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[Transcriber's Notes:

This book is best read in a monospaced font such as Courier. This
version uses underscores '_' to show _italics_ and '^' to indicate
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         THE QUEER, THE QUAINT

                  AND

             THE QUIZZICAL


       A CABINET FOR THE CURIOUS


 "The company is mixed."—_Byron_


                  BY

           FRANK H. STAUFFER




             PHILADELPHIA:
        DAVID McKAY, PUBLISHER,
     610 SOUTH WASHINGTON SQUARE.




         Copyright, 1882, by
            F. H. STAUFFER




    Oddities and wonders.
    Intiquities and blunders.
      Omens dire, mystic fire,
    Strange customs, cranks and freaks,
    With philosophy in streaks.




INTRODUCTION.

    Custom doth often reason overrule,
    And only serves for reason to the fool.—_Rochester._

    A moon dial, with Napier's bones,
    And sev'ral constellation stones.—_Butler._

    He shows, on holidays, a sacred pin,
    That touch'd the ruff that touch'd Queen Bess's chin.
    —_Wolcot's Peter Pindar._

Stretching away on the one hand into the deep gloom of barbaric
ignorance, and on the other hand into the full radiance of Christian
intelligence, and, grounding itself strongly in the instinctive
recognition by all men of the intimate relations between the seen and
the unseen, the empire of SUPERSTITION possesses all ages of human
history and all stages of human progress.—_Nimno._

    Matrons who toss the cup, and see
    The grounds of _fate_ in _grounds_ of _tea_.—_Churchill._

I have known the shooting of a star to spoil a night's rest; I have seen
a man in love grow pale upon the plucking of a merry-thought. There is
nothing so inconsiderable which may not appear dreadful to an
imagination that is filled with omens and prognostics.—_Addison._




_Books with Unpronounceable Names._

In the seventeenth century there was a book published entitled:
"Crononhotonthologos, the most tragical tragedy that ever was tragedized
by any company of tragedians." The first two lines of this effusion
read—

    "Aldeborontiphoscophosnio!
     Where left you Chrononhotonthologos?"

We might name another singular title of a work published in 1661 by
Robert Lovell, entitled: "Panzoologicomineralogia; a complete history of
animals and minerals, contain'g the summs of all authors, Galenical and
Chymicall, with the anatomie of man, &c."—_Salad for the Solitary._


_Most Curious Book in the World._

The most singular bibliographic curiosity is that which belonged to the
family of the Prince de Ligne, and is now in France. It is neither
written nor printed. All of the letters of the text are cut out of each
folio upon the finest vellum; and, being interlaced with blue paper, it
is read as easily as the best print. The labor and patience bestowed
upon it must have been excessive, especially when the precision and
minuteness of the letters are considered. The general execution is
admirable in every respect, and the vellum is of the most delicate and
costly kind. Rodolphus II., of Germany, offered for it, in 1640, eleven
thousand ducats, which was probably equal to sixty thousand at this day.
The most remarkable circumstance connected with this literary treasure
is that it bears the royal arms of England, but it cannot be shown that
it was ever in that country. The book is entitled: _Liber Passionis
Domini Nostri Jesu Christi cum Characteribus Nulla Materia Compositis_.


_A Long Lost Book Recovered._

The book called "The Ascension of Isaiah the Prophet" had been known to
exist in former ages, but had disappeared after the fifth century.
During the present century Dr. Richard Laurence, the professor of Hebrew
at Oxford, and afterwards Archbishop of Cassel, accidentally met with an
Æthiopic MS. at the shop of a bookseller in Drury Lane, which proved to
be this apocryphal book. There was something remarkable in the
discovery, in a small bookseller's shop, of a book which had been lost
to the learned for more than a thousand years.


_The Bug Bible._

Among the literary curiosities in the Southampton library, England, is
an old Bible known as the "Bug Bible," printed by John Daye, 1551, with
a prologue by Tyndall. It derives its name from the peculiar rendering
of the fifth verse in the 91st Psalm, which reads thus: "So that thou
shalt not need to be afraid for any bugs by night."


_Illuminated Manuscript Bible._

Guido de Jars devoted half a century to the production of a manuscript
copy of the Bible, with illuminated letters. He began it in his fortieth
year, and did not finish it until his ninetieth (1294). It is of
exceeding beauty.


_The Mazarine Bible._

This is so called from its having been found in the Cardinal's library.
It was the first book printed with metal types, and cost $2,500.


_A Book without Words._

A literary curiosity exists in England in the shape of "A Wordless
Book," so called because, after the title page, it contains not a single
word. It is a religious allegory devised by a religious enthusiast, and
the thought is in the symbolic color of its leaves, of which two are
black, two crimson, two pure white, two pure gold. The black symbolizes
the unregenerate heart of man; the crimson, the blessed redemption; the
white, the purity of the soul "washed in the blood of the Lamb;" the
gold, the radiant joy of eternal felicity.


_Wierix's Bible._

The edition of this Bible contains a plate by John Wierix, representing
the feast of Dives, with Lazarus at his door. In the rich man's
banqueting room there is a dwarf playing with a monkey, to contribute to
the merriment of the company, according to the custom among people of
rank in the sixteenth century.


_Gilt Beards._

There was a French Bible printed in Paris in 1538, by Anthony Bonnemere,
wherein is related "that the ashes of the golden calf which Moses caused
to be burnt, and mixed with the water that was drank by the Israelites,
stuck to the beards of such as had fallen down before it, by which they
appeared with gilt beards, as a peculiar mark to distinguish those who
had worshipped the calf." This idle story is actually interwoven with
the 32d chapter of Exodus.


_Printed in Gold Letters._

Bede speaks of a magnificent copy of the Gospels in letters of the
purest gold, upon leaves of purple parchment.


_Magnificent Latin Bible._

Amongst the rare and costly relics in the library of the Vatican, is the
magnificent Latin Bible of the Duke of Urbino. It consists of two large
folios, embellished by numerous figures and landscapes, in the ancient
arabesque.


_Interesting Manuscript Bibles._

In the British Museum there are two copies of the Scriptures which are
peculiarly calculated to interest the pious visitors, from the
circumstances under which they were transcribed. The elder manuscript
contains "The Old and New Testaments, in short hand, in 1686," which
were copied, during many a wakeful night, by a zealous Protestant, in
the reign of James II., who feared that the attempts of that monarch to
re-establish Popery would terminate in the suppression of the sacred
Scriptures.

The other manuscript contains the book of Psalms and the New Testament,
in 15 volumes, folio, written in characters an inch long, with white
ink, on black paper manufactured for the purpose. This perfectly unique
copy was written in 1745, at the cost of a Mr. Harries, a London
tradesman. His sight having failed with age so as to prevent his reading
the Scriptures, though printed in the largest type, he incurred the
expense of this transcription that he might enjoy those sources of
comfort which "are more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine
gold."

The British Museum paid $3750 for the manuscript Bible made by Alcuin,
in the eighth century, for the Emperor Charlemagne, whose instructor and
friend he was.


_The Vinegar Bible._

This Bible derives its title from an edition which contained an error in
the heading to the twentieth chapter of St. Luke, in which "Parable of
the Vineyard" is printed "Parable of the Vinegar." The edition was
issued in the year 1717, by the University of Oxford, at their Clarendon
Press.


_Queen Elizabeth's "Oone Gospell Booke."_

This book is a precious object to the virtuoso. It was the work of Queen
Catherine Parr, and was enclosed in solid gold. It hung by a gold chain
at her side, and was the frequent companion of the "Virgin Queen." In
her own handwriting, at the beginning of the volume, the following
quaint lines appear—

"I walke many times into the pleasaunt fieldes of the Holie Scriptures,
where I plucke up the goodliesome herbes of sentences by pruning; eate
them by readinge; chawe them by musing; and laye them up at length in ye
state of memorie by gathering them together; that so, having tasted
their sweetness, I may the lesse perceave the bitterness of this
miserable life."

This was penned by the Queen, probably while she was in captivity at
Woodstock, as the spirit it breathed affords a singular contrast to the
towering haughtiness of her ordinary deportment.


_Eliot's Indian Bible._

At the age of 42, John Eliot, pastor of a church at Roxbury, Mass.,
began the study of the Natick Indian dialect, with a view of translating
the Bible into that language. He completed the translation in 1658,
after a labor of eight years, and the book was issued in 1663. Upwards
of one thousand copies were printed, of which twenty copies were
dedicated to King Charles. The latter copies are so rare that one of
them was sold in the U. S., in 1862, for $1000, and six years later for
$1150. Among the many points of interest which Eliot's Indian Bible
possesses, not the least is the fact that it is the language of a nation
no longer in existence, and is almost the only monument of the race;
another, that it is the first edition of the Bible published in this
country.


_Silver Book._

In the library of Upsal, in Sweden, there is preserved a translation of
the four Gospels, printed with metal type upon violet-colored vellum.
The letters are silver, and hence it has received the name of _Codex
Argenteus_. The initial letters are in gold. It is supposed that the
whole was printed in the same manner as book-binders letter the titles
of books on the back. It was a very near approach to the art of
printing, but it is not known how old it is.


_Huge Copy of the Koran._

D'Israeli mentions a huge copy of the Koran—probably without a
parallel, as to its _size_, in the annals of _letters_. The characters
are described as three inches long; the book itself is a foot in
thickness, and its other dimensions five feet by three.


_A Lost Book._

Celsus wrote a book against the Magi, which was not preserved. He was an
Epicurian philosopher, and lived in the second century. Much regret has
been expressed over the loss of the work. He is mentioned with respect
by Lucian, who derived from him the account which he gives of Alexander
the imposter. Even Origen treated him with consideration.


_Book of Riddles._

The Book of Riddles, alluded to by Shakespeare in the Merry Wives of
Windsor (Act 1st, scene 1st), is mentioned by Laneham, 1575, and in the
English Courtier, 1586. The earliest edition now preserved is dated
1629. It is entitled "The Booke of Merry Riddles, together with proper
Questions and with Proverbs to make pleasant pastime; no less usefull
and behovefull for any young man or child, to know if he be quick-witted
or no."


_Unique Library._

A singular library existed in 1535, at Warsenstein, near Cassel. The
books composing it, or rather the substitutes for them, were made of
wood, and every one of them is a specimen of a different tree. The back
is formed of its bark, and the sides are constructed of polished pieces
of the same stock. When put together, the whole forms a box, and inside
of it are stored the fruit, seed and leaves, together with the moss
which grows on its trunk and the insects which feed upon the tree. Every
volume corresponds in size, and the collection altogether has an
excellent effect.


_The New England Primer._

After the horn-book, the children of the incipient United States were
furnished with primers, among the most noted of which was "The New
England Primer for the more easy attaining the reading of English, to
which is added the Assembly of Divines and Mr. Cotton's Catechisms."
This primer had in it the alphabet, syllables of two letters, and many a
pious distich, such as—

    Young Timothy
    Learn'd sin to fly.

    Whales in the sea
    God's voice obey.

    In Adam's fall
    We sinned all.

    Vashti for pride
    Was set aside.

These puritanic verses were accompanied with illustrations fully as bad
as the rhymes, which were occasionally stretched to a triplet, as—

    Young Obadias,
    David, Josias,
    All were pious.


_The Bedford Missal._

One of the most celebrated books in the annals of bibliography is the
richly illuminated Missal executed by John, Duke of Bedford, Regent of
France under Henry VI., and presented by him to the king in 1430. This
rare volume is eleven inches long, seven and a half inches wide, and two
and a half inches thick. It contains fifty-nine large miniatures, which
nearly occupy the whole page, and above a thousand small ones, in
circles of about an inch and a half in diameter, displayed in brilliant
borders of golden foliage, with variegated flowers, etc. At the bottom
of every page are two lines in blue and gold letters, which explain the
subject of each miniature. This relic, after passing through various
hands, descended to the Duchess of Portland, whose valuable collection
was sold by auction in 1786. Among its many attractions was the Bedford
Missal. A knowledge of the sale coming to the ears of George III., he
sent for his bookseller, and expressed his intention to become the
purchaser. The bookseller ventured to submit to his Majesty the probable
high price it would bring. "How high?" asked the king. "Probably two
hundred guineas," replied the bookseller. "Two hundred guineas for a
missal!" exclaimed the Queen, who was present, and lifted her hands in
astonishment. "Well, well, I'll have it still," said his majesty; "but
since the Queen thinks two hundred guineas so enormous a price for a
missal, I'll go no higher." The bidding for the royal library actually
stopped at that point, and a celebrated collector, Mr. Edwards, became
the purchaser by adding three pounds more. The same missal was
afterwards sold at Mr. Edwards' sale, in 1815, and purchased by the Duke
of Marlborough for the enormous sum of £637 15_s._ sterling.


_Lord Kingsborough's Mexico._

The most costly undertaking of a literary character ever undertaken by a
single individual is the magnificent work on "Mexico," by Lord
Kingsborough. This stupendous work is said to have been produced at an
enormous cost to the author. It is comprised in seven immense folio
volumes, embellished by about one thousand colored illustrations. He
spent more than $300,000 in its production, his enthusiasm carrying him
so far that he ultimately died in debt.


_Imperishable Prison Literature._

Bœthius composed his excellent "Consolations of Philosophy" in prison.
Grotius wrote his "Commentary" while in prison. Cervantes, it is said,
wrote that masterpiece of Spanish romance, "Don Quixote," on board one
of the galleys, in Barbara. Sir Walter Raleigh compiled his "History of
the World" in his prison-chamber in the Tower. Bunyan composed his
immortal allegory in Bedford jail. Luther gave the Bible to Germany,
having translated it in Wartburg castle.


_Puffing their own Books._

Authors of the olden time used to puff their own works by affixing
"taking titles" to them; such as "A right merrie and wittie interlude,
verie pleasant to reade, &c.;" "A marvellous wittie treatise, &c.;" "A
Delectable, Pithie and Righte Profitable Worke, &c."


_Sibylline Books._

The Sibylline prophecies were of early Trojan descent, and the most
celebrated of the Sibyls, or priestesses, plays an important part in the
tales of Æneas. Her prophecies were supposed to be heard in dark caverns
and apertures in rocks. They are thought by Varro to have been written
upon palm leaves in Greek hexameters. They were largely circulated in
the time of Crœsus, and the promises which they made of future empire
to Æneas escaping from the flames of Troy into Italy, were remarkably
realized by Rome. Of the nine books offered for sale by a Sibyl to
Tarquinius Superbus, six were burnt, after which he purchased the
remaining three for the price originally demanded for the nine. They
were kept in a stone chest under ground in the temple of Jupiter
Capitolinus, in the custody of certain officers, who only consulted the
books at the special command of the Senate. Some Sibylline books appear
to have been consulted until the tenth century.


_Prophetic Almanacs._

The fame of the celebrated astrologer, Nostradamus, who prophesied
minutely the death of Henry II. of France, the execution of Charles I.
of England, the great fire of London, the Restoration, &c., gave such an
impulse to predictions that, in 1579, Henry III. of France prohibited
the insertion of any political prophecies in almanacs, a prohibition
which was renewed by Louis XIII., in 1628. In the reign of Charles IX. a
royal edict required every almanac to be stamped with the approval of
the diocesan bishop. Prophetic almanacs still circulate to an incredible
extent in the rural districts of France, and among the uneducated. The
most popular of all these is the "Almanac Liègeois," a venerable remnant
of superstition, first issued in 1636. It is a most convenient almanac
for those who are unable to read, for by certain symbols attached to
certain dates the most unlettered persons can follow its instructions. A
rude representation of a phial announces the proper phase of the moon
under which a draught of medicine should be taken; a pair of scissors
points out the proper period for cutting hair; a lancet, for letting
blood, &c.


_Diaries._

Marcus Antonius' celebrated work, entitled "Of the Things which Concern
Himself," would be a good definition of the use and purpose of a diary.
Shaftesbury calls a diary "A Fault-book," intended for self-correction;
and a Colonel Hardwood, in the reign of Charles I., kept a diary which,
in the spirit of the times, he entitled "Slips, Infirmities and
Passages of Providence." One old writer quaintly observes that "the
ancients used to take their stomach-pill of self-examination every
night. Some used little books or tablets, tied at their girdles, in
which they kept a memorial of what they did, against their
night-reckoning." We know that Titus, the delight of mankind, as he has
been called, kept a diary of all his actions, and when at night he found
that he had performed nothing memorable, he would exclaim: "Friends, we
have lost a day." Edward VI. kept a diary, while that left by James II.,
so full of facts and reflections, furnished excellent material for
history. Richard Baxter, author of one hundred and forty-five distinct
works, left a diary extending from 1615 to 1648, which, when published,
formed a folio of seven hundred closely-printed pages. Valuable diaries
were also left by Whitelock and Henry Earl of Clarendon.


_Literary Ingenuity._

    Odo tenet mulum, madidam mappam tenet anna.

The above line is said, in an old book, to have "cost the inventor much
foolish labor, for it is perfect verse, and every word is the very same
both backward and forward."


_Supposed to be a Genuine Island._

When the Utopia of Sir Thomas More was first published, it occasioned
quite a complimentary blunder. This political romance represents a
perfect but visionary republic, in an island supposed to have been newly
discovered in America. As this was the age of discovery (says Granger),
the learned Budæus, and others, took it for a genuine history, and
considered it as highly expedient that missionaries should be sent
thither, in order to convert so wise a nation to Christianity.


_King of India's Library._

Dabshelim, King of India, had so numerous a library, that a hundred
brachmans were scarcely sufficient to keep it in order, and it required
a thousand dromedaries to transport it from one place to another. As he
was not able to read all these books, he proposed to the brachmans to
make extracts from them of the best and most useful of their contents.
These learned personages went so heartily to work, that in less than
twenty years they had compiled of all these extracts a little
encyclopædia of twelve thousand volumes, which thirty camels could carry
with ease. They presented them to the king, but what was their amazement
to hear him say that it was impossible for him to read thirty
camel-loads of books. They therefore reduced their extracts to fifteen,
afterwards to ten, then to four, then to two dromedaries, and at last
there remained only enough to load a mule of ordinary size.

Unfortunately, Dabshelim, during this process of melting down his
library, grew old, and saw no probability of living long enough to
exhaust its quintessence to the last volume. "Illustrious Sultan," said
his vizier, "though I have but a very imperfect knowledge of your royal
library, yet I will undertake to deliver you a very brief and
satisfactory abstract of it. You shall read it through in one minute,
and yet you will find matter in it to reflect upon throughout the rest
of your life." Having said this, Pilpay took a palm leaf, and wrote upon
it with a golden style the four following paragraphs:

1. The greater part of the sciences comprise but one single
word—_Perhaps_, and the whole history of mankind contains no more than
three—they are _born_, _suffer_, _die_.

2. Love nothing but what is good, and do all that thou lovest to do;
think nothing but what is true, and speak not all that thou thinkest.

3. O kings! tame your passions, govern yourselves, and it will be only
child's play to govern the world.

4. O kings! O people! it can never be often enough repeated to you, what
the half-witted venture to doubt, that there is no happiness without
virtue, and no virtue without God.


_Palindromes._

One of the most remarkable palindromes is the following—

     SATOR AREPO TENET OPERA ROTAS.

Its distinguishing peculiarity is that the first letter of each
successive word writes to spell the first word; the second letter of
each the second word, and so on throughout; and the same will be found
as precisely true upon reversal. But the neatest and prettiest that has
yet appeared comes from a highly cultivated lady who was attached to the
court of Queen Elizabeth. Having been banished from the court on
suspicion of too great familiarity with a nobleman in high favor, the
lady adopted this device—_a moon covered by a cloud_—and the following
palindrome for a motto—

     ABLATA ATALBA. (Secluded but Pure.)

The merit of this kind of composition was never in any example so
heightened by appropriateness and delicacy of sentiment.


_Chronogram._

Such was the name given to a whimsical device of the later Romans,
resuscitated during the _renaissance_ period, by which a date is given
by selecting certain letters amongst those which form an inscription,
and printing them larger than the others. The principle will be
understood from the following chronogram made from the name of George
Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham—

     Georg IVs. DVX. bVCkIngaMIæ.

The date MDCXVVVIII (1628), is that of the year in which the Duke was
murdered by Felton, at Portsmouth.


_Instance of Remarkable Perseverance._

The Rev. Wm. Davy, a Devonshire curate, in the year 1795, begun a most
desperate undertaking, viz: that of himself printing twenty-six volumes
of sermons, which he actually did, working off page by page, for
fourteen copies, and continued the almost hopeless task for twelve
years, in the midst of poverty. Such wonderful perseverance almost
amounts to a ruling passion.


_Alliterative Whims._

Mrs. Crawford says she wrote one line in her song, "Kathleen
Mavourneen," for the express purpose of confounding the cockney warblers,
who sing it thus—

    "The 'orn of the 'unter is 'eard on the 'ill."

Moore has laid the same trap in the _Woodpecker_—

    "A 'eart that is 'umble might 'ope for it 'ere."

And the elephant confounds them the other way—

    "A helephant heasily heats at his hease,
     Hunder humbrageous humbrella trees."


_Alliterations carried to Absurd Excess._

In the early part of the seventeenth century the fashion of hunting
after alliterations was carried to an absurd excess. Even from the
pulpit the chosen people were addressed as "the _c_hickens of the
_c_hurch, the _s_parrows of the _s_pirit, and the _s_weet _s_wallows of
_s_alvation." "Ane New-Year Gift," or address, presented to Mary Queen
of Scots by the poet Alexander Scot, concludes with a stanza running
thus—

    "Fresh, fulgent, flourist, fragrant flower formose,
     Lantern to love, of ladies lamp and lot,
     Cherry maist chaste, chief, carbuncle and chose, &c."


_Vacillating Newspapers._

The newspapers of Paris, under censorship of the press, in 1815,
announced in the following manner Bonaparte's departure from the Isle of
Elba, his march across France and his entrance into the French
Capital:—

"9th March.—The Cannibal has escaped from his den. 10th.—The Corsican
Ogre has just landed at Cape Juan. 11th.—The Tiger has arrived at Gap.
12th.—The Monster has passed the night at Grenoble. 13th.—The Tyrant
has crossed Lyons. 14th.—The Usurper is directing his course toward
Dijon, but the brave and loyal Burgundians have risen in a body and they
surround him on all sides. 18th.—Bonaparte is sixty leagues from the
Capital; he has had skill enough to escape from the hands of his
pursuers. 19th.—Bonaparte advances rapidly, but he will never enter
Paris. 20th.—To-morrow _Napoleon_ will be under our ramparts.
21st.—The _Emperor_ is at Fontainebleau. 22d.—His _Imperial_ and
_Royal Majesty_ last evening made his entrance into his Palace of the
Tuileries, amidst the _joyous_ acclamations of an _adoring_ and
_faithful people_."


_Dr. Johnson's Blunders._

Considering that Doctor Johnson was himself a severe verbal critic, it
might be expected that his own writings would be correct. But he wrote:
"Every monumental inscription should be in Latin; for that being a
_dead_ language it will always _live_." Another Johnsonian lapsus is
palpable in the lines—

    "Nor yet perceived the vital spirit fled,
     But still fought on, _nor knew that he was dead_."

It would puzzle the reader to understand how a warrior could continue
fighting after he was dead.


_Blunders of Painters._

Tintoret, an Italian painter, in a picture of the Children of Israel
gathering manna, represents them armed with guns. In Cigoli's painting
of the circumcision of the infant Saviour, the aged Simeon has a pair of
spectacles on his nose. In a picture by Verrio of Christ healing the
sick, the by-standers have periwigs on their heads. A Dutch painter, in
a picture of the Wise Men worshipping the Holy Child, has drawn one of
them in a white surplice, and in boots and spurs, and he is in the act
of presenting to the children a model of a Dutch man-of-war. In a Dutch
picture of Abraham offering up his son, instead of the patriarch
"stretching forth and taking the knife," he is represented as holding a
blunderbuss to Isaac's head. Berlin represents in a picture the Virgin
and Child listening to a violin. A French artist, in a painting of the
Lord's Supper, has the table ornamented with tumblers filled with cigar
lighters. Another French painting exhibits Adam and Eve in all their
primeval simplicity, while near them, in full costume, is seen a hunter
with a gun, shooting ducks.


_Thackeray's Geographical Blunders._

The novelist, in "The Virginians," makes Madam Esmond, of Castlewood, in
Westmoreland county, a neighbor of Washington at Mt. Vernon, on the
Potomac, fifty miles distant, and a regular attendant at public worship
at Williamsburg, half-way between the York and James rivers, fully one
hundred and twenty-five miles from Mt. Vernon; and so "immensely
affected" are the colored hearers of a young preacher at Williamsburg
"that there was such a negro chorus about the house as might be heard
across the Potomac," the nearest bank of which is fifty-seven miles
away.

He makes General Braddock ride out from Williamsburg (he never was
there) in "his own coach, a ponderous, emblazoned vehicle," with Dr.
Franklin, "the little postmaster of Philadelphia" (Franklin's average
weight was 160 pounds), over a muddy road, in March, through a
half-wilderness country of more than one hundred miles, to dine with
Madam Esmond, in Westmoreland county, near Mt. Vernon.


_A Stupid Critic._

Commentators are sometimes stupid, and their criticisms so absurd as to
be amusing. A German critic, in explaining the text of Shakespeare's
comedy "As You Like It," came to the following passage—

    "Tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
     Sermons in stones, and good in every thing."

He made this comment upon it: "The lines as they now stand are
manifestly wrong. No one ever found books in the running brooks, or
sermons in stones. But a slight transposition of words reduces the
passage to sense. Shakespeare's meaning is clear, and what he meant he
must have written. The passage should read thus"—

          "Stones in the running brooks,
    Sermons in books, and good in every thing."


_Crooked Coincidences._

A pamphlet published in the year 1703, has the following strange title—

"The _Deformity_ of Sin Cured, a sermon preached at St. Michael's,
_Crooked_ Lane, before the Prince of Orange, by the Rev. James
_Crook_shanks. Sold by Matthew Dowton, at the _Crooked_ Billet, near
_Cripple_gate, and by all other Booksellers." The words of the text are,
"Every _crooked_ path shall be made straight," and the Prince before
whom it was preached was _crooked_, i. e., deformed.


_The Bride of Abydos._

In this poem of Byron's there is no _bride_, for the heroine dies
heart-broken and unwedded.


_Grandiloquent Outbursts._

There is a volume printed at Amsterdam, 1657, entitled: "Jesus, Maria,
Joseph; or the Devout Pilgrim of the Everlasting Blessed Virgin Mary, in
his Holy Exercises, Affections and Elevations, upon the sacred Mysteries
of Jesus, Maria and Joseph." We append a few extracts from this curious
book, as a specimen of the language employed at that time in addressing
the Virgin—

"You, O Mother of God, are the Spiritual Paradise of the second Adam;
the bright cloud carrying him who hath the cherubims for his chariot;
the fleece of wool filled with the sweet dew of heaven, whereof was made
that admirable robe of our royal shepherd, in which he vouchsafed to
look after his sheep; you are pleasing and comely as Jerusalem, and the
aromatical odours issuing from your garments outvie all the delights of
Mount Lebanon; you are the sacred pix of celestial perfumes, whose
sweet exhalations shall never be exhausted; you are the holy oil, the
unextinguishable lamp, the unfading flower, the divinely-woven purple,
the royal vestment, the imperial diadem, the throne of the divinity, the
gate of Paradise, the queen of the universe, the cabinet of life, the
fountain ever flowing with celestial illustrations."

"All hail! the divine lantern encompassing that crystal lamp whose light
outshines the sun in its midday splendour; the spiritual sea whence the
world's richest pearl was extracted; the radiant sphere, the well-fenced
orchard, the fruitful border, the fair and delicate garden, the nuptial
bed of the eternal world, the odoriferous and happy City of God, etc.,
etc."


_Dialect Rhyme._

The subjoined is a specimen of the dialect spoken in the county of
Lancashire, England. The verse is a description of a lost baby, by the
town-crier, or bellman, who still plies his trade in out-of-the-way
parts of England—

    Law-st oather [either] to-day or else some toime to morn,
    As pratty a babby as ever wur born;
    It has cheeks like red roses, two bonny blue een,
    Had it meauth daubed wi' traycle th' last toime it were seen;
    It's just cuttin' it teeth, an' has very sore gums,
    An' it's gettin' a habit o' suckin' it thumbs;
    Thoose at foind it may keep it, there's nob'dy'll care,
    For thoose at hav lost it, hav lots moor to spare!


_In Search of a Rhyme._

Luttrell made this couplet on the wife of "Anastatius" Hope, famous for
his wealth and her own jewels—

    "Of diamond, emerald and topaz,
     Such as the charming Mrs. Hope has!"


_Noted Anachronisms._

Shakespeare makes Lear, an early Anglo-Saxon King, speak of not wanting
spectacles, which were not known until the fourteenth century. Cannon
were first used in the year 1346, but in relating Macbeth's death, in
1054, and King John's reign in 1200, he mentions cannon. In his Julius
Cæsar, he makes the "clock" strike three.

Schiller, in his "Piccolomini," speaks of a "lightning-conductor" as
existing about 150 years before its invention.


_Diogenes and his Tub._

Modern scepticism about the practical stoicism of the ancients is surely
brought to a climax by a living writer, M. Fournier, who maintains that
the so-called tub of Diogenes was in reality a commodious little
dwelling—neat but not gorgeous. It must be supposed, then, that he
spoke of his tub much as an English country gentleman does of his
"box."—_The Book Hunter, by Burton._


_Slave Advertisements._

The following announcements are curious, showing the merchandise light
in which the negro was regarded in America while yet a colony of Great
Britain:

FRANCIS LEWIS, HAS FOR SALE,

A Choice Parcel of Muscovado and Powder Sugars, Tierces and Barrels;
Ravens, Ducks and a Negro Woman and Negro Boy. The Coach-House and
Stables, with or without the Garden Spot, formerly the property of
Joseph Murray, Esq.; in the Broadway, to be let separately or
together:—Inquire of said Francis Lewis.—_New York Gazette_, April
25th, 1765.

This Day Run away from JOHN MCCOMB, Junier, an Indian Woman, about 17
Years of Age, Pitted in the Face, of a middle Stature and Indifferent
fatt, having on her a Drugat, Wast-coat, and Kersey Petticoat, of a
Light Collour. If any Person or Persons shall bring the said Girle to
her said Master, shall be Rewarded for their Trouble to their
Content.—_American Weekly Mercury_, May 24th, 1726.

A Female Negro Child (of an extraordinary good Breed) to be given away.
Inquire of Edes and Gill.—_Boston Gazette_, Feb. 25th, 1765.

     TO BE SOLD, FOR WANT OF EMPLOY,

A Likely Negro Fellow, about 25 Years of Age. He is an extraordinary
good Cook, and understands setting or tending a table very well,
likewise all kind of House Work, such as washing, scouring, scrubbing,
&c. Also, a Negro Wench, his Wife, about 17 Years old, born in this
City, and understands all Sorts of House Work. For farther Particulars,
inquire of the Printer.—_New York Gazette_, March 21st, 1765.


_Sir John Moore not Buried at Night._

It has been generally supposed that the burial of Sir John Moore, who
fell at the battle of Corunna, in 1809, took place during the night, an
error which doubtless arose from the statement to that effect in Wolf's
celebrated lines. Rev. Mr. Symons, who was the clergyman on the
occasion, states, however, in Notes and Queries, that the burial took
place in the morning, in broad daylight.


_Cleopatra a Myth._

Commentators of no mean standing insist that Cleopatra

    "Star-eyed Egyptian,
     Glorious sorceress of the Nile,"

is merely a creature of the imagination; in plain words, that the
Cleopatra of history never existed, though there were two or three women
who bore the name.


_Abelard and Heloise._

Though they may have lived about the same time, the romance of their
love is now gravely denied by scholars and antiquarians.


_Odd Titles of Old Books._

In "Gleanings for the Curious" we find the following list of odd titles
to books, most of which were published in the time of Cromwell:—

A Shot aimed at the Devil's Head-Quarters through the Tube of the Cannon
of the Covenant.

Crumbs of Comfort for the Chickens of the Covenant.

Eggs of Charity, layed by the Chickens of the Covenant, and boiled with
the Water of Divine Love. Take Ye and eat.

High-heeled Shoes for Dwarfs in Holiness.

Hooks and Eyes for Believers' Breeches.

Matches lighted by the Divine Fire.

Seven Sobs of a Sorrowful Soul for Sin; or, the Seven Penitential Psalms
of the Princely Prophet David; whereunto are also added William Humius'
Handful of Honeysuckles, and Divers Godly and Pithy Ditties, now newly
augmented.

Spiritual Milk for Babes, drawn out of the Breasts of both Testaments
for their Souls' Nourishment: a catechism.

The Bank of Faith.

The Christian Sodality; or, Catholic Hive of Bees, sucking the Honey of
the Churches' Prayer from the Blossoms of the Word of God, blowne out
of the Epistles and Gospels of the Divine Service throughout the yeare.
Collected by the Puny Bee of all the Hive not worthy to be named
otherwise than by these elements of his Name, F. P.

The Gun of Penitence.

The Innocent Love; or, the Holy Knight: a description of the ardors of a
saint for the Virgin.

The Shop of the Spiritual Apothecary; or, a collection of passages from
the fathers.

The Sixpennyworth of Divine Spirit.

The Snuffers of Divine Love.

The Sound of the Trumpet: a work on the day of judgment.

The Spiritual Mustard Pot, to make the Soul Sneeze with Devotion.

The Three Daughters of Job: a treatise on patience, fortitude and pain.

Tobacco battered, and the Pipes shattered about their Ears that idly
idolize so loathsome a Vanity, by a Volley of holy shot thundered from
Mount Helicon: a poem against the use of tobacco, by Joshua Sylvester.

A Fan to drive away Flies: a theological treatise on Purgatory.

A most Delectable Sweet Perfumed Nosegay for God's Saints to Smell at.

A Pair of Bellows to blow off the Dust cast upon John Fry.

A Proper Project to Startle Fools: Printed in a Land where Self's cry'd
up and Zeal's cry'd down.

A Reaping-Hook, well tempered, for the Stubborn Ears of the coming Crop;
or, Biscuit baked in the Oven of Charity, carefully conserved for the
Chickens of the Church, the Sparrows of the Spirit, and the sweet
Swallows of Salvation.

A Sigh of Sorrow for the Sinners of Zion, breathed out of a Hole in the
Wall of an Earthly Vessel, known among Men by the Name of Samuel Fish (a
Quaker who had been imprisoned).


_Title-Pages which Mislead._

The title-page is not always a distinct intimation of what is to follow.
"The Diversions of Purley" is one of the toughest books in existence.
"Apes Urbanæ" (Urban bees), by the great scholar, Leo Allatius, is not
about bees, but is devoted to the great men who nourished during the
Pontificate of Urban VIII., whose family carried bees on their
coat-armorial. "Marmontel's Moral Tales" has been found to give
disappointment to parents in search of the absolutely correct and
improving; and Edgeworth's "Essay on Irish Bulls" has been counted money
absolutely thrown away by eminent breeders. "MacEwen on the Types" is
not a book for printers, but for theologians. Ruskin's treatise "On the
Construction of Sheepfolds" treats about Popery and Protestantism.—_The
Book Hunter._


_A Carmelite Friar's Poem._

In the seventeenth century a carmelite friar named Jean Louis
Barthelemi, but who always called himself Pierre de St. Louis, composed
(in twelve books) a poem entitled, "The Magdaleneide; or, Mary Magdalen
at the Desert of the Sainte Beaume in Provence, a Spiritual and
Christian Poem." Some idea of it may be obtained from a literally
translated extract. Having treated at large of the Magdelen's irregular
conduct in the early part of her life, and of her subsequent conversion,
he says:—

"But God at length changed this coal into a ruby, this crow into a dove,
this wolf into a sheep, this hell into a heaven, this nothing into
something, this thistle into a lily, this thorn into a rose, this
impotence into power, this vice into virtue, this caldron into a
mirror."

