to be taken ; "Dear sir," that eveiy seventh; "My dear sir," that every ninth was to be selected. A system, very early adopted, was that of having pierced cards, through the holes of which the communication was written. The card was then removed, and the blank spaces filled up. As for example : My dear X., — [The] lines I now send yon are forwarded by the kindness of the [Bearer], who is a friend. [Is not] the message delivered yet [to] my Brother ? [Be] quick about it, for I have all along [trusted] that you would act with discretion and despatch. Yours ever, Z. Put your card over the note, and through the piercings, you will read : " The Bearer is not to be trusted." The following letter will give two totally dis- tinct meanings, according as it is read, straight through, or only by alternate lines : — Mademoiselle, — Je m'empresse de vous ecrire pour vous declarer que vous vous trompez beaucoup si vous croyez que vous etes celle pour qui je soupire. II est bien vrai que pour vous eprouver, Je vous ai fait mille aveux. Apres quoi c 18 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. vGiis etes devenue I'objet de ma raillerie. Ainsi ne doutez plus de ce que vous dit ici celui qui n'a eu que de raversion pour vous, et qui aimerait mieux mourir que de se voir oblige de vous epouser, et de changer le dessein qu'il a forme de vous hair toute sa vie, bien loin de vous aimer, comme il vous I'a declare. Soyez done desabusee, croyez-moi ; et si vous etes encore constante et persuadee que vous etes aimee vous serez encore plus exposee a la risee de tout le monde, et particulierement de celui qui n'a jamais ete et ne sera jamais Votre ser'ture M. N. We must not omit to mention Chronograms. These are verses which contain within them the date of the composition. So at Gratz, on the mausoleum of the Emperor Ferdinand, is the foUowdng : — ferDInanDVs seCVnDVs pie VIXit pie obllt : that is, 1637. A very curious one was written by Charles de Bovelle : we adapt and explain it : — The heads of a mouse and five cats - m.ccccc Add also the tail of a bull . - - l Item, the four legs of a rat - - - mi And you have my date in fuU - m.cccccliiii (1554.) It is now high time that we show the reader CUKIOSITIES OF CYPHER. 19 how to find the chie to a cypher. And as illustra- tion is always better than precept, we shall ex- emplify from om* own experience. With permis- sion, too, w^e shall di'op the pluralforthe singular. Well ! My friend Matthew Fletcher came into a property some years ago, bequeathed to him by a great uncle. The old gentleman had been notorious for his parsimonious habits, and he was known through the county by the nick- name of Miser Tom. Of course every one be- lieved that he w^as vastly rich, and that Mat. Fletcher would come in for a mint of money. But, somehow, my friend did not find the stores of coin on which he had calculated, hidden in worsted stockings or cracked pots ; and the savings of the old man which he did light upon consisted of but trifling sums. Fletcher became firmly persuaded that the money was hidden somewhere ; where he could not tell, and he often came to consult me on the best expedient for discovering it. It is all through my inter- vention that he did not pull down the whole house about his ears, tear up every floor, and root up every flower or tree throughout the garden, in his search after the precious hoard. One day he burst into my room with radiant face. c 2 20 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. " My dear fellow ! " he gasped forth ; " I have found it!" "Found what? — the treasure?" " No — but I want your help now :" and he flung a discoloured slip of paper on my table. I took it up, and saw that it was covered with writing in cypher. " I routed it out of a secret drawer in Uncle Tom's bureau!" he exclaimed, " I have no doubt of its purport. It indicates the spot where all his savings are secreted." " You have not deciphered it yet, have you ?" " No. I want your help ; I can make neither heads nor tails of the scrawl, though I sat up all night studying it." " Come along," said I, " I -svish you joy of your treasure. I'll read the cypher if you give me time." So we sat down together at my desk, with the slip of paper before us. Here is the inscription : — D + a282§ 9^9)32 Ax879+)789(9(8817-^)8—2§ + 9 X §2§ A — 2 9 § — ) * 8228x7Ae82\*9x79 + X § — 7 — j3 * 7x9— t B /3— x8)\x81|§8 — = 8x2§8x82§— +§8x8©§8x88§82 8x7)3A(2§8 + 811xA = \^9fi\\\7 = — + -^— x88lAx*92 — + 2. "Now," said I; "the order of precedence CURIOSITIES OF CYPHER. 21 among the letters, according to the frequency of their recurrence, is this, eaoitdhnrsuy cfglmwbkpqxz. This, however, is their order, according to the number of words begun by each respectively, scpadifblbt, &c. The most frequent compounds are th, ng, ee, 11, mm, tt, dd, nn. Pray, Matthew, do you see any one sign repeated oftener than the others in this cryptograph?" " Yes, 8 ; it is repeated 23 times," said Fletcher, after a pause. " Then you may be perfectly satisfied that it stands for e, which is used far oftener than any other letter in English. Next, look along the lines and see what letters most frequently ac- company it." " 2 § undoubtedly ; it follows 8 in several places, and precedes it in others. In the third line we have 2 § 8—82 § — § 8—8 § 8 and then 2 § 8 again." " Then we may fairly assume that 2 § 8 stands for i/ie." " The, to be sure," burst forth Fletcher. " Now the next word will be money. No ! it can't be, the e will not suit ; perhaps it is treasiu'e, gold, hoard, store." 22 CUKIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. " Wait a little bit," I interposed. " Now look what letters are doubled." "88 and 22/' said my friend Mat. " And please observe," I continued, " that where I draw a line and write A you have e, then double t, then e again. Probably this is the middle of a word, and as we have already supposed 2 to stand for t, we have — ette — , a very likely combination. We may be sure of the t now. Near the end of the third line, there is a remarkable passage, in which the three letters we know recur continually. Let us write it out, leaving blanks f oi' the letters we do not know, and placing the ascertained letters instead of their symbols. Then it stands — e;)(;the;^eth — he;^ehe;^ ethe — . Now here I have a ^ repeated four times, and from its position it must be a consonant. I will put in its place one consonant after another. You see r is the only one which turns the letters into words. — erthereth — here . here the — surely some of these should stand out distinctly separated — er there th — here . here the. Look ! I can see at once what letters are wanting; th — bet ween there and here must be than^ and then ^ here is, must be, where. So now I have found these letters, 8 = e, r = t, § = li, x = r> — =a, +=n, © =w, CURIOSITIES OF CYPHEE. 23 and I can confirm the ^ as r by taking the portion marked A — ette7'. Here we get an end of an adjective in the comparative degree ; I think it must be better. " Let us next take a group of cyphers higher up ; I will pencil over it D. I take this group because it contains some of the letters which we have settled — eatlin. Eath must be the end of a word, for none begin with athn, thn, or hn. Now what letter will suit eath ? Possibly ]i, probably d." " Yes," exclaimed Fletcher, " Death, to be sure. I can guess it all : ' Death is approach- ing, and I feel that a solemn duty devolves upon me, namely, that of acquainting Matthew Fletcher, my heir, with the spot where I have hidden my savings.' Go on, go on." " All in good time friend," I laughed. " You observe we can confirm our guess as to the sign ) being used for d, by comparing the passage — 29§ — )*8228;3^, which we now read, t. had better. But t, had better is awkward ; you cannot make. 9 into o; 'to had,' would be no sense." " Of course not," burst forth Fletcher. 24 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. " Don't you see it all ? I had better let my excellent nephew know where I have depo- sited—" " Wait a bit," interrupted I ; " you are right, I believe. / is the signification of 9. Let us begin the whole cryptograph now : — N.tethi.i.t. re.ind.e." " Remind me /" cried Fletcher. " You have it again," said I. " Now we obtain an additional letter besides m, for t. remind me is certainly to remind me. We must begin again : — Note thi.i. to remind ??ie." " This is,^^ called out my excited friend, whose eyes were sparkling with delight and expectation. " Go on ; you are a trump ! " "These, then, are our additional letters : — ) = d, 7=m, yS=s, 9 = i, \=o. To remind me i. i. ee. m. death m.h ; for in. death, I read my death, and i.i. ee., I guess to be, if I feel. So it stands thus : — ' Note. — This is to remind me, if I feel my death nigh, that I had better—'" I worked on now in silence ; Fletcher, lean- ing his chin on his hands, sat opposite, staring into my face with breathless anxiety. Presently I exclaimed, CURIOSITIES OF CYPHER. 25 " Halves, IMat ! I think you said halves ! " " I — I — I — I — my very dear fellow, I — " " A very excellent man was your uncle ; a most exemplary — " "All right, I know that," said Fletcher, cutting me short. " Do read the paper ; I have a spade and pick on my library table, all ready for work the moment I know where to begin." " But, really, he was a man in a thousand, a man of such discretion, such foresight, so much — " Down came Fletcher's ha],id on the desk. " Do go on !" he cried ; and I could see that he was swearing internally ; he would have sworn ore rotundo, only that it would have been uncivil, and decidedly improper. " Very well ; you are prepared to hear all ! " " All ! by Jove ! by Jingo ! prepared for eyery thing." " Then this is what I read," said I, taking up my own transcript : — " Note. — This is to remind me, if I feel my death nigh, that 1 had better move to Birming- ham, as hitrials are done cheaper there than here, where the terms of the NecrojJoUs Company are exorbitant.^' 26 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. Fletcher bounded from his seat. " The old skln-flmt ! miser ! screw ! " " A very estimable and thrifty man, your great-uncle." " Confounded old stingy — ," and he slammed the door upon himself and the substantive which designated his uncle." And now, the very best advice we can give to our readers, is to set to work at once on the simple cypher given near the commencement of this paper, and to find it out. ( 27 ) STEANGE WILLS. Or course we ought to begin with Adam's will, the father of all wills ; and if we could produce that patriarchal document, we should undoubtedly find in it the germs of all the merits, faults, and eccentricities of wills to come. But, unfortunately, though a testament of Adam does exist, it is a forgery ; and nothing will convince us to the contrary, — not even the Mussulman tradition, which asserts that on the occasion of our great forefather beginning to make his bequests, seventy legions of angels brought him sheets of paper and quill pens, nicely nibbed, all the way from Paradise ; and that the Archangel Gabriel set-to his seal as witness. What ! four hundred and twenty thousand sheets of paper ! — surely a needless consumption of material, when there was nothing to be bequeathed but a view over the hedge of an impracticable garden. If we pass to Noah's testament, we are again 28 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. among the apocrypha. In it, Noah portions his landed property, the globe, into three shares, one for each son : America is not included in the division for obvious reasons. It was left for " manners" sake, and manners has never got it. The testament of the twelve Patriarchs must be glanced at, as it is received as canonical by the Armenian Church, and learned men have hesitated to pronounce it a forgery. Keuben speaks of sleep as having been, in Paradise, only a sweet ecstacy ; whilst now, after the Fall, it has become a continually recurring image of death. Simeon bewails his former hostility to Joseph ; and relates, that his brother's bones were preserved in the Royal treasury of Egypt. Levi is oracular ; Judah rejoices in the sceptre left to his race ; Issachar unfolds the future of the Jews ; Zebulon relates that the brethren supplied themselves with shoes from the money which they got by the sale of Joseph. There seems to be some allusion to this tradition in the Prophet Amos (ii.6 ; viii. 6). Dan recommends his posterity to practise humi- lity ; Napthali sees visions ; Gad is contrite ; Asser prophesies the coming of the Messiah ; STEANGE WILLS. 29 Joseph, the incarnation ; Benjamin, the destruc- tion of the Temple. There exists a very curious and ancient testament of Job, which was discovered and pubhshed by Cardinal Mai, in 1839 ; it relates many details which we may look for in vain in the Canonical Book. In it Job's faithful wife, when reduced to the utmost poverty, sells the hair of her head to procure bread for her husband. What a remarkable document a will is ! It is the voice of a man now dead, coming back in the hush of a darkened house — from the vault, low and hoarse as an echo. It speaks, and people hearken ; it commands, and people obey ; law supports and enforces its wishes ; no power on earth can alter it. We expect to hear the voice calm, earnest, and speaking true judgment ; terrible indeed if it breaks out with a snarl of hate — more terrible still if it gibbers and laughs a hollow, ghost-like laugh. For, surely, the most solemn moment of a life is that when the will is written : that will, which is to speak for man when the voice is passed as a dream ; when the heart which devises it has ceased to throb : the head which frames it has 30 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. done with thinking — under the fresh mould ; the hand which pens it has been pressed, thin and white, against a cold shroud, to moulder with it ; surely he who, at such a moment, can write words of hate must have a black heart, but he who ventures then to gibe and jest must have no heart at all. There is some truth in the old ghost-creed ; man can return after death ; he does so in his will. He comes to some, as Jupiter came to Danae, in a shower of gold ; to others, as a blighting spectre, whose promised treasures turn to dust. What excitement the reading of a will causes in a family ! and what interest does the world at large take in the bequests of a person of position ! The last words of great men seem always to have possessed a peculiar value in the eyes of the people. " Live, Brutus, live !" shouts the Roman mob in " Julius Csesar ; " but on hearing what Csesar's will promises, how ** To every Eoman citizen, he gives, — To every several man, — seventy-five drachmas. His private arbours, and new planted orchards, On this side Tiber : he hath left them you, And to yom* heirs for ever ; " STRANGE WILLS. 31 then the mob changes note, and with one voice shouts, "To Brutus, to Cassius ; — ^burn all!" " Testameuta liominum speculum esse morum vulgo creditur." — (Pliu. jun,, 8 Ess. 18.) So they are ! They are the last touch of the brush in the great picture of civilization, man ners and customs, lightening it up. Would that our space permitted us to enter into the history of wills ; a few curious particu- lars alone can we admit. To die without having made a will was formerly regarded with horror. A very com- mon custom in the middle ages was that of leaving considerable benefactions to the Church. This was well enough, but the clergy were not satisfied until it was made compulsory. Ducange says that neglect of leaving to the Church indicated a profanity which deserved pmiishment by a refusal of the rites of the last sacraments and burial. The clergy of Brittany, in the fourteenth century, claimed a third of the household goods ; the death-bed became ecclesiastical property in the diocese of Auxerre ; and Clement V. settled the claims of the Church, by deciding that the parish-priest might take as 32 CUKIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. his perquisite a ninth of all the movables in the house of the dead man, after the debts of the deceased had been paid off. Here we conclude our historical notes, and proceed at once — perhaps somewhat strangely — to give the reader a specimen of a will coming decidedly under our heading. It is that of a Pig. The will is ancient enough. S. Jerome, in his " Proemium on Isaiah," speaks of it, say- ing, that in his time (fourth century) children were wont to sing it at school, amidst shouts of laughter. Alexander Brassicanus, who died in 1539, was the first to publish it ; he found it in a MS. at Mayence. Later, G. Fabricius gave a corrected edition of it from another MS., found at Memel in Thuringia, and, since then, it has been in the hands of the learned. The original is in Latin ; we transtate, modifying slightly one expression and omitting one bequest : "I, M. Grunuius Corocotta Porcellus, have made my testament, which, as I can't write my- self, I have dictated. " Says Magirus, the cook : ' Come along, thou who turnest the house topsy-turvy, spoiler of the pavement, fugative Porcellus ! I am resolved to slaughter thee to-day." STRANGE AVILLS. 33 " Says Corocotta Porcellus : ' If ever I have done thee any wrong, if I have sinned in any way, if I have smashed any wee pots with my feet ; Master Cook, grant pardon to thy sup- pliant ! " " Says the cook Magirus : ' Halloo, hoy ! go, bring me a carving- knife out of the kitchen, that I may make a bloody Porcellus of him.' " Porcellus is caught by the servants, and brought out to execution on the xvi. before the Lucernine Kalends, just when young colewort- sprovits are in plenty, Clybaratus and Piperatus being Consuls. " Now when he saw that he was about to die, be begged hard of the cook an hour's grace, just to write his will. He called together his relations, that he might leave to them some of his victuals ; and he said : " I will and bequeath to my papa, Verrinus Lardinus, 30 bush, of acorns. I will and bequeath to my mamma, Veturina Scrofa, 40 bush, of Laconian corn. I will and bequeath to my sister, Quirona, at whose nuptials I may not be present, 30 bush, of barley. *' Of my mortal remains, I will and bequeath my bristles to the cobblers, my teeth to squab- blers, my ears to the deaf, my tongue to lawyers and chatter-boxes, my entrails to tripe-men, my hams to gluttons, my stomach to little boys, my tail to little girls, my muscles to effeminate 34 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. parties, my heels to riiuners and hunters, my claws to thieves ; and, to a certain cook, whom I won't mention by name, I bequeath the cord and stick which I brought with me from my oak- grove to the sty, in hopes that he may take the cord and hang himself with it. " I will that a monument be erected to me, inscribed with this, in golden letters : M. Grunnius Coeocotta Porcellus, who lived 999 years, — six months more, and he would have been 1000 years old. " Friends dear to me whilst I lived, I pray you to have a kindness towards my body, and embalm it weU with good condiments, such as almonds, pepper, and honey, that my name may be named through ages to come. " my masters and my comrades, who have assisted at the drawing uj) of this testament, order it to be signed, " (Signed) Lucanicus. Celsanus. Cymatus." Pergillus. Lardio. Mystialicus. Offellicus. Whilst on this subject we might say a word about the epitaph on the mule of P. Ci'assus ; or about that written by Rapin on the ass, which, poor fellow, Avas eaten whilst in the flower of his age, during the siege of Paris, in 1590 ; or about Joachim du Bellaj, who com- posed an epitaph on his cat ; or about Justus STRA.NGE WILLS. 35 Lipsius, who erected mausoleums for his three cats — Mopsus, Saphisus, and Mopsulus ; but Ave are not writing on epitaphs or grave-stones. We proceed to give a few instances of animals which have received legacies. If it is a keen trial for a husband to leave his wife, for a young man to be taken from his pleasures, or a commercial man from his business, can we wonder at old ladies feeling the wrench sharp which tears them from the society of their dear cats — the companions of their spinster- hood or widow-hood ; or at old bachelors being distressed at having to part with their faithful dogs ? — to part with them for ever, too, unless we believe in the suggestion of Bishop Butler and Theodore Parker, that there is a future for beasts, and enjoy the con- fidence of INIr. Sewell, of Exeter College, who dedicated one of his published poems " To my Pony in Heaven." The Count de la Mirandole, who died in 1825, left a legacy to his favourite carp, which he had nourished for twenty years in an antique fountain standing in his hall. In low life we find the same love for an animal displayed by a peasant of Toulouse, in 1781, who doted on his D 2 36 CUKIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. old chestnut liorse, and left the following will : " I declare that I institute my chestnut horse sole legatee, and I wish him to helong to my nephew N," This testament was attacked, but, curiously enough, it received legal confirmation. The following clause from a will was in the English papers for March, 1828 : "I leave to my monkey, my dear, amusing Jackoo, the sum of 101. sterhng, to be enjoyed by him during his life ; it is to be expended solely in his keep. I leave to my faithful dog, Shock, and to my beloved cat, Tib, 51. sterling a-piece, as yearly pension. In the event of the death of one of the aforesaid legatees, the sum due to him shall pass to the two survivors, and on the death of one of these two, to the last, be he who he may. After the decease of all parties, the sum left them shall belong to my daughter G , to whom I show this preference, above all my children, because she has a large family and finds a difiiculty in filling their mouths and educating them." But a more curious case still is that of ]\Ir. Berkley, of Knights bridge, who died May 5th, 1805. He left a pension of 251. per annum to his four dogs. This singular individual had STEANGE WILLS. 37 spent the latter part of his life "wrapped in the society of his curs, on whom he lavished every mark of affection. When any one ventured to remonstrate with him for expending so much money on their maintenance, or suggested that the poor were more deserving of sympathy than those mongrel pups, he would reply : " Men assailed my life : dogs preserved it." This was a fact, for Mr. B. had been attacked by brigands in Italy, and had been rescued by his dog, whose descendants the four pets were. When he felt his end approaching, he had his four dogs placed on couches by the sides of his bed. He received their last caresses, extended to them his faltering hand, and breathed his last between their paws. According to his desire, the busts of these favoured brutes were sculptured at the corners of his tomb. In 1677, died Madame Dupuis, who, under her maiden name of Mademoiselle Jeanne Felix, had been known as a great musician. Her will was so extraordinary and malicious, that it was nullified. To it was attached a memorandum, which is still more extraordinary. We shall not quote the passages wherein she vilifies her son-in-law, imputing to him every 38 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. vice she can think of, but translate the final clause : " I pray Mademoiselle Bluteau, my sister, and Madame Calogne, my niece, to take care of my cats. Whilst two live, they shall have thirty sous a month, that they may he well fed. They must have, twice a day, meat soup of the quality usually served on table ; but they must be given it separately, each having his own saucer. The bread must not be crumbled in the soup, but cut up into pieces about the size of hazel-nuts, or they cannot eat it. When boiled beef is put into the pot with the soaked bread, some thin slices of raw meat must be put in as well, and the whole stewed till it is fit for eating. When only one cat lives, haK the money will sufi&ce. Nicole Pigeon shall take care of the cats, and cherish them. Madame Calogne may go and see them." Certainly people show their love in different ways. Counsellor Winslow, of Copenhagen (d. June 24, 1811), ordered by will that his carriage horses should be shot, to prevent their falling into the hands of cruel masters. We only mention the " cat and dog" money, which is yearly given to six poor weavers' widows of the names of Fabry or Ovington, at Christ Church, Spitalfields, and which, accord- ing to tradition, w^as left in the first instance for STRANGE WILLS. 39 the support of cats and clogs ; and remind our readers of the cow and bull benefactions in several English parishes, where money has been left to the parish to provide cattle whose milk may go to the poor. The poor have been often remembered by testators, as our numerous alms-houses, benefactions, and doles prove. It were difficult to choose a better sample of a charitable bequest, which could properly come under our title, than the following simple and touching will of a French priest, Jean Certain, cure of a little parish in the Cote-d'Or, who died in 1740, worth some 1200^. : " I brought with me nothing into my parish but my cassock and breviary, — these I leave to my heirs : the rest I bequeath to the poor of my parish." This reminds us of a conversation we once had with a foreign ecclesiastic on the subject of celibacy. We dilated on the comforts of the parson's home in England, — the delectable children,— the charming wife. "But," inter- rupted our friend the priest, " I have a wife too, — my parish !" Wives, poor bodies ! do not come off so well 40 CUKIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIME. always as did the parish-w^fe of Jean Certain ; for a crabbed husband will sometimes control and torment his good woman after he is dead and buried, or even play a bitter jest, as did one man, who left his wife 500 guineas, but with the stipulation that she was not to enjoy it till after her death, when the sum was to be expended on her funeral. Or, as the author of the following : " Since I have had the misfortune of having had to wife Elizabeth M , who, since our marriage, has tormented me in a thousand ways ; and since, not content with showing her contempt for my advice, she has done everything that lay in her power to render my life a burden to me ; so that Heaven seems only to have sent her into the world for the purpose of getting me out of it the sooner ; and since the strength of Samson, the genius of Homer, the prudence of Augustus, the skill of Pyrrhus, the patience of Job, the subtlety of Hannibal, the vigilance of Hermogenes, would not suffice to tame the perversity of her character ; and since nothing can change her, though we have lived separated for eight years, without my having gained anything by it but the loss of my son, whom she has spoiled, and whom she has persuaded to abandon me altogether ; weighing carefully and attentively all these con- siderations, I have bequeathed, and do bequeath. STEANGE "WILLS. 41 to the aforesaid Elizabeth M , my wife, one shilling. '[ The clause in Shakespeare's will must not be forgotten : " I gyve unto my wief, my second-best bed, with the furniture," and nothing else. We hope that this was not intended as a spiteful jest ; but men are irritable, and women are so trying ! The best bed would not have • been a bad gift, as the grand four-poster was an expensive article in Elizabethan days; but the second-best seems rather a paltry legacy. However, as we are perfectly sure to have the noble army of Shakespearean commentators down upon us if we venture to impute other than the highest and pm'est of motives to their idol, for the sake of peace we are perfectly willing to believe the bed to have been the most valuable gift that could have been made, — that sovereigns, roses, and angels were stitched into the coverlets and stuffed into the pillows ; just as the miser Tolam bequeathed : " To my sister-in-law, four old stockings which are under my bed, on the right, " Item : To my nephew, Tarles, two more old stockings. 42 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. " Item : To Lieut. John Stone, a blue stocking," and my red cloak. " Item : To my cousin, an old boot, and a red flannel pocket. " Item : To Hammick, my jug without a handle." Imagine the disgust of the legatees, till Hammick kicking the jug, smashed it, and out rolled a quantity of sovereigns. The stockings, boots, and flannel pocket were soon seized now, and found to be as auriferous as the old pot. Now why should not the second-best bed left to Mrs. Shakespeare have been as valuable a bequest ? We suggest this to Messrs. Dyce, Knight, Collier, Halliwell, and Co. Whilst talking about beds, let us not forget a very odd story. In the earlier part of this century, there lived in the neighbourhood of Caen, in Normandy, a Juge de Paix, M. Halloin, a great lover of tranquillity and ease ; so much so indeed, that, as bed is the article of furniture most adapted to repose, he rarely quitted it, but made his bed-chamber a hall of audience, in which he exercised his functions of Jvistice of Peace, pronouncing sentence, with his head resting on a pillow, and his body languidly extended on the softest of feather- STKANGE WILLS. 43 beds. However, his services were dispensed with, and he devoted himself for the remaining six years of his hfe to still greater ease. Feel- ing his end approach, M. Halloin determined on remaining constant to his principle, and showing to the Avorld to what an extent he carried his passion for bed. Consequently, his last will contained a clause expressing his desire to be buried at night, in his bed, comfortably tucked in, with pillows and coverlets as he had died. As no opposition was raised against the execu- tion of this clause, a huge pit was sunk, and the defunct was lowered into his last resting-place, without any alteration having been made in the position in which death had overtaken him. Boards were laid over the bed, that the fall- ing earth might not disturb this imperturbable quietist. Many testators leave directions for the treat- ment of their bodies : some are over-solicitous for their preservation, whilst others choose to show their contempt for that body, which, after all, will rise again ; Dr. Ellerby, the Quaker, for instance, bequeathed his lungs to one friend and his brains to another, with a threat that he would haunt them if they refused to accept the 44 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. legacy. Others, from motives of humility, act somewhat similarly. The Emperor Maximilian I. willed that his hair should be shorn, and his teeth brazed in a mortar, and then burned piiblicly in his chapel ; also that his body should be buried in a sack with quick-lime, beneath the foot-pace of the altar of S. George at Neustadt, so that his heart might be beneath the celebrant's feet. His intentions were carried out at the time ; but afterwards his remains were translated to Inspruck, and they now lie under that goodl}^ monument raised by Ferdi- nand I., his deeds graven tenderly in white marble about him, and eight-and-twenty mighty bronze paladins and princes standing guard about the choir wherein he sleeps. If some folk leave injunctions about their bodies, others are as particular about their names. Henry Green, for instance, by will dated 22nd December, 1679, gave to his sister, Catharine Green, during her life, all his lands in Melbourne, Derby, and after her decease to others in trust, upon condition that the said Catharine Green should give four green waist- coats to four poor women in a green old age, every year, such green waistcoats to be lined STRANGE WILLS. 45 with green galloon lace, and to be delivered to the said poor women on or before 21st Decem- ber, yearly, that they might be worn on Christ- mas Day. That the good men do may live after them, at least on their tombstones, has indnced some to leave money as bribes to the writers of their epitaphs. The Abbe de la Riviere, son of an appraiser of wood, who became Bishop-duke of Langres, devised 100 ecus for that purpose. But La Monnoye wrote the following : " Here lies a notable personage, Of family proud, of ancient lineage ; His virtues unnumbered, his knowledge profound, Eemarkably humble, remarkably wise ; — Come, come ! for twenty-five pound, I've told enough lies !" Another clause in the Abbe's will deserves to be recorded, from its pithiness : " To my steward, I leave nothing ; because he has been in my service for eighteen years." This reminds one of an anecdote told of the Cardinal Dubois, whose servants came to him every New Year's Day to present their con- gratulations, and to receive a New Year's box. 46 CUKIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. When the steward came in his turn, the Cardinal said to him : " Monsieur, I present you with all that you have stolen from me." The pleasure of receiving a legacy must be generally mingled with pain, more or less intense, according to the nearness of relation- ship of the deceased, or the affection we have had for him : but, when a plump legacy drops into our laps from a totally unexpected quarter, and left by one for whom we did not care, or possibly whom we did not know, — the amount of pain must be very minute. Such a case was that of a lady who came in for a large fortune from an eccentric individual whom she had never spoken to, though she had seen him at the opera, or in the park. The wording of the will was : " I supplicate Miss B to accept my whole fortune, too feeble an acknowledgment of the inexpressible sensations which the contemplation of her adorable nose has produced on me." The following is as curious. A good citizen of Paris, who died about 1779, inserted this clause in his will : STKANGE WTLLS. 47 " Item : I leave to M. I'Abbe Tliirty-tlionsand men, 1,200 livres a year : I do not know him by any other name, but he is an excellent citizen, who certified me in the Luxembourg, that the English, that ferocious people which dethrones its monarchs, will soon be destroyed." On opening the testament, the executors were sorely puzzled to know who this Abbe Thirty- thousand-men could possibly be. At last, several people deposed that this citizen, a sworn enemy of the English and a great politician, had been \n out every day to march up and down the Alle des Larmes in the Luxembourg; there he used to meet with an Abbe who had as great an abhorrence of the English as himself, and who was perpetually urging : — " Those English rascals aren't worth a straw. 30,000 men only are wanted, — 30,000 men raised, — 30,000 em- barked, — 30,000 landed, — and London would be in the hands of 30,000 men. A mere trifle !" This was verified, and the legacy was delivered over to the intrepid Abbe, who had little dreamed of the spoil his 30,000 men were to bring him. There is a question which we have been ask- ing ourselves repeatedly, and which we now put before the reader. It is possible to classify these 48 CURIOSITIES OF CLDEN TIMES. wills ? We have tried to do so, and have failed in every attempt. First, we have distributed them according to the bequests contained in them ; — legacies of money, goods, animals, persons (of which latter, by the way, we have not given an example). There is no reason which can justify such an arbitrary system. Then again, when we arrange them according to the motives of the testator, as, wills indited by a perverted moral sense, or those composed under the influence of an aberration of the intellect, then we are obliged to exclude that of Coro- cotta Porcellus, of Jean Certain, beside many others, which can hardly be forced into position under either of these heads. And it is because the mind of man is too intricate, his motives too involved, his feelings too transient, his principles too obscure, for us to divide and subdivide the actions springing from them, as we can settle the classes of molluscs, or determine the genera of butterflies, — that in this paper we have at- tempted nothing of the kind. For wills are, as has been shown, as diverse as the hearts of men, of which they are the transcripts. An anato- mist may dissect the heart, may name and register every muscle and fibre, — but he can tell us no- STEANGE WILLS* 49 tiling of the motives which impelled that heart to throb faster, or chilled it to a sudden stillness. The bitterness of hate has left no poison in its cavities, in it the fleeting passion has set no seal, emotion left no trace, pity relaxed no nerve The impulses which brought forth so full a leaf- age of action are lost, as the sap from the bare tree. So surely as the berry indicates the sound- ness of the root, the flower of the bulb, so does man's last will tell of the goodness or foulness of the heart which conceived it. The cankered root sends up only a sickly, withered germ, which brings forth no fruit in due season ; whilst the wine that maketh glad the heart of man, the oil which maketh him a cheerful coun- tenance, and the bread that strengthens his heart, have burst from roots which mildew has never marred, nor worm fretted. ( 50 ) QUEER CULPRITS. According to Jewish law, "If an ox gore a man or a woman that they die, then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten : but the owner of the ox shall be quit." After giving this command, Moses proceeds to enforce the doctrine of the responsibility of the beast's owner, and to ensure liis punishment, should he wittingly let a dangerous animal run loose ; also to make provision for his security under some extenuating circumstances. These commands were carried into the laws of me- dieval Europe ; the jurists, at the same time, introducing refinements of their own, and en- forcing them in numerous cases, which afford matter for curious inquiry, and are full of technicalities and peculiarities, at once amusing and instructive, as throwing light on the cus- toms and habits of thought in those times. Now take the case of a child injured by a sow, or a man killed by a bull : the trial was QUEER CULPRITS. 51 conducted in precisely the same manner as though sow and bull were morally criminal. They were apprehended, placed before the ordinary tribunal, and given over to execution. Again : an inroad of locusts or snails takes place. Common law is helpless, it may pro- nounce judgment, but who is to execute its decrees ? Temporal power being palpably un- availing, the spiritual tribunal steps in ; the decision of the magistrates being useless, per- haps excommunication may suffice. This, then, was an established maxim. If the criminal could be reached, it was handed over to the ordinary courts of justice ; if, however, the matter was beyond their control, it fell within the jurisdiction of Ecclesiastical Courts. Poor culprit, not a loop-hole left by which to escape ! Let us consider the manner of proceeding under the former circumstance. A bull has caused the death of a man. The brute is seized and incarcerated ; a lawyer is appointed to plead for the delinquent ; another is counsel for the prosecution. Witnesses are bound over, the case is heard, and sentence is given by the judge, declaring the bull guilty of deliberate E 2 52 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. and wilful murder ; and, accordingly, must suffer the penalty of hanging or burning. The following cases are taken from among numerous others, and will afford examples : — A.D. 1266. A pig burned at Fontenay-aux- Koses, near Paris, for having devoured a child. 1386. A judge at Falaise condemned a sow to be mutilated in its leg and head, and then to be hung, for having lacerated and killed a child. It was executed in the square, dressed in man's clothes. The execution cost six sous, six deniers, and a new pair of gloves for the executioner, that he might come out of the job with clean hands. 1389. A horse tried at Dijon, on information given by the magistrates of Montbar, and con- demned to death, for having killed a man. 1499. A bull was condemned to death at Cauroy, near Beauvais, for having in a fury "occis" a little boy of fourteen or fifteen years old. A farmer of Moisy let a mad bull escape. The brute met and gored a man so severely that he only survived a few hours. Charles, Count de Valois, having heard of the accident whilst at his chateau of Crepy, ordered the bull to be seized and committed for trial. This was ac- cordingly done. The officers of the Count de Valois gathered all requisite information, re- ceived the affidavits of witnesses, established the QUEER CULPRITS. 53 guilt of the bull, condemned it to be hung, and executed it on the gibbet of Moisy-le-Temple. The death of the beast thus expiated that of the nian. But matters did not stop here. An ap- peal against the sentence of the Count's officers was lodged before the Candlemas parliament of 1314 — drawn up in the name of the Procureur de I'Hopital at Moisy, declaring the officers to have been incompetent judges, having no juris- diction within the confines of Moisy, and as having attempted to establish a precedent. The parliament received and investigated the appeal, and decided that the condemnation of the bull was perfectly just, but found that the Count de Valois had no judicial rights within the territory of Moisy, and that his officers had acted illegally in having taken part in the affair. Here is a list of the expenses incurred on the occasion of a sow's execution for having eaten a child : — To the expenditure made for her whilst in jail ...... 