The poem cost him five years of close application, and he concludes it
by egotistically saying: "If you desire grace and sweetness in verses,
in mine will you find them."


_Striking Parallel Passages between Shakspeare and the Bible._

     _Othello._—Rude am I in speech.—I. 3.

       But though I be rude in speech.—2 Cor. xi. 6.

     _Witches._—Show his eyes and grieve his heart.—iv. 1.

       Consume thine eyes and grieve thine heart.—1 Sam. ii. 33.

     _Macbeth._—Lighted fools the way to dusty death.—V. 5.

       Thou hast brought me into the dust of death.—Ps. xxii.

     _Othello._—I took him by the throat, the circumcised dog, and
     smote him.—V. 2.

       I smote him, I caught him by his beard and smote him, and slew
     him.—1 Sam. xvii. 35.

     _Macbeth._—We will die with harness on our back.—V. 5.

       Nicanor lay dead in his harness.—Maccabees xv. 28.


_Curious Play Bill._

The following remarkable theatrical announcement is worthy of
preservation for its effusion of vanity and poverty, in the shape of an
appeal to the inhabitants of a town in Sussex:—

"At the old theatre in East Grimstead, on Saturday, May 5th, 1758, will
be represented (by particular desire, and for the benefit of Mrs. P.)
the deep and affecting tragedy of Theodosius; or, the Force of Love,
with magnificent dresses, scenery, &c.

"Varanes, by Mr. P., who will strive, as far as possible, to support the
character of this fiery Persian Prince, in which he was so much admired
and applauded at Hastings, Arundel, Petworth, Lewes, &c.

"Theodosius, by a young gentleman from the University of Oxford, who
never appeared on any stage.

"Athenais, by Mrs. P. Though her present condition will not permit her
to wait on gentlemen and ladies out of the town with tickets, she hopes,
as upon former occasions, for their liberality and support.

"Nothing in Italy can exceed the altar, in the first scene of the play.
Nevertheless, should any of the nobility or gentry wish to see it
ornamented with flowers, the bearer will bring away as many as they
choose to favour him with.

"As the coronation of Athenias, to be introduced in the fifth act,
contains a number of personages, more than sufficient to fill all the
dressing room, &c., it is to be hoped no gentlemen and ladies will be
offended at being refused admission behind the scenes.

"N. B.—The great yard dog that made so much noise on Thursday night
during the last act of King Richard the Third, will be sent to a
neighbor's over the way; and on account of the prodigious demand for
places, part of the stable will be laid into the boxes on one side, and
the granary be open for the same purpose on the other. _Vivat Rex._"


_Boone's Spelling._

An old letter written by Daniel Boone, furnishes this specimen of
original spelling:—

"I hope you Will Wright me By the Bearer, Mr. goe, how you Com on with
my Horsis—I Hear the Indians have Killed Some pepel near Limstone."


_Vagaries of Spelling._

Queen Elizabeth spelt the word sovereign in seven different ways. The
Earl of Leicester, her favorite, spelt his own name in eight different
ways. Sir Walter Raleigh spelt his own name in more than eight different
ways. In the deeds of the Villars family their name is spelt in fourteen
different ways. In the family documents of the Percy family their name
is spelt in fifteen different ways.


_Singular Specimen of Orthography in the Sixteenth Century._

The following letter was written by the Duchess of Norfolk to Cromwell,
Earl of Essex. It exhibits a curious instance of the monstrous anomalies
of our orthography in the infancy of our literature:—

"My ffary gode lord,—her I sand you in tokyn hoff the neweyer, a glasse
hoff setyl set in sellfer gyld. I pra you tak hit in wort. An hy wer
habel het showlde be bater. I woll hit war wort a m crone."

_Translated._—"My very good lord. Here I send you, in token of the new
year, a glass of setyll set in silver gilt. I pray you take it in worth.
An I were able it should be better. I would it were worth a thousand
crowns."


_High-Sounding Prologue._

In a medical work entitled "The Breviarie of Health," published in 1547,
by Andrew Borde, a physician of that period, is a prologue to
physicians, beginning thus—

"Egregious doctors and masters of the eximious and arcane science of
physic, of your urbanity exasperate not yourselves against me for making
this little volume."


_Inducements to Subscribers._

For journals to offer inducements to subscribers is not a modern
feature. A book was published in 1764, entitled "A New History of
England, Manchester, printed by Joseph Harrop, opposite the Exchange."
At the end of this octavo volume, which consists of 778 pages, is the
following:—

  "TO THE PUBLIC.

"The History of England being now brought down to that period which was
at first proposed, the Publisher takes this opportunity of returning his
thanks to his friends and subscribers for the kind encouragement they
have given his News Paper; and hopes that as he has steadily persevered
in going through with, and given gratis, The History of England, at the
Expence of upwards of One Hundred Pounds, they will still continue their
Subscription to his paper, which he will spare neither pains nor
assiduity to render worthy their perusal.

  JOS. HARROP."


_Composition During Sleep._

Condorcet is said to have attained the conclusion of some of his most
abstruse, unfinished calculations in his dreams. Franklin makes a
similar admission concerning some of his political projects which, in
his waking moments, sorely puzzled him. Sir J. Herschel is said to have
composed the following lines in a dream:—

    "Throw thyself on thy God, nor mock Him with feeble denial;
       Sure of His love, and, oh! sure of His mercy at last!
     Bitter and deep though the draught, yet drain thou the cup of thy trial,
       And in its healing effect, smile at the bitterness past."

Goethe says in his "Memoirs," "The objects which had occupied my
attention during the day often reappeared at night in connected dreams.
On awakening, a new composition, or a portion of one I had already
commenced, presented itself to my mind. In the morning I was accustomed
to record my ideas on paper." Coleridge composed his poem of the
"Abyssinian Maid" during a dream. Something analogous to this is what
Lord Cockburn says in his "Life of Lord Jeffrey." "He had a fancy that
though he went to bed with his head stuffed with the names, dates and
other details of various causes, they were all in order in the morning;
which he accounted for by saying that during sleep 'they all
_crystallized round their proper centres_.'"


_A Bill of Particulars._

A certain gentleman of Worcester (Mass.) sent a very fine French clock
to a well-known jeweler to be repaired, saying that he wished each item
of repairing specified. The following is a copy of the bill as
rendered:—

  To removing the alluvial deposit and oleaginous
   conglomerate from clock a la French,                     $0.50

  To replacing in appropriate juxtaposition the constituent
   components of said clock,                                  .50

  To lubricating with oleaginous solution the apex of
   pinions of said clock,                                     .50

  To adjusting horologically the isochronal mechanism of
   said clock,                                                .50

  To equalizing the acoustic resultant of escape wheel
   percussion upon the verge pallets of said clock,           .50

  To adjusting the distance between the centre of gravity
   of the pendulum and its point of suspension, so that
   the vibrations of the pendulum shall cause the index
   hand to indicate approximately the daily arrival of
   the sun at its meridian height,                            .50
                                                            ─────
                                                            $3.00


_Lilly's Predictions._

While Lilly is ridiculed for his absurdities, let him have credit for as
lucky a guess as ever blessed the pages even of "Francis Moore,
Physician." In Lilly's "Astrological Predictions for 1648," there occurs
the following passage, in which we must allow that he attained to
"something like prophetic strain," when we call to mind that the Great
Plague of London occurred in 1665, and the Great Fire in the year
following:—

"In the year 1656, the aphelium of Mars, who is the general
signification of England, will be in Virgo, which is assuredly the
ascendant of the English monarchy, but Aries of the kingdom. When this
absis, therefore, of Mars shall appear in Virgo, who shall expect less
than a strange _catastrophe_ of human affairs in the commonwealth,
monarchy and kingdom of England? There will then, either in or about
these times, or within ten years, more or less, of that time, appear in
this kingdom so strange a revolution of fate, so _grand a catastrophe_,
and great mutation unto this monarchy and government as never yet
appeared; of which, as the times now stand, I have no liberty or
encouragement to deliver any opinion. _Only, it will be ominous to
London, unto her merchants at sea, to her traffique at land, to her
poor, to her rich, to all sorts of people inhabiting in her or her
liberties_, BY REASON OF SUNDRY FIRES AND A PLAGUE."

This is the prediction which, in 1666, led to Lilly's being examined by
a committee of the House of Commons; not, as has been supposed, that he
might "discover by the stars who were the authors of the Fire of
London," but because the precision with which he was thought to have
foretold the events gave birth to a suspicion that he was already
acquainted with them, and privy to the (supposed) machinations which had
brought about the catastrophe. Curran says there are two kinds of
prophets—those who are really inspired and those who prophecy events
which they themselves intend to bring about. Upon this occasion poor
Lilly had the ill-luck to be deemed of the latter class.


_Puritan Surnames._

The following names are given in Lower's English Surnames, as specimens
of the names of the old Puritans in England about the year 1658. They
are taken from a jury list in Sussex county:—

  Faint-not Hewett.
  Redeemed Compton.
  God-reward Smart.
  Earth Adams.
  Meek Brewer.
  Repentance Avis.
  Kill-sin Pimple.
  Be-faithful Joiner.
  More-fruit Flower.
  Grace-ful Harding.
  Seek-wisdom Wood.
  Fight-the-good-fight of Faith.
  Accepted Trevor.
  Stand-fast-on-high Stringer.
  Called Lower.
  Be-courteous Cole.
  Search-the-Scriptures Morton.
  Return Spelman.
  Fly-debate Roberts.
  Hope-for Bending.
  Weep-not Billing.
  Elected Mitchell.
  The-peace-of-God Knight.
  Make-peace Heaton.


_Curious Old Memorandum._

We have supposed that no record of our Saviour's life older than the New
Testament was known to exist; but it seems that a venerable journal is
carefully preserved in Nablous (ancient Samaria), in which the following
item appears in the handwriting of one of the Samaritan high priests:—

"In the year from Adam 4281, in the nineteenth year of my pontificate,
Jesus, the Son of Mary, was crucified at Jerusalem."

This curious and interesting record was shown by the present high
priest, who keeps it among the archives of his church, to Dr. El Kary, a
Protestant missionary of Jewish descent and a native of Nablous. The
doctor learned that the old journals of the priests of the Samaritan
synagogue are still in existence, dating back to fifty or sixty years
before Christ was born. It was the custom, he says, of all the high
priests to set down in their books any notable events that happened
during their term of office. He also learned that the tenth Samaritan
high priest was named Shaboth, who lived in the days of our Saviour, and
it was this Shaboth who wrote the record quoted above.

It will be remembered that Jesus visited Samaria in the early part of
His ministry, where He first talked with the woman at Jacob's well, and
afterwards stayed two days in the city, where He attracted public
attention to His preaching, and won many followers. During those days
Shaboth may have become personally acquainted with Him, and, though far
from being His disciple, he would naturally follow Jesus' after-history
and movements with considerable interest.

We gather the above account from the letter of an Eastern correspondent
to the _Advance_ (Chicago), who spent some time in Nablous, and received
the statements from Dr. El Kary.


_Double-Entendre._

This double-entendre was originally published in a Philadelphia
newspaper a hundred years ago. It may be read three different ways:
First, let the whole be read in the order in which it is written;
second, read the lines downward on the left of each comma in every line;
third, in the same manner on the right of each comma. In the first
reading the Revolutionary cause is condemned, and by the others it is
encouraged and lauded—

    Hark! Hark! the trumpet sounds, the din of war's alarms,
    O'er seas and solid grounds, doth call us all to arms;
    Who for King George doth stand, their honors soon shall shine;
    Their ruin is at hand, who with the Congress join.
    The acts of Parliament, in them I much delight,
    I hate their cursed intent, who for the Congress fight;
    The Tories of the day, they are my daily toast,
    They soon will sneak away, who independence boast;
    Who non-resistance hold, they have my hand and heart,
    May they for slaves be sold, who act a Whiggish part;
    On Mansfield, North and Bute, may daily blessings pour,
    Confusion and dispute, on Congress evermore;
    To North and British lord, may honors still be done,
    I wish a block or cord, to General Washington.


_Changes of Signification._

The meaning of the word _wretch_ is one not generally understood. It was
originally, and is now, in some parts of England, used as a term of
fondest tenderness. This is not the only instance in which words in
their present general acceptation bear a very opposite meaning to what
they did in other times. The word _wench_, formerly, was not used in the
low and vulgar acceptation that it now is.


_Don Quixote's Sheep._

Don Quixote's mistaking two flocks of sheep for two armies is not
without parallel. In Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, written 1516, the hero,
in his madness, falls foul of a flock of sheep.

Still more ancient is "Ajax Mad," a tragedy founded on the madness of
Ajax, because of the armor of Hector being awarded to Ulysses instead of
himself. In his insanity, Ajax fell upon a flock of sheep, driven at
night into the camp, supposing it to be an army led by Ulysses and the
sons of Atreus. On discovering his mistake he stabs himself.


_The Oldest Ballad._

The earliest English ballad is supposed to be the "Cuckoo Song," which
commences in the following style:—

    "Sumer is incumen in
     Lhude sing cuccu,
     Groweth sed, and bloweth med,
     And sprigth ye wede nu,
         Singe cuccu."


_Two Certificates of Gretna-Green Marriages._

"This is to sartfay all persons that may be consern'd, that A. B., from
the parish of C. in the county of D., and E. F., from the parish of G.,
in the county of H., and both comes before me and declares themselves
both to be single persons, and now mayried by the form of the Kirk of
Scotland, and agreible to the Church of England, and givine ondre my
hand, this 18th day of March 1793."

     "Kingdom of Scotland,
     "County of Dumfries,
     "Parish of Gretna:

"These are to certify, to all whom it may concern, that John N——, from
the parish of Chatham, in the County of Kent, and Rosa H——, from the
parish of St. Maries, in the County of Nottingham, being both here now
present, and having declared to me that they are single persons, but
having now been married conformable to the Laws of the Church of
England, and agreeable to the Kirk of Scotland. As witness our hands at
Springfield, this 4th day of October, 1822.

                                "Witness me,
    "Witness,                    David Lang.
     Jane Rae.                   John N——.
     John Ainsle.                Rosa H——."


_Swift's Latin Puns._

Among the nugæ of Dean Swift are his celebrated Latin puns. They consist
entirely of Latin words, but, by allowing for false spelling, and
running the words into each other, the sentences make good sense in
English. The subjoined is one of his best—

    Mollis abuti,           Moll is a beauty.
    Has an acuti,           Has an acute eye.
    No lasso finis,         No lass so fine is.
    Molli divinis.          Molly divine is.
    Omi de armis tres,      O my dear mistress.
    Imi na dis tres,        I'm in distress.
    Cantu disco ver         Can't you discover.
    Meas alo ver?           Me as a lover?


_Rhyming Charter._

The following grant of William the Conqueror may be found in Stowe's
_Chronicle_ and in Blount's _Ancient Tenures:_

HOPTON, IN THE COUNTY OF SALOP.

TO THE HEYRS MALE OF THE HOPTON, LAWFULLY BEGOTTEN.

    From me and from myne, to thee and to thyne,
    While the water runs, and the sun doth shine,
    For lack of heyrs to the king againe,
    I, William, King, the third year of my reign,
    Give to the Norman hunter,
    To me that art both line [A] and deare,
    The Hop and the Hoptoune,
    And all the bounds up and downe,
    Under the earth to hell,
    Above the earth to heaven,
    From me and from myne,
    To thee and to thyne;
    As good and as faire
    As ever they myne were.
    To witness that this is sooth,[B]
    I bite the white wax with my tooth,
    Before Judd, Marode and Margery,
    And my third son Henery,
    For one bow, and one broad arrow,
    When I come to hunt upon the Yarrow.

[A] Related, or by lineage.

[B] True.


_Accidental Rhymes._

In President Lincoln's last inaugural address occurs the following
instance of involuntary rhyme:—

    "Fondly do we hope,
     Fervently do we pray,
     That this mighty scourge of war
     May speedily pass away;
     Yet, if it be God's will
     That it continue until—"

And here the rhyme ceases. Cicero's prose shows, in places, similar
instances of involuntary rhyme.


_Cæsar's Wife must be above Suspicion._

No doubt this proverb originated from a passage in Suetonius, which says
that "the name of Pompeia, the wife of Julius Cæsar, having been mixed
up with an accusation against P. Clodius, her husband divorced her; not,
as he said, because he believed the charge against her, but because he
would have those belonging to him as free from suspicion as from crime."


_Oddly Addressed Letters._.

On one occasion a letter arrived by post in London, directed to
"Sromfridevi, Angleterre." No such person had ever been heard of; but,
on a little consideration, and judging from the sound, it was obvious
that the foreign writer of the letter meant Sir Humphrey Davy, and such
proved to be the case. Some years since there was returned to the French
Dead Letter Office a letter which had gone the round of every seaport in
the Levant, and the ambiguity of whose superscription had baffled a
legion of postmasters. It was addressed, "J. Dubois, Sultan Crete," and
was intended for J. Dubois _Surle_ Tancrede, a quartermaster on board of
the ship _Tancrede_. The name and address had been written just as they
had sounded to the ear. A letter addressed as follows arrived safely at
its destination:—

     Wood,
     John,
     Mass.

It was for John _Under_wood, _Andover_, Massachusetts.


_Amusements of some Learned Men._

Tycho Brahe polished glass for spectacles, and made mathematical
instruments; D'Andilly delighted in forest trees; Balzac, in
manufacturing crayons; Pieresc, in his medals and antiques; the Abbé de
Marolles, in engravings. Rohault's greatest recreation was in watching
different mechanics at their labor; Arnauld and Warburton read trashy
novels for recreation; Montaigne fondled his cat; Cardinal Richelieu
enjoyed leaping.


_Kant's Eccentricity._

Kant was probably the profoundest of metaphysicians that the world has
yet seen. It was his custom, when deeply engaged upon some abstruse
topic, to walk backward and forward, upon a moonlight evening, along the
avenue (bordered on each side with magnificent trees) approaching his
house. He was observed, on one occasion, as he slowly, in deep
meditation, moved backward and forward along the avenue, to leap over
the _shadows_ of the trees as they cast themselves before him in his
meditative walk. The delusion was strong upon him that these same
shadows were _ditches_, and that it was incumbent upon him that he
should _clear_ them, and that precisely in the way he did. Such are the
occasional abberrations of true genius.


_Death Warrant of the Saviour._

Of the many interesting relics brought to light by the researches of
antiquarians, none could be more interesting to Christians than the
following, which is faithfully transcribed—

     "Sentence by Pontius Pilate, acting
      Governor of Lower Galilee, stating that
      Jesus of Nazareth shall suffer death
      On the cross.

In the year seventeen of the Emperor Tiberius Cæsar, and the 27th day of
March, the city of the holy Jerusalem—Annas and Caiaphas being priests,
sacrificators of the people of God—Pontius Pilate, Governor of Lower
Galilee, sitting in the presidential chair of the prætory, condemns
Jesus of Nazareth to die on the cross between two thieves, the great and
notorious evidence of the people saying—

  1. Jesus is a seducer.

  2. He is seditious.

  3. He is the enemy of the law.

  4. He calls himself falsely the Son of God.

  5. He calls himself falsely the King of Israel.

  6. He entered into the temple followed by a multitude
     bearing palm branches in their hands.

Orders the first centurian, Quilius Cornelius, to lead him to the place
of execution.

Forbids any person whatsoever, either poor or rich, to oppose the death
of Jesus Christ.

The witnesses who signed the condemnation of Jesus are—

  1. Daniel Robani, a Pharisee.
  2. Joannus Robani.
  3. Raphael Robani.
  4. Capet, a citizen.

Jesus shall go out of the city of Jerusalem by the gate of Struenus."

The foregoing is engraved on a copper plate, on the reverse of which is
written, "A similar plate is sent to each tribe." It was found in an
antique marble vase, while excavating in the ancient city of Aquilla, in
the kingdom of Naples, in 1810, and was discovered by the Commissioners
of Arts of the French Army. At the expedition of Naples, it was enclosed
in a box of ebony and preserved in the sacristy of the Carthusians. The
French translation was made by the Commissioners of Arts. The original
is in the Hebrew language.


_Quaint Recipes._

The following recipes are taken from a work entitled "New Curiosities in
Art and Nature, or a collection of the most valuable Secrets in all Arts
and Sciences. Composed and Experimented by Sieur Lemery, Apothecary to
the French King. London, 1711."

_To Make one Wake or Sleep._—You must cut off, dexterously, the head of
a toad alive, and at once, and let it dry, observing that one eye be
shut and the other open; that which is found open makes one wake, and
that shut causes sleep, by carrying it about one.

_Preservative against the Plague._—Take three or four great toads,
seven or eight spiders, and as many scorpions, put them into a pot well
stopp'd, and let them lye some time; then add virgin-wax, make a good
fire till all become a liquor; then mingle them all with a spatula, and
make an ointment, and put it into a silver box well stopp'd, being well
assured that while you carry it about you, you will never be infected
with the plague.

These recipes indicate the delusion which prevailed with respect to
certain nostrums as late as 1711.


_Chronological Table of Remarkable Events._

The following curious table is taken from Arthur Hopton'a "Concordancie
of Years," 1615:—

  1077—A blazing star on Palm Sunday, near the sun.

  1100—The yard (measure) made by Henry I.

  1116—The moone seemed turned into bloud.

  1128—Men wore haire like women.

  1180—Paris in France, and London in Englande, paued, and
        thatching in both left, because all Luberick was spoiled
        thereby with fire.

  1189—Robin Hood and Little John lived. This yeare London
        obtained to be gouerned by Sheriffes and Maiors.

  1205—By reason of a frost from January to March wheate
        was sold for a marke the quarter, which before was at
        twelve pence.—_Anno Regni_ 6. John.

  1209—London bridge builded with stone; and this yeare the
        citizens of London had a grant to choose them a maior.

  1227—The citizens of London had libertie to hunt a certain
        distance about the citie, and to pass toll-free through
        England.

  1231—Thunder lasted fifteen daies; beginning the morrow
        after St. Martin's day.

  1233—Four sunnes appeared, beside the true sunne, of a red
        colour.

  1235—The Jews of Norwich stole a boy and circumcised him,
        minding to have him crucified at Easter.

  1247—The king farmed Queene-hiue for fifty pounds per
        annum, to the citizens.

  1252—Great tempests upon the sea, and fearful; and this
        year the king (Henry III.) granted, that wheretofore
        the citizens of London were to present the maior before
        the king, wheresoeuer he were, that now barons of the
        exchequer should serue (serve).

  1292—The Jews corrupting England with vsury, had first a
        badge giuen them to weare, that they might be knowne,
        and after were banished to the number of 150,000
        persons.

  1313—This yeare the king of France burned all his leporous
        and pocky people, as well men as women; for that
        he supposed they had poysoned the waters, which
        caused his leprosie. About this time, also, the Jews
        had a purpose to poyson all the Christians, by poysoning
        all their springs.

  1361—Men and beasts perished in diuers places with thunder
        and lightning, and fiends were seene speake unto men
        as they trauelled.

  1386—The making of gunnes found; and rebels in Kent and
        Essex, who entered London, beheaded all lawyers, and
        burnt houses and all bookes of law.

  1388—Picked shoes, tyed to their knees with siluer chains,
        were vsed. And women with long gownes rode in
        side-saddles, like the queen, that brought side-saddles
        first to England; for before they rode astrid.

  1401—Pride exceeding in monstrous apparrell.

  1411—Guildhall in London begun.

  1417—A decree for lantherne and candle-light in London.

  1427—Rain from the 1st of Aprill to Hollontide.


_Hymn in the Form of a Cross._

The following hymn was composed by a Christian monk during the middle
ages:—

                    THE CROSS.

              Blest  they who  seek
              While in their youth,
              With   spirit   meek,
              The  way  of   truth.
   To  them  the  sacred  Scriptures now  display
   Christ  as  the  only  true  and  living  way;
   His  precious  blood   on  Calvary  was  given
   To make them heirs of endless bliss in heaven.
   And e'en on  earth the  child of God can trace
   The glorious blessings  of his Saviour's face.
              For   them  He   bore
              His  Father's  frown,
              For   them  He   wore
              The   thorny   crown;
              Nailed to  the cross,
              Endured   its    pain
              That His  life's loss
              Might be  their gain.
              Then haste  to choose
              That   better   part,
              Nor    dare    refuse
              The Lord  your heart,
              Lest   He   declare—
              "I  know   you  not!"
              And    deep   despair
              Shall  be  your  lot.
  Now   look  to  Jesus   who  on  Calvary   died,
  And trust on Him alone  who there was crucified.


_Curious Piece of Antiquity, on the Crucifixion of our Saviour and the
two Thieves._

                                    ┌────┐
                                    │    │
                                    │    │
                                    │INRI│
                                    │    │
                                    │    │
             ┌──────────────────────┘    └──────────────────────┐
             │ My God! My God!                 vers of my tears │
             └──────────────────────┐    ┌──────────────────────┘
      I come to Thee;               │    │bow down thy blessed ears
      To hear me, wretch, oh        │    │let thine eyes, which sleep
      Did never close,              │    │behold a sinner weep.
      Let not, O God!               │    │my God! my faults, though great
      And numberless, bet           │  w │een thy mercy─seat
      And my poor soul be t         │  h │rown, since we are taught.
                                    │    │
               ┌────┐               │    │                  ┌────┐
               │    │               │    │                  │    │
               │    │               │    │                  │    │
               │    │               │    │                  │    │
          ┌────┘    └────┐          │    │             ┌────┘    └────┐
     Thou,│Lord! remember│ est th   │  y │ne,          │If thou beest │sought.
          └────┐    ┌────┘          │    │             └────┐    ┌────┘
  I co         │ me │not, Lord, wit │  h │any o             │the │r merit
  Than         │ wh │at I by my S   │  a │viour             │ Ch │rist inherit:
  Be th        │ en │his wound      │  s │my balm, his st   │ ri │pes my bliss,
  My crown his │ th │orns, my dea   │  t │h be lo           │ st │in his,
  And th       │ ou │my bles        │  t │Redeemer,         │ Sa │viour God!
  Quit my ac   │ co │unts, with     │  h │old thy           │ v  │engeful rod;
  O beg for    │ me │my h           │  o │pes on the        │ e  │are set,
  Thou Chri    │ st │forgi          │  u │e, as well as pay │ th │e debt.
  The liv      │ in │g fount, the li│  f │e, the wa         │ y  │I know;
  And but      │ to │thee           │  o │whither           │ s  │hould I go?
  All o        │ th │er helps a     │  r │e vain, giv       │ e  │thine to me;
  For by th    │ y  │cross my       │  s │aving hea         │ l  │th must be.
  Oh hear      │ k  │en then, wh    │  a │t I with          │ f  │aith implore,
  Lest s       │ in │and death sin  │  k │me forev          │ e  │r more.
  Oh Lord! my  │ G  │od! my way     │  e │s direct          │ a  │nd keep,
  In           │ d  │eath defe      │  n │d that from thee I│ n  │e'er slip;
  And at the do│ om │let            │  m │e be raise        │ d  │then,
  To liv       │ e  │with the       │  e.│Sweet Jes         │ us │say, Amen!
               └────┘               └────┘                  └────┘

EXPLANATION.

The middle cross represents our Saviour; those on either side, the two
thieves. On the top and down the middle cross are our Saviour's
expression, "My God! My God! why hast thou forsaken me?" and on the top
of the cross is the Latin inscription "INRI"—Jesus Nazarenus Rex
Judæorum, _i. e._ Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Upon the cross on
the right-hand is the prayer of one of the thieves:—"Lord! remember me
when thou comest into thy kingdom." On the left-hand cross is the
saying, or reproach, of the other: "If thou beest the Christ, save
thyself and us." The whole, comprised together, makes a piece of
excellent poetry, which is to be read across all the columns, and makes
as many lines as there are letters in the alphabet. It is perhaps one of
the most curious pieces of composition to be found on record.


_Copy of a Letter written by Cardinal Richelieu to the French Ambassador
at Rome._

First read the letter across, then double it in the middle, and read the
first column.

  SIR.—Mons. Compigne, a Savoyard by birth,  a Friar of the order of Saint Benedict,
  is the man who will present to you          as his passport to your protection,
  this letter. He is one of the most          discreet, the wisest and the least
  meddling persons that I have ever known     or have had the pleasure to converse with.
  He has long earnestly solicited me          to write to you in his favor, and
  to give him a suitable character,           together with a letter of credence;
  which I have accordingly granted to         his real merit, rather I must say, than to
  his importunity; for, believe me, Sir,      his modesty is only exceeded by his worth,
  I should be sorry that you should be        wanting in serving him on account of being
  misinformed of his real character;          I should be afflicted if you were
  as some other gentlemen have been,          misled on that score, who now esteem him,
  and those among the best of my friends;     wherefore, and from no other motive
  I think it my duty to advertise you         that you are most particularly desired,
  to have especial attention to all he does,  to show him all the respect imaginable,
  nor venture to say any thing before him,    that may either offend or displease him
  in any sort; for I may truly say, there is  no man I love so much as M. Compigne,
  none whom I should more regret to see       neglected, as no one can be more worthy to be
  received and trusted in decent society.     Base, therefore, would it be to injure him.
  And I well know, that as soon as you        are made sensible of his virtues, and
  shall become acquainted with him            you will love him as I do; and then
  you will thank me for this my advice.       The assurance I entertain of your
  Courtesy obliges me to desist from          urging this matter to you further, or
  saying any thing more on this subject.       Believe me, Sir, &c., RICHELIEU.


_Passage through the Isthmus of Panama, Suggested Three Hundred Years
Ago._

In the Town Library (_Stadt Bibliothek_) of Nuremberg is preserved an
interesting globe, made by John Schoner, professor of mathematics in the
gymnasium there, A. D. 1520. It is very remarkable that the passage
through the Isthmus of Panama, so much sought after in later times, is,
on this old globe, carefully delineated.


_A False Conclusion._

Amongst the _deliramenta_ of the learned, which have amused mankind, the
following deserves a place:—

In 1815 a noted London professor occupied a window which overlooked the
college garden. Amid the trees in the latter a number of rooks had taken
up their abode. A young gentleman, who lodged in an attic opposite,
frequently amused himself by shooting the rooks with a cross-bow. The
professor noticed that the birds frequently dropped senseless from their
perches, no sound being heard, no person being visible. It was a strange
phenomenon, and he set his wits to work to account for the cause of it.
At length he became fully satisfied that he had made a great
ornithological discovery which would add vastly to his fame. He actually
wrote a _learned treatise_, stating what he had seen, and declaring that
it was a settled conviction in his mind that _rooks_ were subject to
_falling sickness_.


_Posies from Wedding Rings._

    _Hamlet._—Is this a prologue, or a posy of a ring?

The following posies were transcribed by an indefatigable collector,
from old wedding rings, chiefly of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. The orthography is, in most cases, altered:—

    Death never parts
    Such loving hearts.

    In thee, my choice,
    I do rejoice. 1677.

    A heart content
    Need ne'er repent.

    All I refuse,
    And thee I choose.

    In thee, dear wife,
    I find new life.

    This ring doth bind
    Body and mind.

    Joy day and night
    Be our delight.

    Endless as this,
    Shall be our bliss. 1719.

    God alone
    Made us two one.

    I change the life
    Of maid to wife.

    No gift can show
    The love I owe.

    In love abide,
    Till death divide.


_Private Expenses of Charles II._

Malone, the well-known editor of Shakespeare, possessed a curious
volume—an account of the privy expenses of Charles II., kept by Baptist
May. A few extracts from Malone's transcripts are here subjoined:—

                                                   £    _s._ _d._
  My Lord St. Alban's bill,                     1,746   18   11
  Lady Castlemaine's debts,                     1,116    1    0
  For grinding cocoanuts,                           5    8    0
  Paid Lady C, play-money,                        300    0    0
  For a band of music,                             50    0    0
  For a receipt for chocolate                     227    0    0
  Lady C, play-money,                             300    0    0
  Mr. Knight, for bleeding the king,               10    0    0
  Mr. Price, for milking the asses,                10    0    0
  Lady C, play-money,                             300    0    0
  To one that showed tumbler's tricks,              5    7    6
  For weighing the King,                            1    0    0
  The Queen's allowance,                        1,250    0    0
  Lost by the King at play on twelfth-night,      220    0    0
  Nell Gwyn,                                      100    0    0
  For 3,685 ribbons for healing,                  107   10    4
  Lord Landerdale, for ballads,                     5    0    0
  Paid what was borrowed for the Countess
    of Castlemaine,                             1,650    0    0


_First Brick House in Philadelphia._

The following editorial announcement is taken from the Philadelphia
_Weekly Mercury_ of November 30th, 1752, because it is a novelty in its
way, and also affords an insight into the degree of communication which
existed at the time between large towns and the provinces:—

"On Monday next the Northern Post sets out from New York, in order to
perform his stage but once a fortnight, during the winter quarter; the
Southern Post changes also, which will cause this paper to come out on
Tuesdays during that time. The colds which have infested the Northern
Colonies have also been troublesome here; few families have escaped the
same, several have been carry'd off by the cold, among whom was David
Brintnall, in the 77th year of his age; he was the first man that had a
brick house in the city of Philadelphia, and was much esteem'd for his
just and upright dealing. There goes a report here that the Lord
Baltimore and his lady are arrived in Maryland, but the Southern Post
being not yet come in, the said report wants confirmation."


_The Pillory in Philadelphia._

Among the local items of news in the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, published
in Philadelphia, and bearing date of November 4th, 1772, is recorded the
following:—

"At the Mayor's Court, held in this city last week, John Underwood, for
counterfeiting and passing counterfeit money, of this province, was
ordered to be whipt, stand in the pillory, and have both his ears cut
off and nailed to the post; others were ordered to be whipt and stand in
the pillory for divers felonies, and five more to receive the discipline
of the post, which was put in execution on Saturday last."


_One Hundred Years too Soon._

The following appears in _Baker's Chronicle, sub anno 1524_:

"In this yeere, through bookes of prognostications, fore-showing much
hurt by waters and floods, many persons withdrew themselves to high
grounds for feare of drowning; specially one Bolton, prior of St.
Bartholomew's, in Smithfield, builded him an house upon Harrow on the
hill, and thither went and made provision for two moneths. These great
waters should have fallen in February, but, no such thing happening, the
astronomers excused themselves by saying, that, in the computation, they
had miscounted in their number an hundred yeeres."


_The Manner of Watchmen Imitating the Clock at Herrnhuth, in Germany._

  VIII.—Past eight o'clock! O, Herrnhuth, do thou ponder;
         Eight souls in Noah's Ark were living yonder.

    IX.—'Tis nine o'clock! ye brethren, hear it striking;
         Keep hearts and houses clean, to our Saviour's liking.

     X.—Now, brethren, hear, the clock is ten and passing;
         None rest but such as wait for Christ's embracing.

    XI.—Eleven is past! Still at this hour eleven
         The Lord is calling us from earth to heaven.

   XII.—Ye brethren, hear, the midnight clock is humming;
         At midnight our great Bridegroom will be coming.

     I.—Past one o'clock! The day breaks out of darkness;
         Great Morning Star appear, and break our hardness.

    II.—'Tis two! On Jesus wait this silent season,
         Ye two so near related, Will and Reason.

   III.—The clock is three! The blessed three doth merit
         The best of praise, from body, soul and spirit.

    IV.—'Tis four o'clock! When three make supplication,
         The Lord will be the fourth on that occasion.

     V.—Five is the clock! Five virgins were discarded,
         While five with wedding garments were rewarded.

    VI.—The clock is six, and I go off my station.
         Now, brethren, _watch yourselves for your salvation_.


_Household Rules in the Sixteenth Century._

From Sir J. Harrington's (the translator of Ariosto) rules for servants,
we obtain a very clear conception of the internal government of a
country gentleman's house in 1566—

A servant who is absent from prayers to be fined.

For uttering an oath, 1_d._; and the same sum for leaving a door open.

A fine of 2_d._ from Michaelmas to Lady Day, for all who are in bed
after seven, or out after nine.

A fine of 1_d._ for any bed unmade, fire unlit, or candle-box uncleaned,
after eight.

A fine of 4_d._ for a man detected teaching the children obscene words.

A fine of 1_d._ for any man waiting without a trencher, or who is absent
at a meal.

For any one breaking any of the butler's glass, 12_d._

A fine of 2_d._ for any one who has not laid the table for dinner by
half-past ten, or the supper by six.

A fine of 4_d._ for any one absent without leave.

For any man striking another, a fine of 1_d._

For any follower visiting the cook, 1_d._

A fine of 1_d._ for any man appearing in a foul shirt, untied shoes, or
torn doublet.

A fine of 1_d._ for any stranger's room left for four hours after he has
dressed.

A fine of 1_d._ if the hall be not cleansed by eight in winter and seven
in summer.

The porter to be fined 1_d._ if the court-gate be not shut during meals.

A fine of 3_d._ if the stairs be not cleaned every Friday after dinner.

All these fines were deducted by the steward at the quarterly payment of
wages.


_Hindoo Oaths._

The Hindoos regard the Ganges as a sacred river. It is a common practice
in British Courts to "swear" Hindoo witnesses upon the waters of the
Ganges, just as Christians are sworn upon the Bible.


_Saturday a Fatal Day to the Royal Family of England._

Saturday has been a fatal day to the royal family of England during the
last hundred and sixty years, as is shown by the following list:—

  William III. died Saturday, March 18th, 1702.

  Queen Anne died Saturday, August 1st, 1714.

  George I. died Saturday, June 10th, 1727.

  George II. died Saturday, October 25th, 1760.

  George III. died Saturday, January 29th, 1820.

  George IV. died Saturday, June 26th, 1830.

  Duchess of Kent died Saturday, March 16th, 1861.

  Prince Albert died Saturday, December 14th, 1861.

  Princess Alice died Saturday, December 14th, 1878.


_Edicts Against Fiddlers._

An idea may be formed of the strictness with which all popular
amusements were prohibited when the Puritans had the ascendency, from
the fact that in 1656-7 Oliver Cromwell prohibited all persons called
fiddlers or minstrels from playing, fiddling or making music in any inn,
ale-house or tavern, etc. If they proffered themselves, or offered to
make music, they were adjudged to be rogues and vagabonds, and were to
be proceeded against as such.


_John O'Gaunt's Will._

Perhaps the shortest deed of land by a will in the world is the
following:—

    "I, John of Gaunt,
     Do give and do grant
     To John of Burgoyne
     And the heirs of his loin,
     Both Sutton and Potton
     Until the world's rotten."

It is by this tenure, it is said, that the estates of Sutton and Potton,
in the county of Bedford, England, are now held by the house of
Burgoyne.


_Eccentric Will._

Mr. Tuke, of Wath, near Rotherham, England, who died in 1810, bequeathed
one penny to every child that attended his funeral (there came from six
to seven hundred); 1_s._ to every poor woman in Wath; 10_s._ 6_d._ to
the ringers to ring one peal of grand bobs, which was to strike off
while they were putting him into the grave. To his natural daughter, £4
4_s._ per annum. To his old and faithful servant, Joseph Pitt, £21 per
annum. To an old woman who had for eleven years tucked him up in bed, £1
1_s._ only. Forty dozen penny loaves to be thrown from the church leads
at twelve o'clock on Christmas day forever. Two handsome brass
chandeliers for the church, and £20 for a set of new chimes.


_Curious Custom at Strasbourg._

At Strasbourg they exhibit a large French horn, the history of which is
as follows:—

About four hundred years ago the Jews formed a conspiracy to betray the
city, and with this identical horn they intended to give the enemy
notice when to attack. The plot, however, was discovered; many of the
Jews were burnt alive; the rest were plundered of their money and
effects, and banished the town. This horn is sounded twice every night
from the battlements of the steeple in gratitude for the deliverance.
The Jews deny the facts of this story, excepting the murdering and
pillaging of their countrymen. They say the whole story is fabricated to
furnish a pretext for the robberies and murders, and assert that the
steeple of Strasbourg, as has been said of the monument of London,

     "Like a tall bully lifts the head and lies."


_Tooth-Picks._

In the fourteenth century it was the fashion to carry tooth-picks of
silver suspended round the neck by a chain.


_Phantom Menageries._

"The Magick of Kirami, King of Persia, and of Harpocration," printed in
the year 1685, contains the following:—

"The hyena is a four-footed animal, savage and ambiguous; for this
creature is born female, and, after a year, turns male, and then, for
the next year, turns female again, and brings forth and gives suck; and
the gall of this animal, being sweet, has efficacy for a miracle; and a
great miracle is made of it; and this is the composition: Take the eyes
of the fish glaucus, and the right eye of the said hyena, and all that
is liquid of the said hyena; dissolve all together, and pot it up in a
glass vessel, covering it well. If, therefore, you will show a great
miracle, when you have set a light, mix the fat of any creeping thing,
or four-footed beast you please, with a little of the foresaid
composition; if you anoint the wick of the lamp or candle, they will
think it is the beast of which it is the fat, whether of a lion, bull,
serpent, or any other creature. If you put a little of the confection
upon burning coals, in the middle of the house, the beast will appear
whose fat you mixed with it. And you may do the same with birds. And if
you mix a little sea-water with the composition, and sprinkle among the
guests, they will all fly, thinking that the sea is in the midst of
them."


_Curious Law._

The following curious law was enacted during the reign of Richard I.,
for the government of those going by sea to the Holy Land: "He who kills
a man on shipboard, shall be bound to the dead body and thrown into the
sea; if the man is killed on shore, the slayer shall be bound to the
dead body and buried with it. He who shall draw his knife to strike
another, or who shall have drawn blood from him, to lose his hand; if he
shall have only struck with the palm of the hand, without drawing blood,
he shall be thrice ducked in the sea."


_Curious Historical Coincidence._

The following curious historical coincidence has been remarked in the
life of Thomas a-Becket, who was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by
Henry II.:—

The dignity was conferred upon him on a Tuesday; Tuesday brought him
face to face with the peers of Northampton; he was banished from England
on a Tuesday; he had a celestial visit on a Tuesday, foretelling his
"martyrdom;" he came home from exile on a Tuesday; he was slain at the
altar on a Tuesday, and was canonized as a saint on a Tuesday.


_Born within the Sound of Bow Bells._

One of the most celebrated peals of bells in London is that of St.
Mary-le-bow, Cheapside, which forms the basis of a proverbial expression
meant to mark emphatically a London nativity. Brand speaks of a
substantial endowment by a citizen for the ringing of Bow-bells every
morning to wake up the London apprentices.


_Refreshments for the Pulpit._

In the books of Darlington parish church, the following items appear,
which show that, in the olden time, provision was made for comforting
the inner man:—

"Six quarts of sack to the minister who preached when he had no minister
to assist, 9_s._; for a quart of sack bestowed on Jillett, when he
preached, 2_s._ 6_d._; for pint of brandy when George Bell preached
here, 1_s._ 4_d._; for a stranger who preached, a dozen of ale. When the
Dean of Durham preached here, spent in a treat in the house, 3_s._
6_d._"


_Birthdays._

It is not generally known that the custom of keeping birthdays is many
thousand years old. It is recorded in the fortieth chapter of Genesis,
twentieth verse: "And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's
birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants."


_Toppling Flower Pots._

An Act of Parliament was passed to "put down" the flower pots, "which
were accustomed to topple on the _walkers'_ heads, from the windows of
houses wherein flower-fanciers dwelt."


_Electioneering in 1640._

In Sir Henry Slingsby's diary is the following entry respecting the
election at Knaresborough, in 1640: "There is an evil custom at such
elections, to bestow wine on all the town, which cost me sixteen pounds
at least."


_Monks Ordered to Shave._

In the year 1200 the Council of Lateran ordered the monks to shave off
their beards, "lest in the ceremony of receiving the sacrament, the
beard might touch the bread and wine, or crumbs and drops fall and stick
upon it."


_Odd Bill for Repairs._

One meets with curious things in the old church registers of England.
The subjoined, in the Record Office of Winchester Cathedral, dated 1182,
is certainly unique. It is a bill for work done:—

                                                           _s._ _d._
  To soldering and repairing St. Joseph,                    0    8
  To cleaning and ornamenting the Holy Ghost,               0    6
  To repairing the Virgin Mary and cleaning the child,      4    8
  To screwing a nose on the Devil, and putting in the hair
    on his head, and placing a new joint in his tail,       5    6


_Antiquity of Riddles._

Riddles are of the highest antiquity. The oldest one on record is in the
book of Judges, xiv. 14-18. We are told by Plutarch that the girls of
his time worked at netting or sewing, and the most ingenious made
riddles. The following riddle is attributed to Cleobolus, one of the
seven wise men of Greece, who lived about 570 years before the birth of
Christ:—

"There is a father with twice six sons; these sons have thirty daughters
apiece, parti-colored, having one cheek white and the other black, who
never see each other's faces, nor live more than twenty-four hours."


_Cashing Lottery Prizes._

In the State Lottery of 1739, tickets, chances and shares were "bought
and sold by Richard Shergold, printer, at his office at the Union
Coffee-house over and against the Royal Exchange, Cornhill." He
advertised that he kept numerical books during the drawing, and a book
wherein buyers might register their numbers at sixpence each; that
_fifteen per cent. was to be deducted_ out of the prizes, which were to
be paid at the bank in fifty days after the drawing. The heavy
percentage demanded occasioned the following epigram:—

    "This lottery can never thrive,"
       Was broker heard to say,
    "For who but fools will ever give
       Fifteen per cent. to play?"

     A sage, with his accustomed grin,
       Replied, "I'll stake my doom,
     That if but half the fools come in
       The wise will find no room!"


_Lottery for Women in India._

_Advertisement._—BE IT KNOWN, that SIX FAIR PRETTY YOUNG LADIES, with
two sweet and engaging young children, lately imported from Europe,
having roses of health blooming on their cheeks and joy sparkling in
their eyes, possessing amiable manners and highly accomplished, whom the
most indifferent cannot behold without expressions of rapture, are to be
RAFFLED FOR next door to the British gallery. SCHEME: _Twelve tickets_
at twelve rupees each; the highest of the three throws takes the most
fascinating, &c., &c.—_Calcutta Newspaper of September 3rd_, 1818.


_Ancient Lottery._

In 1612, King James I., "in special favour for the plantation of English
colonies in Virginia, granted a Lottery to be held at the west end of
St. Paul's; whereof one Thomas Sharplys, a taylor of London, had the
chief prize, which was four thousand crowns in fair plate."—_Baker's
Chronicles._


_Child Played For._

In October, 1735, a child of James and Elizabeth Leesh, of
Chester-le-street, in the county of Durham, was _played for at cards_,
at the sign of the Salmon, one game, four shillings against the child,
by Henry and John Trotter, Robert Thomson and Thomas Ellison, which was
won by the latter two and delivered to them accordingly.—_Syke's Local
Records_, page 79.


_Lotteries._

The change in public opinion respecting lotteries is strikingly
illustrated by the following entry in the day-book kept by the Rev.
Samuel Seabury, father of the first Protestant Episcopal Bishop in the
United States: "June, 1768. The ticket number 5866, by the blessing of
God, in the Lighthouse and Public Lottery of New York, appointed by law,
Anno Domini, 1763, drew in my favor £500 0_s._ 0_d._, of which I
received £425 0_s._ 0_d._, which, with the deduction of fifteen per
cent., makes £500, for which I now record to my Posterity my thanks and
praise to Almighty God the giver of all good gifts. Amen!"


_Babes in the Wood._

This popular legend was a disguised recital of the reported murder of
his young nephews by Richard III. Throughout the tale there is a marked
resemblance to several leading facts connected with the king and his
brother's children, as well as a correspondence with historical details.
In an old black-letter copy of the ballad there is a rude
representation of a stag, which is significant, because a stag was the
badge of the unfortunate Edward V.


_A Little Bird Told Me._

This expression comes from Ecclesiastes x. 20: "For a bird of the air
shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter."


_Dead Drunk for Twopence._

From the "Gentleman's Magazine" (1736), we learn that at some of the
taverns where the poorer classes drank to excess, the signs bore the
following inscription: "_Drunk for a penny, dead drunk for twopence,
clean straw for nothing._" This record gives reality to the inscription
in Hogarth's print of "Gin-lane."


_How the Prophecy of the Destruction of Bath came About._

On the 30th of March, 1809, the destruction of the city of Bath was to
have been effected by a convulsion of the earth, which should cause
"Beaconhill to meet Beechen Cliff." This inauspicious juncture was said
to have been foretold by an old woman who had derived her information
from an angel. This reported prophecy rendered many of the inhabitants
uneasy, and instigated crowds of visitors to quit the city. The
portentous hour—twelve o'clock—passed, and the believers were ashamed
of their credulity. The alarm is said to have originated with two noted
cock-feeders, who lived near the before-mentioned hills; they had been
at a public house, and, after much boasting on both sides, made a match
to fight their favorite cocks on Good Friday; but fearing the
magistrates might interfere, if it became public, they named the cocks
after their respective walks, and in the agreement it was specified that
"Mount Beacon would meet Beechen Cliff, precisely at 12 o'clock on Good
Friday." The match was mentioned with cautions of secresy to their
sporting friends, who repeated it in the same terms, and with the same
caution, until it came to the ears of some credulous beings, who took
the words in their plain sense; and, as stories seldom lose by being
repeated, each added what fear or fancy framed, until the report became
a marvellous prophecy, which in its intended sense was fulfilled; for
the cocks of Mount Beacon and Beechen Cliff met and fought, and left
their hills behind them on their ancient sites, to the comfort and joy
of multitudes who had been disturbed by the epidemical
prediction.—_Hone._


_Drop-Letter Retort._

An old gentleman by the name of Page, having found a young lady's glove
at a watering place, presented it to her with the following couplet:—

    "If you from your glove take the letter G,
      Your glove leaves love, which I devote to thee."

To which the lady returned the following answer:—

    "If from your page you take the letter P,
      Your page is age, and that won't do for me."


_Dean Swift's Marriage Ceremony._

Dean Swift was applied to, at a late hour on a stormy night, after he
had gone to bed, by a run-away couple, to be married. He answered the
call from his upper chamber window. He told them that as he was
undressed, the weather very threatening, and they, he presumed, in a
hurry, he would marry them as they stood. After asking the necessary
questions, he said—

    "Under this window, in stormy weather,
     I marry this man and woman together;
     Let none but Him who rules the thunder
     Put this man and woman asunder."


_Pious Guide-Posts._

In olden times the guide-posts not only pointed out the road, but
furnished texts and maxims upon which to meditate. The following
inscriptions were upon guide-posts in Devonshire, England:—

_To Woodbury, Topsham, Exeter._—Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and
all her paths are peace.

_To Brixton, Ottery, Honiton._—O hold up our goings in thy paths, that
our footsteps slip not.

_To Otterton, Sidmouth, A. D. 1743._—O that our ways were made to
direct, that we might keep thy statutes.

_To Budleigh._—Make us to go in the paths of thy commandments, for
therein is our desire.


_A Bogus Dragon._

A curious anecdote of Jacob Bobart, keeper of the physic garden of
Oxford, England, occurs in one of Grey's notes to _Hudibras:_ "He made a
dead rat resemble the common picture of a dragon, by altering its head
and tail, and thrusting in taper sharp sticks, which distended the skin
on each side till it resembled wings. He let it dry as hard as possible.
The learned immediately pronounced it a dragon, and one of them sent an
accurate description of it to Dr. Magliabecchi, librarian to the Grand
Duke of Tuscany; several fine copies of verses were written on so rare a
subject. At last Mr. Bobart owned the cheat; however, it was looked upon
as a master-piece of art, and, as such, was deposited in the museum."


_Donation to a Fair._

On one occasion Oliver Wendell Holmes sent a letter to the post-office
of a ladies' fair at Pittsfield. On the first page he wrote—

    "Fair lady, whoso'er thou art,
       Turn this poor leaf with tenderest care,
     And hush, Oh hush, thy breathing heart—
       The _one_ thou lovest will be there."

On turning the "poor leaf" there was found a one dollar bill with the
subjoined verse—

    "Fair lady, lift thine eyes and tell
       If this is not a truthful letter?
     This is the one (1) thou lovest well,
       And nought (0) can make thee love it better."


_Confectionery Decorations._

Probably the ancients exceeded us in the art of decorating
confectionery. After each course in solemn feasts there was a
"subtilty." Subtilties were representations of castles, giants, saints,
knights, ladies and beasts, all raised in pastry, upon which legends and
coat-armor were painted in their proper colors. At the festival, on the
coronation of Henry VI., in 1429, there was a "subtilty" of St. Edward
and St. Louis, "armed, and upon either his coat-armor, holding between
them a figure of King Henry, standing also in his coat-armor, and an
inscription passing from both, saying, 'Beholde twoe perfecte kynges
vnder one coate-armoure.'"—_Fabyan-Dallaway's Heraldic Inq._


_Superscription to a Letter._

A letter upon which the following was written, passed through the
Atlanta (Ga.) post-office:—

    "Steal not this for fear of shame—
     There is no money in the same;
     True, it does a check contain,
     But 'tis for baggage on a train."


_In Search of a Looking-Glass._

"When I was last in Lisbon, a nun made her escape from the nunnery. The
first thing for which she inquired, when she reached the house in which
she was to be secreted, was a looking-glass. She had entered the convent
when only five years old, and from that time had never seen her own
face."—_Southey._


_Bleeding for Nothing._

"Whereas, the majority of Apothecaries in Boston have agreed to pull
down the price of Bleeding to sixpence, let these certifie that Mr.
Richard Clarke, Apothecary, will bleed anybody at his shop,
gratis."—_Stamford Mercury_, March 28th, 1716.


_An Astonished Lawyer._

A curious instance occurred of a witness confounding a counsel, at
Gloucester, England, some years ago. The witness, on being asked his
name, gave it as Ottiwell Woodd. The learned counsel did not seem to
catch it, though it was several times pronounced. "Spell it, sir, if you
please," he said, somewhat angrily. The witness complied as follows:
"O-double t-i-double you-e-double l-double you-double o-double d." The
spelling confounded the lawyer more than ever, and in his confusion,
amid the laughter of the court, he took the witness aside to help him to
spell it after him.


_Duels Fought by Clergymen._

In England, in 1764, the Rev. Mr. Hill was killed in a duel by Cornet
Gardener, of the carbineers. The Rev. Mr. Bates fought two duels, and
was subsequently created a baronet, and preferred to a deanery after he
had fought another duel. The Rev. Mr. Allen killed a Mr. Delany in a
duel in Hyde Park, without incurring ecclesiastical censure, though the
judge, on account of his extremely bad conduct, strongly charged his
guilt upon the jury.


_A Singular Coincidence._

On the 13th of February, 1746, as the records of the French criminal
jurisprudence inform us, one Jean Marie Dunbarry was brought to the
scaffold for murdering his father; and, strangely enough, on the 13th of
February, 1846, precisely one hundred years later, another Jean Marie
Dunbarry, a great-grandson of the first-mentioned criminal, paid the
same penalty for the same crime.


_Tavern Screens._

Centuries ago, the doors of taverns had an interior screen, similar to
those in use at the present day. Lounging was just as much in vogue. In
Clare's "Shepherd's Calender," we read—

    "Now, musing o'er the changing scene,
     Farmers behind the tavern screen
     Collect; with elbow idly press'd
     On hob, reclines the corner's guest,
     Reading the news, to mark again
     The bankrupt lists, or price of grain,
     Puffing the while his red-tipt pipe,
     He dreams o'er troubles nearly ripe;
     Yet, winter's leisure to regale,
     Hopes better times, and sips his ale."


_Ancient Antipathy to Red Hair._

Ages before the time of Judas, red hair was thought a mark of
reprobation, both in the case of Typhon, who deprived his brother of the
sceptre in Egypt, and Nebuchadnezzar, who acquired it in expiation of
his atrocities. Even the donkey tribe suffered from this ill-omened
visitation, according to the proverb of "wicked as a red ass." Asses of
that color were held in such detestation among the Copths, that every
year they sacrificed one by hurling it from a high wall.


_Lightning-Prints._

Lightning-prints are appearances sometimes found on the skin of men or
animals that are struck by lightning, and are currently believed to be
photographic representations of surrounding objects or scenery.

At Candelaria, in Cuba, in 1828, a young man was struck dead by
lightning near a house, on one of the windows of which was nailed a
horse-shoe; and the image of the horse-shoe was said to be distinctly
printed upon the neck of the young man. On the 14th of November, 1830,
lightning struck the Chateau Benatonière, in Lavendèe. At the time a
lady happened to be seated on a chair in the salon, and on the back of
her dress were printed minutely the ornaments on the back of the chair.
In September, 1857, a peasant-girl, while herding a cow in the
department of Seine-et-Marne, was overtaken by a thunder-storm. She took
refuge under a tree, and the tree, the cow and herself were struck with
lightning. The cow was killed, but she recovered, and on loosening her
dress for the sake of respiring freely, she saw a picture of the cow
upon her breast.


_No Buttons but Brass Buttons._

There is a curious law extant in England in regard to brass buttons. It
is, by Acts of Parliament passed in three reigns, (William III., Anne
and George I.), illegal for a tailor to make, or mortal to wear, clothes
with any other buttons appended thereto but buttons of brass. The law
was put in force for the benefit of the button-makers of Birmingham; and
it further enacts, not only that he who makes or sells garments with any
but brass buttons thereto affixed, shall pay a penalty of forty
shillings for every dozen, but that he shall not be able to recover the
price he claims, if the wearer thinks proper to resist payment. The Act
is not a dead letter. Not more than thirty years ago a Mr. Shirley sued
a Mr. King for nine pounds sterling due for a suit of clothes. King
pleaded non-liability on the ground of an illegal transaction, the
buttons on the garments supplied being made of cloth, or bone covered
with cloth, instead of glittering brass, as the law directs. The judge
allowed the plea; and the defendant having thus gained a double suit
without cost, immediately proceeded against the plaintiff to recover his
share of the forty shillings for every dozen buttons which the poor
tailor had unwittingly supplied. A remarkable feature in the case was,
that the judge who admitted the plea, the barrister who set it up, and
the client who profited by it, were themselves all buttoned contrary to
law!


_Curious Signs in New York._

One may see in the shop-windows of a Fourth avenue confectioner, "Pies
Open All Night." An undertaker in the same thoroughfare advertises,
"Everything Requisite for a First-class Funeral." A Bowery placard
reads, "Home-made Dining Rooms, Family Oysters." A West Broadway
_restaurateur_ sells "Home-made Pies, Pastry and Oysters." A Third
avenue "dive" offers for sale "Coffee and Cakes off the Griddle," and an
East Broadway caterer retails "Fresh Salt Oysters" and "Larger Beer." A
Fulton street tobacconist calls himself a "Speculator in Smoke," and a
purveyor of summer drinks has invented a new draught, which he calls by
the colicky name of "Æolian Spray." A Sixth avenue barber hangs out a
sign reading "Boots Polished Inside," and on Varick street, near
Carmine, there are "Lessons Given on the Piano, with use for Practice.",
"Cloth Cutt and Bastd" is the cabalistic legend on the front of a
millinery shop on Spring street; on another street the following catches
the eye: "Washin Ironin and Goin Out by the Day Done Here."


_Recipes from Albertus Magnus._

"If thou wylt see that other men cannot see: Take the gall of a male
cat, and the fat of a hen all whyte, and mixe them together, and anoint
thy eyes, and thou shalt see it that others cannot see.

"If the hart, eye or brayne of a lapwyng or blacke plover be hanged upon
a man's neck, it is profitable agaynste forgetfulnesse, and sharpeth
man's understanding."—_Black letter copy—very old._


_Infamous Nankeen._

The wearing of nankeen at one time was so popular among gentlemen in
England, that it also became the fashion in France. English nankeen
threatened to drive all French manufactured articles of summer wear out
of the market. Louis XVI., however, was equal to the emergency. He
ordered all the executioners and their assistants to perform their
terrible office in no other dress but one made out of nankeen, which
rendered the material so "infamous" that its use was discarded.


_The Military Salute._

The military salute, which consists of the hand being brought to a
horizontal position over the eyebrows, has a very old origin, dating, in
fact, from the very commencement of the history of the English army. Its
origin is founded on the tournaments of the Middle Ages, and was as
follows: After the queen of beauty was enthroned, the knights who were
to take part in the sports of the day, marched past the dais on which
she sat, and as they passed they shielded their eyes from the rays of
her beauty.


_Book-keeping in Norway._

The process of keeping accounts among the Norway lumbermen is unique in
style. The time-keeper, after comparing accounts with the workman, sends
him to the cashier for his wages, with the amount due to him chalked on
his back; and when the cashier has paid it, he takes his receipt by
brushing off the chalk-marks.


_Curious Post-Office._

The smallest post-office in the world is kept in a barrel, which swings
from the outermost rock of the mountains overhanging the Straits of
Magellan, opposite Terra del Fuego. Every passing ship opens it to place
letters in or take them out. Every ship undertakes to forward all
letters in it that it is possible for them to transmit. The barrel hangs
by its iron chain, beaten and battered by the winds and storms, but no
locked and barred office on land is more secure.


_Inordinate Self-Esteem._

Some Frenchmen who landed on the coast of Guinea, found a negro prince
seated under a tree on a block of wood for his throne, and three or four
negroes, armed with wooden spears, for his guards. His sable majesty
anxiously inquired: "Do they talk much of me in France?"


_He's a Brick._

If this is slang, it is classical slang. Of the thousands who use the
expression, very few know its origin or its primitive significance.
Truly, it is a heroic thing to say of a man to call him a brick. The
word so used, if not twisted from its original intent, implies all that
is brave, patriotic and loyal. Plutarch, in his life of Agesilaus, King
of Sparta, gives us the original of the quaint and familiar expression.

On a certain occasion an ambassador from Espirus, on a diplomatic
mission, was shown by the king over his capital. The ambassador knew of
the monarch's fame—knew that though only nominally king of Sparta, he
was ruler of Greece—and he had looked to see massive walls rearing
aloft their embattled towns for the defence of the town; but he found
nothing of the kind. He marvelled much at this, and spoke of it to the
king.

"Sire," he said, "I have visited most of the principal towns, and I find
no walls reared for defence. Why is this?"

"Indeed, Sir Ambassador," replied Agesilaus; "thou canst not have looked
carefully. Come with me to-morrow morning, and I will show you the walls
of Sparta."

Accordingly, on the following morning, the king led his guest out upon
the plain where his army was drawn up in full array, and pointing
proudly to the serried hosts, he said—

"There thou beholdest the walls of Sparta—ten thousand men, and EVERY
MAN A BRICK!"


_Punch and Judy in 1669._

Although Punch was not originally French, he has always been greatly
esteemed in France. The following entries are found in the registers of
the royal treasury:—

"Paid to Brioché, the puppet-player, for sojourning at St.
Germain-en-Laye, during September, October and November, 1669, to divert
the royal children, 1365 livres."

"Paid to François Daitelin, puppet-player, for the fifty-six days he
remained at St. Germain, to amuse Monseigneur le Dauphin (July and
August, 1669), 820 livres."

Five successive months must almost have been enough of such amusement
for the royal children of France.


_Offending Barbers._

On the 20th of November, 1746, fifty-one barbers were convicted before
the commissioners of excise, and fined twenty pounds each, for having in
their custody hair-powder not made of starch, contrary to Act of
Parliament.


_Primitive Tavern Signs._

In Ireland, in the taverns by the road-side, in which illicit whiskey
can be obtained, the traveler is informed of the fact by a piece of turf
unobtrusively placed in the window. In the Middle Ages, road-side ale
houses in England were indicated by a stake projecting from the front of
the house, from which some object was suspended. Sometimes a garland was
hung upon the stake, to which occasional reference is made in Chaucer's
poems. The bush, however, was more common than the stake, and was often
composed of ivy. The saying "Good wine needs no bush," no doubt
originated from this custom.


_Watch-Papers._

Years ago it was the custom for watch-makers to put their business cards
inside of the case. These cards were sometimes enlivened with a couplet
or a verse, of each of which we subjoin a sample—

    He that wears a watch, two things must do;
   _Pocket_ his _watch_ and _watch_ his _pocket_ too.

    I labor here with all my might,
    To tell the hours of day and night;
    Therefore, example take by me,
    And serve the Lord as I serve thee.


_Echo Verse._

It was a sharp bit of echo verse that the _Sunday Times_ of London threw
off in 1831, when tickets to hear the great violinist were very high—

    What are they who pay three guineas
    To hear a tune of Paganini's?
         Echo—Pack o' ninnies.


_Signature of the Cross._

The mark which persons who are unable to write are required to make
instead of their signatures, is in the form of a cross; and this
practice having formerly been followed by kings and nobles, is
constantly referred to as an instance of the deplorable ignorance of
ancient times. This signature is not, however, invariably a proof of
ignorance. Anciently, the use of the mark was not confined to illiterate
persons; for among the Saxons the mark of the cross, as an attestation
of the good faith of the persons signing, was required to be attached to
the signature of those who _could_ write, as well as to stand in the
place of the signature of those who could not write.


_Simply on Account of her Name._

Herrera, the Spanish historian, records an anecdote in which the choice
of a queen entirely arose from her name. When two French ambassadors
negotiated a marriage between one of the Spanish princesses and Louis
VIII., the names of the royal females were _Urraca_ and _Blanche_. The
former was the elder and the more beautiful, and intended by the Spanish
court for the French monarch; but they resolutely preferred Blanche,
observing that the _name_ of _Urraca_ would never do! And for the sake
of a more mellifluous sound, they carried off the happier-named but less
beautiful princess.


_Richelieu's Boast._

Richelieu one day boasted among his courtiers that out of any four
indifferent words he could extract matter to send any one to a dungeon.
One of his attendants immediately wrote upon a card: "_One and two make
three._." "_Three_ make only _One!_" exclaimed the cardinal. "To the
Bastile with him. It is a blasphemy against our Holy Trinity."


_Curious Parallel._

The story of Alnaschar, which is in the "Arabian Nights," tells how one
Alnaschar had invested all his money in a basket of glassware, which he
calculated to sell at a profit, and got into a day-dream of a splendid
future.

Out of the profits of his glass he was to rise into the position of a
merchant-prince, with the Grand Vizier's daughter for his wife.
Offended, in this day-dream, with the lady, he fancied that he would
spurn her before forgiving her, and kicked out his foot, which broke all
his glass and left him beggared.

Rabelais makes Echepron, an old soldier, tell the advisers of King
Picrochole, who wanted him to go to war, that a shoemaker bought a
ha'p'orth of milk. This he intended to make into butter, and buy a cow
with the money thus obtained. In due time the cow would have a calf;
this calf would be sold, and so on money would pile up, until, having
become a nabob, he should wed a princess. Only, just at this crisis, the
jug fell, the milk was lost, and the dreamer sneaked, supperless, to
bed.


_Earliest Clocks._

The first clock which appeared in Europe was probably that which
Eginhard (Secretary to Charlemagne) describes as sent to his royal
master by Abdallah, King of Persia. "A horologe of brass, wonderfully
constructed, for the course of the twelve hours, while as many little
brazen balls dropped upon bells underneath, and sounded each other." The
Venetians had clocks in 872, and sent a specimen of them that year to
Constantinople.


_Famous Astronomical Clock._

This clock, in the Strasburg Cathedral, was invented by Isaac Habrecht,
a Jewish astrologer, in 1439. He called it the "Clock of the Three
Sages," because once in every hour the figures of the Three Kings of
Orient came out from a niche in its side, and made a reverential bow
before an image of the Virgin Mary, seated just above the dial-plate, on
the front of the clock. It is built of dark wood, gilded and carved, and
is sixty feet high. In shape it is somewhat similar to a church, with a
tower on either side of the entrance; and these towers of the clock are
encircled by spiral staircases, which are used when repairs are
necessary. When Isaac Habrecht invented this wonderful clock, he meant
it to run forever, always displaying to the good people of Strasburg the
days of the month, phases of the sun and moon, and other celestial
phenomena; and while he lived it worked admirably, but when he had been
dead awhile, the clock stopped; and as nobody else understood its
machinery, it had quite a vacation, which lasted until 1681, when it was
repaired and improved.

It will now not only give the time of Strasburg, but every principal
city in the world; also the day of the week and month, the course of the
sun and planets, and all the eclipses of the sun and moon, in their
regular order. In an alcove above the dial is an image of the Saviour,
and every day, at noon, figures of the twelve apostles march around it
and bow, while the holy image, with uplifted hands, administers a silent
blessing. A cock, on the highest point of the right-hand tower, flaps
his wings and crows three times; and when he stops, a beautiful chime of
bells rings out familiar and very musical tunes. A figure of Time, in a
niche on one side, strikes the quarter hours from twelve to one, and
four figures—Childhood, Youth, Manhood and Old Age—pass slowly before
him. In a niche on the other side is an angel turning an hour-glass.


_Clock that Strikes Thirteen._

The Duke of Bridgewater was very fond of watching his men at work,
especially when any enterprise was on foot. When they were boring for
coal at Worsley, the duke came every morning, and looked on for a long
time. The men did not like to leave off work while he remained there,
and they became so dissatisfied at having to work so long beyond the
hour at which the bell rang, that Brindley had difficulty in getting a
sufficient number of hands to continue the boring. On inquiry, he found
out the cause and communicated it to the duke, who from that time made a
point of immediately walking off when the bell rang—returning when the
men had resumed work, and remaining with them usually until six o'clock.
He observed, however, that though the men dropped work promptly as the
bell rang, when he was not by, they were not nearly so punctual in
resuming work—some straggling in many minutes after time. He asked to
know the reason, and the men's excuse was, that though they could always
hear the clock when it struck twelve, they could not so readily hear it
when it struck only one. On hearing this, the duke had the mechanism of
the clock altered so as to make it strike thirteen at one o'clock, which
it continues to do to this day.


_Westminster Clock._

The winding up of the going part of the great clock at Westminster,
London, takes ten minutes, the weight of the pendulum being six hundred
and eighty pounds; but the winding up of the striking parts—the quarter
part and the hour part—takes five hours each, and this has to be done
twice a week. The contract cost of winding up the clock is $500 a year.
The error of the clock amounts to only about one second for eighty-three
days in the year, and there is probably no other clock in the world of
which the same can be said.