6 sols. Item. To the executioner, who came from Paris to Meulan to put the criminal to death, by orders of the bailiff and the Procureur du Eoi . . . .54 sols. 54 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. Item. To a conveyance for conducting her to execution .... 6 sols. Itevi. To cords to tie and bind her 2 sols. 8 deniers. Item. To gloves 2 deniers. The charter of Elenora, drawn up in 1395, and entitled "Carta de logu," containing the complete civil and criminal code for Sardinia, enjoins that oxen and cows, whether wild or domesticated, may be legally killed when they are taken marauding. Asses convicted of similar delinquencies — common enough, by the way — are treated more humanely. They are considered in the same light as thieves of a higher order in society. The first time that an ass is found in a cultivated field not belonging to its master, one of its ears is cropped. If it commits the same offence again, it loses the second ear ; should the culprit be hardened in crime, and inveterate enough to trespass a third time, it is not hung, does not even lose its tail, but is confiscated to the crown, and goes to swell the royal herd. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the guilty animals suffered death on the gal- lows, and our sires considered that such a QUEER CULPRITS. 55 punishment must strike terror into the minds of all cattle-owners and jobbers, so as effectually to prevent them from suffering their beasts to stray at large over the country. Later on, however, these capital condemnations were done away with, the proprietor of the animal was condemned to pay damages, and the criminal was killed without trial. One more specimen, and we shall pass to cases coming under Ecclesiastical Courts. Country folk believe still that cocks lay eggs. This is an old superstition, people holding, formerly, that from these accursed eggs sprang basilisks, or horrible winged serpents. Gross relates, in his "Petite Chronique de Bale," that in the month of August, 1474, an abandoned and profligate cock of that town was accused of the crime of having laid one of these eggs, and was brought before the magistrates, tried, convicted, and condemned to death. The Court delivered over the culprit to the executioner, who burned it publicly, along with its egg, in a place called Kohlenberger, amidst a great concourse of citizens and peasants as- sembled to witness such a ludicrous execution. The poor cock no doubt suffered on account 56 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. of the belief prevalent at the period that it was in league with the devil. A cock was the offer- ing made by witches at their sabbaths, and as these eggs were reputed to contain snakes — reptiles particularly grateful to devils — it was taken as a proof of the cock having been en- gaged in the practice of sorcery. " There is nothing, then, remarkable in the fact that, at a time when superstition did violence to religion, reason, and law, an unfortunate cock should have been condemned to the flames, along with the egg it was reputed to have laid, since that egg, in the mind of the judges even, was re- garded as an object of legitimate terror — as the production of a demon." The annals of Ii-eland relate that in 1383 a cock was convicted of a similai' offence in that island, and that it suffered at the stake ; the heat of the flames burst the egg, and there issued forth a serpent-like creature, Mdiich, however, perished in the fire. We shall pass now to the second part of our subject — namely, proceedings against snails, flies, mice, moles, ants, caterpillars, &c. It has frequently happened, in all parts of the world, that an unusual number of vermin QUEER CULPRITS. 57 have made their appearance and destroyed the garden produce, or that flies liave been so abundant as to drive the cattle mad from their bites. In such cases the sufferers had recourse to the Church, which hearkened to their com- plaints and fulminated her anathema against the culprits. The method of proceeding much resembled that already stated as being in vogue in the ordinary tribunals. The plaintiff ap- pointed counsel, the court accorded a counsel to the defendants, and the ecclesiastical judge summed up and gave sentence. All requisite forms of law were gone through with precision and minuteness. As a specimen we shall extract some details from a consultation on the subject, made by Bartholomew de Chas- seneux, a noted lawyer of the sixteenth century. After having spoken, in the opening, of the custom among the inhabitants of Beaume of asking the authorities of Autun to excommuni- cate certain insects larger than flies, vulgarly termed hureburs, a favour which was invariably accorded them, Chasseneux enters on the ques- tion whether such a proceeding be rigiit. The subject is divided into five parts, in each of which he exhibits vast erudition. 58 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. The lawyer then consoles the inhabitants of Beaunois with the reflection that the scourge which vexes them devastates other countries. In India the hureburs are three feet long, their legs are armed with teeth, which the natives employ as saws. The remedy found most effec- tual is to make a female in the most dSgage costume conceivable perambulate the canton M'ith bare feet. This method, however, is open to grave objections on the score of decency and public morality. The advocate then discusses the legality of citing insects before a court of justice. He decides that such a summons is perfectly justi- fiable. He proceeds to inquire whether they should be expected to attend in person, and, in default of their so doing, whether the prosecu- tion can lawfully be carried on. Chasseneux satisfies himself and us that this is in strict accordance with law. The sort of tribunal before which the crimi- nals should be cited forms the next subject of inquiry. He decides in favour of the Ecclesi- astical Courts. The advocate proceeds to convince his readers, by twelve conclusive argu- ments, that excommunication of animals is QUEER CULPEITS. 59 justifiable ; ha^-ing done so, he brings forward a series of examples and precedents. He asserts that a priest once excommunicated an orchard, whither children resorted to eat apples, when — naughty chicks ! — they ought to have been at church. The result w^as all that could have been desired, for the trees produced no fruit till, at the request of the Dowager Duchess of Burgundy, the inhibition was re- moved. He mentions, as well, an excommunication fulminated by a bishop against sparrows, which, flying in and out of the church of S. Vincent, left their traces on the seats and desks, and in other ways disturbed the faithful. Saint Ber- nard, be it remembered, whilst preaching in the parish church of Foigny, was troubled by the incessant humming of the flies. The saint broke off his sermon to exclaim, " Oh, flies ! I denounce you !" The pavement was instan- taneously littered with their dead bodies. Saint Patrick, as every one knows, drove the serpents out of Ireland by his ban. This is the form of excommunication as given by Chasseneux : — " O snails, caterpillars, and other obscene creatures, which destroy the 60 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. food of our neighbours, depart hence ! Leave these cantons which you are devastating, and take refuge in those locahties where you can injure no one. I. N. P.," &c. Chasseneux obtained such credit from this opinion that, in 1510, he was appointed by the authorities of Autun to be advocate for the rats, and to plead their cause in a trial which was to ensue on account of the devastation they committed in eating the harvest over a large portion of Burgundy. In his defence, Chasseneux showed that the rats had not received formal notice ; and, before proceeding with the case, he obtained a decision that all the priests of the afflicted parishes should announce an adjournment, and summons the defendants to appear on a fixed day. At the adjourned trial, he complained that the delay accorded his clients had been too short to allow of their appearing, in consequence of the roads being infested with cats. Chasseneux made an able defence, and finally obtained a second adjournment. We believe that no ver- dict was given. In a formulary of exorcisms, believed to have been drawn up by S. Gratus, Bishop of Aosta QUEER CULPRITS. 61 in the ninth century, we find unclean beasts excommunicated as agents of Satan. From such a superstition as this sprang the numerous legends of the Evil One haying been exorcised into the form of a beast ; as, for in- stance, by S. Taurinus of Evreux (Bolland, Acta SS. 11 Aug., p. 640, col. 1) ; and by S. Walther of Scotland, who died in 1214, and who charmed the devil into the shapes of a black dog, pig, wolf, rat, &c. (Bolland, 3rd Aug., p. 264.) The devil Rush, in the popular mediaeval tale of " Fryer Rush," was conjured into a horse, and made to carry enough lead on his back to roof a church. Felix Malleolus relates that William, Bishop of Lausanne, pronounced sentence against the leeches which infested the Lake of Geneva and killed the fish, and that the said leeches retreated to a locality assigned them by the prelate. The same author relates at large the proceedings instituted against some mosquitoes in the 13th century in the Electorate of Mayence, when the judge before whom they were cited granted them, on account of the minuteness of their bodies and their extreme youth, a curator and counsel, who pleaded their cause and obtained 62 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. for them a piece of land to which they were banished. On the 17th of August, 1487, snails were sentenced at Macon. In 1585, caterpillars suf- fered excommunication in Valence. In the 16th century, a Spanish bishop, from the sum- mit of a rock, bade all rats and mice leave his diocess, and betake themselves to an island which he surrendered them. The vermin obeyed, swimming in vast numbers across the strait to their domain. In 1694, during the witch persecutions at Salem, in New England, under the Quakers Increase and Cotton Mather, a dog was strangely afflicted, and was found guilty of having been ridden by a warlock. The dog was hanged. Another dog was accused of afflicting others, who fell into fits the moment it looked upon them ; it was also put to death. (T. Wright, "Sorcery and Magic," vol. iii.) A Canadian bishop in the same century excommunicated the wood-pigeons ; the same expedient was had recourse to against caterpillars by a grand vicar of Pont-du-Chateau, in Auvergne, as late as the eighteenth century. The absurdity of these trials called forth QUEER CULPRITS. 63 several treatises during the middle ages. Philip de Beaumaiioii* in the thirteenth century, in his " Customs of Beauvoisis," complained of their folly; and in 1606, Cardinal Duperron forbade any exorcism of animals, or the use of prayers in church for their extermination, with- out licence, A book published in 1459, " De Fascino," by a Spanish Benedictine monk, Leonard Vair, holds up the practice to ridicule. Eveillon, in his " Traite des Excommunications," published m 1651, does the same. One cimous story more, and we shall give a detailed account of one of these trials. We have taken this from Benoit's " Histoire de I'Echt de Nantes " (tom. v. p. 754), and give it in the writer's own words. " The Protestant chapel at La Rochelle was condemned to be demolished in 1685. The hell had a fate suffi- ciently droll : it was ivh'qjped, as a punishment for having assisted heretics ; it was then buried, and disinterred, in order to represent its new birth in passing into the hands of Catholics. ... It was catechised, and had to reply ; it was compelled to recant, and promise never agam to relapse into sin ; it then made 64 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. ample and honourable recompense. Lastly, it was reconciled, baptised, and given to the parish which bears the name of Saint Bartholomew\ But the point of the story is, that when the governor, who had sold it to the parish, asked for payment, the answer made him Avas, that it had been Huguenot, that it had been newly con- verted, and that consequently it had a right to demand a delay of three years before paying its debts, according to the law passed by the king for the benefit of those recently converted ! " We propose now giving the particulars of a remarkable action brought against some ants, towards the commencement of the eighteenth century, for violation of the rights of property. It is related by P. Manoel Bernardes in his " Nova Floresta" (Lisboa, 1728), and is quoted by M. Emile Agnel among his " Curiosites Judicaires et Historiques ;" to whom and to the paper of M. Menabrea, entitled " Proces fait aux Animaux," in the twelfth volume of the Transactions of the Chambery Society, we are indebted for much of our information. " Action brought by the Friars Minor of the province of Pridade no Maranhao in Brazil, against the ants of the said territory." QUEER CULPRITS, 65 *' It happened, according to the account of a monk of the said order in that province, that the ants, which thereabouts are both numerous, lai-ge, and destructive, had, in order to enlarge the Hmits of their subterranean empire, under- mined the cellars of the Brethren, burrowing beneath the foundations, and thus weakening the walls which daily threatened ruin. Over and above the said offence was another, they had bm-glariously entered the stores, and carried off the flour which was kept for the service of the community. Since the hostile multitudes were united and indefatigable night and day, Parvula, nam exemplo est, magni formica laboris Ore trabit quodcumque potest, atque addit acervo Quern struit . . . (Horace, Sat. i.), the monks were brought into peril of famine, and were driven to seek a remedy for this in- tolerable nuisance : and since all the means to which they resorted were unavailing, the una- nimity of the multitude being quite insurmount- able, as a last resource, one of the friars, moved by a superior instinct (we can easily believe that), gave his advice that, returning to the spirit of humility and simplicity which had qualified their seraphic founder, who termed all 66 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. creatures his brethren — brother Sun, brother Wolf, sister Swallow, &c. — they should bring an action against their sisters the Ants before the divine tribunal of Providence, and should name counsel for defendants and plaintiffs ; also that the bishop should, in the name of supreme Justice, hear the case and give judg- ment. The plan was approved of; and after all arrangements had been made, an indictment was presented by the counsel for the plaintiffs, and as it was contested by the counsel for the defendants he produced his reasons, requiring protection for his clients. These latter lived on the alms which they received from the faithful, collecting offerings with much labour and per- sonal inconvenience ; whilst the ants, creatures whose morals and manner of life were clearly contrary to the Gospel precepts, and were re- garded with horror on that account by S. Francis, the founder of the confraternity, lived by fraud ; and not content with acts of larceny, proceeded to open violence and endeavours to ruin the house. Consequently they were bound to show reason, or in default be concluded that they should all be put to death by some pesti- QUEER CULPRITS. 67 leiice, or drowned by an inundation ; at all events, should be exterminated from the dis- trict. The counsel for the little black folk, replying to these accusations, alleged with justice to his clients, in the first place : That, having received from their Maker the benefit of life, they were bound by a law of nature to preserve it by means of those instincts implanted in them. Item^ That in the observance of these means they served Providence, by setting men an ex- ample of those virtues enjoined on them, viz. prudence — a cardinal virtue — in that they (the ants) used forethought, preparing for an evil day : " Formica populus infirmus, qui prasparat in messe cibum sibi " (Prov. xxx. 25) ; diligence, also, in amassing in this life merits for a life to come, according to Jerome : " Formica dicitur strenuus quisque et providus operarius, qui pre- senti vita, velut in ajstate, fructus justitisB quos in geternum recipiet sibi, recondit " (S. Hieron., in Prov. vi.) ; thirdly, ^ charity, in aiding each other, when their burden was beyond their strength, according to Abbat Absalon : " Pacis et concordige vivum exemplum formica reliquit, quse suum comparem, forte plus justo oneratum, f2 68 CUKIOSITEES OF OLDEN TIMES. natural! quadam charitate alleviat" (Absalon apud Picinellum, in Mundo sjmbolico^ 8); lastly, of religion and piety, in giving sepulture to the dead of their kind, as writes Pliny, "sepelianter inter se \dventium solse, pj'aeter hominem" (Plin., lib. xi. 36); an opinion borne also by the monk Malchus, who observes, " Has luctu celebri corpora defmicta deportabant" (S. Hieron., in Vita Malchi). Item, That the toil these ants underwent far surpassed that of the plaintiffs, since their burdens were often larger than their bodies, and their com'age greater than their strength. Item, That in the eyes of the Creator men are regarded as "worms;" on account of their superior intelligence, perhaps superior to the defendants, but inferior to them morally, from having offended their Maker, by violating the laws of reason, though they observed those of natui'e. Wherefore they rendered themselves unworthy of being served or assisted by any creatm-es, since they (men) had committed gi'eater crimes against heaven than had the clients of this learned counsel in stealing their flour. Item, That his cHents were in possession of QUEER CULPRITS. 69 the spot in question before the appellants had established themselves there ; consequently that the monks should be expelled from lands to which they had no other right than a seizure of them by main force. Finally, he concluded that the plaintiffs ought to defend their house and meal by human means which they (the defendants) would not oppose ; whilst they (the defendants) continued their manner of life, obeying the law imposed on their nature, and rejoicing in the freedom of the earth ; for the earth belongs not to the plaintiffs but to the Creator : " Domini est terra et plenitudo ejus." This answer was followed by replies and counter-replies, so that the counsel for the pro- secution saw himself constrained to admit that the debate had veiy much altered his opinion of the criminality of the defendants. He had, the learned counsel for the defendants argued, admitted that the action was brought by brethren against sisters, brethren Monks against sister Ants. The sister Ants conform to the law of nature imposed on them, continued the counsel for the insects ; the brother Monks, claiming to be ruled by an additional law, that of reason. 70 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. violate it, so that they place themselves only under the law of animal instinct, the same which regulates the ants. The latter are not raised to the level of man, but the friars have lowered themselves to that of brutes. Conse- quently, the action is not between man and beast, but between beast and beast. All argu- ments founded on the assumption of higher intelligence in man consequently break down. The judge revolved the matter carefully in his mind, and finally rendered judgment, that the Brethren should appoint a field in their neighbourhood, suitable for the habitation of the Ants, and that the latter should change their abode immediately, under pain of major excommunication. By such an arrangement both parties would be content and be reconciled ; for the Ants must consider that the Monks had come into the land to sow there the seed of the Gospel, and that they themselves could easily obtain a livelihood elsewhere, and at less cost. This sentence having been given, one of the friars was appointed to convey it to the insects, which he did, reading it aloud at the openings of their burrows. Wondrous event ! " It nigrum campis agmen," QUEER CULPRITS. 71 one saw dense columns of the little creatures, in all haste, leaving their ant-hills, and be- taking themselves du'ect to their appointed residence. Manoel Bernardes adds, that this sentence was pronounced on the 17tli of January, 1713, and that he saw and examined the papers refer- ring to this transaction, in the monastery of Saint Anthony, where they were deposited. ( 72 ) GHOSTS IN COURT. The following very curious story is from the Evrbyggja Saga, one of the oldest and noblest of the Icelandic histories. As it results in an action unique in its way, — a lawsuit brought against a party of ghosts who haunted a house, — it well merits attention from all lovers of curiosities. In the summer of lOGO, the year in which Christianity was established in Iceland, a vessel came off coast near Snoefellness, full of Irish and natives of the Hebrides, with a few Norse- men among them ; the ship came from Dublin, and lay alongside of Rif, waiting a breeze which might waft her into the firth to Dogvertharness. Some people went off in boats from the ness to trade with the vessel. They found on board a Hebridian woman called Thorgunna, who, hinted the sailors, had treasures of female attire in her possession the like of which had never been seen in Iceland. Now when Thmida, ths GHOSTS IN COURT. 73 house-wife at Frodriver, heard this, she was all excitement to get a glimpse of these treasures, for she was a dashing, showy sort of a Avoman. She rowed out to the ship, and on meeting Thorgunna, asked her if she had really some first-rate lady's dresses ? Of course she had ; but she was not going to part with them to any one, was the answer. Then might she see them? humbly asked Thurida. Yes, she might see them. So the boxes were opened, and the Iceland lady examined the foreign apparel. It was good, but not so very remark- able as she had anticipated ; on the whole she was a bit disappointed, still she would like to purchase, and she made a bid. Thorgunna at once refused to sell. Thurida then invited the Hebridian lady home on a visit, and the stranger, only too glad to leave the vessel, accepted the invitation with alacrity. On the arrival of the lady with her boxes at the farm, she asked to see her bed, and was showed a convenient closet in the lower part of the hall. There she unlocked her largest trunk, and drew forth a suit of bed-clothes of the most exquisite workmanship, and she spread over the bed English linen sheets and a silken coverlet. 74 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. From the box she also extracted tapestrj hang- ings and curtains to surround the couch ; and the Hke of all these things had never been seen in the island before. Thurida opened her eyes very wide, and asked her guest to share bed-clothes with her. " Not for all the world," replied the strange lady, with sharpness ; " I'm not going to pig it in the straw, for you, ma'am ! " An answer which, the Saga writer assures us, did not particularly gratify the good woman of the house. Thorgunna was stout and tall, disposed to become fat, with black eyebrows, a thick head of bushy brown hair, and soft eyed. She was not much of a talker, not very merry, and it was her wont to go to church every day before beginning her daily task. Many people took her to be about sixty years old. She worked at the loom every day except in hay-making time, and then she went forth into the fields and stacked her own hay. The summer that year was wet, and the hay had not been carried on account of the rain, so that at Frod-river farm, by autumn, the crop was only half cut, and the rest was still standing. GHOSTS IN COURT. 75 One day appeared bright and cloudless, and the farmer, Thorodd, ordered the house to turn out for a general hay-making. The strange lady worked along with the rest, tossing hay till the hour of nones, when a black cloud crossed the sky from the north, and by the time that prayers had been said such a darkness had come on that it was almost impossible to see. The hay-makers, at Thorodd's command, raked their hay together into cocks, but Thor- gunna, for no assignable reason, left hers spread. It now became so dark that there was no seeing a hand held up before the face, and down came the rain in torrents. It did not last many minutes, and then the sky cleared, and the evening was as bright as had been the morning. It was observed by the hay-makers on their return to their work that it had rained blood, for all the grass was stained. They spread it, and it soon dried up ; but Thorgunna tried in vain to dry hers, it had been so thoroughly saturated that the sun went down leavincf it dripping blood, and all her clothes were dis- coloured, Thurida asked what could be the meaning of the portent, and Thorgunna an- swered that it boded ill to the house and its 76 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. inmates. In the evening, late, the strange woman returned home, and went to her closet and stripped off her the stained clothes. She then lay down in her bed and began to sigh. It was soon ascertained that she was ill, and when food w^as brought her she would not swallow it. Next morning the bonder came to her to in- quire how she felt, and to learn what turn the sickness was likely to take. The poor lady told him that she feared her end was approaching, and she earnestly besought him to attend to her directions as to the disposal of her property, not changing any particular, as such a change would entail misery on the family. Thorodd declared his readiness to carry out her wishes to the minutest detail. "This, then," said she, " is my last request. I desire my body to be taken to Skalholt, if I die of this disease, for I have a presentiment that that place will shortly become the most sacred in the island, and that clerks will be there who will chant over me ; and do you re- imburse yourself for any outlay in carrying this into effect from my chattels. Let your wife, Thurida, have my scarlet gown, lest she be put GHOSTS IN COURT. 77 out at the further distribution of my effects, which I propose. My gold ring I bequeath to the Chui'ch ; but my bed, with its curtains, tapestry, coverlet and sheets, I desire to have burned, so that they go into nobody's possession. This I desire, not because I grudge the use of these handsome articles to anybody, but because I foresee that the possession of them will be the cause of innumerable quarrels and heart- biu'nings." Thorodd promised solemnly to fulfil to the letter every particular. The complaint now rapidly gained ground, and before many days Thorgunna was dead. The farmer put her corpse into a coffin ; then took all the bed-furniture into the open air, and, raising a pile of wood, flung the clothes on top of it, and was about to fire the pile, when, with a face pale from anxiety and dismay, forth rushed Thruida to know what in the name of w^onder her husband was about to do with those treasm^es of needlework, the coverlet, sheets, and curtains of the strange lady's bed. "Burn them ! according to her dying re- quest," replied Thorodd. "Burn them?" echoed Thurida, casting up 78 CUKIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. her hands and eyes ; " what nonsense ! Thor- gunna only desired this to be done because she was full of envy lest others should enjoy these incomparable treasures." " But she threatened all kinds of misfortunes unless I obeyed strictly her injunctions ; and I promised to obey her intentions," expostulated the worthy man. " Oh, that is all fancy!" exclaimed the wife; " what misfortune can these articles possibly bring upon usl" Thorodd still stood out ; but in this, as in many another house, the grey mare was the best horse, and what with entreaties, embraces, and tears, he was forced to effect a compromise, and relinquish to his wife the hangings and the coverlet in order that he might secure immunity for burning the pillow and the sheets. Yet neither were satisfied, says the historian. Next day preparations were made for flitting the corpse to Skalholt, and trustworthy men were secured to accompany it. The body was swathed in linen, but not stitched up ; it was then put into the coffin and placed on horse- back. So they started with it over the moor, and nothing particular happened till they GHOSTS IN COUET. 79 reached Valbjarnar plain, where there are many pools and morasses, and the corpse had repeated falls into the mire. Well, after a bit they crossed the Northrar at Eyar-ford, but the water was very deep, for there had been heavy rains. At nightfall they reached Stafholt, and asked the farmer to take them in. He declined per- emptorily, probably disliking the notion of housing a corpse, and he shut the door in their faces. They could go no further that night as the Huita was before them, which is very deep and broad, and could only be traversed in safety by day ; so they took the coffin into an ou - house, and after some trouble persuaded the farmer to let them sleep in his hall ; but he would not give them any food, so they went supperless to bed. Scarcely, however, was all quiet in the house before a strange clatter was heard in the shed serving as larder. One of the farm servants, thinking that thieves were break- ing in, stole to the door, and on looking in beheld a tall naked woman, with thick brown hair, busily engaged in preparing food. The poor fellow was so frightened that he fled back to his bed, quaking like an aspen leaf. In 80 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. another moment the nude figure stalked into the hall, bearing victuals in both hands, and these she placed on the table. By the dim light the bearers recognised Thorgunna, and they miderstood now that she resented the churlish- ness of the host, and had left her coffin to provide food for them. The farmer and his wife were now speedily brought to terms, and leaving their beds they displayed the utmost alacrity in supplying all the necessities of their guests. A fire was lighted ; the wet clothes were taken off the travellers ; curd and beer, and a stew of Iceland-moss set before them. Hist ! — a little noise in the out-house ! It is only Thorgunna stepping back into her coffin. Nothing transpired of any moment during the rest of the journey. The bearers had but to narrate the story of the preceding night's events, and they were sure of a ready welcome wherever they halted. At Skalholt all went well ; the clerks accepted the gold ring, and chanted over the body: they buried her deep, and put green turf over her. So, their errand accomplished, the servants of Thorodd returned home. GHOSTS IN COUET. 81 At Frocl-river there was a large hall, with a closed becU'oom at one end of it. On either side oF the hall were closets; in one of these closets dried fish were stacked up, and flour was kept in the other. Every evening, about meal- time, a great fire was lighted in the hall, and men used to sit long before it ere they adjourned to supper. The same night that the funeral party returned the men were sitting chatting round the fire, when suddenly they perceived a phosphorescent half-moon grow into brilliancy on the wall of the apartment, and travel slowly round the hall agamst the sun. The appear- ance continued all the while the men sat by the fire, and was visible every evening after. Tho- rodd asked Thorir Stumpleg, his bailiff, what this portended? and the man replied that it boded death to some one, but to whom he could not say. Shortly after a shepherd came in, gloomy, and muttering to himself in a strange manner. When addressed he answered wildly, and they thought he must have lost his wits. The man remained in this state for some little while. One night he went to bed as usual, but in the morning when the men came to wake him, they found him lying dead in his place. G 82 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. He was buried in the church. A few nights after strange sounds were heard outside the house ; and one night when Thorir Stumpleg went outside the door for some pur- pose, he saw the shepherd stride past him. Thorir attempted to slip indoors again, but the shepherd grasj)ed him, and after a short tussle cast him in, so that he fell upon the hall floor bruised and severely injured. He succeeded in crawling to his bed, but he never rose from it again. His body Avas purple and swollen. After a few days he died, and was buried in the churchyard. Immediately after his spectre was seen to walk in company with that of the shepherd. A servant of Thorir now sickened, and after three days' illness, died. Within a few days five more died. The fast preceding Christmas approached, though in those days the fashion of fasting was not introduced. In the closet con- taining dried fish, the stack was so big that the door could not be closed, and when fish were wanted, a ladder was placed against the pile and the top fish were taken away for use. In the evening, as men sat over the fire, the stack of dried fish was suddenly upset, and when GHOSTS IN COUKT. 83 people went to examine it, they could discover no cause. Just before Yule, also, Tliorodd, the bonder, went out in a long-boat witli seven men to Ness, after some fish, and they were out all night. The same evening, the fires having been kindled in the hall at Frod-river, a seal's head appeared to rise out of the floor of the apart- ment. A servant girl, who first saw it, rushed to the door, and catching up a bludgeon which lay beside it, struck at the seal's head. The blow made the head rise higher out of the floor, and it turned its eyes towards the bed- curtains of Thorgunna. A house-churl now took the stick and beat at the apparition, but he fared no better, for the head rose higher at each stroke till its fore-fins appeared, and the fellow was so frightened that he fainted away. Then up came Kiartan, the bonder's son, a lad of twelve, and snatching up a large iron mallet for beating the fish, he brought it down with a crash on the seal's head. He struck again and again, till he drove it into the floor, much as one might di'ive a pile ; he then beat down the earth over it. It was noticed by all that on every occasion the lad Kiartan was the only one who had any power over the apparitions. G 2 84 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. Next morning it was ascertained that Thorocld and his men had been lost, for the boat was driven ashore near Enni ; but the bodies were never recovered. Thurida, and her son Kiartan, immediately invited all their kindred and neighbours to a f mieral feast. They had brewed for Yule, and now they kept the banquet in commemora- tion of the dead. When all the company had arrived, and had taken their places — the seats of the dead men being, as customary, left vacant — the hall door was darkened, and the guests beheld Thorodd and his servants enter, dripping with water. All were gratified, for at that time it was considered a token of favourable acceptance with the goddess Ran if the dead men came to the wake ; "and," says the Saga writer, " though we are Christian men, and baptised, we have faith in the same token still." The spectres walked through the hall without greeting any one, and sat down before the fire. The servants fled in all directions, and the dead men sat silently round the flames till the fire died out, then they left the house as they had entered it. This happened every evening as long as the feast continued, and some deemed that at the GHOSTS IN COURT. 85 conclusion of the festivities the apparition would cease. The wake terminated, and the visitors dispersed. The fire was lighted as usual towards dusk, and in, as before, came Thorodd and his retinue, dripping with water ; they sat down before the hearth, and began to wring out their clothes. Next came in the spectres of Thorir Stumpleg and the six who had died in bed after him, and had been buried; they were covered with mould, and they pro- ceeded to shake the mould off their clothes upon Thorodd and his men. The inmates of the house deserted the room, and remained without light and heat in another apartment. Next day the fire was not lighted in the hall but in the other room ; the farm- people reckoning u^^on the ghosts keeping to the hall. But no ! in came the spectral train, and upon the living men vacating their seats, the ghosts occupied them, and sat looking grimly into the red fire till it died out, whilst the terrified servants spent the evening in the hall. On the third day two fires were kindled — one in the hall for the ghosts, and another in the small chamber for the livino; men : and 86 CUKIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. SO it had to be done throughout the whole of Yule. Fresh disturbances now began in the fish closet, and it seemed as though a bull were among the fish, tossing them about ; and this went on night and day. A man set the ladder against the stack, and climbed to the top. He observed emerging from the pile of stockfish a tail like that of cow which had been singed, but soft and covered with hair lilce that of a seal. The fellow caught the tail and pulled at it, calling lustily for help. Up ran men and women, and all dragged at the tail, but none of them could pull it out ; it seemed stiff and dead, yet suddenly it was whisked out of their hands, and rasped the skin off theii- palms. The stack was now taken down, but no traces of the tail could be found, only it was dis- covered that the skin had been peeled off the fish, and at the bottom of the stack not a bit of flesh was left upon them. Thorgima, the widow of Thorir Stumpleg, fell ill shortly after this ; on the evening of her burial she was seen in company with Thorir and his party. All those who had seen the tail were now attacked, and died — men and GHOSTS IN COURT. 87 women. In tiie autumn there had been thirty household servants at Frod-river, of these now eighteen were dead, the ghosts had frightened five awav, and at the beginning of the month of May there remained but seven. Things had thus come to such a pass as to render ruin imminent, unless some decisive measure were pursued to rid the house of the spectres which haunted it. Kiartan, accord- ingly, determined on consulting Snorri, the Patriarch, his mother's brother, and one of the shrewdest men Iceland ever produced. Kiartan reached his uncle's house at Helgafell at the same time that a priest arrived from Gizor White, the apostle of Iceland. Snorri advised Kiartan to take the priest with him to Frod- river, to burn all the bed-furniture of Thor- gunna, to hold a court at his door, and bring a formal action at law against the spectres, and then to get the priest to sprinkle the house with holy water, and to shrive the survivors on the farm. Along with him Snorri sent his son Thord Kausi, with six men, that he might sum- mons Kiartan's father, considering that there might be a little delicacy in the son bringing an action against the ghost of his own father. 88 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. So it was settled, and Kiartan rode home. On his way he called at neighbours' houses and asked help : so that by the time he reached Frod-river his party was considerably swelled. It was Candlemas-day, and they drew up at the farm door just after the fires had been lighted and the ghosts had assumed their customary places. Kiartan found his mother in bed, with all the premonitory symptoms of the same complaint which had carried off so many others in the house. The lad passed the spectres, and going up to the bed of Thor- gunna, removed the quilt and curtains and every article which had belonged to her. Then he pushed boldly up to the fire past the ghosts, and took a brand from it. In a few minutes he had made a pile of brushwood, and had thrown the bed-funiture on the top. The flames roared up around the luckless articles and consumed them. A court was next constituted at the door, according to proper legal forms, and Kiartan summoned Thorir Stumpleg, whilst Thord Kausi sum- moned Thorodd for entering a gentleman's house without permission, and bringing mis- chief and death among his retainers. GHOSTS IN COUET. 