_Wonderful Clock._

Toward the end of the last century a clock was constructed by a Geneva
mechanic named Droz, capable of performing a variety of surprising
movements, which were effected by the figures of a negro, a shepherd and
a dog. When the clock struck, the shepherd played six tunes on his flute
and the dog approached and fawned upon him. This clock was exhibited to
the King of Spain, who was highly delighted with the ingenuity of the
artist. The king, at the request of Droz, took an apple from the
shepherd's basket, when the dog started up and barked so loud that the
king's dog, which was in the same room, began to bark also. We are,
moreover, informed that the negro, on being asked what hour it was,
answered the question in French, so that he could be understood by those
present.


_Vocal Clock._

The subjoined description of a curious clock is given in the journal of
the Rev. J. Wesley: "On Monday, April 27, 1762, being at Lurgan, in
Ireland, I embraced the opportunity, which I had long desired, of
talking to Mr. Miller, the contriver of that statue which was in Lurgan
when I was there before. It was the figure of an old man standing in a
case, with a curtain drawn before him, over against a clock which stood
on the opposite side of the room. Every time the clock struck he opened
the door with one hand, drew back the curtain with the other, turned
his head, as if looking round on the company, and then said, with a
clear, loud, articulate voice: 'Past 1,' or 2 or 3, and so on. But so
many came to see this (the like of which all allowed was not to be seen
in Europe), that Mr. Miller was in danger of being ruined, not having
time to attend to his own business. So, as none offered to purchase it,
or reward him for his pains, he took the whole machine to pieces."


_Harrison's Clock._

In 1735, John Harrison, a rural clock-maker, invented a time-piece which
scarcely ever lost five seconds in six months. To him, in 1767, was paid
$100,000, as the first prize for all but an infallible time-keeper.


_A Cat-Clock._

The following curious incident is to be found in Hue's "Chinese
Empire:"—

"One day when we went to pay a visit to some families of Chinese
Christian peasants, we met, near a farm, a young lad who was taking a
buffalo to graze along our path. We asked him carelessly, as we passed,
whether it was yet noon. The child raised his head to look at the sun,
but it was hidden behind thick clouds, and he could read no answer
there. 'The sky is so cloudy,' said he; 'but wait a moment;' and with
these words he ran toward the farm, and came back a few minutes
afterward with a cat in his arms. 'Look here,' said he, 'it is not noon
yet;' and he showed us the cat's eyes, by pushing up the lids with his
hands. We looked at the child with surprise, but he was evidently in
earnest. 'Very well,' said we; 'thank you;' and we continued on our
way.

"To say the truth, we had not at all understood the proceeding, but we
did not wish to question the little pagan, lest he should find out that
we were Europeans by our ignorance. As soon as we reached the farm,
however, we made haste to ask our Christian friends whether they could
tell the clock by looking into a cat's eyes. They seemed surprised at
the question; but as there was no danger in confessing to them our
ignorance of the properties of a cat's eyes, we related what had just
taken place. That was all that was necessary; our complaisant neophytes
immediately gave chase to all the cats in the neighborhood. They brought
us three or four, and explained in what manner they might be made use of
for watches. They pointed out that the pupils of their eyes went on
constantly growing narrower until twelve o'clock, when they became like
a fine line, as thin as a hair, drawn perpendicularly across the eye,
and that after twelve the dilation recommenced."


_Curious Time-Piece._

About 1679 Nicholas Grallier de Servierre, an old soldier who had served
in the Italian army, constructed a whimsical clock. A figure of a
tortoise, dropped into a plate of water, having the hours marked on the
rim, would float around and stop at the proper time, telling what
o'clock it was. A lizard ascended a pillar, on which the hours were
marked, and pointed to the time as it advanced. A mouse did the same
thing by creeping along an hour-marked cornice.


_Clock Presented to Charlemagne._

The French historians describe a clock sent to Charlemagne in the year
807, by the famous eastern caliph, Haroun-al-Raschid, which was
evidently furnished with some kind of wheel-work, although the moving
power appears to have been produced by the fall of water. In the dial of
it were twelve small doors forming the divisions for the hours, each
door opened at the hour marked by the index, and let out small brass
balls which, falling on a bell, struck the hours—a great novelty at
that time. The doors continued open until the hour of twelve, when
twelve figures, representing knights on horseback, came out and paraded
around the dial-plate.


_Delicate Machinery._

Machines in a watch factory will cut screws with 589 threads to an inch.
These threads are invisible to the naked eye, and it takes 144,000 of
the screws to make a pound. A pound of them is worth six pounds of pure
gold. Lay one of them upon a piece of white paper, and it looks like a
tiny steel filing.


_Ancient Dials._

The dial in use among the ancient Jews differed from that in use among
us. Theirs was a kind of stairs; the time of the day was distinguished,
not by lines, but by steps or degrees; the shade of the sun every hour
moved forward to a new degree. On the dial of Ahaz, the sun went back
_degrees_ or _steps_, not _lines_.


_Skull Watches._

Diana of Poictiers, the mistress of Henry II., being a widow, the
courtiers of the period, to ingratiate themselves in her favor, used to
present her with watches in such shapes as coffins, skulls, etc., and it
became the fashion to have them made in this lugubrious style. Mary,
Queen of Scots, is said to have had several, and she gave one to Mary
Letown, in 1587, which is still in existence. It was made by Moyse, of
Blois, France, and has been thus described:—

"The watch has a silver casing in the form of a skull, which separates
at the jaws so as to expose the dial, which is also of silver, occupying
about the position of the palate, and is fixed in a golden circle, with
the hours in Roman letters. The movement appropriately occupies the
place of the brains, but is enclosed in a bell, filling the hollow of
the skull, which bell is struck by the hammer to sound the hours. The
case is highly ornamented with fine engravings, showing on the front of
the skull Death standing between a cottage and a palace; in the rear is
Time devouring all things; on one side of the upper part of the skull
are Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, with the serpent tempting Eve;
on the opposite side is the Crucifixion. Inside, on the plate or lid, is
the Holy Family in the stable, with the infant Saviour in the manger,
and angels ministering to him. In the distance are the Shepherds with
their flocks, etc." The works are said to be in good order and to
perform astonishingly well.


_Book-Shaped Watch._

One of the choicest rarities of the Bernal collection is a book-shaped
watch. It was made for Bogislaus XIV., Duke of Pomerania, in the time of
Gustavus Adolphus. On the dial-side there is an engraved inscription of
the duke and his titles, with the date 1627, and the engraving of his
armorial bearings; on the back of the case there are engraved two male
portraits, buildings, &c. The watch has apparently two separate
movements, and a large bell; at the back, over the bell, the metal is
ornamentally pierced in a circle, with a dragon and other devices. It
bears the maker's name, "Dionistus Hessichti."


_Cruciform Watch._

In the family of Lady Fitzgerald, of England, there is a cruciform watch
made in 1770, and covered with elaborate drawings of a delicate
character. The centre of the dial-plate has a representation of Christ's
agony in the garden, the outer compartments being occupied by the
emblems of the passion, and the lowermost by a figure of Faith.


_Miniature Time-Piece._

The time-piece carried by Louis XIV. of France was so small that it was
set in one of that luxurious monarch's finger-rings.


_Resurrection Watch._

During the reign of Catherine II. of Russia, Kalutin, a peasant, made a
musical repeating watch about the size of an egg, which had within it a
representation of Christ's tomb, with sentinels on guard. On pressing a
spring the stone would be rolled from the tomb, the angels appear, the
holy women enter the sepulchre, and the same chant which is sung in the
Greek Church on Easter eve accurately performed. The watch is now in the
Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg.


_Borrowing Watches._

Watches were so rarely in use in the early time of James I. that it was
deemed a cause of suspicion that one was found, in 1605, upon Guy Vaux.
Jonson, in his "Alchemist," tells of the loan of one to wear on a
particular occasion—

     And I had lent my watch last night to one That dines to-day at
     the sheriff's.


_Striking Watches._

Hon. Mr. Barrington mentions that a thief was detected by watches called
"strikers," which he says were introduced in the reign of Charles II.;
but repeating watches were worn in the time of Ben Jonson. In his
"Staple of News," we read—

          —It strikes! one, two,
    Three, four, five, six. Enough, enough, dear watch,
    Thy pulse hath beat enough. Now stop and rest;
    Would thou couldst make the time to do so too;
    I'll wind thee up no more.


_Too Many Watches._

Watches were very common in 1638. It is complained in the "Antipodes," a
comedy of that year, that

         —Every clerk can carry
     The time of day in his pocket.

On which account a projector in the same play proposes to diminish the
grievance by a

         —Project against
     The multiplicity of pocket watches.


_Wearing Two Watches._

About 1770 it became the fashion to wear two watches. In a rhyming
recipe of that date, "To Make a Modern Fop," appear the lines—

    "A lofty cane, a sword with silver hilt,
     A ring, _two watches_ and a snuff-box gilt."

The ladies soon adopted the fashion, but as watches were still very
expensive, mock watches were often substituted.


_Minute Mechanisms._

There is a cherry stone at the Salem (Mass.) Museum which contains one
dozen silver spoons. The stone itself is of the ordinary size, but the
spoons are so small that their shape and finish can only be
distinguished by the microscope. Dr. Oliver gives an account of a cherry
stone on which were carved one hundred and twenty-four heads, so
distinctly that the naked eye could distinguish those belonging to popes
and kings by their mitres and crowns. It was bought in Prussia for
fifteen thousand dollars, and thence conveyed to England, where it was
considered an object of so much value that its possession was disputed,
and it became the subject of a suit in chancery. One of the Nuremberg
toy-makers enclosed in a cherry stone, which was exhibited at the French
Crystal Palace, a plan of Sevastopol, a railway station, and the
"Messiah" of Klopstock. In more remote times, an account is given of an
ivory chariot, constructed by Mermecides, which was so small that a fly
could cover it with its wing; also a ship of the same material, which
could be hidden under the wing of a bee. Pliny tells us that Homer's
Iliad, with its fifteen thousand verses, was written in so small a space
as to be contained in a nutshell; while Elian mentions an artist who
wrote a distich in letters of gold, which he enclosed in the rind of a
kernel of corn. But the Harleian MS. mentions a greater curiosity than
any of the former, it being nothing more nor less than the Bible,
written by one Peter Bales, a chancery clerk, in so small a book that it
could be enclosed within the shell of an English walnut. There is a
drawing of the head of Charles II. in the library of St. John's College,
Oxford, wholly composed of minutely written characters, which at a short
distance resemble the lines of an ordinary engraving. The head and ruff
are said to contain the book of Psalms, in Greek, and the Lord's
Prayer.—_Bombaugh._


_Wonderful Lock._

Among the wonderful products of art in the French Crystal Palace was
shown a lock which admitted of 3,674,385 combinations. Heuret spent one
hundred and twenty nights in locking it; Fichet was four months in
unlocking it; afterwards they could neither shut nor open it.


_Roman Stamp._

This curiosity is preserved in the British Museum. It is the very
earliest specimen of printing by means of ink or any similar substance.
It is made of metal, a sort of Roman brass, the ground of which is
covered with a green kind of verdigris rust with which antique medals
are usually covered. The letters rise flush up to the elevation of the
exterior rim which surrounds it. Its dimensions are about two inches
long by one inch broad. At the back of it is a small ring for the
finger, to make it more convenient to hold. As no person of the name
which is inscribed upon it is mentioned in Roman history, he is,
therefore, supposed to have been a functionary of some Roman officer, or
private steward, who, perhaps, used this stamp to save himself the
trouble of writing his name.


_Talisman of Charlemagne._

The Emperor Napoleon III., when Prince Louis Napoleon, was stated to be
in possession of the talisman of Charlemagne to which allusion is
frequently made in traditional history. This curious object of vertu is
mentioned in the Parisian journals as _la plus belle relique de
l'Europe_, and it certainly has excited considerable interest in the
archæological and religious circles on the continent. The talisman is of
fine gold, of a round form, set with gems, and in the centre are two
rough sapphires and a portion of the Holy Cross, besides other relics
brought from the Holy Land. This was found round the neck of Charlemagne
on the opening of his tomb, and given by the town of Aachen
(Aix-la-Chapelle) to Bonaparte, and by him to his favorite Hortense,
_ci-devant_ Queen of Holland, at whose death it descended to her son
Prince Louis, the late Emperor of the French.


_The Black Stone at Mecca._

Near the entrance of the Kaaba, at Mecca, is the famous Black Stone,
called by the Moslems _Hajra el Assouad_, or Heavenly Stone. It forms a
part of the sharp angle of the building, and is inserted four or five
feet above the ground. It is an irregular oval, and is about seven
inches in diameter. Its color is now a deep reddish brown, approaching
to black, and it is surrounded by a border of nearly the same color,
resembling a cement of pitch and gravel, and from two to three inches in
breadth. Both the border and the stone itself are encircled by a silver
band, swelling to a considerable breadth below, where it is studded with
nails of the same metal. The surface is undulated, and seems composed of
about a dozen smaller stones, of different sizes and shapes, but
perfectly smooth, and well joined with a small quantity of cement. It
looks as if the whole had been dashed into many pieces by a severe
concussion, and then re-united—an appearance that may perhaps be
explained by the various disasters to which it has been exposed. During
the fire that occurred in the time of Yezzid I. (A. D. 682), the violent
heat split it into three pieces; and when the fragments were replaced,
it was necessary to surround them with a rim of silver, which is said to
have been renewed by Haroun-al-Raschid. It was in two pieces when the
Karmathians carried it away, it having been broken by a blow from a
soldier during the plunder of Mecca. Hakem, a mad Sultan of Egypt, in
the eleventh century, attempted, while on a pilgrimage, to destroy it
with an iron club which he had concealed under his clothes, but was
prevented and slain by the populace. After that accident it remained
unmolested until 1674, when it was found one morning besmeared with
dirt, so that every one who kissed it returned with a sullied face. As
for the quality of the stone, it does not seem to be accurately
determined. Burckhardt says it appeared to him like a lava containing
several small extraneous particles of a whitish and yellowish substance.
Ali Bey calls it a fragment of volcanic basalt, sprinkled with
small-pointed colored crystals, and varied with red feldspar. The
millions of kisses and touches impressed by the faithful have worn the
surface uneven, and to a considerable depth. This miraculous block all
orthodox Mussulmans believe to have been originally a transparent
hyacinth brought from heaven to Abraham by the angel Gabriel; but that
its substance, as well as its color, have long been changed by coming in
contact with the impurities of the human race.


_The Portland Vase._

This was the name of a beautiful cinerary urn, of transparent dark blue
glass, found about the middle of the sixteenth century in a marble
sarcophagus near Rome. It was at first deposited in the Barberini Palace
at Rome, and hence is often called the Barberini Vase. Next it became
(in 1770) the property, by purchase, of Sir William Hamilton, from whose
possession it passed into that of the Duchess of Portland. In 1810 the
Duke of Portland, one of the trustees of the British Museum, allowed it
to be placed in that institution, retaining his right over it as his own
property. In 1845 a miscreant named William Lloyd, apparently from an
insane love of mischief, or a diseased ambition for notoriety, dashed
the valuable relic to pieces with a stone. Owing to the defective state
of the law, only a slight punishment could be inflicted; but an act was
immediately passed making such an offence punishable with imprisonment
for two years. The pieces of the fractured vase were afterwards united
in a very complete manner; and, thus repaired, it still exists in the
Museum, but is not exhibited to the public.


_Martin Luther's Tankard._

This interesting relic of the great reformer is of ivory, very richly
carved, and mounted in silver-gilt. There are six medallions on its
surface, which consist, however, of a repetition of two subjects. The
upper one represents the agony in the garden and the Saviour praying
that the cup might pass from Him; the base represents the Lord's Supper,
the centre dish being the incarnation of the bread. This tankard, now in
the possession of Lord Londesborough, was formerly in the collection of
Elkington, of Birmingham, who had some copies made of it. On the lid, in
old characters, is the following: "C. M. L., MDXXIIII."


_Brass Medal of the Saviour._

In 1702 Rev. H. Rowlands, author of _Mona Antiqua_, while superintending
the removal of some stones near Aberfraw, Wales, for the purpose of
making an antiquarian research, found a beautiful brass medal of the
Saviour in a fine state of preservation, which he forwarded to his
friend and country-man, the Rev. E. Lloyd, author of the _Archeologiæ
Britannica_, and at that time, keeper of the Ashmolean Library at Oxford.

This medal has on one side the figure of a head exactly answering the
description given by Publius Lentulus of our Saviour, in a letter sent
by him to the Emperor Tiberius and the Senate of Rome. On the reverse
side it has the following legend or inscription in Hebrew characters;
"This is Jesus Christ, the Mediator or Reconciler;" or, "Jesus the Great
Messias, or Man Mediator." Being found among the ruins of the chief
Druid's residence in Anglesea, it is not improbable that the curious
relic belonged to some Christian connected with Brân the Blessed, who
was one of Caractacus's hostages at Rome from A. D. 52 to 59, at which
time the Apostle Paul was preaching the gospel at Rome. In two years
afterwards, A. D. 61, the Roman General Suetonius extirpated all the
Druids in the island. The following is a translation of the letter
alluded to, a very antique copy of which is in the possession of the
family of Lord Kellie, now represented by the Earl of Mar, a very
ancient Scotch family, taken from the original at Rome:—

"There hath appeared in these our days a man of great virtue, named
Jesus Christ, who is yet living among us, and of the Gentiles is
accepted as a prophet, but his disciples call him The Son of God. He
raiseth the dead, and cures all manner of diseases; a man of stature
somewhat tall and comely, with very reverend countenance, such as the
beholders both love and fear; his hair the color of chestnut, full ripe,
plain to his ears, whence downward it is more orient, curling, and
waving about his shoulders.

"In the midst of his head is a seam or a partition of his hair after the
manner of the Nazarites; his forehead plain and very delicate; his face
without a spot or wrinkle, beautified with the most lovely red; his
mouth and nose so formed that nothing can be reprehended; his beard
thickish, in color like his hair, not very long but forked; his look,
innocent and mature; his eyes gray, clear and quick. In reproving, he is
terrible; in admonishing, courteous and fair spoken; pleasant in
conversation, mixed with gravity. It cannot be remarked that any one saw
him laugh, but many have seen him weep. In proportion of body most
excellent; his hands and arms most delicate to behold. In speaking, very
temperate, modest and wise. A man, for his singular beauty, surpassing
the children of men."

The representation of this sacred person which is in the Bodleian
Library, somewhat resembles that of the print of this medal, when
compared together.


_Friar Bacon's Brazen Head._

The most famous of all the brazen heads was that of Roger Bacon, a monk
of the thirteenth century. According to the legend, he spent seven years
in constructing the head, and he expected to be told by it how he could
make a wall of brass around the island of Great Britain. The head was
warranted to speak within a month after it was finished, but no
particular time was named for its doing so. Bacon's man was therefore
set to watch, with orders to call his master if the head should speak.
At the end of half an hour after the man was left alone with the head,
he heard it say, "Time is," at the expiration of another half hour,
"Time was," and at the end of a third half hour, "Time's past," when it
fell down with a loud crash, and was shivered to pieces; but the stupid
servant neglected to awaken his master, thinking that he would be very
angry to be disturbed for such trifles: and so the wall of brass has
never been built.


_Crucifix of Columbus._

Mrs. General Hefferman, of Animas City, is the possessor of a very
interesting and valuable relic, it being no less than the veritable
crucifix which Columbus held in his hand when he landed in America, of
which she has ample documentary evidence, if one accept the witness,
viz: the Catholic Church. It has been in the possession of the missions
and churches of Mexico and California since a very early date; and even
if originally a fraud, it would nevertheless be almost as interesting,
from its great age and as a work of art, as though what is claimed for
it were actually true. Mrs. Hefferman holds it in trust for a religious
order to which her mother belonged, and sacredly believes it a genuine
relic, as claimed. The crucifix itself is of carved wood, of what kind
no one is able to determine. The image of Christ upon it is of carved
ivory. The expression of agony depicted on the countenance and in the
drawn muscles and sunken flesh, as well as the delineation of the
anatomical structure, are triumphs of artistic skill which could not be
surpassed, if equalled, by the best artists of the present
day.—_Durango (Col.) Record._


_Scipio's Shield._

In 1656 a fisherman on the banks of the Rhone, in the neighborhood of
Avignon, drew to shore in his net a round substance in the shape of a
large plate, thickly encrusted with a coat of hardened mud. A
silversmith who happened to be present bought it for a trifling sum. He
took it home, and upon cleaning and polishing it, found it to consist of
pure silver, perfectly round, more than two feet in diameter, and
weighing upwards of twenty pounds. Fearing that such a massive and
valuable piece of plate might awaken suspicion, if offered for sale
entire, he divided it into four equal parts, each of which he disposed
of at different times and places.

One of the pieces was sold at Lyons to Mr. Mey, a wealthy and
well-educated merchant, who at once saw its value and who, after great
effort, procured the other three sections. He had them nicely rejoined,
and the treasure was finally placed in the cabinet of the King of
France. This relic of antiquity, no less remarkable for the beauty of
its workmanship than for having been buried at the bottom of the Rhone
more than two thousand years, was a votive shield, presented to Scipio
as a token of gratitude and affection by the inhabitants of Carthago
Nova, now the city of Carthagena, for his generosity and self-denial in
delivering one of his captives, a beautiful virgin, to her original
lover. This act, so honorable to the Roman general, who was then in the
prime vigor of manhood, is represented on the shield.


_Horn of Oldenburg._

The story of the Horn of Oldenburg is a type of the legends which
connect valuable plate, &c., belonging to old churches with underground
fairies. The pictures of the horn represent it as a beautiful drinking
vessel in the shape of a horn, exquisitely decorated with the finest
fanciful silver-work, in the style contemporary with the richest Gothic
architecture. The legend is, that one day, Otto of Oldenburg, being
exhausted with hunting, and very thirsty, exclaimed: "O God, would that
I had a cool drink!" Thereupon appeared before him, as if coming out of
the rock, a lovely maiden, who offered him a drink in the fairy horn. He
made off with it, and saved himself from evil consequences by bestowing
it on the church.


_Nebuchadnezzar's Golden Mask._

This interesting relic of remote antiquity is at present preserved in
the Museum of the East India Company. It was found by Colonel Rawlinson
while engaged in prosecuting the discoveries commenced by Layard and
Botta, at Nineveh and Babylon, and is supposed to have belonged to King
Nebuchadnezzar. The body was discovered in a perfect state of
preservation, and the face covered by the golden mask is described as
handsome, the forehead high and commanding, the features marked and
regular. The mask is of thin gold, and, independent of its having once
belonged to the great monarch, has immense value as a relic of an
ancient and celebrated people.


_Iron Crown of Lombardy._

When the Emperor Napoleon I. was crowned King of Italy, 1805, he placed
the iron crown of the kings of Lombardy upon his head with his own
hands, exclaiming, "God has given it to me—beware who touches," which
was the haughty motto attached to it by its ancient owners. The crown
takes its name from the narrow iron band within it, which is about
three-eighths of an inch broad and one-tenth of an inch in thickness. It
is traditionally said to have been made out of one of the nails used at
the crucifixion, and given to Constantine by his mother, the Empress
Helena, the discoverer of the Cross, to protect him in battle. The crown
is kept in the Cathedral of Monza. The outer circlet is composed of six
equal pieces of beaten gold, joined together by hinges, and set with
large rubies, emeralds and sapphires, on a ground of blue-gold enamel.
Within the circlet is the iron crown, without a speck of rust, although
it is more than fifteen hundred years old.


_The Sacro Catino._

The celebrated Sacred Catino, part of the spoil taken by the Genoese at
the storming of Cesarea, which was believed to be cut from a single
emerald, and had, according to tradition, been presented by the Queen of
Sheba to Solomon, was for ages the pride and glory of Genoa, and an
object of the greatest devotional reverence at the yearly exhibitions,
which were attended with great pomp and ceremony. Such was the opinion
of its intrinsic value, that on many occasions the republic borrowed
half a million of ducats upon security of this precious relic. When the
French armies, during the first revolution, plundered Italy of its
treasures, it was sent, with other spoils, to Paris. Upon examination,
it was, instead of emerald, proved to be composed of glass, similar to
that found in Egyptian tombs, of which country it was, no doubt, the
manufacture. At the Restoration the Sacro Catino was returned in a
broken state, and now lies shorn of all its honors, a mere broken glass
vessel, in the sacristy of the Church of San Lorenzo.


_Curious Lantern._

In 1602 it is related that Sir John Harrington, of Bath, sent to James
VI., of Scotland, as a new year's gift, a dark lantern. The top was a
crown of pure gold, serving also to cover a perfume pan. Within it was a
shield of silver, embossed, to reflect the light; on one side of the
shield were the sun, moon and planets, and on the other side the story
of the birth and passion of Christ, as it was engraved by David II.,
King of Scotland, who was a prisoner at Nottingham. The following words
were inscribed in Latin on the present: "Lord, remember me when thou
comest into thy kingdom."


_Carrara's Toilet Box._

Francis Carrara, the last Lord of Padua, was famous for his cruelties.
At Venice is exhibited a little box for the toilet, in which are six
little guns, which were adjusted with springs in such a manner, that
upon opening the box the guns were discharged, and killed the lady to
whom Carrara had sent it for a present.


_Executioner's Sword._

This weapon forms one of the curiosities in the superb collection of
ancient armor which belonged to Sir Samuel R. Meyrick, at Herefordshire.
It bears the date of 1674. The blade is thin and exceedingly sharp at
both edges. Engraved on it is a man impaled, above which are some words
in German, of which the following is a translation:—

    Look every one that has eyes,
    Look here, and see that
    To erect power on wickedness
    Cannot last long.

A man holding a crucifix, his eyes bandaged, is on his knees; the
executioner, with his right hand on the hilt and his left on the pommel,
is about to strike the blow; above is engraved—

    He who ambitiously exalts himself,
    And thinks only of evil,
    Has his neck already encompassed
    By punishment.

On the other side is a man broken on a wheel, over which is—

    I live, I know not how long;
    I die, but I know not when.

Also a man suspended by the ribs from a gibbet, with the inscription—

    I move, without knowing whither;
    I wonder I am so tranquil.


_Luck of Eden-hall._

Hutchinson, in his "History of Cumberland," speaking of Eden-hall, says:
"In this house are some old-fashioned apartments. An old painted
drinking-glass, called the 'Luck of Eden-hall,' is preserved with great
care. In the garden, near to the house, is a well of excellent spring
water, called St. Cuthbert's well. The glass is supposed to have been a
sacred chalice, but the legendary tale is, that the butler, going to
draw water, surprised a company of fairies who were amusing themselves
upon the green near the well. He seized the glass which was standing
upon its margin; they tried to get it from him, but, after an
ineffectual struggle, flew away, singing—

    'If that glass either break or fall,
     Farewell the luck of Eden-hall.'"


_Bernini's Bust of Charles I._

Vandyck having drawn the king in three different faces, a profile,
three-quarters and a full face, the picture was sent to Rome for Bernini
to make a bust from it. Bernini was unaccountably dilatory in the work,
and upon this being complained of, he said that he had set about it
several times, but there was something so unfortunate in the features of
the face that he was shocked every time that he examined it, and forced
to leave off the work, observing, that if any stress was to be laid upon
physiognomy, he was sure the person whom the picture represented was
destined to a violent end. The bust was at last finished, and sent to
England. As soon as the ship that brought it arrived in the Thames, the
king, who was very impatient to see the bust, ordered it to be taken
immediately to Chelsea. It was accordingly carried thither, and placed
upon a table in the garden, whither the king went, with a train of
nobility, to inspect the work. As they were viewing it, a hawk flew over
their heads, with a partridge in his claws, which he had wounded to
death. Some of the partridge's blood fell upon the neck of the bust,
where it remained without being wiped off.


_Burn's Snuff-box._

Burns and Mr. Bacon, the latter an inn-keeper near Dumfries, were very
intimate, and, as a token of regard, the former gave to the latter his
snuff-box, which for many years had been his pocket companion. On Mr.
Bacon's death, in 1825, his effects were sold. The snuff-box was put up
for sale among the other things, and some one bid a shilling. There was
a general exclamation that it was not worth twopence. The auctioneer,
before knocking it down, opened the box. He saw engraved on the lid, and
read aloud, the following inscription:—

     "ROBT. BURNS,
       OFFICER
         OF
      THE EXCISE."

The value of the box suddenly rose. Shilling after shilling was added,
until it was finally knocked down for five pounds to a Mr. Munnell, of
Closburn.—_Hone._


_Statue of Memnon._

This celebrated statue was situated at Thebes, and was either injured by
Cambyses, to whom the Egyptian priests ascribed most of the mutilations
of the Theban temples, or else thrown down by an earthquake. The
peculiar characteristic of the statue was its giving out at various
times a sound resembling the breaking of a harp-string or a metallic
ring. Considerable difference has prevailed as to the reason of this
sound, which has been heard in modern times, it being ascribed to the
artifice of the priests, who struck the sonorous stone of which the
statue is composed—to the passage of light draughts of air through the
cracks, or the sudden expansion of aqueous particles, under the
influence of the sun's rays. This remarkable quality of the statue is
first mentioned by Strabo, who visited it about 18 B. C., and upwards of
one hundred inscriptions of Greek and Roman visitors, incised upon its
legs, record the visits of ancient travelers to witness the phenomenon,
from the ninth year of Nero, 63 A. D., to the reign of the Emperor
Severus, when it became silent.


_The Head of Orpheus._

Whether the head of Orpheus spoke in the island of Lesbos, or, what is
more probable, the answers were conveyed to it by the priests, as was
the case with the tripod at Delphi, cannot with certainty be determined.
That the imposter Alexander, however, caused his Æsculapius to speak in
this manner, is expressly related by Lucian. He took, says that author,
instead of a pipe, the gullet of a crane, and transmitted the voice
through it to the mouth of the statue. In the fourth century, when
Bishop Theophilus broke to pieces the statues at Alexandria, he found
some which were hollow, and placed in such a manner against a wall that
a priest could slip unperceived behind them and speak to the ignorant
populace through their mouths.


_Wonderful Automata._

Archytas, of Tarentum, is reported, so long ago as 400 B. C., to have
made a pigeon that could fly. The most perfect automaton about which
there is absolute certainty, was one constructed by M. Vaucanson,
exhibited in Paris in 1738. It represented a flute-player, which placed
its lips against the instrument, and produced the notes with its fingers
in precisely the same manner as a human being does. In 1741 M. Vaucanson
made a flageolet-player, which with one hand beat a tambourine, and in
the same year he produced a duck. The latter was an ingenious
contrivance; it swam, dived, ate, drank, dressed its wings, etc., as
naturally as its live companions; and, most wonderful of all, by means
of a solution in the stomach, it was actually made to digest its food.
An automaton made by M. Droz drew likenesses of public characters. Some
years ago a Mr. Faber contrived a figure which was able to articulate
words and sentences very intelligibly, but the effect was not pleasant.
The chess-player of Kempelen was long regarded as the most wonderful of
automata. It represented a Turk of natural size, dressed in the national
costume, and seated behind a box resembling a chest of drawers in shape.
Before the game commenced, the artist opened several doors in the chest,
which revealed a large number of pulleys, wheels, cylinders, springs,
etc. The chessmen were produced from a long drawer, as was also a
cushion for the figure to rest its arm upon. The automaton, not being
able to speak, signified, when the queen of his antagonist was in
danger, by two nods, and when the king was in check by three. It
succeeded in beating most of the players with whom it engaged, but it
turned out afterwards that a crippled Russian officer—a very celebrated
chess-player—was concealed in the interior of the figure. The figure is
said to have been constructed for the purpose of effecting the officer's
escape out of Russia, where his life was forfeited. So far as the mental
process was concerned, the chess-player was not, therefore, an
automaton, but great ingenuity was evinced in its movement of the
pieces.


_Temple of the Sun._

The Temple of the Sun at Cuzco, called _Coricancha_, or "Place of Gold,"
was the most magnificent edifice in the Persian empire. On the western
wall, and opposite the eastern portal, was a splendid representation of
the Sun, the god of the nation. It consisted of a human face in gold,
with innumerable golden rays emanating from it in every direction; and
when the early beams of the morning sun fell upon this brilliant golden
disc, they were reflected from it as from a mirror, and again reflected
throughout the whole temple by the numberless plates, cornices, bands
and images of gold, until the temple seemed to glow with a sunshine more
intense than that of nature.


_Tomb of Darius._

One of the most remarkable tombs of the ancients was that carved out of
rock, by order of Darius, for the reception of his own remains, and
which exists to this day at Persepolis, after a duration of twenty-three
centuries.

The portico is supported by four columns twenty feet in height, and in
the centre is the form of a doorway, seemingly the entrance to the
interior, but it is solid; the entablature is of chaste design. Above
the portico there is what may be termed an ark, supported by two rows of
figures, about the size of life, bearing it on their uplifted hands, and
at each angle a griffin—an ornament which is very frequent at
Persepolis. On this stage stands the king, with a bent bow in his hand,
worshipping the sun, the image of which is seen above the altar that
stands before him, while above his head hovers his ferouher, or
disembodied spirit. This is the good genius that in Persian and Ninevite
sculpture accompanies the king when performing any important act. On
each side of the ark are nine niches, each containing a statue in
bas-relief. No other portion of the tomb was intended to be seen,
excepting the sculptured front; and we must, therefore, conclude that
the entrance was kept secret, and that the avenues were by subterranean
passages, so constructed that none but the priviledged could find the
way. We are told by Theophrastus that Darius was buried in a coffer of
Egyptian alabaster; also that the early Persians preserved the bodies of
their dead in honey or wax.


_Temples the First Museums._

Natural objects of uncommon size or beauty were, in the earliest
periods, consecrated to the gods, and conveyed to the temples, to awaken
curiosity and to excite reverence. In the course of time the natural
curiosities dedicated to the gods formed large collections. When Hanno
returned from his distant voyages, he brought with him to Carthage two
skins of the hairy women whom he found on the Gorgades Islands, and
deposited them in the temple of Juno. The monstrous horns of the wild
bulls which had occasioned so much devastation in Macedonia were, by
order of King Philip, hung up in the temple of Hercules. The unnaturally
formed shoulder-bones of Pelopos were deposited in the temple of Elis.
The crocodile, found in attempting to discover the sources of the Nile,
was preserved in the temple of Isis, at Cæsarea. The head of a basilisk
was exhibited in one of the temples of Diana, and in the time of
Pausanias the head of the celebrated Calydonian boar was to be seen in
one of the temples of Greece.


_Wesley's Plate._

An order was made in the House of Lords, in May, 1776, "that the
commissioners of his majesty's excise do write circular letters to all
such persons whom they have reason to suspect to have _plate_, as also
to those who have not paid regularly the duty on the same." In
consequence of this order, the accountant-general for household plate
sent to the celebrated John Wesley a copy of the order. The reply was a
laconic one—

"SIR: I have _two_ silver teaspoons in London and _two_ at Bristol. This
is all the plate which I have at present; and I shall not buy any more
while so many round me want bread.

  "I am, sir,
             Your most humble servant,
                                     JOHN WESLEY."


_Grace Knives._

There is in existence a curious class of knives, of the sixteenth
century, the blades of which have on one side the musical notes to the
benediction of the table, or grace before meat, and on the other side
the grace after meat. The set of these knives usually consisted of four.
They were kept in an upright case of stamped leather, and were placed
before the singer.


_Religious Relics._

At the commencement of the seventeenth century there was a crucifix
belonging to the Augustine friars, at Burgos, in Spain, which produced a
revenue of nearly seven thousand crowns per annum. It was found upon the
sea, not far from the coast, with a scroll of parchment appended to it
descriptive of the various virtues it possessed. The image was provided
with a false beard and a chestnut-colored periwig, which its holy
guardians declared were natural, and they also assured all pious
visitors that on every Friday it sweated blood and water into a silver
basin. In the garden of this convent grew a species of wheat, the grain
of which was unusually large, and which its possessors averred was
brought by Adam out of Paradise. Cakes, for the cure of all diseases,
were made out of the wheat kneaded with the aforesaid blood and water,
and sold to the credulous multitude for a quartillo each. They also
sold blue ribbons, of the exact length of the crucifix, for about a
shilling each. The ribbons were a sovereign cure for headache, and had
upon them, in silver letters, "La madi del santo crucifisco de Burgos."


_Mammoth Bottle._

In January, 1751, a globular bottle was blown at Leith capable of
holding two hogsheads. Its dimensions were forty inches by forty-two.
This immense vessel was the largest ever produced at any
glass-works.—_Hone._


_A Drinking Glass a Yard Long._

"On the proclamation of James II., in the market place of Bromley, by
the Sheriff of Kent, the commander of the Kentish troop, two of the
king's trumpets, and other officers, they drank the king's health in a
flint glass a yard long."—_Evelyn's Diary_, Feb. 10th, 1685.


_Kneeling Statue of Atlas._

In the Museo Borbonico, at Naples, is a kneeling statue of Atlas
sustaining the globe. It is a very interesting monument of Roman art,
and one of great value to the student of ancient astronomy. Of the
forty-seven constellations known to the ancients, forty-two may be
distinctly recognized. The date of this curious sculpture is fixed as
anterior to the time of Hadrian by the absence of the likeness of
Antinous, which was inserted in the constellation Aquila by the
astronomers of that period.


_The Druid's Seat._

The "Druid's Judgment Seat" stands near the village of Killiney, not far
from Drogheda, near the Martello tower. It was formerly enclosed with a
circle of large stones and a ditch. The former has been destroyed, and
the latter so altered that little of its ancient character remains. The
"Seat" is composed of large, rough granite blocks, and if really of the
period to which tradition credits it, an unusual degree of care must
have been exercised in its preservation. The following are its
measurements: Breadth at the base, eleven feet and a half; depth of the
seat, one foot nine inches; extreme height, seven feet.


_Curious Epitaphs._

    Praises on tombs are trifles vainly spent;
    A man's good name is his best monument.

From Childwald church-yard, England—

    Here lies me and my three daughters,
    Brought here by using seidlitz waters;
    If we had stuck to Epsom salts,
    We wouldn't have been in these here vaults.

From Nettlebed church-yard, Oxfordshire—

    Here lies father, and mother, and sister, and I,
      We all died within the space of one short year;
    They all be buried at Wimble, except I,
      And I be buried here.

At Wolstanton—

          Mrs. Ann Jennings.
    Some have children, some have none:
    Here lies the mother of twenty-one.

In Norwich Cathedral—

    Here lies the body of honest Tom Page,
    Who died in the thirty-third year of his age.

At Torrington church-yard, Devon, England—

    She was—but words are wanting to say what:
    Think what a woman should be—she was that.

In the church-yard of Pewsey, Wiltshire—

     Here lies the body of Lady O'Looney, great-niece of Burke,
     commonly called the Sublime. She was bland, passionate and
     deeply religious; also she painted in water-colors, and sent
     several pictures to the exhibition. She was first cousin to
     Lady Jones; and of such is the kingdom of heaven.

Shields (the Irish orator)—

    Here lie I at reckon, and my spirit at aise is,
      With the tip of my nose, and the ends of my toes,
    Turned up 'gainst the roots of the daisies.

In Doncaster church-yard, 1816—

    Here lies 2 brothers by misfortin serounded,
    One dy'd of his wounds & the other was drownded.

On the monument of John of Doncaster—

    What I gave, I have;
    What I spent, I had;
    What I saved, I lost.

In a New England grave-yard—

    Here lies John Auricular,
    Who in the ways of the Lord walked perpendicular.

Sternhold Oakes—

    Here lies the body of Sternhold Oakes,
    Who lived and died like other folks.

On a tombstone in New Jersey—

    Reader, pass on! don't waste your time
    On bad biography and bitter rhyme;
    For what I _am_, this crumbling clay insures,
    And what I _was_, is no affair of yours!

In East Hartford, Connecticut—

    Hark! she bids all her friends adieu;
      An angel calls her to the spheres;
    Our eyes the radiant saint pursue
      Through liquid telescopes of tears.

In Newington church-yard—

    Through Christ, I am not inferior
    To William the Conqueror.

In Bideford church-yard, Kent—

    The wedding-day appointed was,
      And wedding-clothes provided,
    But ere the day did come, alas!
      He sickened, and he die did.

Rebecca Rogers, Folkestone, 1688—

    A house she hath, 'tis made of such good fashion,
    The tenant ne'er shall pay for reparation;
    Nor will her landlord ever raise her rent,
    Or turn her out of doors for non-payment.
    From chimney-tax this cell's forever free—
    To such a house who would not tenant be?

At Augusta, Maine—

     —After life's _scarlet fever_,
          I sleep well.

John Mound—

    Here lies the body of John Mound,
    Lost at sea and never found.

POETRY, PIETY AND POLITENESS.

The following epitaph was copied from a stone in a country church-yard—

    "You who stand around my grave,
       And say, 'His life is gone;'
     You are mistaken—_pardon me_—
       My life is but begun."

At Loch Rausa—

    Here lies Donald and his wife,
    Janet MacFee:
    Aged 40 hee,
    And 30 shee.

On Mr. Bywater—

    Here lie the remains of his relatives' pride,
    Bywater he lived and by water he died;
    Though by water he fell, yet by water he'll rise,
    By water baptismal attaining the skies.

At Staverton, England—

    Here lieth the body of Betty Bowden,
    Who would live longer but she couden;
    Sorrow and grief made her decay,
    Till her bad leg carr'd her away.

At Penryn—

    Here lies William Smith; and, what is somewhat rarish,
    He was born, bred and hanged in this here parish.

From St. Agnes', London—

    Qu an tris di c vul stra
      Os guis ti ro um nere vit.
    H san Chris mi t mu la.

In Linton church-yard, 1825—

    Remember man, that passeth by,
    As thou is now so once was I;
    And as I is so must thou be:
    Prepare thyself to follow me.

Under this inscription some one wrote—

    To follow you's not my intent,
    Unless I knew which way you went.

At Queenborough—

    Henry Knight, master of a shipp to Greenland, and
                Herpooner 24 voyages.
    In Greenland I whales, sea-horses, bears did slay,
    Though now my body is intombe in clay.

At Minster—

    Here interr'd George Anderson doth lye,
    By fallen on an anchor he did dye,
    In Sheerness Yard, on Good Friday,
    Ye 6th of April, I do say,
    All you that read my allegy: Be alwaies
    Ready for to dye—aged 42 years.

At Hadley church-yard, Suffolk—

    The charnel mounted on the w        }
    Sets to be seen in funer            }
    A matron plain domestic             }
    In care and pain continu            }
    Not slow, not gay, not prodig       } ALL.
    Yet neighborly and hospit           }
    Her children seven, yet living      }
    Her sixty-seventh year hence did c  }
    To rest her body natur              }
    In hopes to rise spiritu            }

The middle line furnishes the terminal letters or syllables of the words
in the upper and lower lines, and when added they read thus—

    Quos anguis tristi diro cum vulnere stravit,
    Hos sanguis Christi miro tum munere lavit.
    [Those who have felt the serpent's venomed wound,
    In Christ's miraculous blood have healing found.]

In a Paris cemetery—

    I' attends ma femme. │ I await my wife.
          1820.          │      1820.
         ──────          │     ──────
        Me voilá.        │    I am here.
          1830.          │      1830.

Shakespeare's tomb—

The inscription on Shakespeare's tomb forbids the removal of the body.
Subjoined is the prohibition—

    "Good Friend, for Jesvs sake forbeare
     To digg Y-E dvst EncloAsed HERE.
     Blest be Y-E Man T-Y spares T-hs Stones
     And cvrst be He T-Y moves my bones."

In consequence of this inscription, the people of Stratford-on-Avon are
afraid to put their feet on the stones above the grave, and the body of
the greatest English poet has not been placed with other geniuses in
Westminster Abbey.

Stone tablet puzzle—

The following letters are inscribed on a stone tablet placed immediately
over the Ten Commandments in a church in England, and are deciphered
with only one letter—

    PRSVR Y PRFCT MN!
    VR KP THS PRCPTS TN.

Grimmingham church-yard, Norfolk, England—

To the memory of Thomas Jackson, Comedian, who was _engaged,_ 21st of
Dec, 1741, to _play a comic cast of characters, in this great
theatre_—the World: for many of which he was _prompted_ by nature to
excel.

The _season_ being ended, his _benefit_ over, the charges all paid, and
his account closed, he made his _exit_ in the _tragedy_ of Death, on the
17th of March, 1798, in full assurance of being called once more to
_rehearsal;_ where he hopes to find his _forfeits_ all cleared, his
_cast of parts_ bettered, and his situation made agreeable by Him who
paid the great stock-debt, for the love which he bore to _performers_ in
general.

An inculpatory epitaph—

The following epitaph at West Allington, Devon, England, is not only a
memorial of the deceased, but reproves the parson of the parish—

            Here lyeth the Body of
        Daniel Jeffery the son of Mich
        ael Jeffery and Joan his wife he
        was buried y^e 22 day of September
        1746 and in y^e 18th year of his age.
  This Youth When In his sickness lay
  did for the minister Send┿that he would
  Come and with him Pray┿But he would not atend
  But when this Young Man Buried was
  The minister did him admit┿he should be
  Caried into Church┿that he might money geet
  By this you see what man will dwo┿to geet
  money if he can┿who did refuse to come
  pray┿by the Foresaid young man

At St. Benedict Fink—

"1673, April 23rd, was buried M^r. Thomas Sharrow, Cloth-worker, late
Churchwarden of this parish, killed by an accidental fall into a vault,
in London Wall, men Corner, by Paternoster Row, and was supposed had
lain there eleven days and nights before any one could tell where he
was. _Let all that read this take heed of drink._"

At Clophill, Bedfordshire—

  DEATH DO NOT KICK AT MEE
   FOR CHRIST HATH TAKEN
      THY STING AWAY.
           1623.

In the same—

        HEAR
      LIES THE
      BODEY OF
       THOMAS
      DEARMAN T
     HAT GAVE 6 _P_
    OVND    A YEAR
   TO TH    E LABE
  RERS O    F CLOPH
     ILL    1631.

A watchmaker's epitaph—

Among the curious epitaphs to be seen in the graveyards of England, this
one in the old church-yard of Lidford, Devon, is worthy of insertion—

    Here lies, in a horizontal position,
          The outside case of
      George Rougleigh, watchmaker,
  Whose abilities in that line were an honor
            To his profession.
      Integrity was the mainspring
       And prudence the regulator
     Of all the actions of his life.
      Humane, generous and liberal,
        His hand never stopped
      Till he had relieved distress;
    So nicely were all his actions regulated
        That he never went wrong
        Except when set a-going
              By people
      Who did not know his key;
   Even then he was easily set aright again.
  He had the art of disposing his time so well
        That his hours glided away
        In one continual round
        Of pleasure and delight,
    Till an unlucky minute put a period to
              his existence.
    He departed this life November 14, 1802,
                Aged 57;
                Wound up
        In hopes of being taken in hand
              By his Maker,
  And of being thoroughly cleaned and repaired
              And set a-going
            In the world to come.

Grave of Robin Hood—

At Kirklees, in Yorkshire, formerly a Benedictine nunnery, is a
gravestone, near the park, under which it is said Robin Hood lies
buried. Mr. Ralph Thoresby, in his "Ducatus Leodiensis," gives the
following as the epitaph—

    Here undernead dis laith stean
    Laiz Robert Earl of Huntington,
    Nea arcir ver az hie sa geude:
    An piple kaud im Robin Heud
    Sic utlawz as hi, an iz men,
    Wil England never sigh agen.
             Obiit 24 kal. Dekembris, 1247.


_Great Tom of Lincoln._

The finest bell in England was the Great Tom of Lincoln, considerably
older than St. Paul's. Its elevation gave it an horizon of fifty miles
in every direction. Its note was like the chord of A upon a full organ.
It fell from its support and was destroyed.


_Mammoth Bell of Buddah._

Klaprath states that in an edifice before the great temple of Buddah, at
Jeddo, is the largest bell in the world. It weighs 1,700,000 pounds,
four times greater than the great bell of Moscow, and fifty-six times
larger than the great bell of Westminister, England.


_Great Bell of Rouen._

The grand entrance to the cathedral of Rouen is flanked by two towers;
the one was erected by St. Romain; the expense of constructing the
other, which bears the whimsical name of _Tour-de-beurre_, was raised by
the sum received for granting the more wealthy and epicurean inhabitants
of the city permission to eat butter during Lent. It was in this tower
that the celebrated bell was erected; it was named George D'Amboise,
after its founder, who died from joy upon seeing it completed. It
weighed 40,000 pounds, and was melted into cannon in the year 1793.


_St. Fillan's Bell._

In Sinclair's "Statistical Account of Scotland," the Rev. Mr. Patrick
Stuart, minister of Killin parish, Perthshire, says: "There is a bell
belonging to the chapel of St. Fillan that was in high reputation among
the votaries of that saint in old times. It is a foot high, oblong in
form, and made of mixed metal. It usually lay on a grave-stone in the
church-yard. When mad people were brought to be dipped in the saint's
pool, it was necessary to perform certain ceremonies in which there was
a mixture of druidism and popery. After remaining all night in the
chapel, bound with ropes, the bell was set upon their head with great
solemnity. It was also the popular opinion that if the bell was ever
stolen, it would extricate itself out of the thief's hands and return
home, ringing all the way."


_The Bells of Jersey._

The following is the bell-legend connected with Jersey: "Many years ago
the twelve parish churches in that island possessed each a valuable peal
of bells; but during a long civil war the government determined to sell
the bells to defray the expenses of the troops. The bells were
accordingly collected and sent to France for that purpose; but on the
passage, the ship foundered, and everything was lost, to show the wrath
of Heaven at such a sacrilege. Since then, during a storm, these bells
always ring from the deep, and to this day the fishermen of St. Owen's
Bay always go to the edge of the water before embarking, to listen if
they can hear the bells upon the wind. If so, nothing will induce them
to leave the shore; if all is quiet, they fearlessly set sail."


_Subterranean Christmas Bells._

Near Raleigh, in Nottinghamshire, there is a valley, said to have been
caused by an earthquake several hundred years ago, which swallowed up a
whole village, together with the church. Formerly, it was a custom for
people to assemble in this valley on Christmas morning, to listen to the
ringing of the bells of the church beneath them. This it was positively
asserted might be heard by putting the ear to the ground and harkening
attentively. Even now, it is usual on Christmas morning for old men and
women to tell the children to go to the valley, stoop down, and hear the
bells ringing merrily.—_Hone_, 1827.


_St. Sepulchre's Bell._

It has been a very ancient practice, on the night preceding the
execution of condemned criminals, for the bellman of the parish of St.
Sepulchre to go under Newgate, and, ringing his bell, to repeat the
following, as a piece of friendly advice to the unhappy wretches under
sentence of death:—

    All you that in the condemn'd hold do lie,
    Prepare you, for to-morrow you shall die;
    Watch all, and pray, the hour is drawing near,
    That you before the Almighty must appear;
    Examine well yourselves, in time repent,
    That you may not to eternal flames be sent.
    And when St. Sepulchre's bell to-morrow tolls.
    The Lord above have mercy on your souls!
                      Past twelve o'clock


_The Passing Bell._

The Passing Bell was so named from being tolled when any one was passing
from life. Hence it was sometimes called the _Soul Bell_, and was rung
that those who heard it might pray for the person dying, and who was not
yet dead. We have a remarkable mention of the practice in the narrative
of the last moments of the Lady Katherine Grey (sister of Lady Jane
Grey), who died a prisoner in the Tower of London, in 1567. Sir Owen
Hopton, constable of the tower, "perceiving her to draw toward her end,
said to Mr. Bockeham, 'Were it not best to send to the church, that the
bell may be rung?' and she herself, hearing him, said: 'Good Sir Owen,
be it so;' and almost immediately died."—_Ellis's Original Letters._


_Bell-ringing in Holland._

The Hollanders exhibit the most enthusiastic fondness for bells. Every
church and public building is hung round with them in endless variety.
In Amsterdam not less than a thousand bells are kept constantly ringing,
which creates a din that is almost intolerable to strangers.


_Babes of Bethlehem._

It is an ancient custom at Norton, Worcestershire, England, on the 28th
of December (Innocents' Day) to ring a muffled peal in token of sorrow
for the slaughter of the hapless "babes of Bethlehem," and, immediately
afterwards, an unmuffled peal, in manifestation of joy for the
deliverance and escape of the infant Saviour.


_Ringing the Changes._

It is curious to note the number of changes which may be rung on
different peals. The changes on seven bells are 5040; on twelve,
479,001,600, which it would take ninety-one years to ring, at the rate
of two strokes in a second. The changes on fourteen bells could not be
rung through at the same rate in less than 16,575 years, and upon
four-and-twenty they would require more than 117,000 billions of
years.—_E. F. King._


_Bell Inscriptions._

Epigraphs or legends on bells were quite common in England. We subjoin
specimens—

_On the Six Bells of the Ancient Abbey of Hexham._

    Even at our earliest sound,
    The light of God is spread around.

    At the echo of my voice,
    Ocean, earth and air rejoice.

    Blend thy mellow tones with mine,
    Silver voice of Catherine!

    Till time on ruin's lap shall nod,
    John shall sound the praise of God.

    With John in heavenly harmony,
    Andrew, pour thy melody.

    Be mine to chant Jehovah's fame,
    While Maria is my name.

A not uncommon epigraph is—

    Come when I call,
    To serve God all.

At Aldbourne, on the first bell, we read: "The gift of Jos. Pizzie and
Wm. Gwynn.

    Music and ringing we like so well,
    And for that reason we gave this bell."

On the fourth bell is—

    Humphry Symsin gave xx pounds to buy this bell,
    And the parish gave xx more to make this ring go well.

At Broadchalk—

    I in this place am second bell,
    I'll surely do my part as well.

At Coln, on the third bell—

    Robert Forman collected the money for casting this bell
    Of well-disposed people, as I do you tell.

At Devizes, St. Mary—

    I am the first, altho' but small,
    I will be heard above you all.

    I am the second in this ring;
    Therefore next to thee I will sing.

Amesbury, on the fifth bell—

    Be strong in faith, praise God well,
    Frances Countess Hertford's bell.

Amesbury, on the tenor bell—

    Altho' it be unto my loss,
    I hope you will consider my cost.

At Bath Abbey—

    All you of Bath that hear my sound,
    Thank Lady Hopton's hundred pound.

At Stowe, Northamptonshire—

    Be it known to all that doth me see,
    That Newcombe, of Leicester, made me.

At St. Michael's, Coventry—

    I ring at six to let men know
    When to and from their work to go.

On the seventh bell is—

    I ring to sermon with lusty bome,
    That all may come, and none can stay at home.

At St. Peter-le-Bailey, Oxford, in expectation of other bells which were
never purchased—

    With seven more I hope soon to be
    For ages joined in harmony.

On the eighth bell is—

    I am and have been called the common bell,
    To ring when fire breaks out to tell.

St. Helen's church, at Worcester, England, has a set of bells cast in
the time of Queen Anne, with names and inscriptions recording victories
gained in that reign—

1. BLENHEIM.

    First is my note, and Blenheim is my name;
    For Blenheim's story will be first in fame.

2. BARCELONA.

    Let me relate how Louis did bemoan
    His grandson Philip's flight from Barcelon.

3. RAMILIES.

    Deluged in blood, I, Ramilies, advance
    Britannia's glory on the fall of France.

4. MENIN.

    Let Menin on my sides engraven be,
    And Flanders freed from Gallic slavery.

5. TURIN.

    When in harmonious peal I roundly go,
    Think on Turin, and triumphs on the Po.

6. EUGENE.

    With joy I bear illustrious Eugene's name;
    Fav'rite of fortune and the boast of fame.

7. MARLBOROUGH.

    But I for pride the greater Marlborough bear;
    Terror of tyrants and the soul of war.

8. QUEEN ANNE.

    The immortal praise of Queen Anne I sound,
    With union blest, and all these glories crowned.

On the famous alarm-bell called Roland, in a belfry-tower in the once
powerful city of Ghent, is engraved the subjoined inscription, in the
old Walloon or Flemish dialect—

    "My name is Roland; when I toll there is fire,
     And when I ring there is victory in the land."

The following inscription, remarkable for bad taste, is on one of eight
bells in the church tower of Tilton, Devon—

    "Recast by John Taylor and Son,
     Who the best prize for church bells won
     At the Great Ex-hi-bi-ti-on
     In London, 1-8-5 and 1."


ARTICLES OF RINGING.

The following "Articles of Ringing" are upon the walls of the belfry in
Dunster, Somersetshire, England:—

    1. You that in ringing take delight,
         Be pleased to draw near;
       These articles you must observe,
         If you mean to ring here.

    2. And first, if any overturn
         A bell, as that he may,
       He forthwith for that only fault
         In beer shall sixpence pay.

    3. If any one shall curse or swear
         When come within the door,
       He then shall forfeit for that fault
         As mentioned before.

    4. If any one shall wear his hat
         When he is ringing here,
       He straightway then shall sixpence pay
         In cyder or in beer.

    5. If any one these articles
         Refuseth to obey,
       Let him have nine strokes of the rope,
         And so depart away.


_Old Weather Rhymes._

    If New Year's eve night-wind blow south,
    It betokeneth warmth and growth;
    If west, much milk, and fish in the sea;
    If north, much cold, and storms there will be;
    If east, the trees will bear much fruit;
    If north-east, flee it, man and brute.

    If St. Paul's day be fair and clear,
    It does betide a happy year;
    But if it chance to snow or rain,
    Then will be dear all kinds of grain;
    If clouds or mists do dark the skie,
    Great store of birds and beasts shall die;
    And if the winds do fly aloft,
    Then wars shall vex the kingdome oft.

    A swarm of bees in May
    Is worth a load of hay;
    A swarm of bees in June
    Is worth a silver spune;
    A swarm of bees in July
    Is not worth a fly.

    The hind had as lief see his wife on the bier,
    As that Candlemas-day should be pleasant and clear.

    If Candlemas-day be fair and bright,
    Winter will have another flight;
    But if Candlemas-day be clouds and rain,
    Winter is gone, and will not come again.

    When Candlemas-day is come and gone,
    The snow lies on a hot stone.

    If Candlemas is fair and clear,
    There'll be twa winters in the year.

    February fill dike, be it black or be it white;
    But if it be white, it's the better to like.

    When the cuckoo comes to the bare thorn,
    Sell your cow and buy your corn;
    But when she comes to the full bit,
    Sell your corn and buy your sheep.

    If the cock moult before the hen,
    We shall have weather thick and thin;
    But if the hen moult before the cock,
    We shall have weather hard as a block.

    When the wind's in the south,
    It blows the bait into the fishes' mouth.

    As the days lengthen
    So the colds strengthen.

    If there be a rainbow in the eve,
    It will rain and leave;
    But if there be a rainbow in the morrow,
    It will neither lend nor borrow.

    A rainbow in the morning
    Is the shepherd's warning;
    But a rainbow at night
    Is the shepherd's delight.

    No tempest, good July,
    Lest corn come off blue by.

    When the wind's in the east,
    It's neither good for man nor beast;
    When the wind's in the south,
    It's in the rain's mouth.

    When the sloe-tree is as white as a sheet,
    Sow your barley, whether it be dry or wet.

    No weather is ill
    If the wind be still.

    A snow year,
    A rich year.

    Winter's thunder
    Is summer's wonder.

    St. Swithin's day, if thou dost rain,
    For forty days it will remain;
    St. Swithin's day, if thou be fair,
    For forty days 'twill rain na mair.

    The bat begins with giddy wing
      His circuit round the shed and tree;
    And clouds of dancing gnats to sing
      A summer night's serenity.

    At New Year's tide,
    The days are lengthened a cock's stride.

    If the red sun begins his race,
    Expect that rain will fall apace.

    The evening red, the morning gray,
    Are certain signs of a fair day.

    If woolly fleeces spread the heavenly way,
    No rain, be sure, disturbs the summer's day.

    In the waning of the moon,
    A cloudy morn—fair afternoon.

    When clouds appear like rocks and towers,
    The earth's refresh'd by frequent showers.

    As the days grow longer
    The storms grow stronger.

    Blessed is the corpse that the rain falls on.
    Blessed is the bride that the sun shines on.

    He that goes to see his wheat in May,
    Comes weeping away.


_Signs of Foul Weather._

    The soot falls down, the spaniels sleep,
    And spiders from their cobwebs peep.

    Loud quack the ducks, the sea-fowl cry,
    The distant hills are looking nigh.

    Puss on the hearth, with velvet paws,
    Sits wiping o'er her whisker'd jaws.

    The smoke from chimneys right ascends,
    Then spreading, back to earth it bends.

    The walls are damp, the ditches smell,
    Clos'd is the pink-ey'd pimpernel.

    Quite restless are the snorting swine,
    The busy flies disturb the kine.

    The wind unsteady veers around,
    Or settling in the south is found.

    The glow-worms, numerous and bright,
    Illumed the dewy hill last night.

    Through the clear stream the fishes rise
    And nimbly catch the incautious flies.


_First Meerschaum Pipe._

In 1723 there lived in Pesth, the capital of Hungary, Karol Kowates, a
shoemaker, whose ingenuity in cutting and carving on wood, etc., brought
him in contact with Count Andrassy, ancestor to the present prime
minister of Austria, with whom he became a favorite. The count, on his
return from a mission to Turkey, brought with him a large piece of
whitish clay, which had been presented to him as a curiosity on account
of its extraordinary light specific gravity. It struck the shoemaker
that, being porous, it must naturally be well adapted for pipes, as it
would absorb the nicotine. The experiment was tried, and Karol cut a
pipe for the count and one for himself. But in the pursuit of his trade
he could not keep his hands clean, and many a piece of wax became
attached to the pipe. The clay, however, instead of assuming a dirty
appearance, as was naturally to be expected, when Karol wiped it off,
received, wherever the wax had touched, a clear brown polish, instead
of the dull white it previously had. Attributing this change in the tint
to the proper source, he waxed the whole surface, and, polishing the
pipe, again smoked it, and noticed how admirably and beautifully it
colored; also, how much more sweet the pipe smoked after being waxed.
Karol had struck the smoking philosopher's stone; and other noblemen,
hearing of the wonderful properties of this singular species of clay,
imported it in considerable quantities for the manufacture of pipes. The
natural scarcity of this much esteemed article, and the great cost of
transportation in those days of limited facilities for transportation,
rendered its use exclusively confined to the richest European noblemen
until 1830, when it became a more general article of trade. The first
meerschaum pipe made by Karol Kowates has been preserved in the museum
at Pesth.


_The First Oval Lathe._

William Murdock, the inventor of the oval lathe, was a poor millwright.
He was a good workman, but rather shiftless, until he came into the
employ of Boulton & Watt, the English manufacturers of steam-engines in
the last century. The way in which the millwright first attracted the
attention of these great machinists is thus told:—

Somewhere about the year 1780, a traveling millwright, weary and
foot-sore, and with the broadest of Northern Doric accent, stopped at a
factory in England and asked for work. His aspect indicated beggary, and
the proprietor, Mr. Boulton, had bidden him seek some other workshop,
when, as the man was turning sorrowfully away, he suddenly called him
back, saying—

"What kind of hat 's yon ye have on your head, my man?"

"It's just timmer, sir," replied the man.

"Timmer, my man!" ejaculated the manufacturer. "Just let me look at it.
Where on earth did you get it?"

"I just turned it in the lathe," said the mechanic, with a flush of
pride.

"But it's oval, not round, my man," said Mr. Boulton, in surprise; "and
lathes turn things round."

"A-weel, I just gar'd the lathe gang anither gait to please me; and I'd
a long journey before me, and I thocht I'd have a hat to keep out water;
and I had na muckle to spare, so I just make ane."

The man was a born inventor, but he didn't know it. By his ingenuity he
had invented the oval lathe, one of the most useful of machines. He had
made his hat with it, and the hat made his fortune. Great events often
result from seeming trifles. Mr. Boulton was a sharp man of business. He
saw that the man who could turn out of a block of wood an oval hat, was
too valuable a workman for the firm of Boulton & Watt to lose sight of.
William Murdock was then and there employed. In 1784 he made the first
wheeled vehicle impelled by steam in England,—made it with his own
hands and brains. He gained fame and fortune, but the "timmer" hat, made
for a long journey and to keep out water, was the corner-stone of both.


_Porcelain._

An alchemist, while seeking to discover a mixture of earths that would
make the most durable crucibles, one day found that he had made
porcelain.


_Origin of Blue-tinted Paper._

The origin of blue-tinted paper came about by a mere slip of the hand.
The wife of William East, an English paper-maker, accidentally let a
blue bag fall into one of the vats of pulp. The workmen were astonished
when they saw the peculiar color of the paper, while Mr. East was highly
incensed over what he considered a grave pecuniary loss. His wife was so
much frightened that she would not confess her agency in the matter.
After storing the damaged paper for four years, Mr. East sent it to his
agent at London, with instructions to sell it for what it would bring.
The paper was accepted as a "purposed novelty," and was disposed of at
quite an advance over the market price. Mr. East was astonished at
receiving an order from his agent for another large invoice of the
paper. He was without the secret, and found himself in a dilemma. Upon
mentioning it to his wife, she told him about the accident. He kept the
secret, and the demand for the novel tint far exceeded his ability to
supply it.


_Following His Nose._

While Marshall Jewell was Minister to Russia, he found out, by the use
of his nose, the secret of making Russia leather. Instead of using
tallow and grease in the dressings of skins, the Russians employed
birch-bark tar. By careful inquiry, and literally following his nose,
during a visit to one of their large tanneries, he found the compound in
a mammoth kettle, ready for use. He reported his discovery, and the
result is that genuine Russian leather goods are now made in America.


_Discovery of Composition for Printing-Rollers._

The composition of which printing-rollers are made was discovered by a
Salopian printer. Not being able to find the pelt-ball, he inked the
type with a piece of soft glue which had fallen out of a glue pot. It
was such an excellent substitute that, after mixing molasses with the
glue, to give the mass proper consistency, the old pelt-ball was
entirely discarded.


_Mezzotinting._

This art was suggested by the simple accident of the gun-barrel of a
sentry becoming rusted with dew.


_Whitening Sugar._

The process of whitening sugar was discovered in a curious way. A hen
that had gone through a clay puddle went with her muddy feet into a
sugar house, leaving her tracks on a pile of sugar. It was noticed that
wherever her tracks were the sugar was whitened. Experiments were
instituted, and the result was that wet clay came to be used in refining
sugar.


_Discovery of Glass._

Pliny informs us that the art of making glass was accidentally
discovered by some merchants who were traveling with nitre, and stopped
near a river issuing from Mount Carmel. Not readily finding stones to
rest their kettles on, they employed some pieces of their nitre for that
purpose. The nitre, gradually dissolving by the heat of the fire, mixed
with the sand, and a transparent matter flowed, which was, in fact,
glass.


_Essence of Pearl._

A French bead-maker named Jaquin discovered the manner of preparing the
glass pearls used at present, which approach as near to nature as
possible, without being too expensive. He once noticed, at his estate
near Passy, that when the small fish called _ables_ or _ablettes_ were
washed, the water was filled with fine silver-colored particles. He
suffered the water to stand for some time, and obtained from it a
sediment which had the lustre of the most beautiful pearls, which
suggested to him the idea of making pearls from it. He scraped off the
scales of the fish, and called the soft shining powder which was
diffused in the water essence of pearl, or _essence d'orient_. He
succeeded in coating the interior of glass beads with the pearly liquid,
and amassed a large fortune. This was during the reign of Henry IV.
(according to some authors), and Jaquin's heirs continued the business
down to a late period, and had a considerable manufactory at Rue de
Petit Lion, at Paris. It required from eighteen to twenty thousand fish
(which were not more than four inches in length) to make a pound of the
essence of pearl. These pearls were frequently taken for genuine ones.
Mercure Galant (1686), tells us in that year of a poor marquis, who,
being in love with a lady, gained her affections by presenting her with
a string of artificial pearls. They cost him not more than three louis,
while she, believing them to be genuine pearls, valued them at 2,000
francs. Jewelers and pawnbrokers were frequently deceived by them.


_Diminutive Note Paper._

A Brighton stationer took a fancy for dressing his show-window with
piles of writing paper, rising gradually from the largest to the
smallest size in use; and to finish his pyramids off nicely, he cut
cards to bring them to a point. Taking these cards for diminutive note
paper, lady customers were continually wanting some of "that lovely
little paper," and the stationer found it advantageous to cut paper to
the desired pattern. As there was no space for addressing the notelets
after they were folded, he, after much thought, invented the envelope,
which he cut by the aid of metal plates made for the purpose. The sale
increased so rapidly that he was unable to produce the envelopes fast
enough, so he commissioned a dozen houses to make them for him, and thus
set going an important branch of the manufacturing stationery trade.


_Etching upon Glass._

This process was discovered by accident about the year 1670, by an
artist named Schwanhard. We are told that some aqua-fortis having fallen
by accident upon his spectacles, the glass was corroded by it. He thence
learned to make a liquid by which he could etch writing and figures upon
glass.


_Lundyfoot's Luck._

The shop of a Dublin tobacconist by the name of Lundyfoot was destroyed
by fire. While he was gazing dolefully into the smouldering ruins, he
noticed that his poorer neighbors were gathering the snuff from the
canisters. He tested the snuff for himself, and discovered that the fire
had largely improved its pungency and aroma. It was a hint worth
profiting by. He secured another shop, built a lot of ovens, subjected
the snuff to a heating process, gave the brand a particular name, and in
a few years became rich through an accident which he at first thought
had completely ruined him.


_Citric Acid._

A London chemist was the inventor of citric acid, and, having his own
prices as long as the way of making the acid was a secret, realized a
large fortune.

This chemist trusted nobody, but worked entirely alone. He thought his
secret very safe. It was necessary, however, to have a chimney to his
laboratory, and chimneys sometimes want sweeping.

A rival, disguising himself as a chimney-sweep, got into the sanctum. He
had all his eyes about him, as the saying is, and, when the chimney was
swept, knew how to make citric acid, and thus a monopoly was ended.


_A Half-Starved Tramp._

Mr. Huntsman, who had devised some important processes in the
manufacture of cast steel, built his factory, to be out of observation,
in the middle of a bleak moor, and "No Admission for Strangers" was
painted on the outer gate.

One terribly snowy night, however, a poor, belated, half-frozen
traveler, who said he had lost his way on the moor, craved shelter, was
charitably admitted, and was placed near the furnace, to be thawed. He
watched what was done, and, being an expert, took it all away in his
mind. Next morning he walked away, and took the secret with him. So
perished Huntsman's El Dorado.