89 Every spectre there present was summoned by name in due and legal form. The plaintiffs argued their case, and witnesses were called and examined. The defendants were asked what exceptions they had to plead, and upon theu' remaining silent, sentence was pronounced. Each case was taken separately, and the court sat long. The first action disposed of was that against Thorir. He was ordered to leave the house forthwith. Upon hearing this decree of the coiu't, Stumpleg rose from his chair, and said — " I sat whilst sit I might," and hobbled out of the hall by the door opposite to that before which the court was held. The case of the shepherd was next disposed of. On hearing the sentence he rose, — " I go ; better had I been dismissed before," he vanished through the door. ^Ylien Thorgima was ordered to depart, she followed the others, saying, — "I remained whilst to remain was lawful." Each who left said a few words which evinced a disinclination to desert the fire-side for the grave and sea-depths. The last to go was Thorodd, and he said, — 90 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. " There is now no peace for us here ; we are flitting one by one." After this Kiartan went in, and the priest took holy water and sprinkled the walls of the house; then he sang mass, and performed many ceremonies. So the spectres haunted Frod-river no more, and Thurida got better rapidly ; and the pros- pects of the farm mended speedily. ( 91 ) STRANGE PAINS AND PENALTIES. Punishment is efficacious in deterring from crime, only if it be certain and speedy. Severity is quite a minor point, and it will be found that the deterring effect of punishment is by no means proportionate to its cruelty. The first requisite is certainty, for human nature is so constituted that if there be a chance of escape, ninety-nine out of a hundred will be found to run the risk. A slight punish- ment, if certain, is infinitely more likely to produce the required results than the most terrible exhibition of cruelty upon representa- tive criminals. If certainty be a main requisite, speediness is also necessary ; lasting and cruel punishments harden but do not reclaim. Of this our forefathers in the middle ages were profoundly ignorant. With an inefficient police, it was not to be expected that one tithe of the malefactors, then so numerous, should fall into the hands of justice, and the authorities 92 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. endeavoured to make up for this imperfection by exaggerated severity, and by grotesqueness in the punishments they inflicted. I have said our forefathers in the middle ages, for the Anglo-Saxons and Danes were far too staid and sensible to resort to cruel or absurd penalties, when milder and reasonable ones would answer their purpose. Thus the laws of Canute direct, that the correction of a criminal should be so regulated that it may appear becoming in the eyes of Him who said, " Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us," and they enjoin that the judge should not be unduly severe, but lean rather to a gentle punishment ; and also that if it appeared likely that the criminal was fully penitent and inclined to amend, full mercy should be shown to him. Indeed it was a feature characteristic of Saxon and Danish laws, that compensation should be aimed at and the reclamation of the criminal, rather than retribution. Capital punishments were sanctioned, but in all cases an opportunity was offered for the substitution of a fine. Thus, by the law of King Ina, if a thief were caught, he was sentenced to death. STRANGE PAINS AND PENALTIES. 93 but his life could be redeemed by pecuniary satisfaction being made to the persons robbed. So the fine inflicted on a murderer was regulated according to the sum at which the life of the murdered party was valued; thus, if a man slew a freeman, he had to make compensation to the amount of one hundred shillings, but for the murder of a thrall a much less sum was demanded. If a freeman slew his tlu^all, he paid a nominal fine to the king for a breach of the peace ; but if a slave killed his master, the doctrine of blood for blood was carried into effect, as the thrall had no personal property to pay in compensation for his crime. Fines were imposed by the Anglo-Saxons for all kinds of personal injuries. Thus by the laws of King Ethelbert, for breaking a man's front tooth the fine imposed was six shillings, but a molar was regarded as worth only one shilling, and a canine tooth was valued at six. King Alfred, however, re- vised these laws, and taking into consideration the fact that the molar is a double tooth, and that it is a very serviceable tooth besides, he raised its market value to fifteen shillings. If a man struck out the eye of another and 94 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. blinded him, he was obliged to make satisfaction with fifty shillings, and one who was in a troublesome mood and had plenty of loose cash to dispose of, might break a neighbour's rib for three shillings, and dislocate his shoulder for twenty. According to the decrees of Witan, a fine of one shilling was enacted for crushing the finger-nail of a neighbour, but if the thumb nail had suffered, three shillings was its value. A testy Saxon might venture to pull the nose of his enemy if he had three shillings to spare, but then he had to be cautious, for if the pull were sufficiently violent to make the nose bleed, he had to pay six shillings. It was the almost uni- versal custom throughout Europe, that forgiveness should be judged according to the laws of their native country, and not according to the law of the land in which the offence was committed ; and "thus," says Dr. Henry, "the nose of a Spaniard Avas perfectly safe in England, because it was valued at thirteen marks, but the nose of an Englishman ran a great risk in Spain, because it was valued at twelve shillings. An English- man might have broken a Welshman's head for a mere trifle, but few Welshmen could afford to return the compliment." STEANGE PAINS AND PENALTIES. 95 ' Among the Anglo-Saxons the penaky inflicted on coiners was tlie loss of one hand; hardly a cruel sentence in comparison with that which was inflicted during the middle ages, up to the close of the sixteenth century, namely, boiling alive in oil or water. An old German code of laws gives the following horrible directions : " Should a coiner be caught in the act, then let him be stewed in a pan, or in a cauldron half an ell deep for the body, so that the man may be bound to a pole which shall be passed through the rings of the caul- dron, and which shall be tightly strapped and bound to upright posts on either side, and thus he shall be made to stew in oil and wine." A scene such as this was witnessed in Sweden in 1500, by Archbishop Glaus Magnus of Upsal, and instances without number might be cited from German and French city registers. Taking one town alone, Lubeck, we find that a poor fellow who gave himself out to be the dead king Frederick II., and who was probably an inoffensive madman, was thus put to death in 1287. A second instance occurred in the year 1329, when the man was boiled in the market-place in 96 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. the midst of a vast concourse of people. A similar sentence was pronounced in 1459, and again in 1471, but in this instance, at the last moment, in consideration of the earnest entreaty of the bishop, the sentence was commuted to burning alive on a pile of faggots, at the Miihlenthor. This poor wretch was less fortunate than the coiner Jacob von Jiilich, who, when crouching in the caukh'on, and shrieking with agony, obtained the mercy of having his head struck off. In the sixteenth century, coiners were hung instead of boiled: till lately, however, the cauldron which was used for this horrible purpose was visible in the market-place of Osnaburg. A punishment much in vogue during the middle ages for those who were guilty of stab- bing with intent to wound, but without causing death, was sufficiently terrible. The hand which had dealt the blow was placed upon a table with the fingers spread out, and the weapon which had been used was struck violently into the back of the hand, pinning it to the table, and the criminal had to draw his hand away without removing the knife. This STRANGE PAINS AND PENALTIES. 97 was statute law pretty nearly throughout Europe, and it continued in force till the middle of the seventeenth century, but the Frisian laws permitted the penalty to be remitted if the culprit chose to pay compensation to the amount of twenty-five gulden. In 1638, Count Anthony Gunter, of Olden- biu'g, ordered a post to be erected before the church, or in the market, and the criminal to be fastened to it by a knife driven through his hand ; and thus he was to stand for three hours. This law was not abrogated in Germany till 1661. Mutilation was common enough in the middle aires. We find in the laws of William the Con- queror — "We forbid that criminals of any sort should be killed or hung, but let their eyes be plucked out, or let then' hands and feet be chopped off, so that nothing may remain of the culprit but a living trunk, as a memorial of his crime." How different this from the tone of Saxon laws. At Avignon, in 1245, false witnesses had their noses and upper lips cut away, and the same penalty was inflicted in Switzerland on blas- phemers. H 98 CUKIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. Eugene Sue has suggested that capital punish- ment should be replaced by privation of sight. But if his system were carried into effect, those unhappy individuals who have either been born blind or have lost their sight by accident, would be compelled to carry about with them a certificate to the effect that they were honest men, as did the Arab grammarian Zamak- uschari, who died in 1144. This writer, having had a foot frost-bitten in Kharism, carried ever about with him an attestation to the fact, signed by a nvimber of persons of credit, so that no one would regard him as a criminal, who had suffered mutilation. Our own King John, according to Matthew Paris, invented a punishment of great cruelty. Geoffry, Archdeacon of Norwich, having offended him, he had him encased in a sheet of lead, which was folded round him and fitted to his shoulders like a cloak. The unhappy man died of the burden and of horror. "This," says an Anglo-Norman writer, "is the judgment of 'pain fort et dure ' ; to wit, the condemned shall be placed in a low chamber locked. And he shall lie naked on the ground without litter, bedding, or cloth, and without anything over STRANGE PAINS AND PENALTIES. 99 him ; and lie shall lie on his back with his head to the west, and his feet to the east, and one arm shall be drawn to one quarter of the room by a rope, and the other arm in like manner to the other quarter, and in the same way shall his legs be extended, and upon his body shall be placed iron and stone, as much as he can bear ; the first day he shall have three lumps of barley bread, but nothing to drink, and next day he shall drink thrice, as much as he wants, of water brought fi'om near at hand to the prison, excepting that it be running water, and he shall have no bread, and this succession shall be followed till he dies." Can it be believed that such a terrible death as this was inflicted in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, on the 25th of March, 1586, and that the person who suffered was a woman, on the indictment "that she had harboured and maintained Jesuit and seminary priests, traitors to the Queen's Majesty and the laws ; and that she had heard mass, and the like." The law of the land required that those who would not plead "guilty" or "not guilty," should be made to plead, " by being laid upon the back on the ground, and as much weight H 2 100 • CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. laid upon the accused as he or she can bear, and that the accused shall so continue for three days, and should he or she still refuse to plead, then to be pressed to death, the hands and feet tied to a post, and a sharp stone set under the back.'' The unfortunate woman, her name was Margaret Clitheroe, labouring under the idea that she was being martyred for her religion, whereas she was simply a victim to her own obstinacy in refusing to plead, endured tins fearful death. Had she pleaded she would have escaped, for the evidence against her was of so slender a natui'e that she must have been acquitted. The judge. Clinch, who gave the sentence, did so with great reluctance, and only because, as the law stood, it was impossible for him to evade it. In the reign of James I., we learn from Sir Walter Scott, that a Highland chief in Koss, of the name of McDonald, hearing that a poor widow had determined to go on foot to Edin- burgh to see the king, and obtain from him justice against the chief, sent for her, and telling her that the way was long, and that she would require to be well shod for the journey, had a blacksmith brought, and made him nail STEANGE PAINS AND PENALTIES. 101 her shoes to her feet, in the same way in which horses are shod. The widow however was a woman with a will of her own, and as soon as she had recovered she betook herself on foot to Edinburgh, and casting herself at the feet of the king, besought of him punishment on the tyrannical chief. King James, indignant at her treatment, had McDonald seized along with twelve of his accomplices, and had iron soles nailed to their feet. They were exposed in this condition to the public gaze, and were then decapitated. When Richard Coeur de Lion was on his way to the Holy Land he drew up a code of criminal laws by which discipline was to be maintained among his troops. One of these contains the following article : — " If any one is convicted of theft, boiling pitch shall be poured over his head, and then a pillow-full of feathers shall be shaken over it, so that the fellow may be cer- tainly recognised. And he shall be abandoned on the first land where the vessel touches." This reminds me of the trick played by certain wags on a poor nun in 1198. They covered her with honey, rolled her in feathers, mounted her on horseback, and paraded her 102 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. about tlie town. Philip Augustus hearing of this, had the unfortunate jokers seized and plunged into a vat of boiling water. A curious ordinance in force at Dortmund, in Westphalia, a.d. 1348, reqviired that, " if two women quarrel so as to come to bloM s, and at the same time use abusive language, they shall be required to carry, the whole length of the town along the High Street, two stones weigh- ing together one hundred pounds, attached to chains. The first woman shall carry them from the east gate to the west gate, whilst the second goads her on with a needle fastened to the end of a stick," and both are directed to wear the lightest of all possible costumes. " The second is then to take the stones upon her shoulders and to carry them back to the east gate, the first applying the same stimulus." This punish- ment was common all over Germany. In Lubek the stones were shaped like bottles, in other places they were rudely carved heads of w^omen with protruding tongues : and in some towns they were in the shape of cats. At Hambm-g a procession of women sounding cows' horns was part of the programme, and at Worms a band of bell-ringers. STEANGE PAINS AND PENALTIES. 103 The old Englisli cucking-stool for shrews is well known ; it was common abroad also, with some customs peculiarly foreign. For instance, the unfortunate persons who had to do penance for their shrewdish tongues were sometimes put into a large hamper, or a cage, and so suspended to a gallows, in the evening to be plunged basket and all into the nearest pond. Fools' caps have long served as punishment in village schools, but their use in them was probably derived from the legal practice of con- demning certain delinquents to the use of peculiar caps. Thus in Germany some minor crimes were punished by the culprit being sentenced to sit all day on a post in the middle of a canal, mth a tall scarlet steeple cap on his head. In Rome, bankrupts were condemned to wear in public black bonnets of a sugar-loaf form. At Lucca they wore them of an orange colour ; and in Spain they bore in addition an iron collar. The ancient Roman manner of punishing parricide, by casting the murderer into the water in a sack which contained as well a cock, an ape, and a serpent, was not unused in the middle ages, and we find it threatened in an 104 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. ordinance of the Provost of Paris, published on 25th Jvme, 1493, in which all persons sick with small-pox are bidden leave Paris at a day's notice, or suffer the penalty above mentioned. I might extract accounts of the most fearful of pmiishments which the cruelty of man could devise, from Oriental sources, but the barbarities practised by the Mussulmans are sickening through their excessive cruelty. Suffering enough has been undergone in our own quarter of the globe, and that too at no great distance of time from the age in which we live. I will instance, in conclusion, the painful account of the execution of Balthazar Gerard, who assassinated William of Orange, on the 10th of July, 1584, as given by Brantome. " First he was racked with extraordinary cruelty, without his uttering a word, except that he persisted in his former assertion. " Then, before he died, for eighteen days, he was tortiired with excessive cruelty. On the first day he was taken into the public square, where there was a cauldron of boiling oil, into which was thrust the arm which had dealt the blow. On the morrow this arm was chopped off, and it fell at his feet. He calmly moved it STEANGE PAINS AND PENALTIES. 105 witli liis foot, and pushed it before liim down from the scaffold. On the third day his breast and the front of his arm were plucked with red- hot pincers ; on the following day his back and the back of his arm, and legs, were treated in the same manner. Tliis was continued for eighteen days, and after each torture he w^as conducted back to prison, he all the while enduring his sufferings with great constancy. The greatest torture of all that he endured, except death, was when he was bound naked in the middle of the square, and around him at a little distance waggon loads of charcoal were set on fire, and thus he was wrapped in flame. The poor sufferer bore the roasting for a long while, and then at last he lost patience and cried out ; whereupon he was removed. For the final torture he was broken on the wheel, but he did not die at once, for they had only broken his legs and arms, so as to make him linger. Thus he lived for six hours, imploring some one to bring him a drop of water, but no one had the courage to give it him. "At length the officer was entreated to put an end to this scene, and to strangle him, lest he should die in despair, and so his soul perish. The execu- 106 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. tioner approached, and when close to him asked how he felt. The tortured man replied, 'As you left me.' But when the cord was produced to be put round his neck, he raised himself, as though fearing death, as he had not feared it before, and said <"o the executioner : — ' Ah ! pray leave me alone. Do not torture me any more I Pray let me die as I am !' So having been strangled, his life closed. Awful were the torments he endured !" Awful indeed — such were the tender mercies of Dutch Calvinists. ( 107 ) WHAT ARE WOMEN MADE OF ? In the palmy days of cliildhood we were taught in nursery jingle, and we implicitly believed, that little girls were made of Sugar and spice And all that's nice. But, growing older, we learned to our disap- pointment that they were produced from Adam's rib ; and when we asked why woman was made of that particular bone, we were told because it was the most crooked in Adam's body. " Observe the result," preached Jean Raulin, in the beginning of the sixteenth century : " man, composed of clay, is silent and ponderous ; but woman gives evidence of her osseous origin by the rattle she keeps up. Move a sack of earth and it makes no noise ; touch a bag of bones and you are deafened with the clitter- clatter." ' This observation did not fall to the ground ; 108 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. it was repeated by Gratian de Driisac in his " Controversies des Sexes Masculin et Feminin," 1538. The learned in mediaaval times did not spare women. Jean Nevisan, professor of law at Turin, who died in 1540, is harder still on them in his " Sjlva Nnptialis." Therein he audaciously asserts that woman was fonned by the Author of Good till the head had to be made, and that was a production of the great enemy of mankind. "Permisit Deus illud facere dasmonio." But the Rabbis are equally unsparing. They assert that when Eve had to be drawn from the side of Adam she was not extracted by the head, lest she should be vain ; nor by the eyes, lest they should be wanton ; nor by the mouth, lest she should be given to tittle-tattle ; nor by the ears, lest she should be inquisitive ; nor by the hands, lest she should be meddlesome ; nor by the feet, lest she should be a gad-about ; nor by the heart, lest she should be jealous ; but she was drawn forth by the side ; yet, notwith- standing these precautions, she has every fault specially guarded against, because, being ex- tracted sideways, she was perverse. Another Rabbinical gloss on the text of WHAT AEE WOMEN MADE OF ? 109 Moses asserts that Adam was created double ; that he and Eve were made back to back, united at the shoulders, and that they were severed with a hatchet. Eugubinus says that their bodies were united at the side. Antoinette Bourignon, that extraordinary mystic of the seventeenth century, had some strange visions of the primeval man and the birth of Eve. The body of Adam, she says, was more pure, translucent, and transparent than crystal, light and buoyant as air. In it were vessels and streams of light, which entered and exuded through the pores. The vessels were charged with liquors of various colours of intense brilliancy and transparency; some of these fluids were water, milk, wine, fire, &c. Every motion of Adam's body produced ineffable harmonies. Every creature obeyed him ; nothing could resist or injure him. He was taller than men of this time ; his hair was short, curled, and approaching to black. He had a little down on his lower lip. In his stomach was a clear fluid, like water in a crystal bowl, in which tiny eggs developed themselves, like bubbles in wine, as he glowed with the ardour of Divine charity; and when 110 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. he strongly desired that others should unite with him in the work of praise, he deposited some of these eggs, which hatched, and from one of them emerged his consort. Eve. The inhabitants of Madagascar have a strange myth touching the origin of woman. They say that the first man was created of the dust of the earth, and was placed in a garden, where he was subject to none of the ills which now afflict mortality; he was also free from all bodily appetites, and though surrounded by delicious fruit and limpid streams, yet felt no desire to taste of the fruit or quaff the water. The Creator had, moreover, strictly forbidden him either to eat or to drink. The great enemy, however, came to him, and painted to him in glowing colours the sweetness of the apple, the lusciousness of the date, and the succulence of the orange. In vain : the first man remem- bered the command laid upon him by his maker. Then the fiend assumed the appearance of an effulgent spirit, and pretended to be a messenger from heaven commanding him to eat and drink. The man at once obeyed. Shortly after a pimple appeared on his leg ; the spot enlarged into a tumour, which increased in size WHAT AKE "WOMEN MADE OF? Ill and caused him considerable annoyance. At the end of six months it burst, and there emerged from the limb a beautiful girl. The father of all living tiu'ned her this way and that way, sorely perplexed, and uncertain whether to pitch her into the water or give her to the pigs, when a messenger from heaven appeared, and told him to let her run about the garden till she was of a marriageable age, and then to take her to himself as a wife. He obeyed. He called her Bahouna, and she became the mother of all races of men. There seems to be some uncertainty as to the size of our great mother. The French orien- talist, Henrion, member of the Academy, how- ever, fixed it with a precision satisfactory, at least, to himself. He gives the following table of the relative heights of several eminent his- torical personages. Adam was precisely 123 feet 9 inches high. 9-75 in. Eve ... . . 118 Noah . . . . 103 Abraham . . . 27 Moses . . . . 13 Hercules . . . 10 Alexander . . 6 Julius Caesar . 5 112 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. It is interesting to have the height of Eve to the decimal of an inch. It must, however, be stated that the measures of the traditional tomb of Eve at Jedda give her a much greater stature. " On entering the great gate of the cemetery, one observes on the left a little wall three feet high, forming a square of ten to twelve feet. There lies the head of our first mother. In the middle of the cemetery is a sort of cupola, where reposes the middle of her body, and at the other extremity, near the door of egress, is another little wall, also three feet high, forming a lozenge-shaped enclosiu'e, there are her feet. In this place is a large piece of cloth, whereon the faithful deposit their offer- ings, which serve for the maintenance of a constant burning of perfumes over the midst of her body. The distance between her head and feet is 400 feet. How we have shrunk since the creation !" — Lettre de H.A.D., Consul de France en Ahyssinie, 1841. But to return to the substance of which woman was made. This is a point on which the various cosmogonies of nations widely differ. Probably the discoverers of these cosmogonies were men, for they seldom give to woman a WHAT ARE WOMEN MADE OF? 113 very distinguished origin. But then the poets make it up to her. Nature, the singer of the land of cakes tells us, Her preutice han' First tried on man, And then she made the lasses, Oh ! Guillaume de Salluste du Bastas ( b. 1544 ; d. 1590,) composed a lengthy poem on the Creation, in which he does ample justice to the ladies. His poem was translated into Latin by Dumonin (Joan, de Dumonin : Beresithias, sive Mundi Creatio, ex Gallico Sallustii du Bastas expressa. Parisiis, 1579), and into German, Spanish, Italian, and English. A specimen will suffice : — The mother of mortals in herself doth combine The charms of an Adam, and graces all Divine. Her tint his surpasses, her brow is more fair, Her eye twinkles brighter, more lustrous her hair ; Far sweeter her utterance, her chin is quite smooth. Dream of Beauty incarnate, a lover and a love ! Our own Milton has done poor Eve justice in lines which need not quotation. Pygmalion, says the classic story, which is really a Phoenician myth of creation, made a I 114 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. woman of marble or ivory, and Aphrodite, in answer to his prayers, endowed the statue with life. We do not believe it. No woman was ever marble. She may seem hard and cold, but she only requires a sturdy male voice to bid her, Descend, be stone no more ! to show that the marble appearance was put on, and that she is, and ever was, genuine palpita- ting flesh and blood. " Often does Pygmalion apply his hands to the work. One while he addresses it in soft terms, at another he brings it presents that are agreeable to maidens, as shells, and smooth pebbles, and little birds, and flowers of a thousand hues, and lilies, and painted balls, and tears of the Heliades, that have distilled from the trees. He decks her limbs, too, with clothing, and puts a long necklace on her neck. Smooth pendants hang from her ears, and bows from her breast. All things are becoming to her." — Ovid. Metam. x. vii. There is something tender and kindly in this myth ; it represents woman as man would have her, pure as the ivory, modestly arrayed, simple, and delighted with small trifles, birds, WHAT ARE WOMEN MADE OF ? 115 and pebbles, and flowers — a tiling of beauty and a joy for ever. But Hesiod gives a widely different account of the creation of woman. According to him, she was sent in mockery by Zeus to be a scourge to man : — The Sire who rules the earth and sways the pole Had spoken ; laughter fill'd his secret soul : He bade the crippled god his hest obey, And mould with tempering water plastic clay ; With human nerve and human voice invest The limbs elastic, and the breathing breast ; Fair as the blooming goddesses above, A ^irgin's likeness with the looks of love. He bade Minerva teach the skill that sheds A thousand colours in the gliding threads ; He call'd the magic of love's golden queen To breathe around a witchery of mien, And eager passion's never-sated flame, Ind cares of dress that prey upon the frame ; .3ade Hermes last endue, with craft refined Of treacherous manners, and a shameless mind.' Hesiod. Erga, 61 — 79. If such was the Greek theory of the creation of woman, it speaks ill for the Greek men ; for woman is ever what man makes her. If he chooses her to be giddy, and light, and crafty, giddy, light, and crafty Mill she become ; but if he demands of her to be what God made her, I 2 116 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. modest, and thrifty, and tender, sucli she will ever prove. This our 2;rand old northern fore- fathers knew, and they made her creation a sacred matter, and fashioned her from a nobler stock than man. He was of the ash, she of the elm ; they called the first woman Embla, or Emla, which means a laborious female — from the root amrj ami, ambl, signify- ing " work." " One day as the sons of Bor were walking along the sea-beach, they found two stems of wood, out of which they shaped a man and a woman. The first, Odin, infused into them life and spirit ; the second, Vili, enduwed them with reason and the power of motion ; the third, Ve, gave them speech and features, hearing and vision." (" Younger Edda," 9 ; cf. also "Voluspa," 17, 18.) This reminds one of the ancient Iranian myth of Ahoura Mazda creating the first pair, Meschia and Meschiane, from the Beivas tree. But the Scandinavians also spoke of three primeval mothers : Edda (great-grandmother,) Amma (grandmother,) and Mother, from whom sprung the three classes of thrall, churl, and earl. It is noticeable that these primeval women are represented as good housewives in the venerable WHAT AKE WOMEN MADE OF? 117 Rio-smal, which describes the wanderings of the god Heimdal, under the name of Eig. The deity comes to the hut of Edda, and at once — From the ashes she took a loaf, Heavy and thick, with bran mixed ; More beside she laid upon the board ; There is set a bowl of broth on the table ; There is a calf boiled, and cates the best. Then he goes to the house of Amma, the wife of Afi. Afi's wife sat plying her rock With outspread arms, busked to weave. A hood on her head, a sark over her breast, A kerchief round her neck, and studs on her shoulders. He next enters the hall of Mother. The housewife looked on her arms, Smoothed her veil, and fastened her sleeves. Her head-gear adjusted. A clasp was on Jlier bosom. Her robe was ample, her sark blue ; Brighter her brow, fairer her breast. Whiter her neck than purest snow-drift. She took, did Mother, a figured cloth Of white linen, and the table decked. She then took cakes of snow-white wheat, On the table them she laid. She set forth salvers, silver adorned, 118 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. Full of game, aud pork, and roasted birds. In a can was wine, tlie cups were costly. Kot a word of disparagement of woman is found in those old cosmic lays. The sturdy Northerner knew her value, and he respected her, whilst the frivolous Greek despised her as a toy. The Provencal troubadours caught the classic misappreciation [of woman. Massillia was a Greek colony, and Greek manners, tastes, and habits of thought prevailed for long in the south-east of France. They idolised her, as an idol-puppet, but they knew not how to com- mend, and by commending develope in her those qualities which lie ready to germinate when called for by man — devotion, self-sacrifice, patience, gentleness, and all those homely yet inestimable treasures, the domestic virtues. Pierre de Saint Cloud, in the opening of his poem on Renard, has his fling at j)oor Eve. He says that Adam was possessed of a magic- rod, with which he could create animals at pleasure, by striking the earth with it. One day he smote the ground, and there sprang forth the lamb. Eve caught the rod from his hand, and did as he had done ; forthwith there bounded forth the wolf, ^vhich rent the creation ^VHAT AEE WOMEN MADE OF ? 119 of Adam. He struck, and the domestic fowls came forth. Eve did likewise, and gave being to the fox. He made the cattle, she the tiger ; he the dog, she the jackall. Turning to America, we encounter a host of myths relative to the first mother. The sacred book of the Quiches tells of the gods Gucumatz, Tepu, and Cuz-cah making man of earth, but when the rain came on he dissolved into mud. Then they made man and woman of wood, but the beings so made were too thick-headed to praise and sacrifice, wherefore they destroyed them with a flood ; those who escaped up tall trees remain to this day, and are commonly called monkeys. The three gods having thus failed, consulted the Great White Boar and the Great White Porcupine, and with their assist- ance made man and woman of white and red maze. And men show by their headstrong character that the mighty boar had a finger in their creation, and women by their fretf ulness indicate the great porcupine as having had the making of them. The Minnatarees have a story that the first woman was made of such rich and fatty soil that she became a miracle of prolificness ; she 120 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. came out of the eartli on the first clay of the moon of buffaloes, and ere it waned, she had a child at her breast. Every month she bestowed upon her husl)and a son or a daughter, and these children were all equally fertile with their mother. This was rather sharp work, and the Great Spirit, seeing that the world would be peopled in no time, at this rate, killed the first parents, and diminished the productiveness of their children. The Nanticokes relate that their great an- cestor Avas without a wife, and he wandered over the face of the earth in search of one : at last the Kincr of the Musk-rats offered him his daughter, assuring him that she would make the best wife in the world, as she could keep a house tidy, and was very shrewd and neat in her person. The Nanticoke hesitated to accept the obliging offer, alleging that the wife was so very small, and had four legs. The Micabou of the Musk-rats now appeared, and undertook to remedy this defect. " Man of the Nanticokes," said the spirit, " rise, take thy bride and lead her to the edge of the lake ; bid her dip her feet in water, whilst thou, standing over her, shalt pronounce these words : WHAT ARE WOMEN MADE OF ? 121 For the last time as musk-rat, For the first time as woman. Go in beast, come out human ! " The spirit's directions were obeyed to the letter. The Nanticoke took his glossy little maiden musk-rat by the paw, led her to the border of the lake, and whilst she dipped her feet in the water, he used the appointed formu- lary ; thereupon a change took place in the little animal. Her body was observed to assume the posture of a human being, gradually erecting itself, as a sapling, which, having been bent to earth, resumes its upright position. When the little creature became erect, the skin began to fall from the head and neck, and gradually unveiling the body, exhibited the maiden, beautiful as a flowery meadow, or the blue summer sky, or the north lit up with the flush of the dancing liohts, or the rainbow which follows the fertilising shower. Her hand was scarce larger than a hazel-leaf, and her foot not. longer than that of the ringdove. Her arm was so slight, that it seemed as though the breeze must break it. The Nanticoke gazed with delight on his beauteous bride, and his gratification was enhanced when he saw her 122 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. stature increase to the proportions of a human being. Other American Indian tribes assert that the Great Spirit, moved with compassion for man, who wasted in solitude on earth, sent a heavenly spirit to be his companion, and the mother of his children. And we believe they are about right. But the Kickapoos tell a very different tale. There was a time throughout the great world, say they, when neither on land nor in the water was there a woman to be found. Vain things there were plenty — there was the turkey, and the blue-jay, the wood-duck, and the wakon bird ; and noisy, chattering creatures there were plenty — there was the jackdaw, the magpie, and the rook ; and gad-abouts there were plenty — there was the squirrel, and the starling, and the mouse ; but of women, vain, noisy, chattering, gad-about women, there was none. It was quite a still world to what it is now, and it was a peaceable world, too. Men were in plenty, made of clay, and sun-dried, and they were then so happy, oh ! so happy. Wars were none then, quarrels were none. The Kickapoos ate their deer's flesh with the WHAT ARE WOMEN MADE OF ? 123 Potowatomies, hunted the otter with the Osages, and the beaver with the Hurons. Then the great fathers of Kickapoos scratched the backs of the savage Iroquois, and the truculent Iroquois returned the comphment. Tribes which now seek one another's scalps, then sat smiling benevolently in one another's faces, smoking the never-laid-aside calumet of peace. These first men were not quite like the men now, for they had tails. Very handsome tails they were, covered with long silky hair ; very convenient were these appendages in a country where flies were numerous and troublesome, tails being more sudden in their movements than hands, and more conveniently situated for whisking off the flies which alight on the back. It was a pleasant sight to see the ancestral men leisurely smoking and waving their flexible tails at the doors of their wigwams in the golden autumn evenings, and within were no squalling children, no wrangling wives. The men doted on their tails, and they painted and adorned them ; they platted the hair into beautiful tresses, and wove bright beads and shells and wampum with the hair. They attached bows and streamers of coloured ribbons to the 124 CUBIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. extremities of their tails, and when men ran and pursued the elk or the moose, there Avas a flutter of colour behind them, and a tinkle of precious ornaments. But the red men got proud ; they were so happy, all went so well with them that they forgot the Great Spirit. They no more offered the fattest and choicest of their game upon the memahoppa, or altar-stone, nor danced in his praise who dispersed the rains to cleanse the earth, and his lightnings to cool and purify the air. Wherefore he sent his chief Manitou to humble men by robbing them of what they most valued, and bestowing upon them a scourge and affliction adequate to their offence. The spirit obeyed his Master, and, coming on earth, reached the ground in the land of the Kickapoos. He looked about him, and soon ascertained that the red men valued their tails above every other possession. Summoning together all the Indians, he acquainted them with the will of the Wahconda, and demanded the instant sacrifice of the cherished member. It is impossible to describe the sorrow and com- punction which filled their bosoms when they found that the forfeit for their oblivion of the WHAT ARE WOMEN MADE OF ? 125 Great Spirit was to be that beautiful and beloved appendage. Tail after tail was laid upon the block and was amputated. The mission of the spirit was, in part, per- formed. He now took the severed tails and converted them into vain, noisy, chattering, and frisky women. Upon these objects the Kicka- poos now lavished their admiration ; they loaded them as before with beads, and wampum, and paint, and decorated them with tinkling orna- ments and coloured ribbons. Yet the women had lost one essential quality which as tails they had possessed. The caudal appendage had brushed off man the worrying insects which sought to sting or suck his blood, whereas the new article was itself provided with a sharp sting, called by us a tongue ; and far from brushing annoyances off man, it became an instrument for accumulating them upon his back and shoulders. Pleasant and soothing to the primeval Kickapoo was the wagging to and fro of the member stroking and fanning his back, but the new one became a scourge to lacerate. However, woman retains indications of her origin. She is still beloved as of yore ; she is 126 CUKIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. still beautiful, with flowing hair ; still adapted to trinketry. Still she is frisky, vivacious, and slappy ; and still, as of old, does she ever follow man, dangling after him, hanging on his heels, and never, of her own accord, separating from him. The Kickapoos, divested of their tails, the legend goes on to relate, were tormented by the mosquitos, till the Great Spirit, in com- passion for their woes, mercifully withdrew the greater part of their insect tormentors. Over- joyed at their deliverance, the red men suppli- cated the Wahconda also to remove the other nuisances, the women ; but he replied that the women were a necessary evil and must remain. {Jones, Trad. N. American Indians, 1830, vol. iii. 175.) This is worse treatment than that which the ladies received from Hesiod. We have heard of a young and romantic lady who was so enraptured with the ideal of American-Indian life as delineated by Fenimore Cooper, that she fled her home, and went to the savages in Canada. We hope she did not fall to the lot of a Kickapoo. Poor woman ! it is pleasanter to believe that WHAT AKE WOMEN MADE OF ? 127 she is made from our ribs, which we know come very close to our hearts, and thus to account for the mutual sympathy of man and woman, and thereby to account for that compassion and tenderness that man feels for her, and also for the manner in which she flies to man's side as her true resting-place in peril and doubt. But we have a cosmogony of our own, elucidated from internal convictions, assisted by all the modern appliances of table-rapping and clair- voyancy. According to our cosmogony woman is compounded of three articles, sugar, tincture of arnica, and soft soap. Sugar, because of the sweetness which is apparent in most women — alas ! that in some it should have acidulated into strong domestic vinegar ; arnica, because in woman in to be found that quality of healing and soothing after the bruises and wounds which afflict us men in the great battle of life ; and soft soap, for reasons too obvious to need specification. ( 128 ) « FLAGELLUM SALUTIS." There is a strange old book with the above title to be found in the libraries of the curious, so quaint in character as to deserve to be better known. It was composed by Christian Franz Paullini, a German physician, and was published at Frankfort-on-Maine in 1608. It is a treatise on the advantage of the whip for curative purposes in various disorders. Dr. Paullini, in the first section of his work, directs attention to the consecration of corporal punishment by Scripture and the Church. Did not St. Paul assert, " Castigo corpus meum et in servitutem redigo ? " Does not the bishop in confirmation box the ear of the candidate, in token that he is to be ready to endure suffering and shame as a good Christian soldier ? And look at the saints of the calendar, were they not mighty in flagellation, fervent in rib-whacking ? Shall precious saints and secret ones, Break one another's outward bones ? " FLAGELLUM SALUTIS." 129 When savage bears agree with bears, Shall secret ones lug saints by the ears ? asks the Puritan in his metrical version of Psalm . Ixxxiii., and Dr. Paullini promptly answers : " Certainly, it is good for health of soul and body that they should so act towards one another." Scorpius atque fabae nostra fuere salus. Had om' learned author been acquainted with the Rabbinical gloss on the account of the Fall of Man, he would, may be, have hesitated to attribute universal benefit to the application of the rod. For, say the Rabbis, when Adam pleaded that the M^oman gave him of the tree, and he did eat, he means emphatically that she gave it him palpably. Adam was recalcitrant, Eve dedit de ligno ; the branch was stout, the arm of the " mother of all living" was muscular, and the first man succumbed, and " did eat" under compulsion. There is nothing like the rod, says the doctor ; it is a universal specific, it stirs up the stagnating juices, it dissolves the precipitating salts, it pmifies the coagulating humours of the £ 130 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. . body, it clears the brain, purges the belly, circulates the blood, braces the nerves ; in short, there is nothing which the rod will not do, when judiciously applied. Antidotum mortis si verbera dixero, credas ! Attonitum morbum nam cohibere valent. Having laid down his principle, the doctor proceeds to apply it to various complaints, giving instances, the result of experience. And first as to melancholy. One predisposing cause of melancholy, observes Paullini, is love, and that eventuates in idiotcy or insanity. To parents and guardians our author gives the advice, when the first symptoms of this complaint appear in young people under their charge, let them grasp the rod firmly, and lay it on with vigour and promptitude. The remedy' is infallible. Valescus de Taranta says, in the case of a young man — and his words are words of gold — " Whip him well, and should he not mend immediately, keep him locked up in the cellar on bread and M^ater till he promises amendment." I saw, continues our author, an instance of " FLAGELLUM SALUTIS." 131 the good effect of this treatment at Amsterdam. A stripling of twenty, comely enough in his appearance, the son of an artisan in the town, fell in love with the mayor's daughter. He could neither eat, nor drink, nor sleep, nor do anything in the remotest degree rational. The father, nnaware of the cause, put him into the hands of a medical practitioner, who did his utmost to cure him, but signally failed. At last the father's eyes were opened by means of an intercepted letter. Like a sensible man he packed his son off to the public whipping-place, there to learn better moralla. And this had the desired effect ; for he returned perfectly cured and in his right senses. But for this treatment he might have sunk into his grave, like him mentioned by P. Boaysten, who died of a broken heart through unrequited love ; and, at the post-mortem examination, his bowels were discovered to be all uncoiled, his heart shrivelled, his liver shrunk away to nothing, his lungs corroded, and his skull entirely emptied of every trace of brains. For short sight there is nothing like a good thrashing, or at least a violent blow, says our doctor. k2 132 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. An old German, aged eighty, -who had all his lifetime suffered from short sight, was one day jogging to market on his respectable mare, Dobbin. Dobbin tripped on a stone and flung her rider. The old man fell upon a stone, which pierced his skull. The dense vapours which had obscured his vision for so long were enabled to escape through the aperture, and on his recovery the venerable gentleman had the sight of an eagle. A cavalier was troubled with the same infirmity. He saw a large salmon hanging up outside a fishmonger's shop, and, mistaking it for a young lady of his acquaintance, removed his cap and addressed it with courtesy. Another youth having made great fun of the mistake, the short-sighted cavalier felt himself constrained in honour to call him out. In the duel he received a sword wound over his left eye, and this completely cured his vision. For deafness Dr. PauUini recommends a sound box on the ear. Especially successful is this treatment in the case of children who do not attend to the commands and advice of their parents ; and, on the plea of " not having heard," disobey the commands and neglect the " FLAGELLUM SALUTIS." 133 advice given. In such cases the employment of corporal punishment cannot be too highly estimated. The doctor tells the story of a boy destined for the ministry who ran away from school and apprenticed himself to a tailor, and who was cui'ed of deafness and tailoring pro- pensities by the application of a large pair of drumsticks to a sensitive part of his person, and and who eventually became a Lutheran pastor, and was, to the end of his days, able to mend his own clothes. This story furnishes the author of " Flagel- lum Salutis" with matter for a digression on clerical education. He quotes with approval the sentiments of his old patron. Dr. Shupp, expressed thus : " Now-a-days that every bumpkin makes his son study for the ministry we have them scrambling about the country begging for promotion, and grumbling because it does not come as fast as they expect. The learned son is a poor curate, with no benefice. Such a to-do about this — complaints, murmurs, and Avhat not ! Why did he not learn a trade in addition to his theology ? Luke the Evan- gelist was a theologus and medicus as well, and a painter to boot. Paul in his youth stucUed 134 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. divinity at the feet of Gamaliel, but he was a carpet manufacturer besides. Was the Keyser Rudolph a worse Emperor for being as Avell a clever craftsman I ' If I could recall my past years and begin life again,' said Dr. Shupp, ' I would not become a student only, but learn a trade besides. Then, if the thankless world kicked me, I would measure its foot for a boot ; if it made faces at me, I would paint its por- trait for it ; if my divinity did not agree with its stomach, I would dose it with purgatives like Luke. I would make the Avorld respect me for my diligence in trade, if it turned up its nose at my theology. Anyhow, I would not go about snivelling and crying poverty and want of promotion.' " To this speech of Dr. Shupp, Paullini adds a few pertinent remarks. " The lad I was tell- ing you about," he says, " had a hankering after tailoring. Well, tailoring is a honourable and useful profession. Was not Moses bidden, ' Thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for glory and for beauty. And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron garments.' Tailors, ** FLAGELLUM SALUTIS." 135 filled with the spirit of wisdom ! Why despise the craft which God has honoured 1 " It must be allowed that there is sense in this little digression. Doubtless it would be well if not those destined for the ministry only, but all the sons of the higher classes of society, were taught some manual employment in addition to the cultivation of their intellectual faculties. That our grammar-schools should take the hint is certainly not to be anticipated ; masters and governors have the same implicit confidence in classic studies as the universal panacea that Dr. Paullini professes for the rod and Dr. Sangrado for cold water and blood-letting. I do not dispute the fact that the most useful know- ledge for a lad to acquire who is destined for colonial farming, or for a mercantile life at home, is Greek prosody ; but I suggest that an acquaintance with carpentering, land-survey- ing, or book-keeping might be found advan- tageous in a secondary degree. Lockjaw is to be treated in the same manner, asserts our au.thor, and he tells an amusing anec- dote on the subject from Volquard Iversen. Nicolas Vorburg was an Oriental traveller. In the course of his wanderings he reached 136 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. Agra, the capital of the great Cham, The European was introduced to his Majesty at the dinner-hour, and found the monarch just returned from the expedition, and as hungry as a hunter. A bowl of rice was brought in. The great Cham dipped his hands into it, and ladled as much rice as they would hold into his capacious mouth, distended to the vitmost con- ceivable extent. But the great Cham had over- estimated the capabilities of the distension of his jaws, and they became dislocated. At the sight, the servants became distracted with fear. The nobles stroked their chins in uncertainty how to act, the priests had recourse to their devotions, but no one assisted the monarch out of his dilemma. He sat upon his imperial throne purple in the face, his eyes distended with horror, his mouth gaping, and full of rice. Suffocation was imminent. Nicolas Voburg, without even prostrating himself before the emperor, ran up the steps of his throne, and hit him a violent crack with the palm of his hand upon the cheek. The rice fell out of his mouth upon the imperial lap, some, it is sur- mised, descended the imperial red-lane. Another slap accomplished the relief of the monarch, ** FLAGELLUM SALUTIS." 137 and set the jaw once more in working order. At the same moment the servants screamed at the outrage committed upon the sacred majesty of the emperor, the nobles drew their swords to avenge it, and the priests converted their prayers for the recovery of their king into curses on the head of him who had sacrile- giously raised his hand to violate his divinity. Poor Yorburg would have been made into mincemeat, had not the emperor providentially recovered his breath in time to administer a reproof to his over-zealous subjects. He ac- knowledged the relief afforded him by the stranger by a present of a thousand rupees. A tailor had a son, who was only half-witted. The father was out one day, and the child, who was left in the house, after the manner of children, looked about him in quest of some mischief which he might perpetrate. A pair of elegant breeches, just completed by his father, and designed for the legs of a nobleman, was suspended from the wall. The child made a figured pattern upon the amber silk with his finger, dipped at intervals in the ink-pot. The mother was the first to discover the transforma- tion of the breeches, and, not regarding the 138 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. alteration in the same light as her child, caught up the yard-measure and administered a casti- gation to the culprit, sufficient to " stir up the stagnating juices, dissolve the precipitating salts, and purify the coagulating humours," in at least one portion of the lad's body. The youth, under the impression that high art is never appreciated at first sight, made himself as scarce as possible for some hours. The father, on his return, used every effort to obliterate the flowering of ink which his son had drawn over the amber breeches, but with only a limited degree of success — so limited, in fact, that the nobleman for whom they were destined utterly refused to invest his person in them, and they were returned on the tailor's hands. The boy, towards evening, impelled by hunger, had returned home, and was soothing his injured feelings with bread-and-butter when the father re-entered tlie house. In a moment the parental left hand had grasped the scruff of his neck, whilst the right hand dexterously completed the stirring up the stagnant juices, dissolving of precipitating salts, and purifying of coagu- lating humours with such success, that Dr. Paullini assm'es us the child grew up a miracle "flagellum salutis." 139 of discretion, and never after decorated articles of clothing otlier than his own pinafore. Under the heading of " Swollen Breasts," the learned doctor gives ns his ideas on the subject of schoolmasters and their titles. These remarks are sensible enough in their way, but hardly come under the heading he has selected for the chapter. Connected still more vaguely with swollen breasts is the commentary on some verses in the twenty-first chapter of St. John's Gospel, which closes the section. To those who suffer from toothaches he re- commends the practice of a learned professor under whom he studied. This man suffered excruciating torture from his teeth at night. The professor, the moment that his sufferings began, was wont to leave his bed and spend his night in jumping on to his table, and then jumping do^^^l again, till the pain ceased. Paullini does not state the feelings of those who slept in the room immediately underneath that occupied by Dr. Erasmus Yinding; neither does it seem clear at first sight how the jumping diversion is connected with the subject of the rod, concerning the merits of which the book treats : but on further consideration the con- 140 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. nection becomes apparent. Dr. Paullini being silent on tliis point, we have but the hght of nature to guide us to the conclusion that the saltatory performances of Dr. Erasmus would arouse and exasperate the other lodgers into an application to his scantily protected person of the universal panacea. For constitutional indolence the rod is ines- timable ; the monotony of its use as a specific may, however, be pleasingly varied by an application of corporal punishment in the fol- lowing disguised form, which, if severe, is nevertheless infallible as a cure. Hermann Habermann, a native of Mikla, deserves the credit of being the first to communicate it to the medical profession. Habermann had spent many years in Iceland, and it was there that he saw the treatment in use. An artizan, suffering from indolence, was recommended by a native doctor to let himself be sewn up in a sack stuffed with wool, and then be drao;o;ed about, rolled down hill, thumped, kicked, and jumped ujDon by his friends and acquaintances. When he emerged from his sack he was to take a draught to open his pores, and to go to bed. The remedy was tried, and succeeded. "flagellum salutis." 141 A somewhat similar cure came under Paullini's personal observation. A nobleman had a jester who was dotingly fond of fowls. He stole all his master s poultry, so that his master was obliged to do without eggs for his breakfast. The fool, moreover, was lamentably deficient in fun, and was by no means worth his keep. At last his master determined on correcting him severely. He had him sown up in a hop bag and well thrashed, and then rolled down hill and thrashed again. The fool never stole eggs from that day forward, and from being but a poor fool be became one famous for his brilliant parts and sparkling humour. For tertian fever, the rod is an admirable specific. A la^vyer once suffered from this complaint, which left him at times able to continue his avocation. He had brought upon himself the ill-feeling of a certain gentleman whom he had, in one of his pleadings turned into ridicule. This person determined to punish the advocate as soon as a convenient oppor- tunity presented itself. The opportunity came. The lav/yer was riding home one day, past the house of the nobleman, when the latter descried 142 CUKIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. him, and immediately sent him a message re- questing a moment's private conversation. The unfortunate advocate fell into the trap. Ex- pecting to get employment in a fresh suit, he hurried eargerly to the castle, only to find the gates closed upon him and all egress prevented. In another moment the insulted gentleman stood before him. " Vile bloodhound of the law!" he exclaimed, "you have long escaped the punishment due to you for your insolence and temerity. You disgraced me publicly, and I shall revenge my- self upon you by degrading you in a manner certain to humble your pride. Yet I am merciful. I gixe you your choice of two modes of suffering. You shall either sit on an ant- hill, in the clothing provided you by nature, till you have learned by heart the seven peni- tential psalms ; or you shall run the gauntlet in the same dcgage costume round my court- yard, where will be ranged all my ser- vants armed wdth rods wherewith to belabour you." The hapless lawyer cast himself on his knees before the nobleman, and imj^lored mercy. He pleaded that he had his wife and children to " FLAGELLUM SALUTIS." 143 provide for ; but the other rephed that this was not to the point, as he had no intention of injuring the ladj or the infants. Then the lawyer alleged his illness, saying that the access of fever would be on him next day, and that the punishment wherewith he was threatened — either of them in fact — might terminate fatally. "That," replied the injured gentleman, "can only be ascertained by experiment. My own impression is that the ants or the whips will produce a counter irritation, which may prove beneficial. Still," he continued, stroking his chin, "we mortals are all liable to err, and my impression may be unfounded. I will frankly acknowledge my mistake if convinced by the result taking the direction you antici- pate." Reluctantly the poor advocate made his election of the treatment he was to undej'go. From the ants and the penitential psalms he recoiled with horror, and he chose shudderingly to run the gauntlet. So he ran it. Black and blue, bruised and bleeding, the wretched man was dismissed at last, to return to the bosom of his family. The nobleman was 144 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. right, the lawyer was for ever cured of his tertian fever. In another work of the same author, "Zeit- kiirzende, erbauliche lust," 8vo. Frankfort, 1693, the doctor argues the case, whether an honourable man may thrash his wife ; and concludes that such a course of action entirely depends on the behaviour and temperament of the wife. Woman was created to be good, quiet, and orderly; where she is otherwise she is going contrary to her vocation, and art must be employed to correct nature. Eve was made and given to Adam, reasons Paullini, to be a helpmeet to him, and not to be the plague and worry of his life. Woman's vocation is to be a modest and gentle angel, and not to be a brazen, furious demon. Every woman is either one or the other. If she is as heaven made her, she takes to the bit and rein readily, is easily managed without the whip, and is perfectly docile. If, however, she is what the evil one would have her, she takes the. bit in her teeth, sets back her ears, plunges and kicks ; and woe to the man who comes within reach of her tongue, her claws, or her toes. Then there is " FLAGELLUM SALUTIS." 145 need for the rod. To a good wife, " there is a golden ornament upon her, and her bands are purple lace : thou shalt put her on as a robe of honour, and shalt put her about thee as a crown of joy." But as for the bad wife, deal with her after the advice of the poet Joachim Eachel : — Thou wilt be constrained her head to punch, And let not thine eye then spare her : Grasp the first weapon that comes to hand — Horsewhip, or cudgel, or walking-stick. Or batter her well with the warming-pan ; Dread not to fling her down on the earth, Nerve well thine arm, let thy heart be stout As ii'on, as brass, or stone, or steel. For no wrath is equal to a woman's wrath ; and better is it to live in the cage of an African lion, or of a dragon torn from its whelps, than to live in the house with such a woman. In all wickedness the worst is woman's wicked- ness. Why, asks the doctor, what sort of a life did Jupiter lead in heaven with his preci- ous Juno ? Poor god ! he let her get the upper hand of him. Had he but taken his stick to her instead of scolding, he might have had Olympus quiet, and have saved himself from being badgered through eternity. L 146 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. Tliey managed things better in Rome. A . man had a wife fall of bad tempers. He went to the oracle and asked what should be done with a garment which had moths in it. "Dust it," was the oracular response. " And/' added the man, " I have a wife who is full of her nasty little tempers ; should not she be treated in a similar manner 1 " " To be sure," an- swered the oracle, " dust her daily." And never was a truer or better bit of advice given by an oracle. The work of Dr. Paullini called forth others in response, and doubtless enthusiastic devo- tees of the rod abounded. His views were, however, combatted by others. From a tract ao"ainst the use of the rod I cull one curious and droll story, wherewith to conclude this article :■ — A husband accompanied his wife to confes- sion. The lady having opened her griefs, the father who was shriving her insisted on ad- ministering a severe penitential scourging. The husband, hearing the first stroke inflicted on his better-half, interfered, and m'ged that his wife was delicate, and that as he and she were one flesh, it would be better for him, as the " FLAGELLUM SALUTIS." 147 stronger vessel, to receive the scourging intended for his helpmate. The confessor ha-sdng con- sented to this substitution, the man knelt in his wife's place, while she retired from the confes- sional. Whack ! whack ! went the cat, followed by a moan from the good man's lips. "Harder! — harder!" ejaculated the wife; " I am a grievous sinner ! " Whack ! whack ! whack ! " Lay it on ! " cried she ; " I am the worst of sinners." Whack ! whack ! and a howl from the suf- ferer. "Never mind his cries, father ! " exclaimed she ; " remember only my sins. Make him smart here, that I may escape in purgatory." L 2 ( 148 ) « HERMIPPUS EEDIVIVUS." "Man," said the learned Prioli, "is composed of soul, body, and goods. In his pilgrimage through life these component parts are con- stantly exposed to three mortal enemies ; the devils, who are ever seeking the destruction of his soul ; the doctors, vsdio are intent on ruining his constitution ; and the lawyers, who seek to rob him of his goods." We will put the devils aside for a moment, the lawyers too, with the tongs, and devote our attention to the doctors. We have already examined the medical treatise entitled " Flagel- lum Salutis," wherein was exposed the excel- lence of the whip for the cure of every disorder to which mortality is heir. We propose con- sidering another equally startling tractate in this paper, one more modern by a few years than that of Dr. Paullini, but its superior in absurdity. The title of the work is " Her- mippus Redivivus, or a curious physico-medical examination of the extraordinary manner in " HERMIPPUS EEDIVIVUS." 149 which he extended his life to 115 years by inhaling the breath of little girls ; taken from a Roman memorial, but now supported on medical grounds, as also illustrated and elucidated by a wondrous discovery of philosophical chemistry, by Johan Heinrich Cohausen, M.D." 8vo., 1743.* This extraordinary book is adorned with an illustration, representing a pedagogue with a big nose, of Brobdignagian proportions, keeping a mixed school of solemn little girls in jackets and aprons, and little prigs of boys in stocks, knee-breeches, coats and wigs. One little boy, whose body is the size of the master's hand, sits reading a book on his right knee. On the ground at his left is a little maiden, just reaching to the top of the master's gaiters. A tiny dog is sitting up begging in the midst of a class in the middle distance ; and in the back- ground, behind a row of urchins who are not looking at their books, is a cat as big as any one of them, attacking a cage containing a * Original edition in Latin. A translation by John Campbell, LL.D., under the title of "HermippusKedivivus," London, 1743. A second edition much enlarged, under the title '• Hermippus Redivivus, or the Sage's Triumph over Old Age and the Grave," London, 1749, 8vo. We have seen also an Italian translation. That from which we quote is the German edition. 150 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. singina; bird. The whole of this strange work is biiih on a Roman inscription, said to have been found in the seventeenth century, and figured by Thomas Eeinsius, — " In syntagmate Inscriptionum Antiquarum" — and afterwards by Johann Keyser in his " Parnassus Clivensis." This inscription, which we strongly suspect to be not genuine, runs as follows : — AESCULAPIO . ET . SANITATI . L . CLODIUS . HERMIPPUS. QUI . VIXIT . ANNOS . CXV . DIES . V . PUELLARUM . ANHELITU . QUOD . ETIAM . POST MORTEM EIUS . NON . PARUM . MIRANTUR . PHYSICI . JAM . POSTERI . SIC . VITAM . DUCITE . that is to say : " To ^sculapius and to health, L. Clodivis Hermippus dedicates this, who lived 115 years, 5 days, on the breath of little girls, which, even after his death, not a little astonishes physicians. Ye who follow, protract your life in like manner." Other old writers, as Cujacius and Dale- champius, qviote similar inscriptions, as "L. Clodius Hirpanus vixit Annos CXV. Dies V. alitus Puerorum anhelitu," and "L. Clodius " HEKMIPPUS EEDIVIVUS." 151 HIrpanus vixit Annos CLV. Dies V. Puerorum lialitu refocillatus et educatus." These inscriptions are sufficiently like and unlike to make it more than probable that they are all forgeries. It is hardly to be conceived that there should have been two individuals with names so very similar, living similar lengths of time,* the one on little girls' breath, the other on that of little boys. If, however, we are to suppose them genuine, we have : — "Lucius Clodius Hermippus dying aged 115 years, 5 days ; " "Lucius Clodius Hirpanus dying, aged 155 years, 5 days." However, the authenticity of these monu- ments is of little importance. Let us to our book. Dr. Cohausen enters on a minute verbal commentary on the words of the inscription, after having relieved his enthusiasm in a lengthy preface, and a still longer epistle dedicatory to a doctor of his acquaintance. The commentary is as careful as though life hung upon each letter of the text. Having completed this portion of his work, the author * It is possible that, by the engraver's fault, the X in the first inscrii:)tion have been substituted for an L. 152 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. gives rein to his fancy, and elaborates from his internal consciousness a life of L. Clodius Her- mippus. This is too curious to be passed over. Dr. Cohausen asks how the subject of the inscription managed to live upon the breath of little girls. He inquires whether Hermippus was a very wealthy man, and enters into reasons which appear to him conclusive to the contrary. He makes elaborate calculations as to the number of children who would have been necessary to supply breath to Hermippus, sup- posing them to have been changed every five years, and he to have adopted his system of prolonging life at the age of 60. After having discussed the question whether Lucius Clodius were a schoolmaster, or the director of a hospital for children, he concludes that he was the head of an orphanage supported by Government ; and when he has quite satisfied his mind upon that point. Dr. Cohausen proceeds to sketch the daily routine of the life of Hermippus, as follows : " The orphanage, which was like a palace, had many handsome dwelling and dining rooms, adapted for the daily uses of himself and the children, so that the breath and exhalations from " HERMIPPUS REDIYIVUS." 153 such a number of little girls might fill the enclosed air, and might mingle to compose a salubrious vapour ; and, absorbed into the lungs of Hermippus, might the better exercise the desired properties. In these rooms he spent with them the greater part of the day, occupy- ing the time in friendly and agreeable conver- sation, unfolding to them good rules of life, relating innocent stories, and wisely pronouncing exhortations on the practice of virtue. Early in the morning, when the noise of the awaking children aroused him, at his command they kindled in the room a fire, in order that the air, which had become thickened during the night, might be rarified. In damp weather they per- fumed it with the best perfumes several times in the day, because they had been instructed by their master how necessary this was to the preservation of health. When the aged man left his room the little damsels waited on him in the breakfast-chamber, and wished him a happy morning. Often he explained to them the dreams which they related to him, making them conduce to their moral edification. Some of those sufficiently old to have an inkling of the art of flattery, combed out his snow-white hair ; 154 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. others smoothed out his long white beard ; others, again, rubbed his back with a coarse towel, which is considered very good for the health of old people. And if, at that period, tea or coffee had been cbunk, unquestionably they would have supplied him with it. At all events, we may conclude, as these beverages were not then in vogue, that it is quite possible to reach a great age without imbibing them. When school-time was over they passed the rest of the day in childish sports, with the permission of Hermippus. They jumped about, they played with their dolls, sometimes they also sang, for old people consider nothing so good for health, and so invigorating, as vocal music. And in this manner everything conduced to assist the expirations of the little girls in sup- porting our old man. If ever he was compelled to leave the room, one might see the children dragging at his coat-tails to detain him, and fervently desiring his return. Adjoining the orphanage was a pleasant garden, in which were plants and flowers calculated by their odour to quicken the vital spirit, and assist in the prolongation of life. With these the maidens daily adorned the rooms. Into this " HERMIPPUS EEDIVIVUS." 155 garden Hermippus betook himself with all the little girls, each provided with a doll ; and he walked about with them in it, chaffed them, romped, danced and sang, acting as though his limbs were those of youth. A thousand little rogueries, a thousand little jokes on the part of the tiny lassies assisted in enlivening him, for they possessed the art of making themselves cheerful. They wreathed flowers, and placed a crown of spring-blossoms on the white head of Hermippus, and thus he spited the fates and reached an advanced age." AYill it be believed that all this detail is pure invention on the part of Dr. Cohausen ? The learned author next proceeds to reason upon the cause producing these results ; he solves the question why the breath of little girls should tend to prolong life. " The breath," says Dr. Cohausen, " consists of an inhalation and an exhalation : and if I speak scientifically, I say that when man breathes he lets forth the thick and thin airs through his mouth and nostrils, which he had before received into his lungs, where they had become impreg- nated with the evaporations from his body, the subtilised watery particles, and vitaHsing blood, 156 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. the balsamic and sulphuric atoms. Wherefore the human breath when outside the spiracles has a material character, namely an exhalation from the vapours and gases which are inter- mixed with the blood and sap of the human body ; and it is so especially in the breath of little girls. So observes Ficinus. This air is warm or tepid, and it moves and is endowed unmistakably with life, and like an animal is composed of joints and limbs, so that it can turn itself about, and not only so, but it has a soul also ; so that we may certainly predicate that it is an animal composed of vapour, and endowed with reason. Consequently, any one who draws into his lungs this breath or con- glomerated vapour, must necessarily absorb into his system the properties of that body from which it emanated, and from which it derived its being. For we know by experience that the air which enters the lungs dry, goes forth carry- ing with it moisture, as may be seen by breathing on a glass, or in cold weather. Also, when we inhale the breath of any one who is ill, we are conscious of receiving infection. On the other hand, it is manifest that the breath of a young and vigorous person, charged with powerful volatile " HEEMIPPUS KEDIVIVUS." 157 salts, will have a balsamic and vitalising capacity, or at the least a mechanical elasticity, which must communicate vigour." The doctor quotes with approval the opinion of Van Helmont, that the air absorbed into the lungs penetrates the whole system, and circulates through every part, to the very hair, catching up volatile salts on its passage. Thence he concludes that the ex- halations of little girls, who are brimming over with vitality, and heaven knows what life-giving salts, must be charged with some of their re- dundant vitality ; and if this breath be inhaled by an old man, he assumes into himself, and absorbes into his constitution, that life which had been cast off as superfluous by the children. Quae spiramina dat puella ? Nectar. Dat rores anim® suave oleutes, Dat nardumque thymumque cinnamumque, Et mel, quale jugis teguut Hymetti Aut in Cecropiis apes rosetis, Quae si multa mihi voranda dentur, Immortalis in iis repente fiam. The third line, with its repetition of " unique,'^ is peculiar rather than elegant. The doctor rates the schoolmasters of his day for smoking during class hours : he tells them that they are 158 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. losing an opportunity of inhaling the most in- vigorating salts at no expense. Quando doces pueros, tibi fistula semper in ore est, Atque schol^ fumos angulus omuis habet. " Oh, my Orbilius ! " he exclaims, " where- fore dost thou do so ? Dost thou complain of the stuffiness of the school-room. Thou art mistaken, Orbilius, these vapours are full of volatile salts, by which, if thou wert wise, thou wouldst attain a long life. Away with thy nasty pipe, and suck in rather these redolent exhala- tions Avherehy thou mayest become healthy and aged." It must not be supposed that the scientific — or physico-medical, as the doctor calls it — portion of the svibject is dismissed in such few words. The author dilates on the theory, turns it over, tosses it about, takes a bite, squeezes it, holds it up for admiration, and then reluctantly puts it aside. In the course of his physico-medical argument, he introduces a few illustrative anec- dotes. One of these taken from P. Borellus Cent. 3, Obs. 58, is to this effect : A servant much devoted to his master, on his return from a journey, found his lord dead and prepared for burial. Full of grief, he cast himself on the " HEKMIPPUS REDIVIVUS." 159 deceased, and kissing his pallid lips poured forth a whirlwind of sighs. The breath thus emitted penetrated to the lungs of the corpse, inflated them, and the dead opened his eyes, winked, and sat up. The sigh of the faithful domestic had fanned into flame the expiring, and as all had deemed expired, vital spark. From the sage Orubelius our author quotes another story in confirmation of his hypothesis : A woman had died in her first confinement or, at all events, had fallen into a state which was believed by the attendants and by Orube- lius, who was the physician present, to be dead. She lay thus for a quarter of an hour devoid of sense and feeling, with pale face, stationary pulse, and with lungs which had ceased to play. A maid-servant who thus beheld her, opened her mouth, and breathed into it ; whereupon the patient revived. The physician then asked the girl where she had learned the use of this simple yet efficient restorative, and the servant replied that she had seen it practised upon new- born children with the happiest results. The author also assures us of the beneficial effect produced by wringing the necks of poultry before a person in articulo mortis, and making 160 CUKIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. the cocks and hens breathe out their souls into the mouth of the dying, whereby he is not un- frequently restored, and becomes quite well and chirrupy. But, continues Dr, Cohausen, it is not only the exhalations from the lungs which ai'e life- generative, but also those from the pores. The pores are little mouths situated all over the body, constantly engaged in the aeration of the blood ; they inhale the surrounding atmosphere and then exhale it again, charged with balsamic and sulphurous particles taken up from the system. Men's bodies are pneumatic-hydraulic machines, composed of fluid and solid materials, and health depends on the fluids being prevented from coagulating, by being stirred up by the constant operations of the currents of air which penetrate the frame through the pores and mouth. The solid portion of the body is disposed to harden and dry up and become stiff, and this produces ag3 and decay ; but if the circulation of the fluids be kept up by the healthful infusion of fresh vital force and living energies, then de- crepitude and death may be almost indefinitely postponed. Now the lips of the little mouths or pores all ^'HERMIPPUS EEDrVTVTJS." 161 over the person can be kept flexible by oil, and therefore enabled to perform their functions with facility. Thus Pollio, an ancient soldier of the Emperor Augustus, when asked how he had succeeded in prolonging his energies over a hundred years, replied that he had daily moistened his outer man with oil, and his inner man with honey. Dr. Cohausen proceeds to lay down that it is better to absorb the exhala- tions of little girls than those of little boys, because females are more oily than males — a view we in no way feel inclined to dispute, with- out having recourse to the receipt of Mocrodius for wholesale incremations, which the doctor quotes to establish the fact : — " Lay one female body to six male bodies, in a great pyre, for thereby the male corpses are the more speedily consumed." No doubt about it : there is enough combustible material in one woman to set any number of men in a blaze. Johannes Fabricius, in his " Palladium Chy- micum," relates that he knew of a lady whose hair when combed emitted sparks. Bartholinus mentions in his " Tractatus de Luce Hominum " the case of a female who flashed fire whenever her limbs or back were M 162 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. rubbed with a towel. These examples lead our author to conclude that in women there is not merely a considerable amount of oil, but that there is also no small item of latent fire ; we are inclined to add, explosive material as well. The advantage of old men marrying young wives is next discussed by Dr. Cohausen ; and he strongly urges all who have entered on the sere and yellow leaf, to take to themselves wives of very early age ; that, if Providence has not made them superintendents of orphanages, or schoolmasters, they may be enabled at small expense to inhale youthful breath. Men with wives already are to sleep and spend their days in the nursery. As an instance of the advantage of patriarchs taking girlish wives, he relates the story of a certain ancient man with snow-white hair and beard, who married at the advanced age of eighty. After a while the old man fell ill; all his hair and skin came off. On his re- covery, he had a fresh transparent complexion, and a magnificent bushy head and chin of vivid red hair. "Whatever you do!" earnestly entreats the doctor, " never marry an old woman ; she will " HEEMIPPUS REDIVIVUS." 