_Fiddling to some Purpose._

Stourbridge, a smoky town in Worcestershire, England, has long been
famous for its iron, glass and fire-brick works, and also for its
_nails_, as long as they were produced by hand-work. For the Crystal
Palace, of 1851, a Stourbridge "hand" received an order to make a
thousand gold and a thousand silver and a thousand iron _tacks_—the
whole three thousand not to weigh more than _three_ grains.

Nailmaking by machinery, which was accomplished in Sweden before it was
perfected in New England, was drawing the trade away from England, and
a Stourbridge man, one Richard Foley, resolved to get into the heart of
the mystery. The case is curious, as showing the danger that has always
beset successful inventors, and has often converted the golden hills
into mere rocks of talc, and reduced many a secret El Dorado into
commonplace little workshops.

Foley, who was a very good violinist, took his fiddle, fiddled his way
to the Swedish splitting mills, and then fiddled his way into them. As
often happens with musicians, he presently conceived the idea that there
was "a great deal of brains _outside_ of his head."

At any rate, he could look and speak foolishly, but his fiddling was
wonderfully good. No one suspected that "soft" fellow, who lounged about
with an idiotic want of expression in his face, but was ready to play
whenever asked to do so.

He ingratiated himself so thoroughly with the workmen that they gave him
a shakedown inside the mill or factory. He quietly exercised his faculty
of observation, saw all the processes of manipulation, and one day was
missing. He carried home their secrets of work, and fame and fortune
became his own.


_German Silver._

German silver derives its name from the fact that its first introduction
in the arts, to any great extent, was made in Germany. It is, however,
nothing more than the white copper long known in China. It does not
contain a particle of real silver, but is an alloy of copper, nickel and
zinc.


_Isabella Color._

The Archduke Albert married the infanta Isabella, daughter of Philip
II., King of Spain, with whom he had the Low Countries in dowry. In the
year 1602 he laid siege to Ostend, then in the possession of the
heretics, and his pious princess, who attended him in that expedition,
made a vow that she would not change her clothes until the city was
taken. Contrary to expectation, it was three years before the place was
reduced, in which time the linen of her highness had acquired a hue
which, from the superstition of the princess and the times, was much
admired, and was adopted by the court fashionables under the name of the
"Isabella color." It is a whitish yellow, or soiled buff—better
imagined than described.


_Parisian Scarlet._

The tincture of cochineal alone yields a purple color, which may be
changed to a most beautiful scarlet by adding a solution of tin in
aqua-regia, or muriatic acid, a discovery which was made by accident.
Cornelius Drebbel, who died in London in 1634, having placed in his
window an extract of cochineal, made with boiling water, for the purpose
of filling a thermometer, some aqua-regia dropped into it from a phial,
broken by accident, which stood above it, and converted the purple dye
into a most beautiful scarlet. After some conjectures and experiments,
he discovered that the tin by which the window frame was divided into
squares had been dissolved by the aqua-regia, and was the cause of the
change. Giles Gobelin, a dyer at Paris, used it for dyeing cloth. It
became known as Parisian scarlet dye, and rose into such great repute
that the populace declared that Gobelin had acquired his art from the
devil.


_Tyrian Purple._

The purple dye of Tyre was discovered about fifteen centuries before the
Christian era, and the art of using it did not become lost until the
eleventh century after Christ. It was obtained from two genera of one
species of shell-fish, the smaller of which was called _buccinum_, the
larger _purpura_, and to both the common name mure was applied. The
dye-stuff was procured by puncturing a vessel in the throat of the
larger genus, and by pounding the smaller entire. The tints capable of
being imparted by this material were various—representing numerous
shades between purple and crimson, but the imperial tint was that
resembling coagulated blood. That it was known to the Egyptians, in the
time of Moses, is sufficiently obvious from the testimony of more than
one Scriptural passage. Ultimately, in later ages, a restrictive policy
of the eastern emperors caused the art to be practised by only a few
individuals, and at last, about the commencement of the twelfth century,
when Byzantium was suffering from attacks without and dissensions
within, the secret of imparting the purple dye of Tyre was lost.

The rediscovery of Tyrian purple, as it occurred in England, was made by
Mr. Cole, of Bristol. About the latter end of the year 1683, this
gentleman heard from two ladies residing at Minehead, that a person
living somewhere on the coast of Ireland supported himself by marking
with a delicate crimson color the fine linen of ladies and gentlemen
sent him for that purpose, which color was the product of a shell-fish.
This recital at once brought to the recollection of Mr. Cole the
tradition of Tyrian purple. He, without delay, went in search of the
shell-fish, and, after trying various kinds without success, his efforts
were at length successful. He found considerable quantities of the
buccinum on the sea-coast of Somersetshire and the opposite coast of
South Wales. The fish being found, the next difficulty was to extract
the dye, which in its natural state is not purple but white, the purple
being the result of exposure to the air. At length our acute
investigator found the dye-stuff in a white vein lying transversely in a
little furrow or cleft next to the head of the fish.


_Odor of Patchouli._

The odor of patchouli was known in Europe before the material itself was
introduced, in consequence of its use in cashmere to scent the shawls
with a view of keeping out moths, which are averse to it; hence the
genuine cashmere shawls were known by their scent, until the French
found out the secret and imported the herb for use in the same way.


_Veneered Diamonds._

Quite a notable industry is carried on in Paris, namely, the manufacture
of what are termed veneered diamonds. The body of the gem is of quartz
or crystal. After being cut into a proper shape, it is put into a
galvanic battery, which coats it with a liquid, the latter being made of
diamonds which are too small to be cut and of the clippings taken from
diamonds during the process of shapening them. In this way all the small
particles of diamonds that heretofore have been regarded as
comparatively worthless, can, by means of this ingenious process, be
made of service to the jeweler.


_Hungary Water._

This is a spirit of wine distilled upon rosemary, and contains a
powerful aroma of the plant. For many years it was mainly manufactured
at Beaucaire and Montpellier, in France, where the plant grows in
abundance. The name seems to signify that this water, so celebrated for
its medicinal virtues, is an Hungarian invention; and we read in various
books that the recipe for preparing it was given to a queen of Hungary
by a hermit, or, as others say, by an angel, who appeared to her in a
garden, all entrance to which was shut, in the form of a hermit or
youth. Others affirm that Elizabeth, wife of Charles Robert, king of
Hungary, who died in 1380, was the inventor. By often washing with this
spirit of rosemary, when in the seventieth year of her age, she was
cured, as we are told, of the gout and an universal lameness; so that
she not only lived to pass eighty, but became so lively and beautiful
that she was courted by the king of Poland, who was then a widower, and
who wished to make her his second wife. Hoyer says that the recipe for
preparing this water, written by Queen Elizabeth's own hand, in golden
characters, is still preserved in the Imperial Library at Vienna.
Beckmann says such is not the case.


_Cork Jackets._

The use of cork for making jackets, as an aid to swimming, is very old.
We are informed that the Roman whom Camillus sent to the Capitol, when
besieged by the Gauls, put on a light dress, and took cork with him
under it, because, to avoid being taken by the enemy, it was necessary
for him to swim across the Tiber.


_Nothing New under the Sun._

The Romans used movable types to mark their pottery and indorse their
books. Mr. Layard found, in Nineveh, a magnificent lens of rock-crystal,
which Sir D. Brewster considers a true optical lens, and the origin of
the microscope. The principle of the stereoscope, invented by Professor
Wheatstone, was known to Euclid, described by Galen fifteen hundred
years ago, and more fully in 1599, A. D., in the works of Baptista
Porta. The Thames tunnel, though such a novelty, was anticipated by that
under the Euphrates at Babylon, and the ancient Egyptians had a Suez
canal. Such examples might be indefinitely multiplied; but we turn to
Photography. M. Jobarb, in his "Neuvelles Inventions aux Expositions
Universelles," 1856, says a translation from German was discovered in
Russia, three hundred years old, which contains a clear explanation of
Photography. The old alchemists understood the properties of chloride of
silver in relation to light, and its photographic action is explained by
Fabricius in "De Rubus Metallicis," 1566. The daguerreotype process was
anticipated by De La Roche, in his "Giphantie," 1760, though it was only
the statement of a dreamer.


_How the Ancients Rewarded Inventors._

A Roman architect discovered the means of so far altering the nature of
glass as to render it malleable; but the Emperor Tiberius caused the
architect to be beheaded. A similar discovery was made in France during
the reign of Louis XIII. The inventor presented a bust, formed of
malleable glass, to Cardinal Richelieu, and was rewarded for his
ingenuity by perpetual imprisonment, lest the French glass manufacturers
should be injured by the discovery of it.


_Deutsche Luft._

A German newspaper tells an amusing story of the famous scientist,
Alexander von Humboldt, who took advantage of the exemption from duty of
the covering of articles free from duty, formerly the rule in France. In
the year 1805 he and Gay-Lussac were in Paris, engaged in their
experiments on the compression of air. The two scientists found
themselves in need of a large number of glass tubes, and since this
article was exceedingly dear in France at that time, and the duty on
imported glass tubes was something alarming, Humboldt sent an order to
Germany for the needed articles, giving directions that the
manufacturer should seal the tubes at both ends, and put a label upon
each with the words "_Deutsche Luft_" (German air). The air of Germany
was an article upon which there was no duty, and the tubes were passed
by the custom officers without any demand, arriving free of duty in the
hands of the two experimenters.


_The Great Hero of the Bretons._

Merlin, the enchanter, is the great hero of the Bretons as he is of the
Welsh, the same legends being common to both people. Among other lays
respecting him is the following, which is of high antiquity:—

    "Merlin! Merlin! whither bound
       With your black dog by your side?" [1]
    "I seek until the prize be found,
       Where the red egg loves to hide.

    "The red egg of the sea-snake's nest, [2]
       Where the ocean caves are seen,
     And the cress that grows the best,
       In the valley fresh and green.

    "I must find the golden herb, [3]
       And the oak's high bough must have, [4]
     Where no sound the trees disturb
       Near the fountain as they wave."

    "Merlin! Merlin! turn again—
       Leave the oak-branch where it grew;
     Seek no more the cress to gain,
       Nor the herb of gold pursue.

    "Nor the red egg of the snake,
       Where amid the foam it lies,
     In the cave where billows break:
       Leave these fearful mysteries.

    "Merlin, turn! to God alone
     Are such fatal secrets known!"

[1] At the foot of Mont St. Michel extends a wide marsh. If the
mountaineer sees in the dusk of the evening a tall man, thin and pale,
followed by a black dog, whose steps are directed toward the marsh, he
hurries home, shuts and locks the door of his cottage, and throws
himself on his knees to pray, for he knows that the tempest is
approaching. Soon after, the winds begin to howl, the thunder bursts
forth in tremendous peals, and the mountain trembles to its base. It is
the moment when Merlin, the enchanter, evokes the souls of the dead.

[2] The red egg of the sea-snake was a powerful talisman, whose virtue
nothing could equal; it was to be worn around the neck.

[3] The golden herb is a medicinal plant. The peasants of Bretagne hold
it in great esteem, and say that it shines at a distance like gold. If
any one tread it under foot he falls asleep, and can understand the
language of dogs, wolves and birds. This simple is supposed to be rarely
met with, and only at daybreak. In order to gather it (a privilege only
granted to the devout), it is necessary to be _en chemise_ and with bare
feet. It must be torn up, not cut. Another way is to go with naked feet,
in a white robe, fasting, and, without using a knife, gather the herb by
slipping the right hand under the left arm and letting it fall into a
cloth, which can only be used once.

[4] The high oak bough is probably the mistletoe. The voice which warns
Merlin in the poem may be intended for that of Saint Colombar, who is
said to have converted Merlin.


_The Wandering Jew._

Brought to Europe from the East, after the first crusade under Peter the
Hermit, late in the eleventh century, was the legend of the Wandering
Jew. This appellation was given by the popular voice to almost every
mendicant with a long white beard and scanty clothing, who, supported by
a long staff, trudged along the roads with eyes downcast, and without
opening his lips.

In the year 1228 this legend was told for the first time by an Armenian
bishop, then lately arrived from the Holy Land, to the monks of St.
Alban, in England. According to his narrative, Joseph Cartaphilus was
door-keeper at the prætorium of Pontius Pilate when Jesus was led away
to be crucified. As Jesus halted upon the threshold of the prætorium,
Cartaphilus struck him in the loins and said: "Move faster! Why do you
stop here?" Jesus, the legend continues, turned round to him and said,
with a severe look: "I go, but you will await my coming."

Cartaphilus, who was then thirty years old, and who since then has
always returned to that age when he had completed a hundred years, has
ever since been awaiting the coming of our Lord and the end of the
world. He was said to suffer under the peculiar doom of ceaselessly
traversing the earth on foot. The general belief was that he was a man
of great piety, of sad and gentle manners, of few words, often weeping,
seldom smiling, and content with the scantiest and simplest food and the
most poverty-stricken garments. Such was the tradition which poets and
romancists in various lands and many languages have introduced into song
and story.

As the ages rolled on new circumstances were added to this tale. Paul of
Eitzen, a German bishop, wrote in a letter to a friend that he had met
the Wandering Jew at Hamburg, in 1564, and had a long conversation with
him. He appeared to be fifty years of age. His hair was long, and he
went barefoot. His dress consisted of very full breeches, a short
petticoat or kilt reaching to the knees, and a cloak so long that it
descended to his heels. Instead of Joseph Cartaphilus, he then was
called Ahasuerus. He attended Christian worship, prostrating himself
with sighs, tears and beating of the breast whenever the name of Jesus
was spoken. The bishop further stated that this man's speech was very
edifying. He could not hear an oath without bursting into tears, and
when offered money would accept only a few sous.

According to the bishop's version of the affair, Cartaphilus was
standing in front of his house, in Jerusalem, with his wife and
children, when he roughly accosted Jesus, who had halted to take breath
while carrying his cross to Calvary. "I shall stop and be at rest," was
all that the Lord said; "but you will ever be on foot." After this
sentence Cartaphilus quitted home and family to do perpetual penance by
wandering on foot over the whole world. He did not know, the bishop
said, what God intended to do with him, in compelling him so long to
lead such a miserable life, but had hope and faith in His mercy. There
was scarcely a town or village in Europe, in the sixteenth century, but
what claimed to have given hospitality to this unfortunate witness of
the Passion of our Lord.


_The Pyed Piper._

Verstegan, in his "Restitution of Decayed Intelligence," 1634, relates
the following strange story: "Hulberstadt, in Germany, was extremely
infested with rats, which a certain musician, called, from his habit,
the Pyed Piper, agreed for a large sum of money to destroy. He tuned his
pipes, and the rats immediately followed him to the next river, where
they were all drowned. But when the piper demanded his pay he was
refused with scorn and contempt, upon which he began another tune, and
was followed by all the children of the town to a neighboring hill
called Hamelen, which opened and swallowed them up, then closed again.
One boy, being lame, came after the rest, but seeing what had happened,
he returned and related the strange circumstance. The story was
believed, for the parents never after heard of their lost children. This
incident is stated to have happened on the 22d of July, in the year
1376, and since that time the people of Hulberstadt permit not any drum,
pipe or other instrument to be sounded in that street which leads to the
gate through which the children passed. They also established a decree
that in all writings of contract or bargain, after the date of our
Saviour's nativity, the date also of the year of the children's going
forth should be added, in perpetual remembrance of this surprising
event."


_Thomas, the Rhymer._

This character was one of the earliest poets of Scotland. His life and
writings are involved in much obscurity, though he is supposed to have
been Thomas Learmount, of Ercildonne. The time of his birth is unknown,
but he appears to have reached the height of his reputation in 1283,
when he is said to have predicted the death of Alexander III., king of
Scotland. One day the Rhymer, when visiting at the Castle of Dunbar, was
interrogated by the Earl of March in a jocular manner as to what the
morrow would bring forth. "Alas for to-morrow! a day of calamity and
misery!" replied the Rhymer. "Before the twelfth hour shall be heard a
blast so vehement that it shall exceed all those which have yet been
heard in Scotland—a blast which shall strike the nations with
amazement; shall confound those who hear it; shall humble what is lofty,
and what is unbending shall level with the ground." On the following day
the earl, who had been unable to discover any unusual appearance in the
weather, when seating himself at table, observed the hand of the dial to
point to the hour of noon, while, at the same moment, a messenger
appeared, bringing the mournful tidings of the accidental death of the
king. The legend says that the Rhymer was carried off at an early age to
Fairyland, where he acquired all the knowledge which made him so famous.
After seven years' residence there, he was permitted to return to the
earth to enlighten and astonish his countrymen by his prophetic powers,
but bound to return to the Fairy Queen, his royal mistress, whenever she
should intimate her pleasure. Accordingly, while the Rhymer was making
merry with his friends at his tower at Ercildonne, a person came running
in and told, with marks of alarm and astonishment, that a hart and hind
had left the neighboring forest, and were slowly and composedly parading
the street of the village. The Rhymer instantly rose, left his
habitation, and followed the animals to the forest, whence he was never
seen to return.


_Pontius Pilate at Vienne._

There is a tradition at Vienne, in Provence, that in the reign of the
Emperor Tiberius, Pontius Pilate was exiled to that city, where he died
not long after of grief and despair for not having prevented the
crucifixion of the Saviour, and his body was thrown into the Rhone.
There it remained, neither carried away by the force of the current nor
consumed by decay, for five hundred years, until the town, being
afflicted with the plague, it was revealed to the then archbishop, in a
vision, that the calamity was occasioned by Pilate's body, which,
unknown to the good people of Vienne, was lying at the foot of a certain
tower. The place was accordingly searched, and the body drawn up entire,
but nothing could equal its intolerable odor. It was carried to a marsh
two leagues from the town and there interred, but for many years after
strange noises were reported to issue continually from the place. The
sounds were believed to be the groans of Pontius Pilate, and the cries
of the devils tormenting him. It was imagined that it was the presence
of his body which caused the violent thunder-storms which are so
frequent at Vienne; and as the tower where the body was found has been
several times struck by lightning, it is called the tower of
_Mauconseil_.


_The Sea-woman of Haarlem._

In the "History of the Netherlands" there is the following strange
account of the Sea-woman of Haarlem:—

"At that time there was a great tempest at sea, with exceeding high
tides, the which did drowne many villages in Friseland and Holland; by
which tempest there came a sea-woman swimming in the Zuyderzee betwixt
the towns of Campen and Edam, the which passing by the Purmerie, entered
into the straight of a broken dyke in the Purmermer, where she remained
a long time, and could not find the hole by which she entered, for that
the breach had been stopped after that the tempest had ceased. Some
country women and their servants who did dayly pass the Pourmery to milk
their kine in the next pastures, did often see this woman swimming on
the water, whereof at first they were much afraid; but in the end, being
accustomed to see it very often, they viewed it neerer, and at last they
resolved to take it if they could. Having discovered it, they rowed
towards it, and drew it out of the water by force, carrying it into the
town of Edam.

"When she had been well washed and cleansed from the sea-moss which was
grown about her, she was like unto another woman. She was appareled, and
began to accustome herself to ordinary meats like unto any other, yet
she sought still means to escape and to get into the water, but she was
straightly guarded. They came from farre to see her. Those of Haarlem
made great sute to them of Edam to have this woman, by reason of the
strangenesse thereof. In the end they obtained her, where she did learn
to spin, and lived many years (some say fifteen), and for the reverance
which she bore unto the signe of the crosse whereunto she had been
accustomed, she was buried in the church-yarde. Many persons worthy of
credit have justified in their writings that they had seene her in the
said towne of Haarlem."


_Legends of Judas Iscariot._

It was believed in Pier della Valle's time that the descendants of Judas
Iscariot still existed at Corfu, though the persons who suffered under
the imputation stoutly denied it.

When the ceremony of washing the feet is performed in the Greek Church
at Smyrna, the bishop represents Christ, and the twelve apostles are
acted by as many priests. He who personates Judas must be paid for it,
and such is the feeling of the people, that whoever accepts this odious
part commonly retains the name of Judas for life.—_Hasselquiet_, p. 43.

Judas serves in Brazil for a Guy Faux to be carried about by the boys.
The Spanish sailors hang him at the yard-arm. The Armenians, who believe
hell and limbo to be the same place, say that Judas, after having
betrayed the Lord, resolved to hang himself, because he knew Christ was
to go to limbo and deliver all the souls which he found there, and
therefore he thought to get there in time. But the devil was more
cunning than he, and knowing his intention, held him over limbo till the
Lord had passed through, and then let him fall plum into
hell.—_Thevenot._


_Blue Beard._

Perrault, the author of "Blue Beard," founded the story, popular belief
assures us, on the history of a real person. The original was Giles de
Retz, Lord of Laval, who was made Marshal of France in 1429. He was born
in 1406, and fought under the command of Joan of Arc. He lived like a
king in his castle, with two hundred horsemen for his guard of honor,
besides fifty choristers, chaplains and musicians. He was wild and
profligate, lavish with his own money and of other people's, and lived
at the costliest rate.

When he had squandered his property, he took to the study of sorcery and
magic, having an especial fancy for murdering young children. From the
villages within a circuit of twenty miles, little boys and girls were
seduced into his castle and there immolated according to some wild Pagan
rites. Among his papers, history says, was found a list of two hundred
children whom he had thus sacrificed.

On the 26th of October, 1440, then being thirty-four years old, he was
burned in the city of Nantes, having been previously strangled in view
of a vast multitude. The records of his trial, which lasted a whole
month, are preserved among the manuscripts of the public library in
Paris. In one of his castles the bones of forty-six, and in another of
eighty children, were discovered. Marshal de Retz was certainly the type
of Perrault's story. It appears that in his lifetime he was known by the
_sobriquet_ of Barbe Bleu.


_African Rain-Doctors._

How a belief in _imaginary_ virtues of things may grow out of the
evidence of their _real_ virtues, is indicated by Dr. Livingstone, when
speaking of the belief in rain-making among the tribes in the heart of
South Africa. The African priest and the medicine-man is one and the
same, and his chief function is to make the clouds to give out rain. The
preparations for this purpose are various: charcoal made of burned bats;
lion's hearts, and hairy calculi from the bowels of old cows; serpent
skins and vertebræ, and every kind of tuber, bulb, root and plant to be
found in the country.

"Although you disbelieve their efficacy in charming the clouds to pour
out their refreshing treasures, yet, conscious that civility is useful
everywhere, you kindly state that you think they are mistaken as to
their power. The rain-doctor selects a particular bulbous root, pounds
it, and administers a cold infusion of it to a sheep, which in five
minutes afterwards expires in convulsions. Part of the same bulb is
converted into smoke and ascends towards the sky: rain follows in a day
or two. The inference is obvious."


_Whittington and his Cat._

This fable of the cat is borrowed from the East. Sir William Gore
Ousely, speaking of the origin of the name of an island in the Persian
Gulf, says that in the tenth century, one Keis, the son of a poor widow
in Siraf, embarked for India with his sole property, a cat. "He
fortunately arrived there at a time when the palace was so infested by
mice or rats that they invaded the king's food, and persons were
employed to drive them away from the royal banquet. Keis produced his
cat; the noxious animals disappeared; Keis was magnificently rewarded,
sent for his mother and brother, and settled on the island, which was
subsequently called after him."


_Head of James IV. of Scotland._

The king was slain in the battle at Flodden Field. At the close of the
bloody arbitrament his body was found among a heap of the fallen. The
discoverers made a prize of the corpse, wrapped it up in lead, and
transmitted it as a thanksgiving offering to the monastery of Sheen, in
Surrey. It was well taken care of by the honest people there as long as
the monastery stood; but when the dissolution of those religious
establishments took place, and the edifice was converted into a mansion
for the Duke of Suffolk, the king's body was put into a fresh wrapping
of lead and carried into an upper lumber-room. Some workmen engaged in
the house cut off the head out of sheer wantonness. Their master, a
glazier from Cheapside, carried the head with him to the city. There, on
his sideboard, the dried remnant of a crowned king, with its red hair
and beard, was long the admiration of the glazier's evening parties and
a subject of conversation for his guests. John Stow saw it there,
expostulated, purchased the anointed skull, and gave it quiet and decent
burial within the old church of St. Michael's.


_Discovery of the Body of Canute the Great._

In June, 1776, some workmen who were repairing Winchester Cathedral
discovered a monument which contained the body of King Canute. It was
remarkably fresh, had a wreath round the head and several ornaments of
gold and silver bands. On his finger was a ring, in which was set a
large and remarkably fine stone, and in one of his hands a silver coin.
The coin found in the hand is a singular instance of a continuance of
the Pagan custom of always providing the dead with money to pay Charon.


_Martyrdom of Isaiah._

There is a tradition that the prophet Isaiah suffered martyrdom by a
saw. The ancient book entitled, "The Ascension of Isaiah the Prophet,"
accords with the tradition. It says: "Then they seized Isaiah the son of
Amos and sawed him with a wooden saw. And Manasseh, Melakira, the false
prophets, the princess and the people, all stood looking on. But he
said to the prophets who were with him before he was sawn, 'Go ye to the
country of Tyre and Sidon, for the Lord hath mixed the cup for me
alone.' Neither while they were sawing him did he cry out nor weep, but
he continued addressing himself to the Holy Spirit until he was sawn
asunder."


_Courtship of William the Conqueror._

The following extract from the life of the wife of the Conqueror is
exceedingly curious as characteristic of the manners of a semi-civilized
age and nation:—

"After some years of delay, William appears to have become desperate,
and, if we may trust to the evidence of the 'Chronicle of Ingerbe,' he
waylaid Matilda in the streets of Bruges as she was returning from mass,
seized her, rolled her in the dirt, spoiled her rich array; and, not
content with these outrages, struck her repeatedly, then rode off at
full speed. This Teutonic method of courtship, according to our author,
brought the affair to a crisis: for Matilda, either convinced of the
strength of William's passion by the violence of his behaviour, or
afraid of encountering a second beating, consented to become his wife.
How he ever presumed to enter her presence again after such enormities
the chronicler sayeth not, and we are at a loss to imagine."


_Court Fools._

From very ancient times there existed a class of persons whose business
it was to amuse the rich and noble, particularly at table, by jests and
witty sayings. It was, however, during the Middle Ages that this
singular vocation became fully developed. The symbols of the court fool
were: the shaven crown, the fool's cap of gay colors with asses' ears
and cock's comb and bells, the fool's sceptre, and a wide collar. Some
of these professional fools obtained an historical reputation, as
Triboulet, jester to Francis I. of France; Klaus Narr, at the Court of
the Elector Frederic, the Wise of Prussia, and Scogan, court fool to
Edward IV. of England. Besides the regular fools, dressed and recognized
as such, there was a higher class called merry counsellors, generally
men of talent, who availed themselves of the privilege of free speech to
ridicule in the most merciless manner the follies and vices of their
contemporaries. At a later period, imbecile or weak-minded persons were
kept for the entertainment of company. Even ordinary noblemen considered
such an attendant indispensable, and thus the system reached its last
stage, and toward the end of the seventeenth century it was abolished.
It survived longest in Russia, where Peter the Great had so many fools
that he divided them into distinct classes.


_A Cunning Astrologer._

An astrologer in the reign of Louis XI. of France, having foretold
something disagreeable to the king, his majesty, in revenge, resolved to
have him killed. The next day he sent for the astrologer and ordered the
people about him, at a given signal, to throw him out of the window. The
king said to him: "You pretend to be such a wise man, and know so
perfectly the fate of others, inform me a little what will be your own,
and how long you have to live." The astrologer, who now began to
apprehend some danger, promptly answered, with great presence of mind,
"I know my destiny, and am sure I shall die three days before your
majesty." The king, on this, was so far from having him thrown out of
the window, that, on the contrary, he took particular care not to have
him want for anything, and did all that was possible to retard the death
of one whom he was likely soon to follow.


_Stone Barometer._

A Finland newspaper mentions a stone in the northern part of Finland
which serves the inhabitants instead of a barometer. This stone, which
they call Tlmakiur, turns black, or blackish gray, when it is going to
rain; but on the approach of fine weather it is covered with white
spots. Probably it is a fossil mixed with clay, and containing
rock-salt, nitre or ammonia, which, according to the degree of dampness
in the atmosphere, attracts it, or otherwise. In the latter case the
salt appears, forming the white spots.


_Crinoline in 1744._

Addison, who wrote a good deal about female fashions in the "Spectator,"
very much ridiculed the hoop-petticoat, which was so large, about the
year 1744, that a woman wearing one occupied the space of six men.


_Pagoda-shaped Head-dresses._

The head-dresses of the ladies in 1776 were remarkable for their
enormous height. Fashion ruled its votaries then as arbitrarily as in
our day. The _coiffure_ of a belle of fashion was described as "a
mountain of wool, hair, powder, lawn, muslin, net, lace, gauze, ribbon,
flowers, feathers and wire." Sometimes these varied materials were built
up tier upon tier, like the stages of a pagoda!


_Preserved in Salt._

We are told that Pharnaces caused the body of his father, Mithridates,
to be deposited in salt brine, in order that he might transmit it to
Pompey. Sigebert, who died in 1113, informs us that a like process was
employed upon the body of St. Guibert, that it might be kept during a
journey in summer. The priests preserved in salt the sow which afforded
a happy omen to Æneas by having brought forth a litter of thirty pigs,
as we are told by Varro, in whose time the animal was still shown at
Lavinium. The hippopotamus described by Columna was sent to him from
Egypt preserved in salt.


_Luxury in 1562._

The luxury of the present time does not equal, in one article at least,
that of the sixteenth century. Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, the queen's
ambassador at Paris, in a letter to Sir Thomas Chaloner, the ambassador
at Madrid, in June 1562, says—

"I pray you good my Lord Ambassador sende me two paire of perfumed
gloves, perfumed with orrange flowers and jacemin, th' one for my wives
hand, the other for mine owne; and wherin soever I can pleasure you with
anything in this countrey, you shall have it in recompence thereof, or
els so moche money as they shall coste you, provided alwaies that they
be of the best choise, wherin your judgment is inferior to none."


_Trains in the Fourteenth Century._

In Mr. Wright's collection of Latin stories, there is one of the
fourteenth century—a monkish satire upon dresses with long trains—

_Of a Proud Woman._—I have heard of a proud woman who wore a white
dress with a long train, which, trailing behind her, raised a dust as
far as the altar and the crucifix. But, as she left the church, and
lifted up her train on account of the dirt, a certain holy man saw a
devil laughing; and having adjured him to tell why he laughed, the
devil said: "A companion of mine was just now sitting on the train of
that woman, using it as if it were his chariot, but when she lifted her
train up, my companion was shaken off into the dirt, and that is why I
was laughing."


_Foppery in Eminent Men._

Peculiarities of dress, even amounting to foppery, so common among
eminent men, are carried off from ridicule by ease in some or
stateliness in others. We may smile at Chatham, scrupulously crowned in
his best wig, if intending to speak; at Erskine, drawing on his bright
yellow gloves before he rose to plead; at Horace Walpole, in a cravat of
Gibbon's carvings; at Raleigh, loading his shoes with jewels so heavy
that he could scarcely walk; at Petrarch, pinching his feet till he
crippled them; at the rings which covered the philosophical fingers of
Aristotle; at the bare throat of Byron; the American dress of Rousseau;
the scarlet and gold coat of Voltaire; or the prudent carefulness with
which Cæsar scratched his head so as not to disturb the locks arranged
over the bald place. But most of these men, we apprehend, found it easy
to enforce respect and curb impertinence.—_Edinburgh Review._


_The Turban in Arabia._

A fashionable Arab will wear fifteen caps one above the other, some of
which are linen, but the greater part of which are thick cloth or
cotton. That which covers the whole is richly embroidered with gold, and
inwrought with texts or passages from the Koran. Over all there is
wrapped a sash or large piece of muslin, with the ends hanging down, and
ornamented with silk or gold fringe. This useless encumbrance is
considered a mark of respect towards superiors. It is also used, as the
beard was formerly in Europe, to indicate literary merit; and those who
affect to be thought men of learning, discover their pretensions by the
size of their turbans. No part of oriental costume is so variable as
this covering for the head. Niebuhr has given illustrations of
forty-eight different ways of wearing it.—_King._


_Queen Elizabeth's Dresses._

The list of the queen's wardrobe, in 1600, shows us that she had then
_only_ 99 robes, 126 kirtles, 269 gowns (round, loose and French), 136
fore parts, 125 petticoats, 27 fans, 96 cloaks, 83 safe guards, 85
doublets, 18 lap mantles.


_Absurdities of the Toilet._

The ladies of Japan gild their teeth; those of the Indies paint them
red; while in Guzerat the test of beauty is to render them sable. In
Greenland the women used to color their faces blue and yellow. The
Chinese torture their feet into the smallest possible dimensions. The
ancient Peruvians used to flatten their heads; among other nations, the
mothers, in a similar way, maltreat the nose of their offspring.


_Gambling for Fingers._

Such is the passion among the Chinese for gambling, that when they have
lost all their money they will stake houses, lands, their wives, the
clothes on their backs. Those who have nothing more to lose will collect
around a table and actually play for _their fingers_, which they will
cut off reciprocally with frightful stoicism.—_Hue's Chinese Empire._


_Pigmies._

"Among vulgar errors is set down this, that there is a nation of
pigmies, not above two or three feet high, and that they solemnly set
themselves in battle to fight against the cranes."—_Strabo._

"Strabo thought this a fiction; and our age, which has fully discovered
all the wonders of the world, as fully declares it to be one."—_Brand._

This refers to accounts of the Pechinians of Ethiopia, who are
represented of small stature, and as being accustomed every year to
drive away the cranes which flocked to their country in the winter. They
are portrayed on ancient gems as mounted on cocks or partridges, to
fight the cranes; or carrying grasshoppers, and leaning on staves to
support the burden.


_The Letter "M" and the Napoleons._

The "Frankforter Journal," of September 21st, 1870, remarked, that among
other superstitions peculiar to the Napoleons, is that of regarding the
letter M as ominous, either of good or of evil, and it took the pains to
make the following catalogue of men, things and events, the names of
which begin with M, with the view of showing that the two emperors of
France had cause for considering the letter a red or a black one,
according to circumstances.

It says, "Marbœuf was the first to recognize the genius of Napoleon I.
at the military college. Marengo was the first great battle won by
General Bonaparte, and Melas made room for him in Italy. Mortier was one
of his best generals, Moreau betrayed him, and Marat was the first
martyr to his cause. Marie Louise shared his highest fortunes; Moscow
was the abyss of ruin into which he fell. Metternich vanquished him in
the field of diplomacy. Six marshals (Massena, Mortie, Marmont,
Macdonald, Murat, Moncey) and twenty-six generals of division under
Napoleon I. had the letter M for their initial. Marat, Duke of Bassano,
was his most trusted counsellor. His first battle was that of
Montenotte; his last, Mont St. Jean, as the French term Waterloo. He won
the battles of Millesimo, Mondovi, Montmirail and Montereau; then came
the storming of Montmartre. Milan was the first enemy's capital, and
Moscow the last, into which he entered victorious. He lost Egypt through
Menou, and employed Miellis to take Pius VIII. prisoner. Mallet
conspired against him; Murat was the first to desert him, then Marmont.
Three of his ministers were Maret, Montalivet and Mallieu; his first
charmberlaind was Montesquien. His last halting place in France was
Malmaison. He surrendered to Captain Maitland, and his companions at St.
Helena were Montholon and his valet Marchand."

If we turn to the career of his nephew, Napoleon III., we find the same
letter no less prominent, and it is said that he attached even greater
importance to its mystic influence than did his uncle.


_The Physician's Symbol._

De Paris tells us that the Physician of the present day continues to
prefix to his prescriptions the letter R, which is generally supposed to
mean _Recipe_, but which is, in truth, a relic of the astrological
symbol of Jupiter, formerly used as a species of superstitious
invocation.


_Chinese Giants._

The Chinese pretend to have men among them so prodigious as fifteen feet
high. Melchior Nunnez, in his letters from India, speaks of porters who
guarded the gates of Pekin, who were of that immense height; and in a
letter dated in 1555, he avers that the emperor of that country
entertained and fed five hundred of such men for archers of his guard.
Hakewill, in his "Apologie," 1627, repeats this story. Purchas, in his
"Pilgrimes," 1625, refers to a man in China who "was cloathed with a
tyger's skin, the hayre outward, his arms, head and legges bare, with a
rude pole in his hand; well-shaped, seeming ten palmes or spans long;
his hayre hanging on his shoulders."


_Trying Land Titles in Hindostan._

According to the "Asiatic Researches," a very curious mode of trying the
titles of land is practised in Hindostan: Two holes are dug in the
disputed spot, in each of which the lawyer for the plaintiff and the
lawyer for the defendant put one of their legs, and remain there until
one of them is tired or complains of being stung by the insects, in
which case his client is defeated. In this country it is the _client_,
and not the lawyer, who _puts his foot into it_.


_An Asylum for Destitute Cats._

Of all the curious charitable institutions in the world, the most
curious, probably, is the Cat Asylum at Aleppo, which is attached to one
of the mosques there, and was founded by a misanthropic old Turk, who,
being possessed of large granaries, was much annoyed by rats and mice,
to rid himself of which he employed a legion of cats, who so effectually
rendered him service, that in return he left them a sum in the Turkish
funds, with strict injunctions that all destitute and sickly cats should
be provided for till such time as they took themselves off again. In
1845, when a famine was raging in all North Syria, when scores of poor
people were dropping down in the streets and dying there, from sheer
exhaustion and want, men might daily be encountered carrying away sack
loads of cats to be well fed on the proceeds of the last will and
testament of that vagabond old Turk.


_Treasure Digging._

A patent passed the great seal in the fifteenth year of James I. "to
allow to Mary Middlemore, one of the maydes of honor to our dearest
consort Queen Anne (of Denmark), and her deputies, power and authority
to enter into the abbies of St. Albans, St. Edmunsbury, Glassenbury and
Ramsay, and into all lands, houses and places, within a mile belonging
to said abbies, there to dig and search after treasure supposed to be
hidden in such places."


_House of Hen's Feathers._

There exists at Pekin a phalanstery which surpasses in eccentrictity all
that the fertile imagination of Fourier could have conceived. It is
called Ki-mao-fan; that is, "House of Hen's Feathers." This marvellous
establishment is simply composed of one great hall, the floor of which
is covered over its whole extent with one vast, thick layer of feathers.
Mendicants and vagabonds who have no other domicile come to pass the
night in this immense dormitory. Men, women and children, old and young,
are admitted without exception. Every one settles himself, and makes his
nest as well as he can for the night in this ocean of feathers. When day
dawns he must quit the premises, and an officer of the company stands at
the door to receive the rent of one sapeck (one-fifth of a farthing)
each for the night's lodging. In deference, no doubt, to the principle
of equality, half places are not allowed, and a child must pay the same
as a grown person.

On the first establishment of this eminently philanthropic institution,
the managers of it furnished each of the guests with a covering; but it
was found necessary to modify this regulation, for the communist company
got into the habit of carrying off their coverlets to sell them, or to
supply an additional garment during the cold weather. It was necessary,
therefore, to devise some method of reconciling the interests of the
establishment with the comfort of the guests, and the way in which the
problem was solved was this—

An immense coverlet, of such gigantic dimensions as to cover the whole
dormitory, was made, and in the day-time suspended from the ceiling like
a great canopy. When everybody had gone to bed—that is to say, had lain
down upon the feathers—the counterpane was let down by pulleys, the
precaution having been previously taken to make a number of holes in it
for the sleepers to put their heads through in order to escape the
danger of suffocation. As soon as it is daylight the phalansterian
coverlet is hoisted up again, after a signal has been made on the
tam-tam to awaken those who are asleep, and invite them to draw their
heads back into the feathers in order not to be caught by the neck.


_St. George's Cavern._

Near the town of Moldavia, on the Danube, is shown the cavern where St.
George slew the dragon, from which, at certain periods, issue myriads of
small flies, which tradition reports to proceed from the carcass of the
dragon. It is thought when the Danube rises, as it does in the early
part of the summer, the caverns are flooded, and the water which remains
in them becomes putrid, and produces the noxious fly. But this
supposition appears to be at fault, for the people closed up the
caverns, and still they were annoyed with the flies. The latter resemble
mosquitoes, and appear in such swarms as to look like a volume of smoke,
sometimes covering a space of six to seven miles. Covered with these
insects, horses not unfrequently gallop about until death puts an end to
their sufferings. Shepherds anoint their hands with a decoction of
wormwood, and keep large fires burning to protect themselves from them.


_Remarkable Echoes._

In the gardens of Les Rochas, which was the residence of Madame de
Sevigne, is a remarkable echo which finely illustrates the conducting
and reverberating powers of a flat surface. The chateau is situated near
the old town of Vitre. A broad gravel walk on a dead flat conducts
through the garden to the house. In the centre of this, on a particular
spot, the listener is placed at the distance of about ten or twelve
yards from another person, who, similarly placed addresses him in a low
and, in the common acceptation of the term, inaudible whisper, when,
"Lo! what myriads rise!" for immediately, from thousands and tens of
thousands of invisible tongues, starting from the earth beneath, or as
if every pebble was gifted with powers of speech, the sentence is
repeated with a slight hissing sound, not unlike the whirling of small
shot through the air. On removing from this spot, however trifling the
distance, the intensity of the repetition is sensibly diminished, and
within a few feet ceases to be heard. Under the idea that the ground was
hollow beneath, the soil has been dug up to a considerable depth, but
without discovering any clue to the solution of the mystery.

An echo in Woodstock Park, Oxfordshire, repeats seventeen syllables by
day and twenty by night. One on the bank of the Lago del Lupo, above the
fall of Terni, repeats fifteen. The most remarkable echo known is one
on the north side of Shipley church, in Sussex, which distinctly repeats
twenty-one syllables. In the Abbey church at St. Albans is a curious
echo. The tick of a watch may be heard from one end of the church to the
other. In Gloucester Cathedral a gallery of an octagonal form conveys a
whisper seventy-five feet across the nave.

In the Cathedral of Girgenti, in Sicily, the slightest whisper is borne
with perfect distinctness from the great door to the cornice behind the
high altar, a distance of two hundred and fifty feet. In the whispering
gallery of St. Paul's, London, the faintest sound is faithfully conveyed
from one side of the dome to another, but is not heard at any
intermediate point.

In the Manfroni Palace at Venice is a square room, about twenty-five
feet high, with a concave roof, in which a person standing in the centre
and stamping gently with his foot on the floor, hears the sound repeated
a great many times; but as his position deviates from the centre, the
reflected sounds grow fainter, and at a short distance wholly cease. The
same phenomenon occurs in a large room of the library of the Museum at
Naples.


_Moving Gods._

The Italian temples were celebrated for their moving gods. In the fane
of the two fortunes at Antium, the goddess moved her arms and head when
that solemnity was required. So at Præneste, the figures of the youthful
Jupiter and Juno, lying in the lap of Fortune, moved, and thereby
excited awe. The marble Servius Tullius is said to have shaded his eyes
with his hand whenever that remarkably strong-minded woman, his daughter
and murderess, passed before him. When the Athenians were tardy in
deserting their capital, and taking to the ships for flight, it is said
that the sacred wooden dragon of Minerva rolled himself out of the
temple and down into the sea, as though to indicate to the people the
direction in which safety was to be secured.—_Dr. Doran._


_Roving Tinkers._

In the Irish county of Donegal there is a tradition antagonistic to the
race of tinkers. The alleged cause of this is the belief that, when the
blacksmith was ordered to make nails for the Cross, he refused, but that
the tinker consented. Hence he and his race had cast on them the doom of
being perpetual wanderers, without any roof to cover them.


_The Freischutz._

The free-shooters is the name given in the legend to a hunter or
marksman who, by entering into a compact with the devil, procured balls,
six of which infallibly hit, however great the distance, while the
seventh, or, according to some, one of the seven, belonged to the devil,
who directed it at his pleasure. Legends of this nature were rife among
the troopers of Germany of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and
during the thirty years' war. The story was adapted, in 1843, to the
opera composed by Weber in 1821, which has made it known in all
civilized countries.


_Moon-struck._

In the 121st Psalm it is written of those who put their trust in God's
protection, "The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by
night." The allusion to the moon is explained by the common belief in
the East that exposure to the moon's rays while sleeping is injurious.
Travelers in oriental countries have noticed that when the natives slept
out of doors they invariably, if the moon was shining, covered their
faces.


_Curious Locality for Saying Prayers._

Francis Atkins was porter at the palace gate at Salisbury from the time
of Bishop Burnet to the period of his death, in 1761, at the age of 104
years. It was his office every night to wind up the clock, which he was
capable of performing regularly till within a year of his decease,
though on the summit of the palace. In ascending the lofty flight of
stairs, he usually made a halt at a particular place and said his
evening prayers. He lived a regular and temperate life, and took a great
deal of exercise; he walked well, and carried his frame upright and
well-balanced to the last.


_Egyptian Physicians._

Montaigne says it was an Egyptian law that the physician, for the first
three days, should take charge of a patient at the patient's peril, but
afterwards at his own. He mentions that, in his time, physicians gave
their pills in odd numbers, appointed remarkable days in the year for
taking medicine, gathered their simples at certain hours, assumed
austere and even severe looks, and prescribed, among their choice drugs,
the left foot of a tortoise, the liver of a mole, and blood drawn from
under the wing of a white pigeon.


_Not Divine until Smeared with Red Paint._

The inhabitants of the village of Balonda, in Africa, manufacture their
idols by rudely carving a head upon a crooked stick. There is nothing
divine about the idol, however, until it is dotted over with a mixture
of medicine and red ochre.—_Livingstone._


_Gipsy Reticence._

A gipsy will never give a history of himself nor of his race. "My father
is a crow, and my mother a magpie," is frequently the only answer
obtained.


_Carrying Coals to Newcastle._

The old North of England phrase, "To carry coals to Newcastle," finds
its parallel in the Persian taunt of "carrying pepper to Hindostan," and
in the Hebrew, "To carry oil to the City of Olives."


_Mammoth Pawnbroker's Shop._

The _Monte de piété_, in Paris, established by royal command in 1717,
often has in its possession forty casks filled with gold watches that
have been pledged.


_Half-Penny and Farthing._

In 1060, when William the Conqueror began to reign, the penny was cast
with a deep cross, so that it might be broken in half, as a half-penny,
or in quarters, for _four_-things or _far_things, as we now call them.


_An Egg Mistaken for a Pearl._

Linnæus announced to the king and council, in 1761, that he had
discovered an art by which mussels might be made to produce pearls. In
the year 1763 it was said, in the German newspapers that Linnæus was
ennobled on account of his discovery, and that he bore a pearl in his
coat-of-arms. Both statements were false. His patent of nobility makes
no mention of the pearl discovery, and what in his arms has been taken
for a pearl is an egg, which is meant to represent all nature, after the
manner of the ancient Egyptians.


_Spacious Halls._

The old English halls were sometimes so spacious as to admit of a knight
riding up to the high table, as the champion of England was accustomed
to do at the coronation. Chaucer says—

     "In at the hall door all suddenly
     There came a knight upon a steed,
     And up he rideth to the high board."


_Medallions only for the Royal._

Medallions, prior to the time of Hadrian, are rare and of great value,
one of the most beautiful and most famous being a gold medallion of
Augustus Cæsar. Of the Roman medallions, some were struck by order of
the emperors—some by order of the senate. No portrait of a person not
princely occurs on any ancient medal—a remarkable circumstance,
considering the numerous contemporary poets, historians and
philosophers.


_The Queen's Vow._

Catherine de Medicis made a vow, that if some enterprises which she had
undertaken terminated successfully, she would send a pilgrim on foot to
Jerusalem, and that at every three steps he advanced he should go one
step back. A citizen of Verberic offered to accomplish the queen's vow
most scrupulously, and her majesty promised him an adequate recompense.
She was well assured, by constant inquiries, that he fulfilled his
engagement with exactness, and on his return he received a considerable
sum of money and was ennobled.


_Swearing on the Book._

In testimony, oaths have always been associated with something to be
touched or kissed. In England people used to kiss their thumbs instead
of the Bible, and so supposed that they had saved their consciences. A
rustic, in one of Mr. Meredith's novels says, "I swore, but not upon
oath," meaning that he had kissed his thumb, not the book. Arthur Orton,
in the Bush, laid his hand on a copy of Sheridan's plays, "which, though
not a Bible, bore a cross." So Zeus lays his hand on the earth, in
Homer, when he swears by that planetary body. People had to touch relics
when they swore in the Middle Ages, as in the famous oath of Harold. The
Danes, when they invaded England, were ready to take any oath with
impunity, save that of touching a certain sacred ring or armlet. Hamlet
made his comrades lay their hands on the blade of his sword.


_Chinese Oath._

At the Thames public office, in London, some years ago, two Chinese
sailors were examined on a charge of assaulting another Chinese sailor.
The complainant was examined according to the custom of their country. A
Chinese saucer being given to him, and another to the interpreter, they
both advanced toward the window, directed their eyes to heaven, and
repeated in their own tongue the following: "In the face of God I break
this saucer; if it comes together again, Chinaman has told a lie, and
expects not to live five days; if it remains asunder, Chinaman has told
the truth, and escapes the vengeance of the Almighty." They then smashed
the saucers in pieces on the floor, and returned to their places to be
examined.


_Color of the Hat for Cardinals._

Innocent IV. first made the hat the symbol or cognizance of the
cardinals, enjoining them to wear a _red_ hat at the ceremonies and
processions, in token of their being ready to spill their blood for the
Saviour.


_Cat-Concert._

Some years ago there was a cat-concert held in Paris. It was called
"Concert Miaulant," from the mewing of the animals. They were trained by
having their tails pulled every time a certain note was struck, and the
unpleasant remembrance caused them to mew each time they heard the sound
again.


_Mob Wisdom._

A singular instance of a mob cheating themselves by their own headlong
impetuosity is to be found in the life of Woodward, the comedian. On one
occasion, when he was in Dublin, and lodged opposite the Parliament
House, a mob, who were making the members swear to oppose an unpopular
bill, called out to his family to throw them a Bible out of the window.
Mr. Woodward was frightened, for they had no such book in the house, but
he threw them out a volume of Shakespeare, telling the mob they were
welcome to it. They gave him three cheers, swore the members upon the
book, and afterwards returned it without having discovered its
character.


_Queer Arctic Music._

One of the greatest curiosities in the arctic regions is the music which
the traveler has with him wherever he goes. The moisture exhaled from
his body is at once condensed and frozen, and falls to the ground in the
form of hard spikes of crystals, which keep up a constant and not
unpleasing clatter.


_Fineness of Indian Muslins._

At the time of the Great Exhibition of 1851, the local committee of
Dacca, in India, gave notice that they would award prizes for the best
piece of muslin that could be woven in time for the Exhibition. The
piece which received the first prize was ten yards long and one yard
wide, weighed only three ozs. two dwts., and could be passed through a
very small ring.—_Prof. Royle._


_Mummies Converted into Paint._

Few persons are aware that veritable Egyptian mummies are ground into
paint. In Europe mummies are used for this purpose—the asphaltum with
which they are impregnated being of a quality far superior to that which
can elsewhere be obtained, and producing a peculiar brownish tint when
made into paint, which is highly prized by distinguished artists. The
ancient Egyptians, when they put away their dead, wrapped them in
clothes saturated with asphaltum, and could never have realized the fact
that ages after they had been laid in the tombs and pyramids along the
Nile, their dust would be used in painting pictures in a country then
undiscovered, and by artists whose languages were unknown to them.


_Swallowed by an Earthquake and Thrown out Again._

A tombstone in the island of Jamaica has the following inscription:
"Here lieth the body of Lewis Galdy, Esq., who died on the 22d of
September, 1737, aged 80. He was born at Montpellier, in France, which
place he left for his religion, and settled on this island, where, in
the great earthquake, 1672, he was swallowed up, and by the wonderful
providence of God, by a second shock was thrown out into the sea, where
he continued swimming until he was taken up by a boat, and thus
miraculously preserved. He afterwards lived in great reputation, and
died universally lamented."


_Scripture Prices._

Abraham paid 400 shekels of silver ($200) for a piece of land for a
burying-place. In Solomon's time (1 Kings x. 29) it is mentioned that
the price of a chariot from Egypt was 600 shekels of silver ($250). The
price of a horse was 150 shekels (about $72).—_Wells._


_Manufacturing Feat._

In 1811 a gentleman made a bet of one thousand guineas that he would
have a coat made in a single day, from the first process of shearing the
sheep till its completion by the tailor. The wager was decided at
Newbury, England, on the 25th of June in that year, by Mr. John Coxeter,
of Greenham mills, near that town. At five o'clock that morning Sir
John Throckmorton presented two Southdown sheep to Mr. Coxeter, and the
sheep were shorn, the wool spun, the yarn spooled, warped, loomed and
wove, the cloth burred, milled, rowed, dried, sheared and pressed, and
put into the hands of the tailors by four o'clock that afternoon. At
twenty minutes past six the coat, entirely finished, was handed by Mr.
Coxeter to Sir John Throckmorton, who appeared with it before more than
five thousand spectators, who rent the air with acclamations at this
remarkable instance of despatch.


_Wall Paper Pattern._

In the Great Exhibition at London, in 1851, a single pattern of wall
paper, representing a chase in a forest, attracted much attention. To
produce the pattern, twelve thousand blocks had been used.


_Feathers for the Ladies._

Statistics of a late feather sale in England show that to furnish
material for that one sale, at least 9,700 herons or egrets and 15,574
humming birds must have been killed.


_A Man Carries his House on his Head._

Simeon Ellerton, of Craike, Durham, died in 1799, aged 104. This man, in
his day, was a noted pedestrian, and before the establishment of regular
"Posts," was frequently employed in walking commissions, from the
northern counties to London and other places, which he executed with
fidelity and despatch. He lived in a neat stone cottage of his own
erecting, and, what is remarkable, he had literally carried his house on
his head. It was his constant practice to bring back with him from
every journey which he undertook, some suitable stone, or other material
for his purpose, and which, not unfrequently, he carried 40 or 50 miles
on his head.


_Queen Anne's Farthings._

The farthings of Queen Anne have attained a celebrity from the large
prices sometimes given for them by collectors. Their rarity, however,
has been much overrated; it was, indeed, long a popular notion that only
three farthings were struck in her reign, of which two were in public
keeping, while a third was still going about, and, if recovered, would
bring a fabulous price. The Queen Anne farthings were designed by a
German named Crocker or Croker, principal engraver to the mint. They
were only patterns of an intended coin, and, though never put into
circulation, are by no means exceedingly rare.


_No Lead in Lead Pencils._

Lead pencils contain no lead. Lead pencil is as much a misnomer as it
would be to call a horse a cow. Red lead is an oxide of lead, and white
lead is a carbonate of lead, but the black lead used in pencils is
neither a metal nor a compound of metal. It is plumbago or graphite, one
of the forms of carbon.


_Whalebone._

This substance is improperly named, since it has none of the properties
of bone; its correct name is baleen. It is found attached to the upper
jaw, and serves to strain the water which the whale takes into its
mouth, and to retain the small animals upon which it subsists. For this
purpose the baleen is abundant, sometimes eight hundred pieces in one
whale, placed across each other at regular distances, with the fringed
edge towards the mouth.


_Light from Potatoes._

The emission of light from the common potato, when in a state of
decomposition, is sometimes very striking. Dr. Phipson, in his work on
"Phosphorescence," mentions a case in which the light thus emitted from
a cellarful of these vegetables was so strong as to lead an officer on
guard at Strasburg to believe that the barracks were on fire.


_A Very Long Word._

The longest Nipmuck word in Eliot's Indian Bible is in St. Mark i. 40,
_Wutteppesittukgussunnoowehtunkquoh_, and signifies "kneeling down to
him."


_Cobblers' Stalls in Rome._

The streets of Rome in the time of Domitian were so blocked up with
cobblers' stalls that he caused them to be removed.


_Luminous Human Bodies._

Bartholin, in his treatise "De Luce Hominumet Brutorum" (1647), gives an
account of an Italian lady whom he designates as "mulier splendens,"
whose body shone with phosphoric radiations when gently rubbed with dry
linen; and Dr. Kane, in his last voyage to the polar regions, witnessed
almost as remarkable a case of phosphorescence. A few cases are recorded
by Sir H. Marsh, Professor Donovan and other undoubted authorities, in
which the human body, shortly before death, has presented a pale,
luminous appearance.


_Sacred Anchors._

The ancient Greek vessels carried several anchors, one of which, called
the "sacred anchor," was never let go until the ship was in dire
distress.


_Anne Boleyn's Gloves._

Anne Boleyn was remarkably dainty about her gloves. She had a nail which
turned up at the sides, and it was the delight of Queen Catherine to
make her play at cards without her gloves, in order that the deformity
might disgust King Hal.


_Adding Insult to Injury._

This expression has reached us from a fable by Phædrus, a Roman author
who lived in the reign of Augustus Cæsar, and whose writings were first
discovered to modern literature in 1596, at Rheims, in France. The fable
is called "The Bald Man and the Fly," and reads as follows:—

"A fly bit the bare pate of a bald man, who, endeavoring to crush it,
gave himself a heavy blow. Then said the fly, jeeringly, 'You wanted to
avenge the sting of a tiny insect with death. What will you do to
yourself, who have added insult to injury?'"


_St. Anthony's Fire._

St. Anthony's fire is an inflammatory disease which, in the eleventh
century, raged violently in various parts. According to the legend, the
intercession of St. Anthony was prayed for, when it miraculously ceased;
and, therefore, from that time, the complaint has been called St.
Anthony's fire.


_Before Houses were Numbered._

Before houses were numbered it was a common practice with tradesmen not
much known, when they advertised, to mention the color of their next
neighbor's door, balcony or lamp, of which custom the following copy of
a hand-bill presents a curious instance:—

"Next to the _Golden Door_, opposite Great Suffolk street, near Pall
Mall, at the Barber's Pole, liveth a certain person, Robert Barker, who
has found out an excellent method for sweating or fluxing of wiggs; his
prices are 2_s._ 6_d._ for each bob, and 3_s._ for every tye wigg and
pig-tail, ready money."


_Monkish Prayers._

The monks used to say their prayers no less than seven times in
twenty-four hours—

  1st. Nocturnal, at cock-crowing (2 o'clock in the morning).
  2d.  Matins, at 6 o'clock in the morning.
  3d.  Tierce, at 9 o'clock in the morning.
  4th. Sext, at 12 o'clock noon.
  5th. None, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
  6th. Vespers, at 6 o'clock in the afternoon.
  7th. Compline, soon after 7.

Quarles wrote a neat epigram on the subject—

    "For all our prayers the Almighty does regard
     The judgment of the _balance_, not the _yard_;
     He loves not words, but matter; 't is His pleasure
     To buy His wares by _weight_, and not by _measure_."


_A Mammoth Feast._

Leland mentions a feast given by the Archbishop of York, at his
installation, in the reign of Edward IV. There were disposed of—300
quarters of wheat, 300 tuns of ale, 100 tuns of wine, 1000 sheep, 104
oxen, 304 calves, 304 swine, 2000 geese, 1000 capons, 400 swans, 104
peacocks, 1500 hot vension pasties, 4000 cold ones, 5000 custards, hot
and cold.


_Gluttony of the Monks._

The monks of St. Swithin made formal complaint to Henry II. because the
Abbot deprived them of three dishes out of thirteen at every meal. The
monks of Canterbury had seventeen rich and savory dishes every day.


_Ancient Smokers._

When the ancient tower of Kukstatt Abbey fell, in 1779, Whitaker, a few
days afterwards, discovered, embedded in the mortar of the fallen
fragments, several little smoking pipes, such as were used in the reign
of James I., for tobacco, a proof of the fact, which has not been
generally recorded, that long prior to the introduction of that plant
from America, the practice of inhaling the smoke of some indigenous
vegetable prevailed in England.


_Gipsy Dance._

The gipsy women of Spain especially and exclusively dance the Romalis,
imported from the Orient. It is said to be the voluptuous dance which
the daughter of Herodias danced before Herod and his court.


_Chinese Medical Prescriptions._

The Chinese divide their prescriptions into seven classes: 1. The great
prescription; 2. The little prescription; 3. The slow prescription; 4.
The prompt prescription; 5. The odd prescription; 6. The even
prescription; 7. The double prescription. Each of these recipes apply to
particular cases, and the ingredients are weighed with scrupulous
accuracy.


_Queer Evidence of Divinity._

Among the ancients the voluntary motion of inanimate objects was
considered an evidence of their divinity. When Juno paid her celebrated
visit to Vulcan, she found him engaged in the manufacture of tripods,
which moved about and performed their office with a bustling air of
zealous activity—

    "Full twenty tripods for his hall be framed,
     That, placed on living wheels of massive gold,
     Wondrous to tell, instinct with spirit, roll'd
     From place to place around the blest abodes,
     Self-moved, obedient to the beck of gods."


_Picnics Centuries Ago._

Mainwaring, in a letter to the Earl of Arundel, dated November 22d,
1618, says: "The prince his birthday has been solemnized here by the few
marquises and lords which found themselves here; and (to supply the want
of lords) knights and squires were added to a consultation, wherein it
was resolved that such a number should meet at Gamiges, _and bring every
man his dish of meat_. It was left to their own choice what to bring;
some chose to be substantial, some curious, some extravagant. Sir George
Young's invention bore away the bell, and that was four huge brawny
pigs, piping hot, bitted and harnessed with ropes of sarsiges, all tied
to a monstrous bag-pudding."


_Skeletons at Feasts._

In old times the guests at an Egyptian feast, when they grew hilarious,
were called back to sober propriety by the exhibition of a little
skeleton, and the admonition to reflect upon the lesson it conveyed.


_Hair Cutting in Russia._

Among the lower classes in Russia, the barber, a primitive artist, claps
an earthen pot over the head and ears, and trims off whatever hair
protrudes from the pot.


_Antiquity of Tarring and Feathering._

Tarring and feathering, it seems, is an European invention. One of
Richard Cœur de Leon's ordinances for seamen was, "that if any man were
taken with theft and pickery, and thereof convicted, he should have his
head polled, and hot pitch poured upon his pate, and upon that the
feathers of some pillow or cushion shaken aloft, that he might thereby
be known as a thief, and at the next arrival of the ships to any land be
put forth of the company to seek his adventures without all hope of
return unto his fellows."—_Holinshed_.


_Grinning for a Wager._

In 1796, at Hendon, England, on Whit-Tuesday, a burlesque imitation of
the Olympic Games was held. One prize was a gold-laced hat, to be
grinned for by six candidates, who were placed on a platform with
horse-collars to exhibit through. Over their heads was printed in
capitals—

    Detur Tetriori; or,
    The ugliest grinner
    Shall be the winner.

Each party grinned five minutes _solus_, and then all united in a grand
_chorus_ of distortion. The prize was carried off by a porter to a
_vinegar_ merchant, though he was accused by his competitors of foul
play for rinsing his mouth with _verjuice_.


_Eating for a Wager._

The hand-bill, of which the subjoined is a copy, was circulated by the
keeper of the public house at which the gluttony was to happen, as an
attraction for all the neighborhood to witness—

"_Bromley in Kent_, July 14th, 1726.—A strange eating worthy is to
perform a Tryal of Skill on St. James's Day, which is the day of our
_Fair_, for a wager of Five Guineas, viz: he is to eat four pounds of
bacon, a bushel of French beans, with two pounds of butter, a quartern
loaf, and to drink a gallon of strong beer."


_Curious Wagers._

Mr. Whalley, an Irish gentleman, for a wager of twenty thousand pounds,
set out on Monday, the 22d of September, 1788, to walk to Constantinople
and back in one year. Some years ago Sir Henry Liddel, a rich baronet,
laid a considerable wager that he would go to Lapland, bring home two
females of that country, and two reindeer, in a given time. He performed
the journey, and effected his purpose in every respect. The Lapland
women lived with him about a year, but, desiring to go back to their own
country, the baronet furnished them with the means.


_The Jumping Jack._

This toy is of quite antiquated parentage. In the tombs of ancient Egypt
figures have been found whose limbs were made movable, for the delight
of children, before Moses was born.


_Love-handkerchiefs._

At one time it was the custom in England to present love-handkerchiefs.
They were not more than three or four inches square, wrought with
embroidery, a tassel at each corner and a small button in the centre.
The finest of these favors were edged with narrow gold lace or twist,
and then, being folded up in four cross-folds, so that the middle might
be seen, they were worn by the accepted lovers in their hats or on the
breast. These tokens of love became at last so much in vogue that they
were sold ready-made in the shops in Elizabeth's time at from sixpence
to sixteen-pence apiece. Tokens were also given by the gentlemen, and
accepted by the ladies, as is indicated in an old comedy of the time—

    "Given earrings we will wear,
     Bracelets of our lover's hair;
     Which they on our arms shall twist,
     (With our names carved) on our wrists."


_Umbrellas._

Umbrellas are an older invention than some writers would have us
suppose. Even the usually entertained notion that Jonas Hanway
introduced the umbrella into England, in the year 1752, is proved to be
false by evidence that can be cited. Ben Jonson refers to it by name in
a comedy produced in 1616; and so do Beaumont and Fletcher in "Rule a
Wife and Have a Wife." Swift, in the "Tatler" of October 17th, 1710,
says, in "The City Shower"—

    "The tucked-up seamstress walks with hasty strides,
     While streams run down her oiled umbrella's sides."

The following couplet also occurs in a poem written by Gay in 1712—

    "Housewives underneath th' umbrella's oily shed
     Safe through the wet in clinking pattens tread."

It is probable that Hanway was the first _man_ seen carrying an umbrella
in London.

At Persepolis, in Persia, are some sculptures supposed to be as old as
the time of Alexander the Great, and on one of these is represented a
chief or king, over whose head some servants are holding an umbrella. At
Takht-i-Bostan are other sculptures, one of which is a king witnessing a
boar hunt attended by an umbrella-bearer. Recent discoveries at Nineveh
show that the umbrella was in use there, it being common to the
sculpturings, but always represented open. The same is to be seen upon
the celebrated Hamilton vases preserved in the British Museum. In many
Chinese drawings ladies are attended by servants holding umbrellas over
their heads.

Loubère, who went to Siam as envoy from the king of France, describes
the use of umbrellas as being governed by curious regulations. Those
umbrellas resembling ours are used principally by the officers of state;
while those several tiers in height, as if two or more umbrellas were
fixed on one stick, are reserved for the king alone. In Ava, a country
adjacent to Siam, the king designates himself, among other titles, as
"Lord of the Ebbing and Flowing Tide, King of the White Elephant, and
Lord of the Twenty-four Umbrellas." This last title, although ridiculous
to us, is supposed to relate to twenty-four states or provinces combined
under the rule of the king, the umbrella being especially a royal emblem
in Ava. The umbrella is also the distinguishing sign of sovereignty in
Morocco.


_Fashionable Disfigurement._

The custom of dotting the face with black patches, of different
patterns, was introduced into England and France from Arabia, and was at
its height during the reign of Charles I. The ladies, old and young,
covered their faces with black spots shaped like suns, moons, stars,
hearts, crosses and lozenges, and some even carried the mode to the
extravagant extent of shapening the patches to represent a carriage and
horses.


_Fine for Insulting a King._

The use of gold and silver was not unknown to the Welsh in 842, when
their laws were collected. The man who dared to insult the king of
Aberfraw was to pay (besides certain cows and a silver rod) a cup which
would hold as much wine as his majesty could swallow at a draught. It
was to be made of gold; its cover was to be as broad as the king's face,
and the whole as thick as a goose's egg or a ploughman's thumbnail.


_True-Lovers' Knots._

Among the ancient Northern nations a knot was the symbol of indissoluble
love, faith and friendship. Hence the ancient runic inscriptions are in
the form of a knot, and hence, among the Northern English and Scots,
who still retain, in a great measure, the language and manners of the
ancient Danes, that curious kind of knot exists which is a mutual
present between the lover and his mistress, and which, being considered
as the emblem of plighted fidelity, is therefore called "a true-love
knot." The name is not derived, however, as would be naturally supposed,
from the words "true" and "love," but is formed from the Danish verb
"trulofa," _fidem do_, I plight my troth or faith. In Davidson's
"Poetical Rhapsody," published in 1611, the following is the opening
verse of a poem entitled "The True-Love's Knot"—

    "Love is the linke, the knot, the band of unity,
     And all that love do love with their beloved to be;
           Love only did decree
           To change this kind in me."


_Hundred Families' Lock._

A common Chinese talisman is the "hundred families' lock," to procure
which a father goes round among his friends, and, having obtained from
an hundred different parties a few of the copper coins of the country,
he himself adds the balance to purchase an ornament or appendage
fashioned like a lock, which he hangs on his child's neck for the
purpose of figuratively locking him to life and causing the hundred
persons to be concerned in his attaining old age.


_The King's Cock-crower._

A singular custom of matchless absurdity formerly existed in the English
court. During Lent an ancient officer of the crown, called the King's
Cock-crower, crowed the hour each night within the precincts of the
palace. On Ash Wednesday, after the accession of the House of Hanover,
as the Prince of Wales (afterwards George II.) sat down to supper, this
officer abruptly entered the apartment, and in a sound resembling the
shrill pipe of a cock, crowed past ten o'clock. The astonished prince,
at first conceiving it to be a premeditated insult, rose to resent the
affront, but upon the nature of the ceremony being explained to him, he
was satisfied.


_Mourning Robes._

Under the empire male Romans wore black, and Roman women wore white
mourning. In Turkey, at the present day, it is violet; in China, white;
in Egypt, yellow; in Ethiopia, brown; in Europe and America, black; it
was white in Spain until the year 1498. The mourning worn by sovereigns
and their families is purple.


_Mole-skin Eyebrows._

Some of the ladies of the Court of Louis XV., in connection with the
patches, rouge and paint with which they disfigured their faces, were so
whimsical as to wear eyebrows made out of mole-skin.


_Praying for Revenge._

In North Wales, when a person supposes himself highly injured, it is not
uncommon for him to go to some church dedicated to a celebrated saint,
as Llan Elian, in Anglesea, and Clynog, in Carnarvonshire, and there to
offer up his enemy. He kneels down on his bare knees, and offering a
piece of money to the saint, calls down curses and misfortunes upon the
offender and his family for generations to come, in the most firm belief
that the imprecations will be fulfilled. Sometimes they repair to a
sacred well instead of to a church.


_Selling Snails._

The sale of snails in the town of Tivoli, near Rome, is a source of much
profit to the inhabitants of that district in rainy weather, when this
curious edible is abundant in the olive groves. The flavor is pronounced
delicious, and when artistically cooked, the foreigner does not long
decline this much despised crustacea. The cooked snail is said to
restore tone to the coating of the stomach when badly injured by strong
drink.