163 absorb all the vital principle from your lungs, and poison you with her exhalations. Alas for him, who, in hopes of gaining money, marries a rich old spinster ! She becomes youthful, and he prematurely aged. For old women," he continues, "are like cats, whose breath is poisonous to life. From the eyes and mouth a cat discharges so much that is hurtful, that it has been the cause of innumerable com- plaints. Indeed, Matthiolus (lib. vi. in Diosc. C.25,) relates that a whole monastery of Religious died because they kept a great number of cats." "My dear reader," says Cohausen, "if you are young and wish to marry, follow the advice of Baron von Hevel, late member of the Imperial Council, which he gives in his 'Psalmodia Sacra ' : — Si cupis uxorem quae prfestet ubique decorem, Formidetque marem, dilige sorte parem, Prolificam, bellam, prudentem quaere puellam, Nou genium vanum, nee viduam nee anum. That is : — If you want a wife wdio may be a credit to you, and respect her husband, choose a girl your equal, prolific, comely, prudent ; not m2 164 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. a giddy head, nor an old widow." If this is a specimen of the Baron's Sacred Psalmonj, we must allow the book to be very light reading for a Sunday. In reading this extraordinary w^ork, one is astonished at the manner in which the author seems to regard the fair sex as merely phar- maceutic agents, putting them much on a level with pills and powders, created for the purpose of keeping men in good health, and prolonging their lives. The idea scarce suggests itself to him, that they may object to be so regarded and administered. Dr. Cohausen would, as soon as look at you, wTite a prescription con- taining, among other items, so many respirations of the breath of little girls to be taken in scented smoke. lb oz. drm. E^. Gum Olibani 1 8 ,, Styrac 2 ,, Myrrhi 2 ,, Benz. 4 Corb. case. pulv. 4 Aiihel. puellarum . quant, suff. When the question does arise, how the damsels will like this treatment, the doctor brushes it aside with imperturbable coolness. *' HEKMIPPUS REDIVIVUS." 165 It will be a great honour to tliem, to be tlius rendered conducive to the prolongation of male life. Indeed, it will cause them not to be held as cheap as they are now. At present they are good-for-noughts ; but employed to infuse the breath of life into men's lungs, they will be respected and valued. And now, with a flourish of horns, he intro- duces the " Wondrous discovery of philosophical chymistry," of which he boasted on his title- page. " Kow then, O ye cooks of Gebri, or, that I may give you your better title, ye sons of Hermes, who has taught you to extract the marvellous stone of the philosophers from the fire, that thereby ye may be skilled to sus- tain a protracted life ! Now will I disclose to you a new philosophy? The once famous hermetic philosopher in France, Johann Petsus Faber of Montpelier, boasted of a certain arcanum animale which would cause any one who used it to be free from injury caused by the inclemency of the weather, from the grey hairs of age, from exhaustion through bodily fatigue, or through mental tension, whom no sickness would enfeeble, but who would reach the term fixed by Providence for his days, free from 166 CUKIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. injury from every foe. I shall prove that Hermippus protracted his life by the use of such an arcanum. For although, hitherto, it has been an unknown arcanum to use the crude breath of little maidens for the prolongation of the mortal existence, still it will be regarded a far higher arcanum if this can be concentrated and cooked into an essence by chymical process, so that it should have in itself the invisible spirit of nature, and the subtilised fundamental principle of life. Let no one consider what I am now about to relate as a fable, but let him hold it as genuine fact. In my youth I had the good fortune to have the entree of the house of an illustrious personage, whose lady was immeasurably learned in the hermetic science, and laboured at it along with her husband ; with her I had the opportunity of discussing the pri- mordial matter of universal substance, which the philosophers have veiled under enigma and fable. She boasted that she had learned the secret of this from an Italian Adeptus at Rome, and thereby she aroused my cm'iosity to hear what it was : although, at the time, I was by no means slightly acquainted with hermetic philosophy. " HERMIPPUS REDIVrVUS." 167 " Once, as I urgently besouglit her to do me the favour of disclosing to me this mystery, she began, after the manner of philosophers, to speak in similitude : she said the ens spirituale was that without which no man could exist. It was common to all, to rich and poor alike. Adam brought it with him out of Paradise, and in it lay a nourishing principle of life attenuated in water and exhaled in air. I will not refer to other enigmas, which she knew how to propound from the writings of philosophers. " Li order to make the matter more conclu- sive, she ordered to be brought from her cabinet a vessel containing cold water, which she held under my nose, telling me that it was the true suhjectum of science, distilled, as one might con- clude, from female exhalations, which Flamellus terms corporeal vapour. With this she roused to the highest pitch my anxiety to thoroughly sound the mystery, as I had already seen hints of these properties in the writings of Sandi- vogius and other philosophers. I did not fail to use my utmost persuasion on every available opportunity to penetrate the secret of this Lixivium microcosmi. At last the favour was accorded me, and I ascertained that tliis holy 168 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. arcanum consisted in human breath, which was collected from this lady's servant i^irls, and liqui- fied in glass instruments curved liked trumpets. The water thus gathered was concentrated in retorts and other chymical apparatus, and was the very essence fixed of impalpable matter. "By means of this discovery, life may be easily prolonged over a hundred years, for this vapour of breath collected from maidens in trumpets, when distilled, becomes an elixir of life, and by the copious use of this concentrated vitality steamed down to an essence, man be- comes interpenetrated with living energy capable of resisting disease and repeUing the inroads of age." If we consider that the substances we absorb into our bodies become part of ourselves, and that our systems are undergoing a perpetual assimilation of the particles taken into us and renovation thereby, so that every seven years we have totally changed our substance, it is evident that, in the words of a learned friend of Doctor Cohausen, "This entire Hermippus, since he lived over one hundred years, must have been completely transmutated into the "hebmippus kedivivus." 169 breath and porous exhalations of Httle girls ; so that his career must have closed by evapora- tion." It is certain that men can live a long time on what they inspire, without eating; for the famous laughing philosopher Democritus, who lived to 109, when near liis death observed that his sister was depressed, and on inquiring the cause, ascertained that she had anticipated great pleasure by attending an approaching festival of Ceres, but that she feared his death would render it an infringement of etiquette for her to be present at the public festivities. Demo- critus consoled her by promising to live over the day. And, in order to extend his life the required time, he ordered her to keep warm bread poultices under his nose, that by con- stantly inhaling the nourishing vapours he might be preserved. AYhen the festival was over he ordered the bread pap to be removed, where- upon he gently expired. Now, argues our doctor, — and this is a signal illustration of his method of drawing conclu- sions from insufficient premises, — if the vapour of bread could sustain the fleeting spirit of Democritus, — then the still more invigorating 170 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. outbreathings of little maidens will prolong life indefinitely; — for only consider how much better are little girls than soft pap ! At the startling results of this discovery : — Non parum mirantur physici ; therefore ye — Posteri, sic vitam ducite ! ( 171 ) THE BARONESS DE BEAUSOLEIL. "IVIadame de Beausoleil, astronomer and alchemist in the seventeenth century, who came from Germany to France in the exercise of her profession, was incarcerated at Vincennes in 1641, by order of Cardinal Richelieu ; the date of her death is unknown." Such is all that the great French biographical dictionaries have to sa.y concerning a woman of surprising talent, indomitable perseverance, and a martyr of science. She was the first to draw attention to the mineral resources of France, and to indi- cate the profit which might accrue to the treasury by the working of the mines. And how did France repay her services ? By despoiling her of her private wealth, by casting her into prison, and leaving her to perish forgotten in its dun- geons. And even now her very name and services are passed over and ignored. A sad chapter is that in the history of science which relates the names of its martyrs, recording their services and the ingratitude and ignominy with 172 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. which they were repaid. Among these martyrs the good Baroness of Beausoleil deserves com- memoration, and merits now the attention that the age in which she lived refused to yield to her. The date and place of her birth cannot be fixed with accuracy ; but, as a memoir published in 1640 says that for thirty years she had been engaged in mineralogical studies, it seems pro- bable that she was born about 1590. She be- longed to the noble family of Bertereau, in the Touraine ; her Christian name was Martine. In 1610 she married Jean du Chatelet, Baron de Beausoleil and d'Auffenbach, a Brabantine nobleman of great learning and abilities. The Baron had borne arms in his youth, but his natural tastes lay in the direction of natural philosophy, and his attention was chiefly directed to mineralogy, then a science in its earliest infancy. Following the bent of his inclinations, and impelled by the desire of obtaining a prac- tical acquaintance with the working of mines, and the character and conditions of the dif- ferent metal ores 171 situ, he visited in order the mines of Germany, Hungary, Bohemia, Tyrol, Silesia, Moravia, Poland, Sweden, Italy, Spain, THE HAEONESS DE BEAUSOLEIL. 173 Scotland, and England. By this means he obtained a practical knowledge of his subject possessed by no other in his day, and an intimate acquaintance with ores and their indications, which made him the first of mineralogists. The German emperors Rudolph and Matthias recog- nised his abilities, and constituted him Com- missary-General of the Hungarian Mines. The Aivhduke Leopold created him Director- in-Chief of the Trentin and Tyrolean mines, and the Dukes of Bavaria, Nieubourg, and Cleves conferred upon him similar offices in their territories ; lastly, a brevet of like nature was given him by the Pope for the States of the Church. In 1600, at the recommendation of Pierre de Beringhen, Controller-General of the French mines, the Baron came to France. Ten years after he married Martine de Bertereau, who thenceforth became his com- panion in all his travels, his fellow-labourer in the same field of science, and who even sur- passed him in ability and skill in detecting the indications of ore. The couple examined together the German, Italian, and Swedish mines. She then crossed the Atlantic to in- vestigate those of the New World. She next 174 CUKIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. applied herself to the study of chemistry, geometry, hydraulics, and mechanics, and became accomplished in each of these sciences. She was able to speak fluently Italian, German, English, Spanish, French, and was a Latin and Hebrew scholar. In 1626, Cinq-Mars, then superintendent of tlie mines, gave the Baron a commission to traverse several of the provinces, and open mines wherever he found indications of ore. Whilst thus engaged, the Baron pub- lished a volume on " The True Philosophy concerning the First Matter of Minerals," a work of no great value, as it is overloaded with the absurd theories of the metamorphosis of metals then in vogue, and deficient in informa- tion experimentally obtained. The course of his investigations led him and his wife to Morlaix, in Brittany, and there, in 1627, an event took place which gave them considerable annoyance, as well as proving a severe pecuniary loss. The Baron was engaged in examining a mine in the forest of Buisson- Rochemaree, and his wife was at Rennes seeing to the registration of their commission. Taking advantage of the absence of both at the same time, a provincial provost, Touche-Grippe by THE BARONESS DE BEAUSOLEIL. 175 name, of the race of Doghei^ry, made an entry into their house, under the plea of search after magical apparatus, for, as the provost said, " How can mortal man discover what is under- ground without diabolical aid ?" On this pretext, then, the house was ransacked, and Dogberry hud violent hands on every article which aroused his curiosity or attracted his cupidity. The boxes were broken open, the cupboards burst into, the drawers searched, and gold, silver, jewels, mineralogical specimens, scientific instruments, legal documents, notes of observations made in the course of travel, every fragment of manuscript, private letters, and maps, were carried off by Touche-Grippe and appropriated to his own use. On the return of the Baron and Baroness to Morlaix they found that, in addition to this robbery in the name of justice, a charge was laid against them of magic. They were con- strained to appear before Touche-Grippe and a fellow-magistrate of like nature, and free themselves of the charge. They were allowed to depart exculpated, but without their property, which the magistrate refused to surrender. The Baron appealed to the Parliament of Brittany, 176 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. but without obtaining any redress ; he then applied to that of Paris, but Touche-Grippe had friends at court, and the appeal of the Baron was rejected. Twelve years after, in 1640, we find the Baroness still asking for re- dress, and still in vain. The failure of the couple in obtaining any attention so irritated them that they left France and returned to Germany, Mdiich had always recognised their services and treated them with the respect due to their abilities and attainments. Ferdinand II. at once placed the Baron de Beausoleil in charge of the Hungarian mines. But, unfortunately, the nobleman and his wife were not content to remain in Germany, and after a few years resolved on trying their fortune once more in France. This time they determined on carrying on their operations upon a more extensive scale, and in 1682 they entered the kingdom of Louis XIII., accom- panied by fifty German and ten Hungarian miners, together with private servants. The King at once renewed the commission given by Cinq-Mars in 1626, and the Baron commenced a series of explorations in Brittany and in the south of France. The Parliaments of Dijon THE BARONESS DE BEAUSOLEIL. 177 and Pau having objected to the commission, the Kino; issued an order to them to recognise the Baron and his wife, and to aid them in their search after minerals by affording them every facihty which lay in their power. Notmth- standing this apparent royal support, the two mineralogists obtained no pecuniary assistance from Government, but were expected to carry on all their operations at their private expense. The maintenance of sixty miners, the prosecu- tion of extensive works, and the travelling from province to province, could not fail to reduce the means of the couple very considerably. A little glory might accrue to them, but they were sure of becoming the objects of jealousy ; they obtained praise from the King, but no money ; and after ha-\dng expended 30,000 livres — in fact, their whole fortune — they were as far from obtaining any pecuniary acknowledgment of their services as they were when first entering France. In 1632 the Baroness addressed a memoir to the King on the mineral treasures of the country; it was entitled "Veritable Declara- tions made to the King and his Council of the rich and inestimable Treasures lately discovered in the Kingdom;" but as this met with no N 178 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. response, she reprinted it under the title "Verit- able Declarations of the Discovery of JNIines and Minerals in France, by means of which his Majesty and his subjects will be enabled to do without Foreign Mineral Trade ; also concern- ing the Properties of Certain Sources and Mineral Waters lately discovered at Chateau- Thierry by Madame Martine de Bertereau, Baroness de Beausoleil." In this interesting memoir one hundred and fifty mines are indi- cated as having been discovered by the Baron and his wife. The Government, satisfied of the value of the services of the two foreigners, but unwilling, for all that, to pay them, now, as acknowledgment, conferred on them a new brevet, gi\"ing them extended powers, and elevating the Baron to the grade of Inspector- General of all the mines in France. If glory alone could suffice as a reward to merit, the Baron du Chatelet and Madame de Bertereau must have felt content with the dignity now conferred upon them. But a glory which cost them their whole fortune, and which in no way repaid their labours, must have seemed to them a bitter deception. Little by little the worthy couple had to re- THE BAKONESS DE BEAUSOLEIL. 179 clnce their retinue and to curtail their expenses, and after ten years of unrequited exertion iu behalf of the crown, their train was scanty enough. However, their hopes w^ere not yet exhausted, promises had been made to them of the most brilliant description, and they relied upon the honour of the French crown to redeem them. In 1640 the Baroness appealed to Cardinal Richelieu in a pamphlet entitled " La Restitu- tion de Pluton a I'Eminentissime Cardinal Due de Richelieu," a second title-page adds, "with a refutation of those who believe that mines and subterranean matters are only discovered by magic and by the aid of the devil." Whether the Cardinal read the memoir or not, we cannot say, but undoubtedly he perused the dedicatory epistle, or, at all events, the sonnet it contains, which sums up its flatteries and hyperbolic compliments. Esprit prodigieux, chef-d'oeuvre de nature, Elixir epure de tons les grands esprits, Puisque vous conduisez notre bonne aventure Arretez un pen I'oeil sur ces divins ecrits. Ces ecrits sont dresses pour une architecture, Dont la saiute beaute vous rendra tout epris ; N 2 180 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. Le soleil et les cieux conduisent la structure, Et vous, vous conduisez cet ouvrage entrepris. La France et les Francais vous demandent les mines ; L'or, I'argent, et I'azur, Taimant, les calamines, Sont des tresors caches par I'esprit de Dieu. Si vous autorisez ce que Ton vous pro^^ose, Vous verrez, Monseigneur, que, sans metamor- phose, La France deviendra bientot un Riche-Lieu. " The Restitution of Pluto " is a book most interesting, not only on account of the erudition and rare acquaintance with natural philosophy which it displays, but also from the stately and vigorous writing of the authoress. It contains passages glowing with energy, and is composed in a style of dignified and manly eloquence. Maybe the publication of this work opened the eyes of the Cardinal to the fact that the State certainly was indebted to this illustrious couple for services gratuitously rendered during up- wards of ten years. The most convenient method of paying them was that of silencing the voices which cried for acknowledgment, and thus stifling the claims on the royal exchequer. Slanderous reports were circulated relative to THE BARONESS DE BEAUSOLEIL. 181 the Beaiisoleils, and they were accused of various crimes. Tlie suspicion of magic, which had attached to them from the time of the inquisi- tion of the provost of Morlaix, was revived, and the prejudices of the age tended to give it force to overthrow the noble pair. Old superstitions concerning gnomes of the mines and subter- ranean demons were not yet extinct. The Baroness herself believed in them, and in one of her works speaks of her having encountered some of them. In the Mines of Neusol and Chemnitz in Hungary, she says, " I saw little dwarfs about three or four palms high, old, and dressed like miners, that is, clothed in an old suit, and with a leather apron, a white tunic and cap, a lamp and staff in hand — terrible spectres to those who are unaccustomed to mines." Several times already, as appears from her ^vritings, she and her husband had been exposed to the violence of the rude and ignorant rustics, who thought their scientific instruments means for conjuring up the devil, and the authorities were, as we have seen at Morlaix, quite prepared to second the popular superstition when profit could be obtained thereby. The divining rod, then much in 182 CUKIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. vogue in Germany, was used by the Baron and his wife, who had strong behef in its magnetic properties, and the employment of it may have given some colour to the charges now raised against them on all sides of being necromancers in league with evil spirits. In 1G42, by order of Cardinal Kichelieu, the Baron de Beausoliel was cast into the Bastille, and the Baroness was shut up in the state prison of Vincennes, m ithout trial and sentence. Thus, after forty years of labour together in the same pursuits, in the same manner of life, in the decline of their days, this worthy couple were separated, to spend the rest of their life in prison. Such was the reward accorded to them for their devotion to the cause of science, and the recompense for the benefits they had afforded to France. The Baroness died in the prison of Vincennes. The date of her death is unknown, but probably it was not long deferred. Her ardent soul would not long endure the torture of imprison- ment and the sorrows of finding all her labours repaid with ingratitude. Her husband died in the Bastille after lingering in chains for three years. THE BAEONESS DE BEAUSOLEIL. 183 One last glimpse of the noble woman we obtain from the "Memoires de Lancelot touchant la vie de M. de Saint-Cyran." The Abbe de Saint- Cyran was shut up in Vincennes in 1638 as a Jansenist. On the 14th of May in that year he was arrested by Richelieu, who then made use of the remarkable words, " Had Luther and Calvin been imprisoned the moment they began to dogmatise, Government would have been spai'ed much trouble." Saint-Cyran remained in Vincennes till 1642. He died the next year. During his imprisonment he ob- served in church the Baroness de Beausoleil and her daughter, prisoners like himself. Touched with the scantiness of their clothing, he endeavoured to procure for them the dresses which they needed, and those necessaries which the sickness of the noble lady demanded. The following are the words of the memoir : — *' \^^iilst M. de Saint-Cyran was in Vincennes he met a lady named the Baroness de Beausoliel, who was there with her daughter, whilst her husband was prisoner in the Bastille. Seeing her in chm'ch, poorly clad, he made inquiries about her, and sent to Madame le Maitre, telling her whom he had seen, and begging her to pur- 184 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TlivIES. chase some chemises for this person, expressly desiring that they might be long, for nothing escaped his charity, and also that the material should be good. When they had been sent, it was ascertained that what had been made for the mother would only lit the daughter, and he gave them to the latter, and ordered fresh ones for the mother. Afterwards he requested to have fustian under-garments, shoes and stock- ings, sent to them according to measures which he j^rocured, and also after the fasliion of the day." " At the approach of winter he wrote to say that he found that the lady was menaced with dropsy, and that she was extremely sensitive to cold. He therefore begged the person I have mentioned to make for her a dress of thick ratteen, of the best description, and trimmed with black lace, because he heard that such was the fashion, and he added that his maxim was, that people should be served according to their rank. He also had a gown made for the daughter. . . He also sent to the Bastille to have the husband well dressed ; and I know that the person who brought the tailor to him asked him to choose his material and the trimmings, for he THE BARONESS DE BEAUbOLEiL. 185 had orders to have him dressed as suited his taste." In Saint-Cyran's own letters we find addi- tional details, very sad they are, but full of interest to those who have followed this worthy couple through their labours into dis- grace. " This letter," writes the Abbe to his friend M. de Reboui's, "is to entreat you, at your con- venience, to execute with the utmost secrecy, without allowing it to transpire who sends you and who you are who make the inquiries, a work of great charity upon which I am engaged. There is a person imprisoned here who is the authoress of the book I send you; will you kindly go to M. Marechal, glassmaker, and consequently a gentleman, and inquire what has become of the children of the Baroness de Beausoliel, a German lady ; and lest he should mistrust you, say you do it in charity; and should he still have suspicions, promise him any token of sincerity which he may require. He lives near the House of Charity in the Faubourg St. Germain. Perhaps you had better inquire at the House of Charity for M. Marechal, and of the girl named Madlle. Barbe, with whom 186 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. the Baron de Beausoliel, now in the Bastille, and his wife, now here in prison, had left one of their daughters, named Anne du Chatelet, aged twelve, whom her mother had instructed in Latin, so as to make her useful in the search after mines, a science hereditary in the family. By this means you may be able to learn what has become of the other children. "If you know yourself, or by any of your friends, M. Maturel, advocate, or his brother, who favoured these good people, and who know all their affairs, and are aware of all the circum- stances of the robbery committed upon them in Brittany, and estimated at a hundred thousand crowns, you will obtain their entire confidence, and be able to learn what has become of the childi'en. Tliis must be done with the utmost cu'cumspectiou. You must say that yoiu' friends, who lived formerly in Paris, want to know par- ticulars of the family. The eldest son, having gone to the Bastille without proper precautions, to make inquiries concerning his father, was arrested. But we desire to learn something about the other childi-en, some five or six, and who has got charge of them. . . . What a strange thing it is, that there is no surer means THE BAEONESS DE BEAUSOLEIL. 187 of falling into trouble than to love the faith and Catholic verity." Such is the last glimpse we obtain of this unfortunate family. Two noble and devoted servants of science cast into dungeons, and their chikh'en scattered or imprisoned — because they served the State too well. On the 4th of December, 1642, Eichelieu was called to his account before the throne of a just Judge, to answer for that as well as his other crimes, and in another century the accursed Bastille was torn down stone from stone by an exasperated people and laid low in the dust, never, please God, to rise again. ( 188 ) MONSIEUR OUFLE. Cervantes dealt knight-errantry its death- blow when he wrote " Don Quixote," and per- haps the Abb6 Bourdelot hoped to destroy the superstition of were-wolves when he composed the ludicrous romance of "Monsieur Oufle." This curious book appeared at the beginning of last century, when the learned were attack- ing vulgar superstitions upon philosophical grounds. The book is excessively rare, and I am in- debted for my knowledge of it to " Horst's Zauber Bibliothek," itself a scarce work. Horst quotes from the Dantzig edition of 1712. I have taken some liberties with the conclusion, as Horst provokingly does not extract it. It will be seen at once that the name, Oufle, is an anagram on le fou. A cheerful man was M. Oufle, who loved a jovial evening with his friends, a glass of good wine, and a merry tale. A worthy man, too, MONSIEUR OUFLE. 189 was lie, the most exemplary of husbands and the most indulgent of fathers, — but he had his weakness — which of us has not ? — and his weak- ness was weakness of intellect ; in short, he was a very good, a very respectable, a very kind- hearted man, but also a very silly one. He regarded himself as a bit of a philoso- pher, and despised superstition, yet for all that he was fidgeted if the salt-cellar were upset, alarmed if the knife and fork were crossed, and he would positively decline to make the thirteenth at dinner. It was Carnival time, and M. Oufle invited all his OAvn relations and his wife's relations to dinner. A pleasant evening they passed ; they ate and they drank, and they talked and they sang, — they ate till they were more than satis- fied, drank till they were very merry, talked themselves dry, and sang themselves hoarse. Far be it from me to assert that any of the party had drunk more than he ought, but they had all grazed the line of moderation, and ]\I. Oufle, being naturally light-headed, had become exceedingly "jolly." When the relations withdrew, the children went to bed, Madame Oufle took her candle and 190 CURIOSITIES OP OLDEN TIMES. departed with her lady's maid, and M. Oufle, for the sake of a little exercise, festooned up and down his chamber, whistling a plaintive melody, and whistling it out of tune. This gentleman's eldest son, who had in- herited all his father's amiable qualities, and his empty-headedness into the bargain, had slipped off from the paternal house by the back door, as soon as the guests began to leave, in a mas- querading dress, and had betaken himself, after the manner of scapegraces, to a ball. M. Oufle, having wearied of describing curves in his own room, opened the door and went up- stairs, a process attended with difficulties which would have proved insuperable but for the as- sistance of the banisters. Arrived on the land- ing, M. Oufle observed his son's door open, so he walked into the room, impelled either by curiosity or by a desire for a little more con- versation. The son was, however, at that time dancing in the ball-room of an hotel two streets off. M. Oufle, not finding the young man, sat himself down beside the bed, and began to over- haul the various masquerading dresses which his son had left out upon his chair. There Avas MONSIEUR OUFLE. 191 a neat suit of green and gold, intended as a forester's dress ; there was a costume of the time of Francois I., covered with spangles ; and last, but not least, there was a bearskin suit, so contrived that the wearer of it was covered with fur from head to foot, and looked precisely like a black bear escaped from a travelling caravan. M. Oufle turned this dress over and over, and its originality attracted his interest. He thought he should like to see whether it would fit his jierson ; he therefore arrayed him- self in the habit, and found that it suited him to a T. Just then the idea entered his head that the opportunity of disabusing Madame Oufle of her superstitions had now j)resented itself. Madame Oufle was nearly as great a fool as her husband, and that is saying a good deal. She was infected Avith the vulgar belief in witchcraft and demonology, and believed im- plicitly that warlocks could transform themselves into wild beasts for the pui*pose of devouring children. " Now," mused M. Oufle, " is a chance for me to eradicate these baneful superstitions from her mind. If she sees me in this dress, and takes me to be a were-wolf, and when I show 192 CUBIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. her the deception, she will never believe in the supernatural again." Accordingly he walked to his wife's door and listened. The servant was still with her mistress, so M. Oufle retreated down-stairs to the dining- room, intending to wait till his good lady was alone ; and that he might know when the maid was dismissed, he placed the door a- jar. Then, taking up a book, he seated himself before the fire. The book happened to be Bodin's " Dsemonomania," and M. Oufle opened it at the chapter on Lycanthropy. He read on, and the tales of were-wolves floated in strange colours through his brain, till he fell asleep with his head on the table, and the book on his lap. And as he slumbered he dreamed of sorcerers being provided by the Evil One with wolf-skins which they were con- demned to wear for seven years, and of Lycaon sentenced by Jove to run about in bestial form, till a piercing shriek and a crash brought him with a start to his feet. The lady's maid, after having pinned her mistress's back hair into a heap, and fitted over it the nightcap, had left the chamber, and had come down-stairs. As she passed the dining- MONSIEUR OUFLE. 193 room, she saw that there was still a light in it, and thinking that the candles had not been extinguished, she entered precipitately to put them out. There in the dead of night she stood, and saw before her a monstrous black bear fast asleep before the fire, snoring loudly, with its head on the table and its snout up in the air, its hind paws upon the fender, a silk pocket- handkerchief over one knee, and a book on the lap. No wonder that she dropped her candle and screamed. But the shriek which testified to her fear frightened M. Oufle out of the few senses he did possess. He sprang up, bewildered with his di'eams, confused with the fumes of wine, and alarmed at the suddenness of his o^eveil. Opposite him was a pier-glass. He forgot en- tirely all the circumstances connected with the assumption of the bear-skin, and with the last impressions produced by Bodin, and by his dream, stamped upon his brain, he jumped to the conclusion that he was bewitched, and that he had been changed into a were-wolf. Full of this idea he dashed past the terror-stricken maid; and his wife, who had rushed to the 194 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. landing, saw a frightful monster bounding down the stairs, uttering howls sufficiently loud to awake the dead, heard it unlock the front door and burst into the street. Thereupon, she fainted away. M. Oufle, impelled by terror, ran along the street yelling for assistance : he was naturally provided with a deep and sonorous bass voice, but his voice sounded hollow and fearful through his hideous vizor. A few terrified people appeared in their night- caps at the windows, only to run back and bury themselves trembling beneath the clothes. A watchman who had started en his rounds came upon him suddenly as he turned a corner, and dropping his lantern beat a precipitate retreat. In an adjoining street lived a fair damsel of considerable personal, but superior pecuniary, attractions, who was loved to distraction by a grocer's apprentice. The young man had made the lady's acquaintance as he served in the shop, and had breathed his love over the cheeses he sold. His addresses had been countenanced by the beloved one, but were discouraged by the parents, who had not permitted the devoted MONSIEUR OUFLE. 195 youth to set foot within tlieir doors. The ap- prentice had no other means open to him of testifying his devotion than by hiring a band of street musicians to perform at the rate of two francs an hour, during the silent watches of the night, below the window of the adored. On the present occasion the band was per- forming the "Descent of Mars," when a dis- cordant howl in their ears produced a sudden pause in their music not noted in their score, and the apparition of a monstrous bear running into the midst of them upon its hind legs, with ears and stumpy tail cocked up, produced such a panic among the sons of Orpheus, that they cast their instruments from them and took to their heels. Not so the grocer's apprentice. True love knows not fear. He flew to the door of his beloved and cast himself before it, deter- mined to perish in her defence. But the monster, without perceiving him, ran on repeating its dolorous howls. The grocer's apprentice rose from the door- step, dusted his coat, collected the scattered instruments, cast an amorous glance at the window of the adored, and retired home. A party of students from the University o2 196 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TEMES. were that evening going their rounds, perform- ing feats of heroism, of which they might boast among their companions. These feats were not attended with much danger, and yet the achieve- ment of them was an object of considerable ambition. They consisted simply in breaking lamps, and wrenching the knockers off doors. Some people might think that the smashing of a street lamp was an operation within the scope of the most infantine abilities, and that the wrenching of a knocker from a door was neither a hazardous nor a very heroic act. But these people are entirely mistaken. The police occasionally interfere and capture one of those engaged in these acts, and if captured, it costs the student several francs to bribe the officer to let him escape. Consequently, the ringing of a street bell at midnight is regarded by University men as an achievement equal to the bravest deed of a tried general, and the breaking off of a knocker is supposed to rank very much on a level mth the proudest trophy of a blood-stained field. On the night in question four valiant col- legians were engaged on the hazardous under- taking of screwing up the door of a worthy MONSIEUR OUFLE. 197 citizen — an act of consummate ingenuity and sublime originality. Suddenly a wild and un- earthly yell, ringing through the hushed night, broke upon their ears. Instantly the four students paused and turned pale. In another moment they saw a diabolical object moving rapidly down the street towards them. The young men shrank against the wall, each endeavouring to get behind the other, and re- versing the proverb of the weakest going to the wall, for in their struggle the ablest-bodied secured that position, whilst the feeblest was the most exposed, and served as a screen to the others. The approaching monster stood still for an instant, and they were able to observe him by the wan light of the crescent new moon, and the flickering oil lamp slung across the head of the street. A fearful object ! In their terror, the screw-drivers dropped from their fingers. The noise attracted the creature's attention, and it ran up the steps towards them, articulat- ing words in a hoarse tone, which they, in their alarm, were unable to catch. Suffice it to say that the sight of this monster coming within arm's length was too much for their courage ; 198 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. with a shriek they burst past it, tumbling over each other, and roHing down the doorsteps, picked themselves up again and fled, palpitating, in four separate directions, calling for the police, imploring the aid of that august body which they had so long set at defiance. What tales they related on the following morning to all the old ladies of their acquaint- ance, it is not for me to record. One of the students broke his sword, and vowed that he had snapped it in his fight with the Dsemon ; another exhibited the bruises he had received in his fall, as evidence of the desperate character of the conflict ; a third wore his arm in a sling, as though it had been broken in the encounter ; and all agreed that the monster had fled from them, and not they from the monster. The police! "Oh, horrors!" thought M. Oufle, " they have summoned the aid of the police. I shall be captured, be tried and sentenced, and burned at the stake as a were- wolf." The fear of this urged him to retreat stealthily homewards, keeping as much as possible in the shadows, lest any of the agents MONSIEUR OUFLE. 199 of justice should get sight of him, and carry him away to trial. If he could but reach home, he would implore his wife to stab him with a knife between the eyes, and draw some drops of blood, a sovereign cure for lycanthrojjy. But poor M. Oufle's head was never very clear, and now it was in a thorough condition of bewilderment, so that he completely lost himself, and slunk about the streets in a dis- consolate manner, vainly searching for his own domicile. His bewilderment became greater with every step he took; his confusion and alarm were not a little heightened by his stumbling over an elderly gentleman, and leaving him apparently dead of fright on the pavement. It did not mend matters when, hearing a fiacre drive by, he suddenly stepped towards it and asked the way of the driver, — for the coachman jumped off his seat in a paroxysm of terror, and the horses, equally frightened, ran away with the carriage, whilst the people inside screamed through the windows. At last M, Oufle sat down on a doorstep and gave himself up to despair. The stake 200 CUKIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. was before him, and his imagination conjured up all the horrors of his position, chained about the waist and dancing; in the midst of the flames. All at once a familiar voice smote upon his ear, — the voice of his eldest son. A ray of hope penetrated his breast. He rose from his seat and walked to meet his first-born. That young gentleman was returning from the masquerade ball at which he had been figuring. He had imbibed a considerable amount of wine before he left home, and he had absorbed a little more during the pauses in the dance. He was accordingly scarcely sober, and as he returned home, he sang or talked to himself at the top of his voice. But now he saw some- thing which sobered him instantaneously. This was nothing else than his own masque- rading habit of bear's skin, which he had left hanging over the back of his chair, walking deliberately towards him, as though the spirit of the departed Bruin had re-tenanted his forsaken skin and was coming in the dead of night to demand a reckoning with him who had dared to use it as a Carnival habit. MONSIEUR OUFLE. 201 He stood and looked at it with pale face and staring eyes, whilst a shudder ran through his frame. If it had been within the limits of physical possibility, he would have sunk into his shoes. When he heard his own name articulated in hollow tones from the muzzle, he turned heel, and fled like the wind. In vain did M. Oufle call after him ; the louder he called, the faster fled the youth, and the distracted father was obliged to pursue his son. The race was run with the utmost speed by both parties. The young man was ui'ged on by terror lest the skin should overtake him, and M. Oufle dreaded losing sight of his son, lest he should at the same time lose all chance of regaining his home. When M. Oufle le Jeune turned his white face over his shoulders, he saw the creature gaining upon him, and heard its hollow calls. He dodged from street to street, but he inva- riably saw the bear-skin double the corner and rush after him, turn where he would. It was in vain for him to hope to throw it out, and at last he ran straight for his home. This he had left by the garden. It was his custom to leave 202 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. tlie house by the back door, and clamber over the garden rails whenever he went out on his night expeditions, and now he made for the garden, hoping to climb the rails and escape through the door and lock it before the skin could overtake him. He reached the railings. It was a difficult and delicate matter to surmount them with time at his disposal, but now that it was to be accomplished in no time at all, it was hazardous in the extreme. M. Oufle, junior, had reached the top, and was preparing to jump down, when a furry paw grasped his ankle and held him as though in a vice, for the monster proceeded to climb the railings, holding on to his leg. The poor youth vainly endeavoured to break away, he writhed and strained to be free ; holding the iron bars with his hands, he vociferated loudly for help. The creature reached the top and clasped him round the waist, whilst the hideous snout was poked close to his ear over his shoulder. Both leaped together, and were brought up with a jerk. The rails were topped with sharp dart-heads, and one of these caught in the hide, so that MONSIEUR OUFLE. 203 M. Oufle and liis son were suspended from it in mid air, the latter in the arms of his father. Both cried together for assistance ; the young man louder than ever when he heard in his ear the sonorous howls of his captor. Lights appeared in the lower apartments at the back of the house, and presently the garden door was opened by a troop of terrified male and female servants, provided with blun- derbuses, swords, and pistols. In the rear appeared Madame Oufle, half-dressed, but with her night-cap on her head. The young man called to his mother, and the moment she saw the hope of the family dangling in the grasp of the monster, she fainted away again. There was an old man, a servant of the house, who claimed and exer- cised supreme authority in the household. He walked forward with a pistol in each hand ; and the youth cried to him to shoot the creatm'e which clasped him, through the head. In vain did M. Oufle shout to him to desist, his words were lost in the mask, and he would un- doubtedly have received a couple of bullets through his head, had not the buttons of the dress just then given way with a burst, and 204 CUKIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. slipped M. Oufle in a heap upon the ground, leaving the habit torn and dangling on the spike of the rails. " Thank goodness ! " exclaimed M. Oufle, sitting up ; " the spell is off me." " My father ! " cried the flower of the family. " My husband ! " ejaculated the lady, re- covering from her fainting fit. " My master ! " exclaimed the grey-haired servant. " Let us embrace all round," said M. Oufle. ( 205 ) THE JACK-ASS OF VANVKES. A CAUSE CELEBRE. On the 1st July, 1750, Madame Ferron, washerwoman of Vanvres, entered Paris riding on a jack-ass in the flower of its age. The good lady had come a-marketing ; and on reaching the house of M. Nepveux, grocer, near the Porte S. Jacques, she descended from Neddy's back, and entered the shop, lea^^ng the animal attached to the railings by his halter. After having made some purchases of soap and potash, she asked the shopman to keep his eye on her ass whilst she went a few doors off to purchase some salt. This he neglected to do — Hinc nice lacrymce. A few moments after Madame Ferron had disappeared there passed Madame Leclerc, wife of a florist in Paris, mounted on a she-ass of graceful proportions and engaging appearance. It has been questioned by some whether love at first sight is not altogether a fiction of poets 206 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. and romancers. We are liappy to be able to record an instance of this on unimpeachable historical evidence. A mutual passion kindled in the veins of these two asses simultaneously, during the brief space of time occupied by Madame Leclerc in passing before the grocer's shop. Their eyes met. The she-ass, unable to express the ardour of her affection by any other means, brayed thrice •in the most tender and impassioned manner. The jack-ass replied with corresponding senti- ment. He panted to approach her, but was restrained by his halter. To love, however, nothing is impossible ; or, as the Latin syntax has it, " Amor omnia vincit." He tossed his head, broke the cord, and trotted after the mistress of his affections. Madame Leclerc adjured Neddy. Ladies do not like their servants to encourage followers. She shook her head at the lover and bade him return. But ]mssion sometimes renders its victims insensible to the dictates of duty ; Neddy still pursued. On arriving at her door, near the Porte du Demandeur, the florist's wife caught up a stick, and charged from her doorstep upon the young THE JACK-ASS OF VANVRES. 207 and ardent lover. The lady was exasperated at the silent contempt he had exhibited for her entreaties and objurgations. She hit him on the nose, she whacked his ribs, she beat his back, and the poor ass brayed with pain and rising indignation. The she-ass brayed sympa- thetically. Madame Leclerc's blows fell faster and more furiously, and then the lion under the ass's skin became apparent. Neddy reared, and falling on the old lady, bit her in the arm. The brayings of the animals and the cries of the lady attracted a crowd, and the com- batants were parted. The washerwoman's ass was consigned, with back-turned ears and palpitating sides, to confinement in a stable. Madame Leclerc retired to her apartment exhausted from her battle, and fainted, with feminine dexterity, into the extended arms of monsieur the florist, her husband, and monsieur the deputy florist, his assistant. By slow degrees the lady was brought round, by means of feathers burned under her nose, and a drop of cordial distilled down her throat. And where was the she-ass, the cause of all this 208 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. mischief? she had been turned out into a clover-field. Such is the way of the world. Next day the gardener's wife sent notice to the shop of M. Nepveux that " If any one had lost an ass he would find it at the house of a floral gardener, Faubourg S. Marceau, near the Gobelins." Jacques Ferron, husband of the lady who had gone a -marketing on Neddy, had spent the night, as we learn from his express declara- tion in coiu't, on the borders of insanity. Not a wink of sleep visited his eyes during the hours of darkness, and the dawn broke upon him tossing feverishly on his pillow, wath all the bedclothes in a heap upon the floor. The news of liis Neddy's whereabouts being discovered, restored his spirits to equanimity. He wept for joy, and despatched his wife to claim the truant, whilst he himself remained in his doorway, with palpitating bosom and extended arms, ready to embrace the retm-ning prodigal. But, alas ! Madame Ferron, on reaching the gardener's house, learned to her dismay that she was involved in a greater misfortune still. Madame Leclerc demanded damages for the THE JACK-ASS OF VANVEES. 209 bite she had received, to the amount of 1500 livres, and the ass would not be given up till the sum dnuanded was paid. Tears and entreaties were in vain ; and the washerwoman returned to her husband with drooping head, and a soul ravaged b}^ despair. On the following day, July 4th, a claim against Jacques Ferron for the sum of 1500 livres damages, and 20 sous a day for the keep of the ass, was lodged with the Com- missaire Laumonier. On the 21st August the Court ordered Leclerc to bring forward evidence to establish his claim, and the defendant was bidden challenge it. The case was heard on the 29th of the same month. The plaintiff urged that his wife had been brutally assaulted by an enraged jack-ass belonging to the defendant, had been seriously alarmed by its ferocity, and had been severely bitten in the arm. The damages claimed were reduced to 1200 livres, and payment was demanded, as before, for the keep of the delinquent. The defence of Ferron was to this effect : — The ass of the washerwoman was tied to a P 210 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. vailing. It was not likely to break away unless induced to do so by some one else. The she- ass of the plaintiff was tlie cause of the jack- ass breaking its halter and pursuing Madame Leclerc. Consequently the defendant was not responsible for what ensued. The distance between the Porte S. Jacques and the Gobelins is considerable, and the streets full of traffic. Had the florist's wife wished to get rid of the jack-ass, there were numerous persons present who would have assisted her ; but from her not asking assistance, it was rendered highly probable that she had delibe- rately formed the design of profiting by the circumstance, and of iippropriating to herself the pursuing ass. " The plaintiff pretends that 1200 li\Tes are due to her because she was bitten by the ass of the defendant. No medical certificate of the date is produced, but only one a month after the transaction. No evidence is ojffered that this bite was given by Ferron's ass, and the wound attested by the medical certificate may have been given by the ass of the plaintiff. But supposing the bite were that of Ferron's ass, was not the poor beast driven to defend itself THE JACK-ASS OF VANVRES. 211 from the blows of the defendant? Is an ass bound to suffer itself to be maltreated with impunity ? " Asses are by nature gentle and pacific animals, and are not included amongst the carnivorous and dangerous beasts. Yet the sense of self-preservation is one of the rudi- mentary laws of nature, and the most gentle and docile brutes will defend themselves when attacked. Is it to be wondered at that the tender-spirited and love-lorn Neddy, when fallen upon by a ferocious woman armed with a thick club, her eyes scintillating with passion, her face flaming, her teeth gnashing, and foam issuing from her purple lips, whilst from her labouring bosom escape oaths and curses, at once profane and insensate — such as sacrt^ bleu, and ventre gris, suggesting the probability that the utterer of the said expressions was a raving maniac ; is it to be wondered at that Neddy when thus assaulted, and by such a person, should fall back on the first law of nature and defend himself 1 " The opinion of Donat. {Loix Civiles, tom. i. lib. 2, tit. 8), is conclusive, for it enunciates the law (xi., tit. 2, lib. 9.) Si quadrupes paup. fee ff. p 2 212 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. " ' If a dog or any other animal bites, or does any other injury because it has been struck or wilfully exasperated, he who gave occasion to the injury shall be held responsible for it, and if he be the individual who has suffered, he must impute it to himself.' " Now the woman Leclerc was not content with merely exasperating the jack-ass of Ferron, she almost stunned it with blows. She has therefore little reason for bringing so unfounded a claim for damages before the Court. Si instigatu alterius /era damnum dederit, cessahit Jicec actio. (Liv., 1 § 6, lib. I.) " The more one reflects," continued the counsel for the defendant, " upon the conduct of Madame Leclerc on this occasion, the less blameless appear her motives. If, as seems probable, she designed to gain possession of the donkey, she richly deserved the bite which she complains of having received. Pierre Leclerc cannot plead that his wife did not irritate the ass, for this is proved by the very witnesses whom he summoned to sustain his case. They stated in precise terms that ' they saw Madame Leclerc pass, mounted on a she-ass, followed by a jack-ass, to which the said woman Leclerc THE JACK-ASS OF VANVRES. 213 dealt sundry blows, with the intention of driving it off ; that, on reaching her door, and the animal approaching nearer, she beat him violently, and that then the said jack-ass bit her in the arm. " But further ; who induced the ass to break his halter and follow the woman Leclerc as far as the Gobelins? Madame Leclerc's ass and none other but she. Having thus drawn another person's animal away from its owner, and having placed it in her own stable, she claims twenty sous a day for the keep of an ass which Pierre Leclerc has retained on his own authority, against the will of the legitimate owner, from July 1st to September 1st, using it daily for going to market ; thus, in all, he demands sixty livres for the keep of the beast. Although the price is twice the value of the ass itself, Ferron does not dispute the amount, he contents himself with observing that the woman Leclerc having brought upon herself the wound from the bite of the ass, which is the subject of litigation, she was not thereby morally or legally justified in detaining the animal that bit her till her demand for com- pensation was satisfied. If she fed and tended 214 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. it, she was amply repaid by the use she and her husband made of it for carrying heavy burdens daily to market. " On the other hand Ferron has suffered from the loss of his ass, through its unjustifi- able detention. He has been compelled to hire a horse during two months to carry on his business, and this has involved him in expenses beyond his means. For this loss Ferron will claim indemnification at the hands of Leclerc." Such was the case of the defendant. Along with it were handed in the two following certifi- cates, the latter of which, as giving a character for morality and respectability to a donkey, is certainly a curiosity. Certificate of the Sieur Nepveux, grocer, at whose shop door the ass was tied. I, the undersigned, certify that on the 2nd July, 1750, the day after the ass of the defendant Jacques Ferron, which had been attached to my door, had followed the female ass of the person Leclerc, there came, at seven o'clock in the morning, a woman to ask whether an ass had not been lost here ; whereupon I replied in the afiirmative. !She told me that the individual who had lost it might come and fetch it, and that it would be returned to her ; and that it was at THE JACK-ASS OF VANVRES. 215 a floral gardener's in the Faubourg St. Marcel, near the Gobelins : in testimony to the truth of which I set to my hand. (Signed) Nepveux, grocer, Porte Saint Jacques. Paris, August 20th, 1720. Certificate of the Cure, and the principal inhabitants of the parish of Vanvres, to the moral character of the Jack-ass of Jacques F err on. We, the undersigned, the Prieur-Cure, and the inhabitants of the parish of Vanvres, having knowledge that Marie Francoise Sommier, wife of Jacques Ferron, has possessed a jack-ass during the space of four years for the carrying on of their trade, do testify, that during all the while that they have been acquainted with the said ass, no one has seen any evil in him, and he has never injured any one ; also, that during the six years that it belonged to another inhabitant, no complaints were ever made touching the said ass, nor was there a breath of a report of the said having ever done any wrong in the neigh- bourhood ; in token whereof, we, the undersigned, have given him the present character. (Signed) Pintekel, Prieur et cure de Vanvres. Jerome Patin \ C. Jannet Louis Eetore Y Inhabitants of Vanvres. Louis Senlis Claude Cokbonnet'' 216 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. The case was dismissed by the Commissaire. Leclerc had to surrender the ass, and to rest content with the use that had been made of it as payment for its keep, whilst the claim for damages on account of the bite fell to the ground. But if dismissed by the Commissaire, it was only that it might be taken up by the wits of the day, and made the subject of satire and epigram. Some of the pieces in verse originated by this singular action are republished in the series " Varietes Historiques et Literaires ; " allusions to it are not unfrequent in the writers of the day. About the same time an action was brought by a magistrate of position and fortune against the Cure of St. Etienne-du-Mont, a M. Coffin, for refusing him the Sacrament on account of a gross scandal he had caused. A wag con- trasted the conduct of the two Priests in the following lines : — De deux cures portaut blanches soutanes, Le procede ne se resemble en rien ; L'un met du nombre des profanes Le magistrat le plus homme de bien L'autre, dans son hameau, trouve jusque aux anes Tons ses paroissiens gens de bien. THE JACK-ASS OF VANVRES. 217 Riffolet de Juvigny, a famous wit, wrote a memorial to Court on behalf of the ass. We have room only for the commencement of the jeu d'esprit, levelled at the philosophers of his day, as a specimen of the piece, which is rather grotesque than witty : — " Memorial on' behalf of the ass of Jacques Ferron plaintiff and defendant, against the she-ass of Pierre Leclerc, plaintiff and defendant. The most exemplary life, and the purest morals, do not screen any one from the blast of calumny. This monster pursues virtue to the very sanctuary of justice ; and before it can be discomfited. Oh, what sighs, Oh what tears, does it cost poor innocence ! A truce to re- flexions, however, they are useless when facts are at hanJ to prove to demonstration this verity. " The j.'ick-ass of Ferron is accused of uncon- trolled passion and violence after twelve years of evidence to the contrary. Is this charge well grounded ? We will proceed to inquire. " The ass of Jacques Ferron belongs to one of the most ancient families of Vanvres. His nobility is lost in the night of antiquity. The peerage of Vanvres makes him descend on the male side from the Golden Ass of Apulseus, 218 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. and on the female from tliat of Balaam. In the MSS. of the ninth and tenth centuries, we read that the feast of the ass was instituted in memory of one of his ancestors. Notwith- standing his illustrious origin, the great grand- father of the ass of Ferron lost all these advantages by a concatination of events, absolutely foreign to their cause. "Suffice it to say that he was reduced to carry grist to the mill, and even cabbage to the market. The Chronigue Scandaleuse of the country says that it was all his own fault, as libertinage in a brief space of time had reduced his position and impaired his fortune. Striking example this to many jack-asses of the present day who dissipate the property amassed with infinite labovu' by their parents and ancestors. However true or false this may be, the great grandfather left a numerous family, for poverty is rarely sterile. One would think it ought to be otherwise, when we contemplate the many victims of misery, the pestiverous localities they infest, the vile rags which envelop them, the scanty aliments which sustain their lives, the filthy straw upon which they litter. Such a spectacle would make one deem that Nature THE JACK-ASS OF VANVKES. 219 would recoil from such a scene, and draw over it the veil of extinction. Yet no, she makes them her nurseries. It is in the abodes of luxury and ease, which to the dazzled eye seem temples of affluence and pleasui'e, where art is exhausted in its efforts to serve wealth, where gold and azure are abundant, where exquisite pictiu'es recall to exhausted taste the most graceful images of love, repeated a thousand times in flower- wreathed mirrors ; it is there that nature expires. Such is the decree of Provi- dence, in order that the rich may feel their necessity, and, at the sight of their only heir expiring in the lap of wealth, may learn to sigh for the fecundity of the poor. Experience often renders us wise at our own cost. Martin I., surnamed Long-ears, profits by his misfortunes. His old age was spent in toil. He recalled the sentiments, in the decline of life, which passion had banished in youth ; and, humbled under the pack, he laboured to inspire his children with the liveliest devotion to virtue. " Grief and fatigue abridged his days. " Feeling his end approach, he gathered his family about him. Profound sorrow was de- picted on every countenance. Tears flowed 220 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. ears drooped, and a gloomy silence reigned, rendering the scene to the intensest degree solemn and depressing. The dying patriarch couched in a corner of the stable on a few- straws, softened by this touching spectacle, heaved a profound sigh. Withdrawing his soul from this world, he uttered a prayer to the Ass of Balaam, invoking her aid to give that elo- quence to his lips which once had been hers ; and then he spake in accents broken with emotion. ' My children, you see to what I am reduced by my past conduct. I have dissipated the great and fertile pastures which had been the inheritance of my family. Be wiser than me, and profit by an example, alas! too common. You will always have sufficient means if you keep chaste, patient, docile, and vigilant. Avoid she-asses, for every female is naturally deceit- ful, and Avill draw you into the gulf of des- truction. Happiness consists only in the practice of the sublimest virtue, and it is that alone which has sustained my declining years. Come, my offspring, and rub noses, I have but a few moments to live.' " Scarcely had he uttered the words, not so very assinine in their nature, when he expired. THE JACK-ASS OF VANVRES. 221 " After his decease, the family was broken up; some settled into comparative ease, but they were unable to meet with fair ones, daughters of asses who had risen from the ranks and amassed a fortune, ready to exchange that for an alliance Avitli ruined nobility. Such is common amongst men of the age. It is otherwise amongst asses. They were constrained to mate as best possible. Others were reduced to a low condition, and even served paralytic beggars and common tramps. Can I be believed when I say, that they were the best off ? Their masters shared with them the scanty food they earned, reposed beside them on the same straw, were shel- tered beneath the same roof. In a word, master and ass were on a level. Poverty had dissolved the barriers of inequality. Far otherwise was it with those asses which had become the pro- perty of wealthy lords. They were subject to outbursts of pride and cruelty, and were humbled to degradation by the insolence of the valets. " The cadet of the Martins was the father of Ferron's ass. He educated his son in conformity with the maxims he had derived from the expiring breath of his revered parent. Belle- 222 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. oreille profited by these instructions and grew in beauty and piety, the object of admiration to all the natives of Vanvres. His legs were long, his body plump, his head elevated and small, his neck somewhat long, his breast ample, his rump flat, his tail long and pendu- lous, his hair glossy, soft to the touch, and of a deep grey. " But in vain does nature endow with out- ward beauty, if fortune does not accompany it ; in vain, too, does merit exist in sublime exal- tedness, if ungilded. Such is the world. " Belle-oreille was purchased by Matthieu Caro, miller of Vanvres, a hard and grasping man, of a yellow, livid complexion, with a red and ragged beard, and whiskers to his very temples ; a satiu'nine glance of the eye, and a dumpy chin. With him poor long-ear existed, a martyr to cruelty and starvation. After a slavery in compulsory celibacy of six years, he changed masters, and fell into the hands of Jacques Ferron, a man poor and compassionate, whose amiable qualities made him beloved by the world at large, and his jack-ass in particular. Four years glided by as a golden dream. Alas ! THE JACK-ASS OF VANVRES. 223 too rudely to be broken. On July 1st, 1750, a day fatal to the happiness of Belle-oreille, the wife of Ferron was constrained to come to Paris, and she mounted the donkey " The sequel of this sad story has already been given, as it was made public by the papers of the time. Juvigny's paper continues in the same absurd style, full of crafty hits at the weaknesses of his day, and of the abuses of society deserving of satire. ( 224 ) MYSTERIOUS VM^E. of a remarUble vaU Y ^^^^^^ g^^^^;,, laden mountams, by h he .^^^ ^^ son of Asmund, «ho Uved ^^^^^^^^ the eleventh century. G etto ._^ for having set fire, ace*nta^ly, ^o _^^ ^^ Norway, in which w-a^^^e^u-^^^^ -rS'p^—n years in out- the flames. He spe ^ .^^ :rZti,ultii and touching of aU the ancient Icelandic l—.^^.^^^^^,^„g,, I„ the year 1025 Gre ^^^^^^^^^ thathewasobl.gdo-1. ^^^^^^^^^^ place in which to hide. „^„t up into a . " About autumn Giettir weu i Saga :— Auoui. weather was rte:Ca:irt^ Una glacier iT'st^liS south-east over the ice, carrying A MYSTEEIOUS VALE. 225 with him a kettle and some firewood. It is supposed that IlaUmund (another outlaw) had given him directions, for Plallmund knew much about this part of the country. Grettir walked on till he found a dale lying among the snow- ranges, very long, and rather narrow, and shut in by glacier mountains on all sides, so that they towered over the dale. He descended at a place where there were pleasant grassy slopes and shrubs. There were warm springs there, and he supposed that the volcanic heat prevented the valley from being closed in with glaciers. A little river flowed through the dale, and on both banks there was smooth grassy meadow land. The sunshine did not last long in the valley. It was full of sheep without number, and they looked in better condition and fatter than any he had seen before. Grettir now set to work, and built himself a hut with such wood as he could procure. He ate of the sheep and found that one of these was better than two of such as were to be found elsewhere. An ewe of mottled fleece was there with her lamb, the size of which surprised him. He fattened the lamb and slaughtered it, and it Q 226 CUBIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. yielded forty pounds of meat, the best he had tasted. And when the ewe missed her lamb, she went up every night to Grettir's hut and bleated, so that he could get no sleep. And it distressed Grettir that he had killed her lamb, because she troubled him so much. Every evening, towards dusk, he heard a lure up in the dale, and at the sound all the sheep hurried away towards the same spot. Grettir used to declare that a Blending,* a Thurse named Thorir, possessed the dale, and that it was with his consent that Grettir lived there. Grettir called the dale after him, Thorir's dale. Thorir had two daughters, according to his report, and Grettir entertained himself with their society, they were all glad of his company, as visitors were scarce there. When Lent came on, Grettir determined to eat mutton-fat and liver diu'ing the long fast. There happened nothing deserving of record during the winter. But the place was so dull that Grettir could endure it no longer ; so he went south over the glacier range, and came north over against the midst of Skjaldbreid. There he set up a flat stone, * A blending is a changeling, or one who is half troll, half human. A MYSTERIOUS VALE. 227 and knocked a hole through it, and was wont to say, that "if any one looked through the hole in the slab, he would be able to distinguish the place where the gill ran out of Thorir s dale." It is surprising that this account should not have stirred up the interest and curiosity of the natives to re-discover the rich valley, but we know of only two such attempts having been made; one by Messrs. Olafsen and Povelsen, at the close of last century, which was unsuc- cessful, and another, made in 1654, by Bjorn and Helgi, two Icelandic clergyman, an account of which is found among the Icelandic MSS. in the British Museum, and which has been kindly communicated to the writer of this paper by a native of the island, now in London. This account is of exceeding interest ; it corroborates the description in the Gretla in several j)oints, and opens a field for exploration and adventure to members of the Alpine Club more novel than the glacier world of Switzerland, and not less interesting to science. The writer, who visited Iceland in 1862, purposed exploring this mysterious valley from the south, but was unable to find grass for his horses within a day's ride of the glaciers, and Q 2 228 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. was obliged to relinquish his attempt ; had he then seen the account of the visit of Bjorn and Helgi to the valley, he would have attempted to reach it from the north. In order that the position of this valley, and the course pursued by its explorers, may be understood, it will be necessary briefly to de- scribe the glacier system in the midst of which it is situated. Lang Jokull is an immense waste of snow- ed covered mountain, extending about forty-three miles from north-east to south-west, of breadth varying between eight and twelve miles. The mass rises into points of greater elevation along the edge than, apparently, towards the centre ; and these mountains go by the names of Ball Jokull, Geitlands Jokull, Skjaldbreid Jokull, Blafell Jokull, and Hrutafell. Skjaldbreid J5kull is opposite the volcanic dome of Skjald- breid, an extinct volcano, with its base steeped in a sea of lava. Due east of Geitlands Jokull, is another glacier-crowned dome, called Ok, from M'hich it is cut off by a trench of desolate ruined rock filled with the rubbish brought down by the avalanches on either side — a rift between black walls of trap, crowned with A MYSTERIOUS VALE. 229 green precipices of ice, which are constantly sliding over the rocky edges and falling with a crash into the valley : this valley is called Kaldidalr, or the cold dale — a title it well deserves. Those who traverse it from the sonth, encamp at a little patch of tm^"f aronnd some springs, at the foot of Skjaldbreid, Brunnir by name, and thence have twelve hours hard riding before they see grass again on the Hvita, north of Ok. Half-way through this Allee Blanche is a mountain of trachyte, which has been pro- truded through the trap, from which it is clearly distinguishable by its silvery grey and ruddy streaked precipices, so different in colour from the purple-black of the trap. This mountain is called Thorir's Head, and is popularly supposed to mask the dale dis- covered by Grettir. The elaborate map of Iceland published by Gunnlaugson indicates the valley as winding from opposite Skjaldbreid to this point, but this is conjectural : and it will be seen by the sequel that it is inaccui'ate. North of Geitlands Jokull is an extraordinary dish^cover shaped cake of ice raised on preci- pitous sides, called Eirek's Jokull, a magnifi- 230 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. cent, but peculiar j^ile of basalt, ice and snow. Before proceeding with the narrative of Messrs. Olafsen and Povelsen, and of the two clergymen, we may observe that several cir- cumstances tend to give a colour of probability to the account in the Gretla. In the first place, the phenomenon of the edges of the great glacier region of Lang Jokull rising above the centre, makes it pos- sible that towards that centre there may be a considerable depression. Next, the stone asserted to have been set up by Grettir on Skjaldbreid, still stands, but has fallen out of the perpendicular, so that the hole in it does not point to any opening in the glaciers ; but a little to the right appears a small ravine between piles of ice, through which runs a small river, which shortly after enters a lake, and, after having fed two other lakes, finally enters the Tungafljot, and flows past the Geysirs. And once more, throughout Iceland, the junction of the trap andtrachyte is marked by boiling jetters ; so that the mention of the hot-springs in the Gretla is quite in accordance with what the geological structure of Thorir's Head would lead us to expect. A MYSTERIOUS VALE. 231 The suspicions portion of the account is the mention of Thorir and his daughters ; but in all probability this Troll was nothing more than an outhxw, like Grettir himself, and, indeed, Hallmundj who is alluded to as having given Grettir his direction to the valley, and who was a personal friend of Grettir's, and an outlaw, is called a Troll in tlie Barda Saga, which speaks of him and the Thorir of the mysterious vale. It is a curious fact that, in the south-east of the island, in the Vatna Jokull, a tract very similar in character to Lang Jokull, but on a far larger scale, is a valley full of grass and flowers and glistening birch, completely en- closed by glaciers, which sweep down on this little fairy dell from all sides, leaving only one narrow rift for the escape of the water, and as a portal to the glen. The expedition of Messrs. Olafsen and Povelsen is given in their own words. " On the 9th of August we started from Reykholtsdal on our way to the glacier of Geitland ; our object was not so much to discover a region and inhabitants different from those we had quitted, as to observe the glacier with the 232 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. most scrupulous acciu'acj, and thus to procure new intelligence relative to the construction of this wonderful natural edifice. The weather was fine and the sky clear, so that we had reason to expect that we should accomplish our object according to our wish, but it is' necessary to state, that in a short time the JokuUs attract the fogs and clouds that are near. On the 10th of August in the morning, the air was calm, but the atmosphere was so loaded with mist that at times the glacier was not visible. About eleven o'clock, however, it cleared up, and we continued our jom-ney from Kalmanstiinga. " The high mountains of Iceland rise in gra- dations, so that on approaching them you discover only the nearest elevation, or that whose summit forms the first projection. On reaching this you perceive a similar height, and so pass over successive terraces till you reach the summit. In the glaciers these pro- jections generally commence in the highest parts, and may be discovered at a distance, because they overtop the mountains that are not themselves glacier clad. We found that it was much farther to the JtikuU than we had A MYSTEKIOUS VALE. 233 imagined, and at length we reached a pile of rocks which, without forming steps and gra- dation at the point where we ascended, were of considerable height and very steep; these rocks extend to a great distance, and appear to sm^-round the glacier, for we perceived their continuance as far the eye conld reach.* Be- tween this pile of rocks and the glacier there is a small plain, about a quarter of a mile in width, the soil of which is clay without pebbles and flakes of ice, because the waters which continually flow from the glacier carry them off. On ascending further, we discovered, to the right, a lake situated at one of the angles of the glacier, the banks of which were formed of ice, and the bed received a portion of the waters that flowed from the mountains. The water was perfectly green, a colour it acquired by the rays of light that broke against the ice.f " After many turnings and windhigs we found a path by which we could descend with our horses into the valley. On arriving there we met with another embarrassment, as well in * They form a huge ancient moraine. + It much resembles the beautiful Marjelen Sea, familiax to the visitor to JSggishom. 234 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. crossing a rivulet discliarged from the lake, as in passing the muddy soil, in which our horses often sank up to the chest. In some parts this soil is very dangerous to travellers, many of whom have been engulphed and have perished in it. " Our object was so far attained, that we were now on Geitland, but we found it a very- disagreeable place. We observed a mountain peak rising above the ice, and which, as well as the other peaks, had been formed by sub- terranean fires. We led our horses over the masses of ice, after which we left them, and travelled the remainder of the way on foot. We had taken the precaution of providing our- selves with sticks armed -with strong points, and with a strong rope in case of either of the party falling into a crevass, or sinking in the snow. Thus prepared we began to escalade the glacier at two o'clock in the afternoon ; the air was charged with dense fog covering all the mountain, but, hoping it would disperse, we continued our difficult and dangerous route, though at every instant we had to pass deep crevasses, one of which was an ell and a half in width, and the greatest precaution was re- quired in crossing it. A MYSTEEIOUS VALE. 235 " As we mounted higher the wind blew much stronger, and drove larger flakes of snow before it : fortunately we had the wind in our backs, which facilitated our ascent ; but we met at the same time with so much loose snow that our progress was but slow. Hoping, however, that the weather would change, we agreed not to return till we had gained the summit, from which arose a black rock. " At length, after two hours longer tramp, we found that we could discover nothing in the distance. A rampart of burnt rock of no con- siderable height rose above the ice, and at this we paused to rest. The snow flakes now ob- scured the air so much that we hardly knew how we should get back : we examined the compass, but without observing any change; and we were prevented by our guides from going towards the north-west, where the moun- tain is highest and least accessible. The wea- ther continued the same, so that we found it impossible to resist the cold much longer, and deemed it prudent to return. '' Although the sky was very heavy and dark, we discovered, on our return, the en- trance to a valley ; if the weather had been 236 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. more favourable we should doubtless liave had the pleasure of investigating it ; but we doubt whether we should have found Thorir's dale. As we descended we found the wind in our face, which threw the snow so much against us that we could not discover the traces of our ascent." This expedition was frustrated bj the in- clemency of the weather. Messrs. Olafsen and Povelsen made the mistake of starting in the morning. In Iceland vapours form over the mountain tops directly that the evening sun loses its power, and although there is no night, the air is sensibly colder after six p.m. They had the fine part of the day for the ascent from Kalmanstunga to the snow, and their journey over the glacier was at a time Avhen they might almost have calculated on cloud and snow. Probably they had not seen the description of the discovery made by Bjorn and Helgi in 1654. They allude to the expedition of these clergymen, but give one of them a wrong name, and speak of tlieir journal as vague and con- fused, which it is not. The account of the exjiedition of the two clergymen, Bjorn and Helgi, written in the A MYSTERIOUS VALE. 237 same year that it was undertaken, is now, in Icelandic, in the British Museum. It is full of interest, and sufficiently cm-ious to deserve at- tention. Bjorn and Helgi were brothers-in- law. In the summer of 1654, they met at Nes, where they had some conversation about Thorir's dale, and Helgi told his brother-in- law that he was convinced that either the valley itself, or some traces of it, could be seen by any one who would ascend the highest ridge of Geitlands Jokull. In consequence of this conversation, Bjorn, attended by two men, rode to Husafell, where lived his sister and brother- in-law, and persuaded Helgi to accompany him on the glacier. Husafell lies just under Ok. They started at an extremely early hour on St. Olaf's day (July 28th), without mentioning their intention to any one. This was on Thurs- day. They soon turned from the highway, following the west side of a cleft that enters a trunk-ravine near Hiisafell,* and then, reach- ing the north side of Ok glacier, they halted. There was a young man, Bjorn Jonsson by name, with the two clergj^men, a well-educated * The writer has been over this portion of the ground, and knows the course pursued. 238 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. man ; to him they now, for the first time, told their purpose, and they positively declared that they were determined to go at once across Kaldidalr, and thence ascend Geitlands Jokull, striking due east. His curiosity was aroused, and he agreed to go with them. They took with them, also, a little boy, intending, if they reached a precipice commanding the valley, which they could not descend themselves, to let the boy down by a rope, that he might examine the place. They had with them a tent, and pro- visions for several days. " They now struck due east, and kept their eyes fixed on a point where they thought they could discern a black ridge of mountains on the north side of the Jokull, and a hollow on the south. Till they reached the glacier, they met with no obstacle, except a stony ridge of hills, which stretches all the M-ay from the glaciers in the eabt, and crosses Kaldidalr in a northern direction. On the north side of this ridge was a heap of snow, and a small lake, formed by the water from the glaciers. Ap- parently, the horses could not descend; but Bjorn pushed his horse down a narrow pass, into a small river, flowing below the rocks. A MYSTEKIOUS VALE. 239 The river is very deep, but is full of soft mud, and sluggish. From the eastern bank of it, towards the glacier, is a sandy, muddy plain ; here they saw a raven flying from the north side of the glacier towards Ok. It did not make any noise, but seemed to be rather startled by the sight of human beings in that solitude. After a while they lost sight of it and saw it no more. They crossed the sandy plain towards the glacier, and scrambled up a spur of loose shingle, till they reached a river that burst out from beneath the ice. There the glacier became very steep, and they did not see how to take their horses further, as on all sides were seracs of ice, and fissures and crevasses of immense dej)th. Then Bjorn made a vow that he would take his horse, named Skoli, over the glacier, and not leave the ice-mountain except on the eastern side, provided this was not con- trary to the will of God. Then Helgi made a vow that if he met with any human beings, male or female, in Thorir's dale, he would en- deavour to Christianise them ; and Bjorn pro- mised to assist him in this to the best of his power. And they agreed to baptize imme- diately all the people in the "»'alley who might 240 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. be willing to embrace Christianity. They thought it prudent to leave behind them one of their horses, their baggage and the tent, at a rock near the river. On this rock they piled up three cairns as evidence that they had been there ; and there, also, they left the boy in charge of the horse, with strict orders not to stir till their return, which would be in the night or on the following day. They took with them a bottle of corn-brandy, remarking that the men of Aradalr would probably be quite ignorant of its properties. They took no weapons, except small knives, and each had a spiked staff, to assist him in climbing the ice. Both the clergymen and Bjorn Jonsson rode all the way over the glacier, and on its northern side ascended a strip of rubble as far as they could. Then they pushed the horses down on a snow-drift, above the course of the river and the ravine through which it flowed. This snow-bed extended over the glacier an almost interminable way due south, or perhaps a little south-west. The crust was sufficiently hard to bear up the horses. Where the glacier began to rise again, it was entirely free from snow and ice, full of drifts and chasms in a A MYSTERIOUS VALE. 241 direction from nortli to south, and as they were bearing to the east they had to cross every one of them. Most were filled with water which overflowed the glacier, and disappeared in the snow-drift, and in some places they rode through the water on the ice. None of these rifts were too broad to be crossed in one place or another, either higher up the glacier towards the south, or at its lower and north end. If they had met with a rift which they could not pass, they intended to have made a snow-bridge over it, rather than return. In this way they crossed the ice of the glacier. Next came another bed of snow, over which they rode for some while ; but it was very heavy, as the day was exceedingly warm and mild. " When they were within a short distance of what seemed to them to be the highest point of the glacier on the east, a mist set in on both sides from the north and south, leaving a clear space towards the east, so that they could see the bright sky exactly opposite their faces ; and the reason of this was that the mountains rose on either side, leaving a sort of depression between them, along which they were going as they held on due east. This was not dis- B 242 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. couraging, as it showed that the mountain peaks caught the mist, and left the lower ground clear. At the same time, they heard the rush of water beneath their feet without being able to see the stream. The noise in- dicated a volume much larger than that which they had seen pouring through the ravine, and they conjectured that the subglacial river di- vided into several streams before discharging itself. " They now passed from the snow to a gravelly soil, devoid of grass. It was a smooth ridge of sand-stone, like the bank of a mountain torrent. The glaciers now sloped towards the north-east, whilst some tended towards the east ; but right across the glaciers there lay a hollow trough, and in many places along the edge black rocks shot out of the snow. On the north side were lofty and craggy fells, con- nected by snowdrifts and strips of shale ; and the glacier range rose considerably on the north side. " The party followed the sand-stone ridge till it terminated abruptly in a precipice with ledges. Then they climbed a height, and looked about them. On the east of the glaciers they saw distinctly a desert track, not covered A MYSTERIOUS VALE. 243 with snow, which they conjectured lay in a straight hne north of Biskups-tnngur sands. East of the glacier were two brown fells ; that which was most to the south was not large, and it had a castellated appearance, whilst the other was oblong, stretching from north to south, and full of snow-drifts. From the same height they saw a gi'eat valley, long and narrow, runnincf in a semicircle. At the end were heaps of shingle, precipices, and ravines. The valley began about the middle of the glacier, and ran north-east ; then bent towards the east, and finally turned south. Towards the east the glacier became lower, and in the same pro- portion as the mountain ranges fell, did the valley become shallower ; but it seemed no- where to dive to the very bottom of the moun- tains. Towards the higher end of the valley, the glacier hemmed it in with steep sides. Where the valley was deepest, the mountain slopes were bare and weather-beaten, consisting of swarthy or brown terraces and hollows, having a colour like that of the fell close to the southern extremity of Geitland.* * It is not easy to make out what fell is meant. Possibly it may be the ridge, called Thorir's Head. R 2 244 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TUIES. " In some places there were dry watercourses. It was so far to the bottom of the valley that the explorers could not discover exactly whether there was not grass on one of the slopes ; but possibly the hue was the peculiar colour of the sand-stone. Anyhow, they could not discover green pasturage. At the bottom of the valley were sandy flats, and in some places avalanches had fallen from the glaciers, and strewn the ground with blocks of ice and other debris. The slopes were very uneven. No water or waterfalls were to be seen, except two pools glittering towards the south, where the valley became shallow, and where it spread into gravelly plains, with the glacier sliding almost to the bottom of the vale on both sides. At the north-east bend of the valley were two small, bare hills, beneath which the explorers thought they perceived two grassy plains on both sides of a watercourse. Neither hot- spring, wood, heather, nor grass, beside these patches, were visible anywhere." In one point, the account of these men differs from that in the Gretla ; for there it is stated that the valley was narrow, and covered with grass ; but possibly the ice has encroached on the turf and destroyed it. A MYSTEEIOUS VALE. 245 "The clergymen having erected a pile of stones in memorial of their visit, they went towards an immense rifted rock at the higher extremity of the valley, and there discovered a cave, with an opening towards the north, and looking down the valley. There was another opening, like a window, into the cavern, com- manding the east. The door was exactly square, and just opposite it was a big square stone. This, as well as the cave, was of sand- stone. This was the only block of stone thereabouts. The clergymen found that they were half the height of the cave ; so that it must have been from ten to twelve feet high. The window on the east was oblong, and they conjectured that it had been made by the wind and rain, though it had possibly been the work of former inhabitants of the cave. The ex- plorers supposed that the slab opposite the door had been thrown down from above, and that there had originally existed no door, except the rift they first discovered. The rift faces the west, and, to enter the cave, one must climb several ledges in the rock. This cavern is sufficiently extensive to hold a couple of hun- dred persons. Its floor is of sand, and it is well 246 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. lighted through the window. They did not find any antiquities ; but they supjjosed this to have been the cave occupied by Thorir and his daughters. " The men cut their initials on the rocks ; Bjorn cut B. S. on that opposite the door, and Helgi cut a single H. on the eastern wall of the cave, just below the window. Bjorn Jons- son cut his opposite, but Helgi's was the deepest engraved, and mil stand longest. When they had finished this, they sat down and took some refreshments, and remarked, as they drank their brandy, that this was in all probabiHty the first time that the smell of brandy had been snuffed in that place. " It was now getting late ; however, they ascended a mountain peak, on the west side of the cave, and separate from it by a sweep of snow, and this peak they believed to be visible from Kaldidalr ; it w^as very steep and difficult to climb, so they rested twice on their way. They went up on different sides as the clink- stone rolled away beneath their feet on those behind. Bjorn, the priest, was the first to attack the peak, but Helgi reached the summit first, and found it so sharp at the top as to A MYSTERIOUS VALE. 247 afford hardly enough standing-ground for the three. They heaped a cairn on the top and put in it a flat stone, which they placed in a vertical position, and made fast with other stones. In it is a small rift; and they ar- ranged it so that, by placing the eye at this rift, it looks eastward, through the door of the cave. " The party then returned the same way that they had come, and parted in the morning in the middle of Kaldidah', Bjorn going southward, and Helgi towards the north." We think that the clergymen were mistaken in supposing that this clink-stone cone is visible from Kaldidalr, for we saw no appearance of it. From Skjaldbreid a peak is distinguishable, howev^er, but more to the south-west than that described by the priests. Apparently, three ways of entering the mys- terious vale present themselves, that which we ourselves intended being impracticable. One is to follow the route of the bold explorers, Bjorn and Helgi, a second is to camp the horses at Hlitharvellir, grassy plains between Skjaldbreid and Hlothufell, and to follow the stream that issues from the glacier ravine into 248 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. the recesses of the Jokull. A third course, and that which we expect would prove the easiest, though the least interesting, wovild be to en- camp on the grass-land round the lake Hvitar- vatn, to the east of the Jokull, where the mountains are lower, and the existence of a large sheet of water, from which issues a con- siderable river — the H"\'ita, points to this being a place to which the drainage of a very con- siderable portion of the glacier converges. It is not a little remarkable that the huge extent of Lang Jokull feeds scarcely any other rivers. It is true that the Nordlinga fljot, another Hvita and Asbrandsa, have their sources under the Lang Jokull, but they are only small streams, whereas the Hvita bursts out of its lake a wide and deep river; and we think that this is accounted for by the presence of a depression towards the interior of the range which gathers the drainage from the surrounding glaciers, and then pours the flood in a subglacial torrent into the lake. The opening to this valley we suppose to be blocked above the lake by the glaciers from Hrutafell and Blafell's Jokull, which meet and over-lap. To the south-east of Iceland is a vast region A MYSTERIOUS VALE. 249 of ice-mountain, of the interior of Avhich abso- lutely nothing is kno\^ai, and which is repre- sented on maps by a blank. The careful exploration of this smaller, but very similar mountain system, by those trained to ice-work on the Alps, would unquestionably lead to important results, without being attended by any very extraordinary risk, and would prepare the way, by familiansing us with the confor- mation of the interior of these ice-tracts, for the examination of the wondrous fire and snow recesses of the hitherto untrodden Vatna Jokull. ( 250 ) KING EGBERT OF SICILY. Next to the Saga of King Olaf, without doubt the most beautiful and successful of the Tales of the Wayside Inn, is that of King Robert of Sicily. The legend is of a remote antiquity, has passed through various modifications and recastings, and, after having lain by in for- gotten tomes, has been vivified once more by the poetic breath of Longfellow, and popu- larised again. It is singular to trace the history of certain favourite tales ; they seem to be endowed with an inherent vitality, which cannot be stamped out. Born far back in the early history of man, they have asserted at once a sway over the imagination and feelings ; have been translated from their original birth-soil to foreign climes, and have undergone changes and adaptations to suit the habits and require- ments of the new people amongst which they have taken root. Political disturbances cannot obliterate them ; war sweeps over the land they EING ROBERT OF SICILY. 251 liave adopted, famine devastates it, pestilence decimates its inhabitants, and for awhile the ancient tales hide their heads, only to crop up again green and fresh when the spring-tide of prosperity returns. Sometimes a venerable myth disappears for an exceptionally long period, and its vitality is, we suppose, extinguished. But though ages roll by, if it have in it the real essential power of development and assimilation, it is only wait- ing for its time to start a fresh career, full of concentrated vigour. Like the ear of wdieat in the hand of the mvimmy, it has lain by, wrapped in cere-cloths, without giving token of germ, till the moment of its liberation has arrived, when, falling on good ground, it brings forth a hundredfold. Such was the history of Fouque's exquisite romance. Undine. It was a very ancient tale, but it had been forgotten. The German poet found it in the dead hand of the whimsical pedant, Theophrastus Paracelsus, swathed in barbarous Latin. He writes : — " I ceased not to study an old edition of my speech-monger, which fell to me at an auction and that care- fully. Even his receipts I read through in 252 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIIIES. order, just as tliej had been showered into the text, still continuing in the firm expectation that from every line something wonderfully magical might float up to me, and strike the understanding. Single sparks, here and there darting up, confirmed my hopes, and drew me deeper into the mines beneath . . . then, at last, as a pearl of soft radiance, there sparkled towards me, from out its rough-edged shell — Undine." And he tells us how that his story has been translated into French, Italian, English, Russian , and Polish. The mummy wdieat was soon multiplied. The legend of King Robert of Sicily, Avhich the American poet has rescued from oblivion, is one of those few which can be traced with rare precision through its various changes, and tracked to the country where it originated. It is instructive to note how in one form, it did service in the cause of one religion, and how, in another form, it pointed a striking moral in behalf of an entirely different creed. Two methods of procedure lie open to us in the examination of this story, analysis and synthesis. We might trace the legend back from the form in which it is known to the KING ROBERT OF SICILY. 253 modern public, by sure stages, to the ultimate atoms out of which it is developed, or we might take the original germ, and follow it in its ex- panding aud varying forms, till it has assumed its present shape in the pages of the Tales of a Wayside Inn. We shall adopt the latter method, as the most suitable in this peculiar instance. In the Pantschatantra, a Sanscrit collection of popular tales, the date of the compilation of which is uncertain, but that of the tales is unquestionably earlier than the Christian era, is the following story : — " In the town of Liavati, lived a king, called Mukunda. One day he saw a hunchback per- forming such comical actions that he invited him to become an inmate of his palace, and, as his court fool, to divert him in his hours of idleness and depression. The king was so taken up with this droll rascal, that his prime minister was seriously displeased, and he said, in reproof, to his master, — ' Far flies rumour with three pairs of ears.' To which the king laughingly replied, — ' The man is an idiot, so have no fears.' 254 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. " Grumbling still, the old and pnident minister said, — ' The beggar may rise to royal degree, The monarch descend to beggary.' " One day a Brahmin came to the palace, and offered to teach the king various magical arts. The monarch agreed with delight, and for a small sum of money acquired power to send his soul from his own body into any disengaged carcass that he wished to vivify. The hunch- back was in the room when the king learned his lesson. "A few da}'^s after, Mukunda and his fool were riding in the forest, when they lit on the corpse of a Brahmin who had died of thirst. Here was an opportunity for the king to practice what he had learned. But first he asked the hunchback if he had given attention to the instruction of the Brahmin. The fool replied that he never bothered his head with the pedantry of professors. The king, satisfied with the answer, pronounced the magical words. Down fell his body, senseless, and his soul animating the corpse, the dead Brahmin sat up and opened his eyes. Instantly the crafty hunchback repeated the incantation, KING ROBERT OF SICILY. 255 and took possession of the carcass of his majesty, mounted the king's horse, and rode off to Liavati, where he was received by the courtiers, the servants, the ministers, and the queen as if he were the true Mukunda, whilst the real monarch, in the shape of a begging Brahmin, roved the forests and the villages, cursing his folly, half starved on the scanty charity of the faithful. " Suspicions that all was not right forced their way into the queen's mind, and she mentioned her doubts to the minister. ' Far flies rumour with three pau's of ears,' said he, addressing the false king, who shrugged his shoulders, and laughed. Again the minister tried him with, — ' The beggar may rise to royal degree,' and received a peremptory order to be silent as he valued his head. " ' He is not the king,' said the minister to the queen. ' We must find the true Mukunda, wherever he may be.' " In order to effect this, to everyone whom the vizir addressed he uttered the two half verses, — 256 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. ' Far flies rumour with three pairs of ears,' and ' The beggar may rise to royal degree,' but with no results. One evening, however, as he was walking home, deep in thought, a poor Brahmin clamoured for alms. The minister made no answer ; but when the pauper con- tinued his importunities, he said, sharply, — ' Far flies rumour with three pairs of ears ; ' to which the Brahmin promptly answered, — ' The man is an idiot, so have no fears.' " Hearing this, the old man was arrested by his interest. He hastily continued, — ' The beggar may rise to royal degree ; ' and the Brahmin responded without hesita- tion, — ' The monarch descend to beggary.' "The minister caught him at once by the hand, and insisted on hearing his story. No sooner was he made aware of what had been done by the hunchback, than he hastened to the palace, where he found the queen bathed in tears over a favourite parrot, which lay dead on her lap. The old man concerted with her KING EGBERT OF SICILY. 257 a plan for the destruction of the hunchback and the restoration of the true king ; then he secretly introduced the transformed Mukunda into the chamber, and summoned the false kiug. " ' Oh, sire,' said the queen, ' if you love me, restore my pretty parrot to life.' " ' That is easily effected,' answered the fool. " In an instant his body fell rigid, and his soul entered the bird, which sat vip, plumed its feathers, and began to chatter. At the same moment the true Mukunda pronounced the magic words, dropped his adopted body, and darted into that which had originally been his. At the sight of the reviving monarch, the queen wrung the parrot's neck, and thus destroyed the impostor." This story is based on the gi'eat Buddhist doctrine of the transmigration of souls, and was evidently a very popular illustration of that fundamental dogma, for variations of it are common in most ancient Sanscrit collec- tions. Thus in the Katha Sarlt Sagara, a work of Soma Deva, written between a.d. 1113 — 1125, the story reappears considerably altered, but still told with the design of insist- 258 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. ing on the doctrine of transmigration of souls. Soma Deva's tale is this : — Vararutschi, Vyadi, and Indradatta, desired to learn the new lessons of Yarscha, but could not pay the stipulated fee, — a million pieces of gold. They determined to ask King Nanda — a cotemporary of Alexander the Great, by the way — to pay it for them, and they visited his capital. They are too late : Nanda is just dead. However, determined to obtain the requisite Slim, Indradatta leaves his body in a wood, guarded by his companions, and sends his soul into the dead king. Then Vararutschi goes to him, asks, and receives the gold, whilst Vyadi sits beside the deserted body. But the prime minister suspected that the revived master was not quite identical with the deceased master. Indeed, King Nanda now exhibited an intelligence and vigour which had been sadly deficient before. The minister knew that the heir to the throne was but a child, and that he had powerful enemies. He therefore formed the resolution of keeping the false king on the throne till the heir was of age to govern. To effect his purpose, he issued orders that every corpse in the kingdom should KING ROBERT OF SICILY. 259 be burnt. Amongst the rest was consumed that of Indi'adatta, and the Brahman found himself, with horror, obliged to remain in the body of a Sudra, though that Sudra was a king. There is another story, similar to that in the Pantschatantra, told of Tschandragupta, the founder of the Maury a dynasty, and one of the most renowned of the ancient Indian kings. But, indeed, the variations occurring in the ancient Sanscrit Buddhist tales are very nu- merous. From India the story travelled into Persia ; when, is not known ; but it was probably there long before a.d. 540 when the Persian trans- lation of the Pantschatantra was made. In Persian it occurs in the Bahar Danush, and in the version of the (^ukasaptai. It is in the Turkish Tutinameh. It is in the famous Arabian Nights, as the story of the Prince Fadl-Allah, It is also in the Mongolian Vikramacarita. But, though it was translated with small variations from the Sanscrit in these works, popularly the story had gone through great adaptations and alterations to suit creeds which did not beHeve in the transmigration of souls. s 2 260 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. When it was made knowu to the Jews is not certain ; probably at the captivity. Yet there are passages in the Psalms, and especially in the song of Hannah, which bear a striking resemblance to the verses of the prime minister, and seem almost like an allusion to the fable. Thus, " The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich : he bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory." This may be a reference or it may not. The sentiment is not unlikely to have been uttered without knowledge of the Indian fable; but if Hannah had been ac- quainted with it, no doubt to it allusion was made. It is certain, however, that the story did popularise itself among the Jews, and when it did so, it was in a form adapted to their belief, which had nothing in common with metem- psychosis. And it is exceedingly probable that they derived it from Persia, for one of the actors in the tale, Asmodeus, is the Zoroastrian Aeshma. The story is found in the Talmud and is as follows : — KING EGBERT OF SICILY. 261 King Solomon, having completed the temple and his house, was lifted up with pride of heart, and regarded himself as the greatest of kings. Every day he was wont to bathe, and before entering the water, he intrusted his ring, wherein lay his power, to one of his wives. One day the evil spirit, Asmodeus, stole the ring, and, assuming Solomon's form, drove the naked king from the bath into the streets of Jerusalem. The wretched man wandered about his city scorned by all ; then he fled into distant lands, none recognising in him the great and wise monarch. In the meanwhile the evil spirit reigned in his stead, but, unable to bear on his finger the ring graven with the Incommunicable Name, he cast it into the sea. Solomon, returning from his wanderings, became scullion in the palace. One day a fisher brought him a fish for the king. On opening it, he found in its belly the ring he had lost. At once regaining his power, he drove Asmodeus into banishment, and, a humbled and better man, reigned gloriously on the throne of his father, David. (Talmud, Gittim, fol. 68.) The Arabs have a similar legend, taken from the Jews : — 262 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. '* One day Solomon asked an indiscrete question of an evil Jinn subject to liim. The spirit replied that he could not obtain the in- formation required without the aid of Solomon's seal. The king thoughtlessly lent it, and im- mediately found himself supplanted by the Jinn. Reduced to beggary, he wandered through the world repeating, ' I, the preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.' The con- stant repetition of this sentence attracted atten- tion ; the disguised demon took alarm and fled, and Solomon regained his throne." Finally the Jews or Arabs introduced the story to Western Europe, where it soon became popular. In the Gesta Romanorum, a col- lection of moral tales made by the monks in the 14th century, the Emperor Jovinian takes the place of Solomon, and the story is thus told :— " When Jovinian was emperor, he possessed very great jDOwers ; and as he lay in bed re- flecting upon the extent of his dominions, his heart was elated to an extraordinary degree. ' Is there,' he impiously asked, ' any other god than meV Amid such thoughts he fell asleep. KING ROBERT OF SICILY. 263 " In the morning lie reviewed his troops, and said, ' My friends, after breakfast we will hunt.' Preparations being made accordingly, he set out with a large retinue. During the chase the emperor felt such extreme oppression from the heat, that he believed his very ex- istence depended upon a cold bath. As he anxiously looked round, he discovered a sheet of water at no great distance. ' Remain here,' said he to his guard, ' until I have refreshed myself in yonder stream.' Then, spurring his steed, he rode hastily to the edge of the water. Alighting, he divested himself of his apparel, and experienced the greatest pleasure from its Invigorating freshness and coolness. But vvhilst he was thus employed a person similar .0 him in every respect arrayed himself unper- ceived in the emperor's dress, and then mount- "ng his horse, rode to the attendants. The resemblance to the sovereign was such, that no doubt was entertained of the reality ; and straitway command was issued for their return to the palace. " Jovinian, however, having quitted the water, sought in every possible direction for his clothes, but could find neither them nor the horse. 264 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. Vexed beyond measure at the circumstance, for he was completely naked, he began to reflect upon what course he should pursue. 'There is, I remember, a knight residing close by; I will go to him and command his attendance and service. I will then ride to the palace, and strictly investigate the cause of this extra- ordinary conduct. Some shall smart for it.' " Jovinian proceeded naked and ashamed to the castle of the aforesaid knight, and beat loudly at the gate. ' Open the gate,' shouted the enraged emperor, as the porter inquired leisurely the cause of the knocking, * you will soon see who I am.' The gate was opened, and the porter, struck with the strange appear- ance of the man before him, exclaimed, ' In the name of all that is marvellous, what are you?' 'I am,' replied he, 'Jovinian, your emperor. Go to your lord and command him to supply the wants of his sovereign. I have lost both horse and clothes.' " ' Infamous ribald ! ' shouted the porter ; ' just before thy approach, the emperor, ac- companied by his suite, entered the palace. My lord both went and returned with him. But he shall hear of thy presumption.' And KING ROBERT OF SICILY. 265 he hurried off to communicate with his master. The knight came and inspected the naked man. * What is your name V he asked roughly. "'I am Jovinian, who promoted thee to a military command.' " ' Audacious scoundrel ! ' said the knight ; * dost thou dare to call thyself the emperor 1 I have but just returned from the palace, whither I have accompanied him. Flog the rascal/ he ordered, turning to his servants ; ' flog him soundly, and drive him away.' "The sentence was immediately executed, and Jovinian, bruised and furious, rushed away to the castle of a duke whom he had loaded with favours. ' He will remember me,' was his hope. Arrived at the castle, he made the same assertion. " ' Poor mad wretch,' said the duke, ' a short time since, I returned from the palace, where I left the very emperor thou assumest to be. But ignorant whether thou art more fool or knave, we will administer such a remedy as will suit both. Carry him to prison, and feed him with bread and water.' The command was no sooner delivered than obeyed ; and the follow- ing day Jovinian's naked body was submitted 266 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. to the lash, and again cast into the dungeon. In the agony of his heart, the poor king said, 'What shall I do? I am exposed to the coarsest contumely, and the mockery of the people. I will hasten to the palace and discover myself to my wife, — she will surely know me.' "Escaping therefore from his confinement, he approached the imperial residence. ' Who art thou I ' asked the porter. "'It is strange,' replied the aggrieved em- peror, ' that thou shouldest forget one thovi hast served so long.' " ' Served thee ! ' returned the porter indig- nantly ; ' I have served none but the emperor.' " ' Why,' said the other, ' though thou recog- nisest me not, yet I am he. Go to the empress ; communicate what I shall tell thee, and by these signs, bid her send the imperial robes, of which some rogue has deprived me.' After some demur, the porter obeyed ; and orders were issued for the admission of the mad fellow w^ithout. "The false emperor and the empress were seated in the midst of their nobles. As the true Jovinian entered, a large dog, which crouched on the hearth, and had been much KING ROBERT OF SICILY. 267 cherished by him, flew at his throat, and but for timely intervention would have killed him. A falcon also, seated on her perch, no sooner saw him than she broke her jesses, and flew out of the hall. Then the pretended emperor, addressing those who stood about him, said : ' My friends, hear what I will ask of yon ribald. Who are you ? And what do you want V " ' These questions,' said the suffering man, * are very strange. You know I am the emperor, and master of this place.' " The other, turning to the nobles who stood by, continued, 'Tell me, on your allegiance, which of us two is your lord V " They drew their swords in reply, and asked leave to punish the impostor with death. " Then, turning to the empress, he asked, * Tell me, my lady, on the faith you have sworn, do you know this man who calls himself thy lord and emperor V " She answered, ' How can you ask such a question ? Have I not known thee more than thirty years, and borne thee many children?' "Hearing this the unfortunate monarch rushed, full of despair, from the court. " Why 268 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. was I born V he exclaimed. ' My friends shun me ; my wife and children will not acknow- ledge me. I will seek my confessor. He may remember me.' To him he went accordingly, and knocked at the window of his cell. " ' Who is there ? ' asked the priest. " ' The Emperor Jovinian,' was the reply ; ' open the window that I may speak with thee.' The window was opened ; but no sooner had the confessor looked out than he closed it again in great haste. " ' Depart,' said he, ' accursed creature ! Thou art not the emperor, but the devil incarnate.' " This completed the miseries of the perse- cuted man. 'Woe is me,' he cried, for what strange doom am I reserved V " At this crisis, the impious words which, in the arrogance of his heart he had uttered, crossed his recollection. Immediately he beat again at the window of the confessor. " 'Who is there?' asked the priest. " ' A penitent,' answered the emperor. " The window was opened. ' What is your majesty pleased to require 1 ' asked the confessor, recognising him at once. Then he made his confession, and received of the old father a KING ROBERT OF SICILY. 269 few clothes to cover his nakedness, and hy the priest's advice returned to the palace. The soldiers presented arms to him, the porter opened immediately, the dog fawned on him, the falcon flew to him, and his wife rushed to embrace him. Then the feigned emperor spoke : — ' My friends, hearken ! That man is your king. He exalted himself, to the dispa- ragement of his !Maker, and God has punished him. But repentance has removed the rod.' So saying, he disappeared. The emperor gave thanks to God, and lived happily, and finished his days in peace." The same story, with some alterations, is told of Robert of Sicily. An old poem or metrical romance on the subject is given by Warton ; and on it Longfellow has founded his poem. Eobert of Sicily, brother of Pope Urbane And Valmond, Emperor of Allemaine, Apparelled in magnificent attire, With retinue of many a knight and squire, On St. John's eve, at vespers, proudly sat And heard the priests chant the Magnificat. And, as he listened, o'er and o'er again Kepeated, like a burden or refrain, He caught the words : ' Deposuit potentes De sede, et exaltavit humiles ; 270 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. He inquired of a clerk the meaning of these words ; and, having heard the explanation, was mightily offended : — " 'Tis well that such seditious words are sung Only by priests, and in the Latin tongue ; For, unto priests and people be it known. There is no power can push me from my throne." And, leaning back, he yawned, and fell asleep, Lulled by the chant monotonous and deep. When he awoke he was alone in the church. An angel had assumed his likeness, and had swept out of the minster with the court. The story then runs in the same line as that of Jovinian. Robert is unrecognised, and is at last received into the palace as court fool. At the end of three years there arrived an embassy from Valmond, the emperor, requesting Robert to join him on Maundy Thursday, at Rome, whither he proposed to go on a visit to his brother Urban. The angel welcomed the ambassadors, and departed in their company to the Holy City. We place side by side the old English metrical description of Robert's ap- pearance, as he accompanied the false emperor, with the modern poet's rendering ; KING EGBERT OF SICILY. 271 OLD ENGLISH. The fool Kobert also went, Clothed in loathly garnement, With fox-tails riven all about : Men might him knowen in the rout. An ape rode of his clothing ; So foul rode never king. LONGFELLOW. And lo ! among the menials, in mock state, Upon a piebald steed, with shambling gait ; His cloak of fox-tails flapping in the wind, The solemn ape demurely perched behind. King Eobert rode, making huge merriment In all the country towns through which they went. Eobert witnessed in sullen silence the de- monstrations of affectionate regard w^th which the pope and emperor welcomed their supposed brother; but, at length, rushing forward, he bitterly reproached them for thus joining in an unnatural conspiracy with an usurper. This violent sally, however, was received by his brothers, and by the whole papal court, as an undoubted proof of his madness ; and he now learnt for the first time the real extent of his misfortune. His stubbornness and pride gave 272 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. way, and were succeeded by remorse and peni- tence. After five weeks in Rome, the emperor, and the supposed king of Sicily, returned to their respective dominions, Robert being still ac- coutred in his fox-tails, and accompanied by his ape, whom he now ceased to consider as his inferior. When the angel was again at the capital of Sicily, he felt that his mission was accomplished. And when once more within Palermo's wall, And, seated on the throne in his great hall. He heard the Angelus from the convent towers. As if a better world conversed with ours. He beckoned to King Eobert to draw nigher, And, with a gesture, bade the rest retire ; And when they were alone, the Angel said, *'Art thou the king?" Then, bowing down his head, King Eobert crossed both hands upon his breast, And meekly answered him : " Thou knowest best! My sins as scarlet are ; let me go hence. And in some cloister's school of penitence, Across those stones that pave the way to heaven Walk barefoot, till my guilty soul is shriven !" The Angel smiled, and from his radiant face A holy light illumined all the place, KING ROBERT OF SICILY. 273 And tlirough the open window, loud and clear, They heard the monks chant in the chapel near, Ahove the stir and tumult of the street : " He has put down the mighty from their seat, And has exalted them of low degree ! " And through the chant a second melody Eose like the throbbing of a single string, *' I am an angel, and thou art the king ! " King Eobert, who was standing near the throne, Lifted his eyes, and lo ! he was alone ! But all apparelled as in days of old. With ermined mantle, and with cloth of gold ; And when his courtiers came they found him there. Kneeling upon the floor, absorbed in silent prayer. We think it would be scarcely possible to find a more pointed illustration of the purifying, humanising, and refining nature of Christianity, than to observe the course pursued by this story. Among Buddhists the false king is vivified by a crafty rogue's infused soul ; among Jews lie is a transformed devil ; but among Christians he is an angel of light. ( 274 ) SORTES SACR^. It is not an uncommon case, now-a-days, for pious persons at times of great perplexity, to seek a solution to their difficulties in their Bibles, opening the book at random and taking the first passage which occcurs as a direct message to them from the Almighty. The manner in which this questioning of the sacred oracles is performed is serious. A con- siderable time is previously devoted to prayer, after which the inquirer rises from his knees and consvilts the Family Bible in the way described. Whether such a manner of dealing with the Word of God be under any circum- stances justifiable, I do not pretend to judge. S. Augustine in his 119th letter to Januarius seems not to disapprove of this custom, so long as it be not applied to things of this world. Gregory of Tours tells us what was his practice. He spent several days in fasting and SORTES SACR.E. 275 prayer, and in strict retirement, after which he resorted to the tomb of S. Martin, and taking any book of Scriptiu'e which he chose, he opened it, and took as answer from God the first passage that met his eye. Shoukl this passage prove inappropriate, he opened another book of Scripture. The 11th chapter of Proverbs, which con- tains thirty-one verses, is often taken to give omen of the character of a life. The manner of consulting it is simple ; it is but to look for the verse answering to the day of the month on which the questioner was born. The answer will be found in most cases to be exceedingly ambiguous. The practice of consulting certain books for ])urposes of augury is of high antiquity. Herodotus speaks of the custom, and of the fraud of Oxomacritus, a celebrated diviner, who made use of Musoeus for reference, and who was driven out of Athens by Hipparcus, son of Pisistratus, because he had been detected inserting in the verses of Musoeus an oracle predicting the disappearance in the waves of the islands near Lemnos. Homer, and after- wards Virgil, were the poets most frequently T 2 276 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. consulted, but Euripides was also regarded as divinely inspired to foretell the future. Two hundred years after the death of Virgil, his poems were laid up in the temple at Proeneste, for consultations. Alexander Severus sought the oracle in the reign of Heliogabalus, who feared and hated him; and the line of Virgil he read told him that " if he could sur- mount opposing fates, he would be Marcellus." The emperor Heraclius, when deliberating where to fix his winter quarters, was determined by an oracle of this sort. He purified his army during three days, and then opened the gospels. The passage he found was understood by him to indicate that he should winter in Albania. Nicephorus Gregoras (lib. viii. c. 14) relates how Andronicus the Elder was reconciled to his nephew Andronicus in consequence of light- ing on the verse of the Psalm (Ixviii. 14), " When the Almighty scattered kings for their sake, then were they as white as snow in Salmon." Whereby he concluded that all the troubles that had been undergone by him had been decreed by God for his purification. With the same intent during the consecra- tion of a bishop, at the moment when the book SOETES SACR^. 277 of the gospels was placed on his head, it was customary to open the volume and gather from the verse at the head of the page an augury of the prelate's reign. This is illustrated in a cui'ious ancient painting of the consecration of S. Thomas a Becket by Van Eyck, shown in the Leeds Fine Ai"t Exhibition of 1868. Chroniclers and biographers have not failed to mention several prognostications given in this manner which were verified in the event. At the consecration of Athanasius, nominated to the patriarchate of Constantinople by Con- stantine, Perphyrogenitus, a patriarchate which he stained with his crimes, " Caracalla, bishop of Nicomedia, having brought the gospel," says the historian Pachymerus, " the congregation prepared to take note of the oracle which would be manifest on the opening of the book, though this oracle is not infallibly true. The bishop of Niceea, noticing that he had lighted on the words, 'Prepared for the^ devil and his angels, groaned in the depth of his heart, and putting up his hand to hide the words, turned over the leaves of the book, and disclosed the other words, ' The birds of the air come, and lodge in the branches ;' words 278 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. which seemed far removed from the ceremony which was being celebrated. All that could be done to hide these oracles was done, but it was found impossible to conceal the truth. It was said that they did not forbid the consecration, but that, nevertheless, they were not the effect of chance, for there is no such a thing as chance in the celebration of the Sacred Mysteries." " Landri, elected bishop of Laon," says Guibert de Nogent, " received episcopal unction in the church of S. Euffinus ; but it was of sad portent to him, that the text of the gospel for the day was, ' A sword shall pierce through thine own soul also.' " After many crimes he was assassinated. He was succeeded by the Dean of Orleans, whose name is not known. " The new prelate having presented himself for consecration, people looked to see what the gospel would prognosticate ; but it Avas opened at a blank page, as though God had said, * I have nothing to foretell of this man, because he will be, and will do, nothing.' And in fact he died at the end of a very few months." Guibert tells a story of himself, which shows that the same practice was in vogue at the installation of an abbot. " On the day of my SOKTES SACK^. 279 entry into the '"monastery," he writes, " a monk who had studied the sacred books desired, I presume, to read my future ; at the moment when he Avas preparing to leave with the pro- cession to meet me, he placed designedly on the altar the book of the gospels, intending to draw an omen from the direction taken by my eyes towards this or that chapter. Now the book was written, not in pages, but in columns. The monk's eyes rested on the middle of the second column, where he read the following passage, ' The light of the body is the eye.' Then he bade the deacon, who was to present the gospel to me, to take care, after I had kissed the cross on the covei-, to hold his hand on the passage he indicated to him, and then atten- tively to observe, as soon as he had opened the book before me, on what part of the pages my eyes rested. The deacon accordingly opened the book, after I had, as custom required, pressed my lips upon the cover. Whilst he observed, with curious eyes, the direction taken by my glance, my eye and spirit together turned neither above, nor below, but precisely towards the verse which had been indicated before. The monk who had sought to form conjectui'es 280 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. by this, seeing that my action had accorded, without premeditation, with his intentions, came to me a few days after, and told me what he had done, and how wondrously my first movement had coincided with his own." Thomas Cantipratensis relates how that Cardinal Conrad, Archbishop of Paris, was in doubt as to what reception he should give to the Order of Preachers, some members of which had lately entered the city. He hesitated as to their having been legitimately constituted, and questioned their value. Whereupon he betook himself to prayer ; and then going to the altar opened the Missal at the words, ' Laudare, bene- dicere, et predicare,' whereupon his scruples vanished, and he extended to them the right hand of fellowship. " I know a religious man who had designed to serve God in the secular life," writes Paciu- chelli (In Jonam vol. i. p. 9) ; " he once poured forth his prayers to God, and asked that he might be permitted, if it were His will, to fulfil some desire or other that he had. Having asked the opinion of certain persons of authority, he was recommended, after the most sacred service, to open the Missal and to take note of SOKTES SACRiE. 281 what should first arrest his attention. He followed this advice, and lo ! the first words which presented themselves to him were those of our Lord to the sons of Zebedee, in S. Matt. XX. 28, ' Ye know not what ye ask ;' from which he gathered clearly that were his wishes to be gratified, his eternal welfare would be imperilled." I have heard of a young man in doubt as to his vocation for holy orders, when he found his desire strongly opposed by his parents, inquiring of his Bible in a similar spirit and manner, and reading, " He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me." I have been told of another man in somewhat parallel cir- cumstances^ having lately awakened to religious convictions after a life of great laxity, who sought guidance in the same manner, and read, " Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee." A story of the baleful effects of this practice \i.mong Scotch Presbyterians appeared in a col- lection of Legends of Edinburgh by a recent writer. The story related how a designing mother persuaded her reluctant daughter into a 282 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. marriage with a wealthy but dissipated youth, the son of their employer, towards whom the ^irl felt great repugnance, by manipulating the Sortes Sacrie so as to make the girl read, " Behold, Kebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as the Lord hath spoken." As the name of the young woman was Rebekah, the sentence seemed to her to be a message from heaven. Gregory of Tours mentions a couple of in- stances of omens taken from Scripture. The one was that of Chramm, who had revolted against his father Clothaire, and who marched to Dijon, where he consulted the Sacred Oracles, by placing on the altar three books, the Prophets, the Acts, and the Evangelists. In like manner, according to Gregory, Merovius, flying from the wrath of his father Chilperic, and Fredigunda, placed on the tomb of S. Martin three books, to wit, the Psalter, the the Kings, and the Gospels, and kept vigil through the night, praying the blessed confessor to discover to him what was to happen to him. He fasted three days and continued incessantly in prayer ; then he opened the books, one after another, and was so dismayed at the replies SOETES SACRiE. 283 which he found, that he wept bitterly beside the tomb, and then sadly left the basilica. In 1115, differences having arisen touching the elevation of Hugh de Montaign to the Bishopric of Auxerre, the case was brought before Pope Pascal II., who decided in favour of his consecration, and ordained him himself. It was urged by his friends in his favour, that on the opening of the book above his head, during the ceremony, these words stood out at the head of the page, " A^-e Maria ! grades plena!" and this was regarded as a token of his chastity, humility, and exemplary piety, and of the favour in which he was held by the Blessed Virgin. According to the use of the ancient church of Terouanne, on the reception of a new canon, it was customary to open at random the Psalter, after that the volume had been sprinkled by the dean with holy water, and the paragraph at the head of the page was transcribed in the letters patent of the new canon. The same custom was in force, as late as last century, in the cathedral of Boulogne, and the bishop, De Langle, tried in vain in 1722 to abolish it. The Bollandists relate that S. Petrock of 284 CURIOSITIES OF OLDKN TIMES. Cornwall, when in doubt whether to undertake a pilgrimage to the Holy Land or not, was decided by opening his Bible at the passage in Isaiah, " Et erit sepulchrum ejus gloriosum" A similar story is told of S. Poppo, a Belgian saint of the eleventh century. The anecdote is well known of King Charles and Lord Falkland consulting the Sortes Virgilianae in the library at Oxford. The lines they met with and which were so singularly verified afterwards, are marked with their initials in the book, which is still preserved. Rabelais refers to the Sortes Virgilianae when he makes Panurge consult them on the subject of his marriage. Gregory of Tours, sad at heart because of the desolation produced by the ravages of Count Leudaste in and around the city, entered his oratory; "and," as he tells us himself, "full of trouble, I took up the Psalms of David, in hopes of finding, when I opened the book, some verse which might bring me consolation. And I found this : ' He brought them out safely, that they should not fear ; and over- whelmed their enemies -with the sea.' " Gregory relates another story akin to the SORTES SACR^. 285 subject. Clovis, at the moment when he was marching against Alaric, King of the Visigoths, sent his deputies to the Church of S. Martin, at Tours, saying to them, " Go, and may be, in the holy temple you will find some presage of victory." After having given them presents for the sacred place, he added : " O Lord God ! if Thou art on my side, if Thou art determined to deliver into my hands this unbelieving nation, hostile to Thy Name, grant that I may see Thy favour, on the entry of my servants into the basilica of S. Martin, that I may know if Thou deignest to be favourable to Thy suppliant." The envoys having hastented to Tours, en- tered the cathedral at the moment when the Precentor gave out the Antiphon : " Thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle : thou shalt throw down mine enemies under me. Thou hast made mine enemies also to turn their backs upon me : and I shall destroy them that hate me." (Ps. xviii. 39, 40.) Hearing this, they gave thanks to God, pre- sented their offerings, and returned with joy to announce the omen to their king. Divination by Scripture has been forbidden 286 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. by several national councils, probably on ac- count of the superstitious use made of it. The sixteenth canon of the Council of Vannes, held in 465, forbids clerks, under pain of excommu- nication, consulting the Sortes Sacrge. This prohibition was extended to the laity by the forty-second canon of the Council of Agde, in 506. " Aliquanti clerici sive laici student auguriis, et sub nomine fictoe religionis, per eas, quas sanctorum sortes vocant, diviniationis scientiam profitentur, aut quarumcunque scrip- turorum inspectione futura promittunt." It was also forbidden by the Council of Orleans in 511 ; again by that of Auxerre, in 595; by that of Selingstadt, in 1022, by that of Enham, in 1009, and by a capitulary of Charlemagne, in 789. Related to Sortes Sacraa are those messages which are supposed to be conveyed by the chance hearing or reading of a passage of Scripture. These are not however to be re- garded in the light of superstition, and it is quite possible, and indeed probable, that certain texts accidentally met with may influence for good or bad those who are in a disposition of mind to be so affected. SORTES SACR/E. 287 The well-known story of S. Augustine's con- version is to the point. He relates himself how sitting in a garden house, in great trouble of mind, he heard a voice say, " Tolle, lege ;" whereupon he took up the sacred Scriptures and read, " Not in chambei-ing and wantonness, not in strife and envying ; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." (Rom. xiii. 13, 14.) S. Anthony was moved to the assumption of the religious life by accidentally hearing — " If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven ; and come and follow me." (S. Matt. xix. 21.) S. Louis when trying a murderer was much inclined by his natural tenderness of disposition to pardon the man ; but his resolution to let justice take her course was strengthened by opening his Psalter at the words, "Feci judicium et justitiam," Popular Protestant legend literature teems with similar stories; and miraculous conversions, the result of some chance text, are as common among the pious fables of the Eeligious Tract 288 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. Society publications, as are miraculous cures among those of Catholic hagiology. I need only instance one I read the other day in a bookseller's shop, whilst awaiting the making up of a parcel. A reader of the Bible for coppers, — in short, a canting beggar, on London Bridge, lost his place one day, and whilst running his finger down the page of his Bible, con- tinued muttering the last words he had read ; they were these, " None other Name, none other Name !" At this moment passed a re- spectable gentleman who had for years been tr3dng to lead a moral, religious, and respectable life — one who was doubtless a good Christian and a worthy citizen. Hearing these words, a revulsion was operated in his conscience. He became suddenly aware that all his righteous- ness was filthy rags ; that he had ignorantly been endeavouring to "enter into life" by "keeping the commandments," and so was going about to establish his own righteousness; and in ten minutes the worthy citizen had blazed up into an Exeter Hall fanatic of the fiercest type. But, to conclude, the true use of Holy Scrip- ture is best learned from our English collect SORTES SACR^. 289 whicli asks that we may read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest its glorious lessons, taken as a whole, and not wrung distorted from stray passages ; or from these glorious words of the great S. Gregory, " Scriptura sacramentis oculis quasi quoddam speculum opponitur, ut interna faeies nostra in ipsa videatur. Ibi fceda, ibi pulchra nostra cognoscimus." (Moral. ii. 1.) ( 290 ) CHIAPA CHOCOLATE. Gage, the Dominican, a great admirer of cho- colate, a man who combated with all his energy the objections which medical men of the seven- teenth century made to its use, derived its name from atte, the Mexican word for water, and the sound it makes when poured out, — choco, choco, choco, choco ! Oh, Professor Max Miiller ! what do you say to this ? Whatever the derivation of the name may be, the composition of the beverage is well known. Cacao, sugar, long-pepper, vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, almonds, mace, anise-seed, are the main constituents, and the cake-choco- late used in Britain is believed to be made of about one-half genuine cacao, the remamder of flour or Castile soap. We are not going any further into the mysteries of its composition, which may be ascertained from any encyclopedia, for our CHIAPA CHOCOLx\.TE. 291 business is with a circumstance in connection Avith its history, probably known to few. And first for our authority — the afore- mentioned Dominican. Thomas Gage was born of a good family in England ; his elder brother was Governor of Oxford in 1645, when King Charles retreated thither during the Great Eebellion. Whilst still young, Thomas had been sent to Spain for education, and had entered the Dominican order, and having been, like so many Spanish ecclesiastics, fired with missionary zeal, he embarked at Cadiz for Vera Cruz, whence he betook himself to Mexico, near which town he made a retreat, previous to devoting himself to a life of toil in the Philippines. However, the accounts he received of these islands were so discouraging, and the monastic life in Mexico was so inviting, that he post- poned his expedition indefinitely. But Gage had no intention of spending his life in ease : he hurried over the different districts of Mexico and Guatemala, making himself acquainted with the languages spoken wherever he went, and he laboured indefatigably as priest to several parishes of great extent. u 2 292 CUKIOSITIES OF OLDEN TEMES. Gage's account of the cultivation of the cacao and the manufacture of chocolate is interesting, his treatise on its medical properties — conceived in the taste and spirit of his day — curious, and his personal narrative, lively and amusing. One little statement must not be passed over. Chocolate, it seems, is useful as a cosmetic ; Creole ladies eat it to deepen their skin tint, just on the same principle, observes Gage, as English ladies devour whitewash from the walls to clarify their complexion. Chiapa was a central point for Gage's laboiu's during a considerable period. At that time it was a small cathedral town, containing 400 Spanish families, and 100 Mexican houses in a f auxbourg by itself. The catheth'al served as parish church to the inhabitants : one Dominican and one Francis- can monastery, besides a poverty-stricken nunnery, supplied the religious requirements of the diocesan city. No Jesuits there ! quoth Gage, with a little rancour. Those good men seldom leave rich and opulent towns ; and when you learn the fact that there are no Jesuits at Chiapa, you may draw the immediate inference CHIAPA CHOCOLATE. 293 thet the town is poor, and the inhabitants not liberally disposed. Liberally disposed ! The high and stately Creole Dons, who claimed descent from half the noble families of Spain ; the grand repre- sentatives of the De Solis, Cortez, De Velasco, De Toledo, De Zerna, De Mendoza, who lived by cattle-jobbing and by pasturing droves of mules on their farms, and who gave themselves the airs of dukes, and were as ignorant and not so well-behaved as the donkeys they I'eared ; who ate a dinner of salt and kidney-beans in five minutes, and spent an hour at their doors picking their teeth, wiping their moustaches, and boasting of the fricasees and fricandoes they had been tasting — these men liberally disposed ! They contributed nothing to the treasury of the Church, but gave the clergy considerable trouble. These Creoles particularly disliked and resented any allusion to their duty of alms- giving, and a request for charity was by them regarded as a personal affront. Gage was soon intimate with the Bishop, Dom Bernard de Salazar, a very worthy pre- late, perhaps a little icee bit too fond of the 294 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. good tilings of this present life, but otherwise most exemplary, very energetic, and as bold as a saint in reforming abuses which had crept into the Church. Talk of abuses, and you may be sure that woman is at the bottom of them ! A certain Czar, whenever he heard of a misfortune, at once asked, "Who was sheV^ knowing that some woman had originated it. The same view may perhaps be taken of abuses and corruptions in the Church. Dom Bernard de Salazar had the misfortune to live in a perpetual state of contest with the ladies of his flock, and the subject of dispute was chocolate. It was a brave struggle — bravely fought on both sides. The prelate fulminated all the censures at his disposal in his ecclesiastical armoury; the ladies, on their side, made use of all the devices and intrigues stored in their little heads, and gained the day — of course. Now the great subject of altercation was as foUow^s. The ladies of Chiapa were so addicted to the use of chocolate, that they would neither hear Low Mass, much less High Mass, or a sermon, without drinking cups of steaming CHIAPA CHOCOLATE. 295 chocolate, and eating preserves, brought in on trays by servants, during the performance of di\dne service ; so that the voice of the preacher, or the chant of the priest, were drowned in the continual clatter of cups and clink of spoons ; besides, the floor, after serWce, was strewn with bon-bon papers, and stained with splashes of the spilled beverage. How could that be devotion wliich was broken in upon by the tray of delicacies ! How could a preacher warm with his subject whilst his audience were passing to each other sponge- cake and cracknels ! Bishop Salazar's predecessor had seen this abuse grow to a head without attempting to correct it, beheving such a task to be hopeless. The new prelate was of better metal. He com- menced by recommending his clergy, in their private ministrations, to urge its abandonment. The priests entreated in vain. " Very well," said the Bishop, "then I shall preach about it." And so he did. At first his discourse was tender and persuasive, but his voice was drowned in the clicker of cups and saucers. Then he waxed indignant. " What ! have ye not houses to eat and to drink in ? or despise ye the 296 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. Church of God, and shame them that have not ? What shall I say to you f The ladies looked up at the pulpit with unimpassioned eyes, while sipping their chocolate, then wiped their lips, and put out their hands for some comfits. The bishop's voice thrilled shriller and louder — he looked like an Apostle in his godly indignation. Crash ! — down went a tray at the cathedral door, and every one looked round to see whose cups were broken. " What was the subject of the sermon ? " asked masters of their apprentices every Sunday for the next month, and the readj answer came, " Oh ! chocolate again ! " After a course on the guilt of church dese- cration, the Bishop found that the ladies were only confirmed in their evil habits. Reluctantly, the Bishop had recourse to the only method open to him, an excommunication, which was accordingly affixed to the cathedral gates. By this he decreed that all persons showing wilful disobedience to his injunctions, by drinking or eating during the celebration of divine service, whether of Mass (high or low), litanies, benediction, or vespers, should be ipso- CHIAPA CHOCOLATE. 297 facto excommunicate, be deprived of participa- tion in the sacraments of the Church, and should be denied the rite of burial, if dying in a state of impenitence. This was felt to be a severe stroke, and the ladles sent a deputation to Gage and the Prior of the Dominican mon- astery of S. James, entreating them to use their utmost endeavours to bring about a recon- ciliation, and effect a compromise, a compromise which was to consist in Monseignor's revoking his interdict, and in their — continuing to drink chocolate. Gage and the Prior undertook the delicate office, and sought the Bishop. Salazar received them with dignity, and listened calmly to their entreaties. They urged that this was an established custom, that ladies required humouring, that they were obstinate — the prelate nodded his head — that their diges- tions were delicate, and required that they should continually be imbibing nourishment ; that they had taken a violent prejudice against him, which could only be overcome by his yielding to their whims ; that if he persisted, seditions would arise which would endanger the cause of true religion ; and, finally, the prelate's 298 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. life was menaced in a way rather hinted at than expressed. " Enough, my sons ! " said the Bishop, with composure ; " the souls under my jurisdiction must be in a perilous condition when they have forgotten that there must be obedience in little matters as well as in great. Whether I am assaulting an established custom, or a new abuse, matters little. It is a bad habit ; it is sapping the foundations of reverence and mor- ality. God's house was built for worship, and for that alone. My children must come to His temple either to learn or to pray. Learn they will not, for they have forgotten how to pray : prayer they are unused to, for the highest act of adoration the Church can offer, is only regarded by them as an opportunity for the gratification of their appetites. You recom- mend me to yield to their vagaries. A strange shepherd would he be, who let his sheep lead him ; a wondrous captain, who was dictated to by his soldiers ! As for the cause of true religion being endangered, I judge differently. Religion is endangered ; but it is by children's disobedience to their spiritual legislators, and by their own perversity. I am sorry for you, CHIAPA CHOCOLATE. 299 my sons, that you should have undertaken a fruitless office ; but you may believe me, that nothing shall induce me to swerve from the course which I deem advisable. My personal safety, you hint, is endangered; my life, I answer, is in my Master's hands, and I value it but as it may advance His glory." When the ladies heard that their request had been refused, they treated the excommunication with the greatest contempt, scoffing at it pub- licly, and imbibing chocolate in church, " on principle," more than ever; "Jvist," says Gage, " drinking in church as a fish drinks in water." Some of the canons and priests were then stationed at the cathedral doors to stop the in- gress of the servants with cups and chocolate- pots. They had received injunctions to remove the drinking and eating vessels, and suffer the servants to come empty-handed to church. A violent struggle ensued in the porch, and all the ladies within rushed in a body to the doors, to assist their domestics. The poor clerks were utterly routed and thrown in confusion down the steps, whilst, with that odious well-known clink, clink, the trays came in as before. 300 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. Another, move was requisite, and, on the following Sunday, when the ladies came to church, they found a hand of soldiers drawn up outside, ready to barricade the way against any inroad of chocolate ; a stern determination was depicted on the faces of the military — that if cups and saucers did enter the sacred edifice, it should be over their corpses. The foremost damsels halted, the matrons stood still, the crowd thickened, but not one of the pretty angels would set foot within the cathedral precincts : a busy whisper circulated, then a hush ensued, and with one accord the ladies trooped off to the monastery churches, and there was no congregation that day at the Minster. The brethren of S. Dominic and of S. Francis were nothing loath to see their chapels crowded with all the rank and fashion of Chiapa ; for, with the ladies came money-offerings, and they blinked at the chocolate cups for — a considera- tion. This was allowed to continue a few Sundays only : — our friend the bishop was not going to be shelved thus, and a new manifesto appeared, inhibiting the friars from admitting parishioners to their chapels, CHIAPA CHOCOLATE. 301 and ordering the latter to frequent their cathe- drah The regulars were forced to obey ; not so the ladies — they would go when they pleased, quotha ! and for a month and more, not one of them went to church at all. The prelate was in sore trouble : he hoped that his froward charge would eventually return to the path of duty, but he hoped on from Sunday to Sunday in vain. Would that the story ended as stories of strife and bitterness always should end ; so that we might tell how the ladies yielded at length, how that rejoicings were held and a general reconciliation effected : — but the historian may not pervert facts, to suit his or his readers' gratification. On Saturday evening the old bishop was more than usually anxious; he paced up and down his library, meditating on the sermon he purposed preaching on the following morning — a fruitless task, for he knew that no one would be there but a few poor Mexicans. Sick at heart, he all but wished that he had yielded for peace-sake, but conscience told him that such a course would have been wrong ; and the 302 CURIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. great feature in Salazar's character was his rigid sense of duty. He leaned on his elbows and looked out of a window which opened on a lane between the palace and the cathedral. "Silly boy!" muttered the prelate. "Luis is always prattling with that girl. I thought better of the fair sex till of late." He spoke these words as his eyes caught his page, chattering at the door, with a dark-eyed Creole servant-maid of the De Solis family. Presently the bishop clapped his hands, and a domestic entered. " Send Luis to me." When the page came up, the old man greeted him with a half-smile. " Well, my son, I wish my chocolate to be brought me ; I could not think of breaking off that long tete-a-tete with Dolores, but this is past the proper time." " Your Holiness will pardon me," said the lad ; " Dolores brought you a present from the Donna de Solis ; the lady sends her humble respects to your Holiness, and requests your acceptance of a large packet of very beautiful chocolate." CHIArA CHOCOLATE. 303 "I am much obliged to licr," said the bishop; "did you cx})ress to the maiden my thanks'?" Luis bowed. " Then, child, you may prepare me a cup of this cliocolate, and bring it me at once." " The Donna de Solis's chocolate?" " Yes, my son, yes !" When the boy had left the room, the old man clasped his hands with an expression of thank- fulness. " They are going to yield ! This is a sign that they are desiring reconciliation." Next day the cathedral was thronged with ladies. The service proceeded as usual, but the bishop was not present, " How is the Bishop ? " was whispered from one lady to another, with conscious glances; till the query reached the ears of one of the canons who was at the door. "His Holiness is very ill," he answered, "He has retired to the monastery of S. James." " What is the matter with him ? " " He is suffering from severe pains, inter- nally." "Has he seen a doctor?" 304 CUEIOSITIES OF OLDEN TIMES. "Physicians have been sent for." For eight days the good old prelate lingered in great suffering. " Tell me," he asked very feebly ; '' tell me truly, what is my complaint?" "Your Holiness has been poisoned," replied the physician. The Bishop turned his face to the wall. Some one whispered that he was dead, when he had been thus for some while. The dying man turned his face round, and said : " Hush ! I am praying for my poor sheep ! May God pardon them." Then, after a pause : "I forgive them for having caused my death, most heartily. Poor sheep !" And he died. Since then there has been a j)roverb preva- lent in Mexico : " Beware of tasting Chiapa chocolate." Gage, the Dominican, did not remain long in Chiapa after the death of his patron : he seldom touched chocolate in that town unless quite certain of the friendship of those who offered it to him; and when he did leave, it was from fear of a fate like the bishop's, — he CHIAPA CHOCOLATE. 305 having incun*ed the anger of some of the ladies. The cathedral presented the same scene as before ; the prelate had laboured in vain, and chocolate was copiously drank at his funeral. London : Swift & Co., liing Street, Regent Street, W. TALES PUBLISHED BY J.T.HAYES, LYALL PLACE, EATON SQUAKE. . Just Published, Price 3s. 6d. ; by Post, 3s. 9d. EDITED BY THE EEV. S. BAEING-GOULD. Norwegian Tales ; Evenings at OAKWOOD. Translated by ELLEN WHITE. " A pleasant little book for children. It contains several fairy legends set in a frame of dialogue (the interlocutors being four little Norwegian school- girls and their governess), and moralised for their benefit, without prosiness or cant." — Church Times. " This is a good collection of new fairy tales. They are all founded on ancient Norwegian legends, and in their original form are most thoroughly believed by the peasantry; but until they fell into the hands of Madame Winsnea they lacked point. She has dextrously treated them, and made them the means of teaching very valuable lessons in very unmistakable terms. 'The Path of Industry,' the first in the book, is one of the best of the tales ; but children will like them all, and their elders will be interested too, not only by the fairy tales, but by the glimpses afforded from time to time of the inner life of those very Uttle known, but very interesting, Norwegians. They certainly are not Sabbatarians, for here we have mamma obliged to go out on the Sunday evening, and so leaving a stock of riddles to amuse the children, and their nurse afterwards aiding and abetting them in a game at Bhnd Man's Buff, and then telling them a fairy tale. This would be atrocious in the eyes of some people ; but, to our thinking, if you cannot have the true goldenmean, it is far better than the other extreme — far better calculated to make childi-en like Sunday than the plan of putting an unnatural restraint on the childish uatm-e, and compelling them to read ' good ' books, and telling them it is wicked to laugh. It would seem that the doctrine of transmigi-ation of souls maintains its place among the national superstitions of Norway, but we never saw any attempt to explain how the transmigration was managed. But now we have it. Kill the animal whose soul it is desired to transfer, catch its last breath in a bunch of grass, and make the animal whose form you desire to take cat it 1 At any rate, that is how the Dame of the Hill managed it in the case of Prince Oldrich, as faithfully narrated in this wonderful book." — Litcrari/ CliuTchman. " Some of the stories are quaint and pretty, and some hav^a little dash of humour in them ; through the framework of dialogue among the young, good little girls will be amused \nth these glimpses of dwarfs and enchanted fi-ogs, princes, and princesses, among the old Norselauders. Here and there the style reminds one pleasantly of Fouque's charming stories." — Cruardian. "Is a charming collection, or adaptation of the most popular Norwegian legends and fairy tales, and will make a capital present for young girls." — Church Neivs. '•This is a channing little book of stories, intended chiefly for the young, for whom it is specially adai>ted, while it contains many useful hints to parents and instructors, and all who have the power of influencing useful minds — hints not the less valuable because they occur naturally diu-ing the relation of an amusing fairy tale. There is a cajjtivating freshness about them which we do not often recognise in similar works, and one of its chief merits is its power of awakening and retauiiug youthful sympathies, without offending the less-excitable but more critical taste of mature readers." — OrchesU-a. " A very charming book. Thanks are due to the translator for the admi- rable manner in which she has accomplished her task." — Union Review. Just Published, 2 Vols., each 3s. 6d. ; by Post, 3s. lOd. Tales of Kirhheck. First and Second Series. " Two volumes of fiction, which liave reached their third edition, may well claim immunity from criticism. This good fortune has, we are glad to say, befallen the first and second series of ' Tales of Kirlibecli.' These stories, if a little too uniformly sad, are agreeably written, and their tone, we need not s ay, is excellent. " — Church 'Times. "We trust that these Tales will obtain the circulation they deserve." — Ouardiaii. Also by the same Author. Price 2s. 6d. ; by Post, 2s. 8d. ^' Our Doctor's Note-Booh ;'' being Twelve further " Tales of Kirkbeck." I. The Outcast. IT. Cottage Sorrows. III. A Sea Story. IV. A Chapter on Old Women. V. The Drunkard's Wife. VI. Laith Butts VII. A Hospital Romance. VIII. Laneside. IX. The " Stranger's Corner." X. The Fumesses. XI. Edy's Illness. XII. The Doctor's Round. ' The facts being real, there has been little attempt to work them up ; and their form is rather that of sketches than of tales. The shipwreck told in the ' Sea Story ' took place a few years since on the Cornish coast ; and the ' Hospital Romance,' however improbable it may seem, was a real incident that fell under the author's own notice." — Preface. " Contains a dozen brief sketches from real life, and mostly among the poor. As usual with this writer, tliere is a strong vein of cheerful resignation, as well as practical piety, running throughout. These stories are supposed to be told by the Village Doctor, as the result of his own experience." — Enplish Churchman. " Has originality enough in its simple facts, and contains materials sufBcient to make twenty times over a fashionable three-volume novel." — Athenceum. Just Published, price 3s. 6d. ; by Post, 3s. 9d. Bliineland and its Legends; with Other Tales. Translated from the German. By the Trans- lator of " God still works Miracles," &c. With Preface by the Eev. W. J. E. BENNETT, Froome-Selwood. " Contains, of course, nothing but old familiar stories. But when we are told tliat they come commended to us with a Preface by Mr. Bennett of Froomc, our rcadei-s will expect to see them pointed with new morals. This, however, is not done obtrusively ; indeed, we can detect nothing beyond a dim religious light shfd over them. A sentence of Mr. Bennett's is worth transcribing, because it is applicable to other things besides the Stories of Rhineland. 'Legends,' he tells us, ' are the poetry of childhood. Legends are records, not of facts, but of opinions and thoughts, the ways of nations in their early struggles either for Christianity or civiUsation.' It is a fruitful text." — Guardian. "It is difficult to say for what the book is most interesting. The Preface is good, and the subject-matter is good." — Church Review. J. T. HAYES, LYALL PLACE, EATON SQUARE. ■p i«p THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW. 50ni-l,'63(D4743s8)476 3 1205 02020 6197 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY A A 001 433 720 8