_Coral and Bells._

A superstitious belief exists that the color of coral is affected by the
state of health of the wearer, it becoming paler in disease. Paracelsus
recommended it to be worn around the necks of infants as an admirable
preservative against fits, charms and poison. "In addition to the
supposed virtues of coral usually suspended around the necks of
children, it may be remarked that silver bells are generally attached to
it, which are regarded as mere accompaniments to amuse children by their
jingle; but the fact is, they have a very different origin, having been
designed to frighten away evil spirits."—_Dr. Paris._


_Bagging his Rival._

Two gentlemen, one a Spaniard, the other a German, asked of Maximilian
II. the hand of his daughter, the fair Helene Scharfequinn, in marriage.
After a long delay, the emperor one day informed them that, esteeming
them equally, and not being able to bestow a preference, he should leave
it to the force and address of the claimants to decide the question. He
did not mean, however, to risk the life of one or the other, or perhaps
of both. He could not, therefore, permit them to encounter with
offensive weapons, but had ordered a large bag to be produced. It was
his decree that whichever succeeded in putting his rival into the bag
should have the hand of his daughter. The singular encounter between the
two gentlemen took place in the presence of the whole court. The contest
lasted for more than an hour. At length the Spaniard yielded, and the
German, Ehberhard, Baron de Talbert, having planted his rival in the
bag, took it upon his back and gallantly laid it at the feet of his
mistress, whom he espoused the next day. This incident is gravely
vouched for by M. de St. Foix.


_Deepened Damnation._

In his "History of all the Heresies," Bernino records an instance of
diabolical superstition. Pope Theodorus wrote the sentence of deposition
against the Monothelite secretary Pyrrhus with ink in which had been
mingled the blood from the sacramental cup, in order that the
fulmination of the pope might possess the greater potency of damnation.


_Ancient Bit of Waggery._

We find the following in a book printed in 1607, entitled, "Pleasant
Conceits of old Hobson, the merry Londoner; full of Humourous Discourses
and Merry Merriments:"—

"When the order of hanging out lanterne first of all was brought about,
the bedell of the warde where Maister Hobson dwelt, in a darke evening,
crieing up and down, 'Hang out your lanternes! Hang out your lanternes!'
using no other words, Maister Hobson tooke an emptie lanterne, and,
according to the bedell's call, hung it out. This flout, by the lord
mayor, was taken in ill part, and for the offence Hobson was sent to the
Counter, but being released the next night following, thinking to
amende his call, the bedell cryed out, with a loud voice, 'Hang out your
lanternes and candle!' Maister Hobson hereupon hung out a lanterne and
candle unlighted, as the bedell again commanded; whereupon he was sent
again to the Counter; but the next night, the bedell being better
advised, cryed 'Hang out your lanterne and candle-light!' which Maister
Hobson at last did, to his great commendations, which cry of lanterne
and candle-light is in right manner used to this day."


_A Walking Apothecary Shop._

Mr. Samuel Jessup, an opulent grazier, of pill-taking memory, died at
Heckington, England, on the 17th of June, 1817. In twenty-one years the
deceased took 226,934 pills, supplied by a respectable apothecary at
Bottesford, which was at the rate of 10,806 pills a year, or twenty-nine
pills each day; but as the patient began with a more moderate appetite,
and increased it as he proceeded, in the last five years he took the
pills at the rate of seventy-eight a day, and in the year 1814 he
swallowed not less than 51,590. Notwithstanding this, and the addition
of 40,000 bottles of mixture and juleps and electuaries, extending
altogether to fifty-five closely written columns of an apothecary's
bill, the deceased lived to attain the age of sixty-five years.—_Hone._


_To Disappoint his Wife._

On the 20th of May, 1736, the body of Samuel Baldwin, Esq., was, in
compliance with a request in his will, buried, _sans ceremonie_, in the
sea at Lymington, Hants. His motive for this extraordinary mode and
place of interment was to prevent his wife from "dancing over his
grave," which she had frequently threatened to do in case she survived
him.


_Boots an Object of Honor._

Among the Chinese no relics are more valuable than the boots which have
been worn by an upright magistrate. In Davis's interesting description
of the Empire of China we are informed that whenever a judge of unusual
integrity resigns his situation, the people congregate to do him honor.
If he leaves the city where he has resided, the crowd accompany him from
his residence to the gates, where his boots are drawn off with great
ceremony, to be preserved in the hall of justice. Their place is
immediately supplied by a new pair, which, in turn, are drawn off to
make room for others before he has worn them five minutes, it being
considered sufficient to consecrate them that he should have merely
drawn them on.


_St. Cuthbert's Beads._

These beads were made from the single joints of the articulated stems of
Encrinites. The central perforation permitted them to be strung. From
the fancied resemblance of this perforation to a cross, they were
formerly used as rosaries, and associated with the name of St.
Cuthbert—

           "On a rock by Lindisfarm
    St. Cuthbert sits and toils to frame
    The sea-born beads that bear his name."


_Eating Animals that have Died a Natural Death._

The gypsies in Europe are very peculiar in their eating, and are,
perhaps, the only race who will eat animals that have died a natural
death. "Dead pig" is their favorite delicacy; and one of the most
typical and most amusing of the Rommany ballads which Borrow has
collected, celebrates the trick formerly so common among them of
poisoning a pig in order the next day to beg its carcass for food.


_Embalmed in Honey._

The ancients put dead bodies into honey to preserve them from
putrefaction. The body of Agesipolis, King of Sparta, who died in
Macedonia, was sent home in honey. The faithless Cleomenes caused the
head of Archonides to be put in honey, and had it always placed near him
when he was deliberating upon any affair of great importance, in order
to fulfil the oath he had made to undertake nothing without consulting
the head. The body of the Emperor Justin II. was embalmed in honey. The
wish of Democritus to be buried in honey is a confirmation of the
practice.


_Perfumed Butter._

We are told by Plutarch that a Spartan lady paid a visit to Berenice,
the wife of Dejotarus, and that the one smelled so much of sweet
ointment and the other of butter that neither of them could endure the
other. Was it customary, therefore, at that period, for the ladies to
perfume themselves with butter?


_Wine at Two Millions a Bottle._

Some years ago wine graced the table of the King of Wurtemburg, which
had been deposited in a cellar at Bremen two centuries and a half
before. One large case of the wine, containing five oxhoft of two
hundred and forty bottles, cost five hundred rix-dollars in 1624.
Including the expenses of keeping up the cellar, and of the
contributions, interest of the amount, and interest upon interest, an
oxhoft costs at the present time 555,657,640 rix-dollars, and
consequently a bottle is worth 2,723,812 rix-dollars. The fact
illustrates the operation of interest, if it does not show the cost of
the luxury.—_Bombaugh._


_Opal of Nonius._

The ancients valued opals very highly. The Roman senator, Nonius,
preferred exile to giving up an opal to Mark Antony. This opal was still
to be seen in the days of Pliny, who ascribed to it a value of more than
$500,000.


_Children's Day in Japan._

There is a children's day in Japan on the fifth day of the fifth month,
when a flag of gay colors is hung from every house where there are
children. The family and friends have a feast, and, among the articles
of food are long, narrow rice cakes, upon each of which a sweet-flavored
rush-leaf is fastened by straws. Where there are no children there may
be a family party, but no flag can be exhibited. On this day ornaments
made of paper, of five different colors, are bound into balls and hung
up in the house as a charm against sickness.


_Cock-Fighting among the Ancient Greeks._

Æschines reproaches Timarchus for spending the whole day in gaming and
cock-fighting. Cock-fights were represented by the Greeks on coins and
cut stones. Mr. Pegge caused engravings to be made of two gems in the
collection of Sir William Hamilton, on one of which is seen a cock in
the humble attitude of defeat, with its head hanging down, and another
in the attitude of victory, with an ear of corn in its bill as the
object of contest. On the other stone two cocks are fighting, while a
mouse carries away the ear of corn, for the possession of which they had
quarreled—a caricature of law-suits, in which the greater part of the
property in dispute falls to the lawyers. Two cocks in the attitude of
fighting are represented also on a lamp found in Herculaneum.


_Colors Most Frequently Hit in Battle._

It would appear, from numerous observations, that soldiers are hit
during battle according to the color of their dress in the following
order: Red is the most fatal color; Austrian gray is the least fatal.
The proportions are—red, twelve; rifle green, seven; brown, six;
Austrian bluish-gray, five.


_Immense Value Placed upon Gems by the Ancients._

The immense value placed by the ancients on their gems can be estimated
by the scabbard of Mithridates, valued at 400 talents, or £7,572; the
pearl given by Julius Cæsar to Servillia was worth £4,800; that
swallowed by Cleopatra valued at £5,000; and the pearls and emeralds
worn by Lollia Paulina, wife of Caligula, valued at £320,000.


_Candle Clock._

Alfred the Great noted the time by the gradual burning down of candles
colored in rings. He had six tapers made, each twelve inches long, and
each divided into twelve parts or inches. Three of these would burn for
one hour, and the six tapers, lighted one after the other, would burn
for twenty-four hours.


_Twins in Africa._

Among some of the tribes in Africa if two babies come to a family at the
same time they think it a dreadful thing. Nobody except the family can
go into the hut where they were born, nor even use any of the things in
it. The twins cannot play with other children, and the mother cannot
talk to anyone outside of the family. This is kept up for six years. If
the babies live to be six years old, the restrictions are removed, and
they are treated like other children.


_Right and Left Hand._

Dr. Zinchinelli, of Padua, in an essay on the "Reasons why People use
the Right Hand in preference to the Left," will not allow custom or
imitation to be the cause. He affirms that the left arm cannot be in
violent and continued motion without causing pain in the left side,
because there is the seat of the heart and of the arterial system; and
that, therefore, nature herself compels man to make use of the right
hand.


_Earliest Traders._

The earliest record we have of nations trading with each other occurs in
the Book of Genesis, when Joseph's brethren sold him to a caravan of
Ishmaelites who were carrying spices, balm and myrrh into Egypt. The
balm was from Gilead and the myrrh from Arabia. Thus commerce is of
great antiquity.


_The First Hermits._

The first hermit was Paul, of Thebes, in Egypt, who lived about the year
260; the second was Anthony, also of Egypt, who died in 345, at the age
of 105.


_The First Opera._

The first composer who tried his hand at setting an opera to music was
Francisco Bamirino, an Italian artist. The piece to which he affixed the
charms of a melodious accompaniment was "The Conversion of St. Paul,"
which was brought out at Rome in 1460.


_The First Artificial Limb._

The first artificial limb on record is the iron hand of the German
knight, Gotz Von Berlichingen, who flourished in the early part of the
sixteenth century (1513), and who was named _The Iron-Handed_. The hand
weighed three pounds, was so constructed as to grasp a sword or lance,
and was invented by a mechanic at Nuremberg. It is preserved at
Jaxthausen, near Heilbronn, and a duplicate of it is in the Castle of
Erbach, in the Odenwald.


_Kircher's Speaking-Trumpet._

"The Musurgia," printed in 1650, gives an account of a speaking-trumpet
invented by Kircher. From a convent situated on the top of a mountain,
he assembled twelve hundred persons to divine service, and read the
litany to them through the trumpet, at a distance of from two to five
Italian miles. Soon after a tube was made, according to Kircher's
directions, by which words, without elevating the voice, could be
understood from Ebersdorf to Neugeben.


_Fish Market at Scarborough._

The fish market is held on the sands by the sides of the boats, which,
at low water, are run upon wheels with a sail set, and are conducted by
the fishermen, who dispose of their cargoes in the following manner:

One of the female fishmongers inquires the price, and bids a groat; the
fishermen ask a sum in the opposite extreme; the one bids up, and the
other reduces the demand, till they meet at a reasonable point, when the
bidder suddenly exclaims: "Het!" The purchase is afterwards retailed
among the regular or occasional purchasers.


_Few Fish Found at Sea._

Paradoxical as the fact may appear, there is no class of persons who eat
so few fish as the sailors; and the reason is, they seldom obtain them.
With the exception of flying-fish and dolphins, and perhaps a few
others, fish are not found on the high seas at a great distance from
land. They abound most along coasts, in straights and bays, and are
seldom caught in water more than forty or fifty fathoms in
depth.—_Wells._


_Musical Stones._

A correspondent of _Nature_ writes that, in roaming over the hills and
rocks in the neighborhood of Kendal, near Lancaster, England, which are
composed chiefly of limestone, he had often found what are called
"musical stones." They are generally thin, flat, weather-beaten stones,
of different sizes and peculiar shapes, which, when struck with a piece
of iron or another stone, produce a musical tone, instead of the dull,
heavy, leaden sound of an ordinary stone. The sound of these stones is,
in general, very much alike, but sets of eight stones have been
collected which produce, when struck, a distinct octave.

The new French scientific weekly, _La Nature_, copies the communication
from its English namesake, and brings forward some additional instances
of the same phenomenon. We are also informed of the accidental discovery
of musical properties in a stone fountain at the French Institute. Its
musical sound, when struck, corresponds with extreme precision to the
perfect accord major of _fa_ natural. The fountain in question is in the
grand court of the institute.


_Musical Sand._

A singular phenomenon is the "musical sand" of Jebel Nagus, a sandy hill
lying to the west of the mountain usually called Sinai. According to
Captain Palmer, an English traveler, the sand of this hill possesses the
marvellous property of giving out musical sounds whenever it is set in
motion. The sandy slope is two hundred feet in height, the sand being
very much the same as that in the desert around. When any considerable
quantity of this sand is set in motion, it is seen to move in
undulations, and, simultaneously, a singular sound is heard, which is
first feeble, but may be heard at some distance when it has attained its
maximum intensity.

The sound is not easily described. It is neither metallic nor vibratory.
It might be compared to the sharpest notes of the Æolian harp, or the
sound produced by forcibly drawing a cork over wet glass. The phenomenon
attains its greatest intensity during the day in summer, when the sun is
hottest, and while the wind blows from the northwest. Captain Palmer has
observed it on all sides of the hill, and the only difference he has
found are such as depend on the direction of the wind.


_A River of Ink._

In Algeria there is a river of genuine ink. It is formed by the union of
two streams, one coming from a region of ferruginous soil, the other
draining a peat swamp. The water of the former is strongly impregnated
with iron, that of the latter with gallic acid. When the two waters
mingle, the acid of the one unites with the iron of the other, forming a
true ink. We are familiar with a stream called Black Brook, in the
northern part of New York, the inky color of whose water is evidently
due to like conditions.—_Scientific American._


_A Warlike Bantam._

In the "Life of Rodney" it is related that in the famous victory of the
12th of April, 1782, a bantam cock perched himself upon the poop of
Rodney's ship, and at every broadside that was poured into the
_Ville-de-Paris_, clapped his wings and crew. Rodney gave special orders
that this cock should be taken care of as long as he lived.


_Oyster-dredging Chaunt._

During the oyster-dredging the fishermen keep up a wild monotonous song,
or rather chaunt, which they assert charm the oysters into the dredge—

    "The herring loves the merry moonlight,
       The mackeral loves the wind.
     But the oyster loves the dredger's song,
       For he comes of a gentle kind."


_Normandy Treasures._

At Bayeux, Normandy, a strong belief exists among the people of some
hidden treasure in the ground beneath the ruined churches and castles so
abundant in the neighborhood; but they are supposed to be guarded by
supernatural means. Even so late as 1827 persons were found credulous
enough to follow the directions of a Douster-swivel and employ much time
and labor uselessly in searching after imaginary riches beneath the
stones in front of the Cathedral. This belief that the hidden or lost
treasure is guarded by a spiritual attendant is very generally diffused.
On this point Southey, in the "Doctor," observes: "The popular belief
that places are haunted where money has been concealed, or where some
great and undiscovered crime has been committed, shows how consistent
this is with our natural sense of likelihood and fitness."


_Tenacity of Odors._

Dr. Carpenter states, in his "Comparative Physiology," that a grain of
musk has been kept freely exposed to the air of a room, of which the
door and window were constantly open, for ten years, during all which
time the air, though constantly changed, was completely impregnated with
the odor of musk, and yet at the end of that time the particle was found
not to have sensibly diminished in weight.


_Antiquity of Acrobatic Figures._

Modern toys of acrobats are made to perform evolutions by the use of
quicksilver. Dædalus, the famous Greek figure-maker, who is said to have
lived about a thousand years before Christ, introduced quicksilver into
a wooden image of Venus, thereby lending to it a sort of Chinese
tumbling motion.—_Dr. Doran._


_Saffron as a Perfume._

It seems a little odd to us that the ancients used saffron as a perfume.
Not only were halls, theatres and courts strewn with the plant, but it
entered into the composition of many spirituous extracts, which retained
the scent. These costly smelling waters were often made to flow in small
streams, which spread abroad their much admired odor. Luxurious people
even moistened with them all those things with which they were desirous
of surprising their guests in an agreeable manner, or with which they
ornamented their appartment. From saffron, with the addition of wax and
other ingredients, the Greeks and Romans prepared scented salves.


_Spontaneous Combustion._

In Levoux's "Journal de Medicine" is an account of a very fat woman,
twenty-eight years of age, who was found on fire in her chamber, where
nothing else was burning. The neighbors heard a noise of something like
frying, and when the body was removed it left a layer of black grease.
The doctor conceived that the combustion began in the internal parts,
and that the clothes were burned secondarily.


_Egyptian Perfumes._

So perfect were the Egyptians in the manufacture of perfumes, that some
of their ancient ointment, preserved in an alabaster vase in the museum
at Alnwick, still retains a very powerful odor, though it must be almost
three thousand years old.


_Magic Rain Stone._

The Indian magi, who are to invoke Yo He Wah, and meditate with the
supreme holy fire that he may give seasonable rains, have a transparent
stone of supposed great power in assisting to bring down the rain when
it is put in a basin of water. It is reputed to possess divine virtue;
it would suffer decay, they assert, were it even seen by their own
laity; but if by foreigners, it would be utterly despoiled of its divine
communicative power.


_Decapitation by the Guillotine._

A reliable gentleman who witnessed an execution, wrote as follows: "It
appears to be the best of all modes of inflicting the punishment of
death, combining the greatest impression on the spectator with the least
possible suffering to the victim. It is so rapid that I should doubt
whether there was any suffering; but from the expression of the
countenance, when the executioner held up the head, I am inclined to
believe that sense and consciousness may remain for a few seconds after
the head is off. The eyes seemed to retain speculation for a moment or
two, and there was a look in the ghastly stare with which they stared
upon the crowd, which implied that the head was aware of its ignominious
situation."


_Chateaubrun's Escape from the Guillotine._

During the Reign of Terror, M. de Chateaubrun was sentenced to death and
sent to execution with twenty other prisoners; but after the fifteenth
head had fallen, the guillotine got out of order, and a workman was
required to repair it. The six remaining victims were left standing in
front of the machine with their hands tied behind them. A French crowd
is very curious, and the people kept pressing forward to see the man who
was arranging the guillotine. By degrees M. de Chateaubrun, who was to
the rear of his companions, found himself in the front line of the
spectators, then in the second, and finally well behind those who had
come to see his head cut off. Before the man could get the guillotine
in working order night began to fall, and M. de Chateaubrun slipped
away. When in the Champs Elysees he told a man that a wag had tied his
hands and stole his hat, and this simple individual cut him free. A few
days later M. de Chateaubrun escaped from France.


_A Lucky Find._

During the month of April, 1733, Sir Simon Stuart, of Hartley, England,
while looking over some old writings, found on the back of one of them a
memorandum noting that 1500 broad pieces were buried in a certain spot
in an adjoining field. After a little digging the treasure was found in
a pot, hidden there in the time of the civil wars by his grandfather,
Sir Nicholas Stuart.


_Paradise of Old Hats._

The group of islands known as the Nicobars, situated about one hundred
and fifty miles south of the Andamans, have been but little explored,
though the manners and customs of the inhabitants of these islands offer
interesting peculiarities. One of the most noticeable, and one which
seriously affects the trade of the islands, is the passion for old hats
which pervades the whole frame-work of society. No one is exempt, and
young and old endeavor to outvie each other in the singularity of shape
no less than in the number of the old hats they can acquire during a
lifetime. On a fine morning at the Nicobars it is not unusual to see the
surface of the ocean in the vicinity of the islands dotted over with
canoes, in each of which the noble savage, with nothing whatever on but
the conventional slip of cloth and a tall white hat with a black band,
may be watched standing up and catching fish for his daily meal.
Second-hand hats are more in request, new hats being looked upon with
suspicion and disfavor. The passion is so well known that traders from
Calcutta make annual excursions to the Nicobars with cargoes of old
hats, which they barter for cocoanuts, the only product of the island, a
good, tall white hat with a black band bringing from fifty-five to
sixty-five good cocoanuts. Intense excitement pervades the island while
the trade is going on. When the hats or the cocoanuts have come to an
end, the trader generally lands a flask or two of rum, and the whole
population, in their hats, get drunk without intermission until the rum
also comes to an end.


_Wedding-Rings._

The wedding-ring, symbolical of the perpetuity of the conjugal relation,
has ever been the accepted accompaniment of marriage. Its being put on
the fourth finger of the left hand has been continued from
long-established usage, because of the fanciful conceit that from this
finger a nerve went direct to the heart.


_The Prince of Charlatans._

Paracelsus was the prince of charlatans; indeed he styled himself the
"King of Physic." Although he professed to have discovered the "Elixir
of Life," it did not seem to have been available in his own case, for he
died at the early age of forty-eight years.


_One Meal a Day._

Dr. Fordyce contended that as one meal a day was enough for a lion, it
ought to suffice for a man. Accordingly, for more than twenty years, the
doctor used to eat only a dinner in the whole course of a day. A pound
and a half of rump steak, half a broiled chicken, a plate of fish, a
bottle of port, a tankard of strong ale, and a quarter of a pint of
brandy satisfied his moderate wants. Dinner over, occupying an hour and
a half, he returned home from the chop house to deliver his six o'clock
lecture on anatomy and chemistry.


_Gold-headed Canes for Physicians._

In the times of the renowned Radcliffe, the gold-headed cane was the
sceptre of authority among the medical profession. Dignity dwelt in the
mysterious symbol. It also protected the owner against contagious
diseases, being filled with disinfecting herbs, which he applied to his
nose when visiting patients.

    He pursed his brows, then wink'd his eyes,
    Put his cane to his nose and look'd wise.


_Yearly Food of one Man._

From the army and navy diet scales of France and England, which, of
course, are based upon the recognized necessities of large numbers of
men in active life, it is inferred that about two and one-fourth pounds
avordupois of dry food per day are required for each individual; of this
amount three-fourths are vegetable and the rest animal. At the close of
an entire year, the amount is upwards of eight hundred pounds.
Enumerating under the title of water all the various drinks—coffee,
tea, alcohol, wine, etc.—its estimated quantity is about fifteen
hundred pounds per annum; that for the air received by breathing may be
taken at eight hundred pounds. The food, water and air which a man
consumes amount in the aggregate to more than three thousand pounds a
year; that is, about a ton and a half, or more than twenty times his own
weight.—_Wells._


_Eating Tea._

It was not until the end of the seventeenth century that tea was
indulged in as a beverage. The first brewers of tea were often sorely
perplexed with the preparation of the new mystery; after boiling the
tea, "they sat down to eat the leaves with butter and salt." The Dutch
were the first to discover the utility and value of the herb, and when,
in 1666, it was first introduced into England, it sold at about three
guineas per pound.—_Salad for the Solitary._


_Human Hair._

It has been estimated that a single square inch of the scalp—the skin
of the head—contains about seven hundred and forty-four hairs. This
number, multiplied by one hundred and twenty square inches—the surface
of the head—gives us eighty-nine thousand two hundred and eighty as the
number of the hairs of the head. If a lady's hair is a half-yard in
length, she will have one hundred and thirty three thousand nine hundred
and twenty feet of hair. A man who has arrived at the age of fifty years
will have lost, by hair cutting, about thirteen feet, which, multiplied
by the number of hairs (eighty-nine thousand two hundred and eighty),
will amount to one million one hundred and sixty thousand six hundred
and forty feet of hair tubing, or about two hundred and twenty miles.


_Durability of Bricks._

The bricks of Nineveh and Babylon, in the museums, show that they were
selected by the ancients as the most lasting material. Plutarch thinks
them superior to stone, if properly prepared; and it is admitted that
the baths of Caracalla, those of Titus, and the Thermæ of Dioclesian,
have withstood the effects of time and fire better than the stone of
the Colisseum or the marble of the Forum Trajan.


_Origin of Long-toed Shoes._

Long-toed shoes were invented by Fulk, Count of Anjou, to hide an
excrescence on one of his feet. These toes were so long as to be
fastened to the knees with gold chains, and carved at the extreme point
with the representation of a church-window, a bird or some fantastic
device.


_A Good Tenant._

In the "Gentleman's Magazine" for September, 1775, Mr. Clayton, a
wealthy farmer of Berkshire, is related to have died at the
extraordinary age of one hundred and fifteen years, during which time he
rented the same farm for ninety years. An occupancy of so great
duration, by one individual, is perhaps unequalled in the history of
landlord and tenant.


_Three Borrowed Days._

There is an old proverb still used by the English and Scotch rustics,
which represent March as borrowing three days from April. In the
"Complaynt of Scotland" they are thus described—

    "The first it shall be wind and weet;
     The next it shall be snaw and sleet;
     The third it shall be sic a freeze
     Shall gar the birds stick to the trees."

But it is disputed whether these "borrowed days" are the last three of
March or the first three of April.


_Luncheon._

This word is said to have been originally _noon-shun_, a meal partaken
of by laborers in the fields at _noon_, when they retire to the shade to
_shun_ the noontide heat.


_Value of a Long Psalm._

In old times a culprit, when at the gallows, was allowed to select a
Psalm, which was then sung, thereby lengthening the chances for the
arrival of a reprieve. It is reported of one of the chaplains to the
famous Montrose, that being condemned in Scotland to die for attending
his master in some of his exploits, he selected the 119th Psalm. It was
well for him that he did so, for they had sung it half through before
the reprieve came. A shorter Psalm, and he would have been hung.


_Barbers' Basins._

Anciently, one of the utensils of the barber was a brass basin with a
semi-circular gap in one side, to encompass a man's throat, by means of
which, in applying the lather to the face, the clothes were not soiled.
It will be recollected that Don Quixote crazily assumed a barber's basin
as a helmet.


_Strained Politeness._

On the 30th of April, 1745, the battle of Fontenoy was fought between
the allied armies of England, Holland and Austria, under the command of
the Duke of Cumberland, and the French army under Marshal Count De Saxe.
The battle was commenced with the formal politeness of a court minuet
Captain Lord Charles Hay, of the English guards, advanced from the
ranks with his hat off; at the same moment Lieutenant Count D'Auteroche,
of the French guards, advanced also, uncovered, to meet him. Lord
Charles bowed, and said: "Gentlemen of the French guards, fire!" The
Count bowed to Lord Charles. "No, my lord," he answered, "we never fire
first." They again bowed; each resumed his place in his own ranks, and
after these testimonies of "high consideration," the bloody conflict
commenced, ending with a loss of twelve thousand men on each side.


_Can a Clergyman Marry Himself?_

This question was officially decided in the affirmative in the Court of
Queen's Bench, Dublin, on November 16th, 1855, in the case of Beamish
vs. Beamish, where the point came into direct issue.


_Novel Way of Curing Vicious Horses._

Burckhardt tells us of the strange mode of curing a vicious horse. He
has seen, he says, vicious horses in Egypt cured of the habit of biting
by presenting to them, while in the act of doing so, a leg of mutton
just taken from the fire. The pain which the horse feels in biting
through the hot meat causes it to abandon the practice.


_Pope's Skull._

William Howitt says that, by one of those acts, which neither science
nor curiosity can excuse, the skull of Pope is now in the private
collection made by a phrenologist. On some occasion of alteration in the
church, or burial of some one in the same spot, the coffin of Pope was
disinterred and opened to see the state of the remains. By a bribe to
the sexton at the time, possession of the skull was obtained for a
night, and another skull was returned instead of it, in the morning.
Fifty pounds were paid to manage and carry out the transaction. Be that
as it may, the skull of Pope figures in a private museum.


_Pawning Bibles and Waterloo Medals._

Among a list comprising the articles found in a pawn-broker's
establishment in Glasgow, in 1836, were one hundred and two Bibles and
forty-eight Waterloo medals.


_A Drum made of Human Skin._

John Zisca, general of the insurgents who took up arms in 1419 against
the Emperor Sigismund, to revenge the deaths of John Huss and Jerome of
Prague, who had been cruelly burned at the stake for their religious
tenets, defeated the emperor in several pitched battles. He gave orders
that, after his death, they should make a drum out of his skin. The
order was most religiously obeyed, and those very remains of the
enthusiastic Zisca proved, for many years, fatal to the emperor, who,
with difficulty, in the space of sixteen years, recovered Bohemia,
assisted by the forces of Germany. The insurgents were 40,000 in number,
and well disciplined.


_Groaning Boards._

Groaning boards were the wonder in London in 1682. An elm plank was
exhibited to the king, which, being touched by a hot iron, invariably
produced a sound resembling deep groans. At the Bowman tavern, in Drury
Lane, the mantelpiece gave forth like sounds, and was supposed to be
part of the same elm tree. The dresser at the Queen's Arm Tavern, St.
Martin le Grand, was found to possess the same quality. Strange times,
when such things were deemed wonderful—so much so as to merit
exhibition before the monarch.


_Abyssinian Tradition._

A curious tradition exists among the Abyssinians concerning the origin
of burial. They say that when Adam found the body of the murdered Abel
he carried it about upon his shoulders for twenty days, not knowing how
to dispose of it. The Almighty took pity on him and sent forth a crow
with a dead young one on its back. The crow flew before Adam until it
came to a tract of sandy ground, in which it dug a hole with its feet,
and there buried its young one. When Adam saw this, he dug a grave in
the sand and buried his dead boy in it.


_Cutting Timber by the Moon._

Columella, Cato, Vitruvius and Pliny all had their notions of the
advantage of cutting timber at certain ages of the moon—a piece of
mummery which was long preserved in the royal ordonnances of France to
the conservators of the forests, who were directed to fell oaks only "in
the wane of the moon" and "when the wind was in the north."


_An Artist Tradition._

There is a tradition that Poussin, the French painter, unable to depict
the foam on a horse's mouth in a picture he was finishing, angrily threw
his sponge at the canvas, and thus accidentally produced the desired
effect. It is a pity to spoil such an effective story, but it was told
of Apelles, the Greek painter, nearly two thousand years before Poussin
was born.


_Born of a Peri._

A Peri, according to the mythical lore of the East, is a being begotten
by fallen spirits, which spends its life in all imaginable delights. It
is immortal, but is forever excluded from the joys of Paradise. It takes
an intermediate place between angels and demons, and is either male or
female. One of the finest compliments to be paid to a Persian lady is to
speak of her as _Perizadeh_—born of a Peri.


_A Regal Hunting Party._

The following is an account of the destruction of game in Bohemia, by a
hunting party of which the Emperor Francis made one, in 1755. There were
twenty-three persons in the party, three of whom were ladies, among the
latter the Princess Charlotte of Lorraine. The chase lasted eighteen
days, and during that time they killed 47,950 head of game. 19 stags, 77
roebucks, 10 foxes, 18,243 hares, 19,545 partridges, 9499 pheasants, 114
larks, 353 quails, 454 other birds. The emperor fired 9798 shots, and
the princess 9010; in all there were 116,209 shots fired.


_Care of the Beard._

The Mahometans are very superstitious touching the beard. They bury the
hairs which come off in combing it, and break them first, because they
believe that angels have charge of every hair, and that they gain them
their dismissal by breaking it. They used to wear pasteboard covers over
their beards at night, lest they should turn upon them and rumple them
in their sleep. The famous Raskolniki Schismatics had a similar
superstition about the beard. They believed that the divine image of man
resided in it.


_A Royal Sportsman._

When the King of Naples (the greatest sportsman of Europe) was in
Germany, about the year 1792, it was said in the German papers that he
had killed, in Austria, Bohemia and Moravia, 5 bears, 1,820 wild boars,
1,968 stags, 13 wolves, 354 foxes, 15,350 pheasants, 1,121 rabbits,
16,354 hares, 1,625 she-goats, 1,625 roebucks and 12,435 partridges.


_Origin of Attar of Roses._

In the "Histoire Generale de l'Empire du Mogol," compiled by Catrou the
Jesuit, this perfume is said to have been discovered by accident.
"Nur-Jahan, the favorite wife of the Mogul Jahan-Ghur, among her other
luxuries, had a small canal of rose water. As she was walking with the
Mogul upon its banks, they perceived a thin film upon the water, which
was an essential oil made by the heat of the sun. They were delighted
with its exquisite odor, and means were immediately taken for preparing
by art a substance like that which had been thus fortuitously produced."


_Effect of a New Nose._

Van Helmont tells a story of a person who applied to Taliacotius to have
his nose restored. This person, having a dread of an incision being made
in his own arm, for the purpose of removing enough skin therefrom for a
nose, induced a laborer, for a remuneration, to allow the skin for the
nose to be taken from his arm. About thirteen months after the
adscititious nose suddenly became cold, and, after a few days, dropped
off, in a state of putrefaction. The cause of this unexpected occurrence
was investigated, when it was discovered that, at the same moment in
which the nose grew cold, the laborer at Bologna expired.


_Cader Idris Couch._

On the very summit of Cader Idris there is an excavation in the solid
rock, resembling a couch; and the residents of the vicinity say that
whoever rests for the night in the couch, will be found in the morning
dead, or raving mad, or endued with supernatural genius.


_Rights and Lefts._

Centuries ago shoes were made, as now, "rights and lefts." The shoes
found in the tomb of Bernard, King of Italy, were "rights and lefts."
Shakespeare describes his smith as—

     "Standing on slippers, which his nimble haste,
     Had falsely _thrust upon contrary feet_."

Scott, in his "Discoverie of Witchcraft," observes, "that he who
receiveth a mischance will consider whether he put not on his shirt
wrong side outwards, or his _left_ shoe on his _right_ foot."


_Efficacy in a Mutilated Saint._

There is a church connected with the convent at Chartreux, Provence. It
was dedicated to St. John, and over the portico were colossal statues of
the four evangelists, which have been thrown down, and the fragments
lie scattered about. When Miss Plumptre and her party visited the spot,
they observed a woman upon her knees over a fragment of stone, muttering
to herself. When asked whether there was any particular virtue in the
stone, she replied, in French: "Ah, yes? 'Tis a piece of St. John." She
seemed to think that the saint's intercession in her behalf, mutilated
as he was, might still avail her.


_Feasts at Coronations._

The quantity of provisions consumed at the coronations of some of the
English kings was extraordinary. For that of King Edward I., February
10th, 1274, the different sheriffs of twelve of the counties were
ordered to deliver, at Windsor, a total of 440 oxen, 743 swine, 430
sheep and 22,560 fowls.


_A Baker's Dozen._

The "baker's dozen" is an old saying. In "The Witch," written by Thomas
Middleton, about 1620, we find the following:—

_Firestone._—"May you not have one o'clock into the dozen, mother?"

_Witch._—"No."

_Firestone._—"Your spirits are the more unconscionable than _baker's_."


_Wonderful Exhibition with Bees._

On the 14th day of October, 1766, Mr. Wildman, of Plymouth, who had made
himself famous throughout the west of England for his command over bees,
was sent for to wait on Lord Spencer, at his seat at Wimbledon, in
Surrey, and he attended accordingly. Several of the nobility and
persons of fashion were assembled, and the countess had provided three
stocks of bees. The first of his performances was with one hive of bees
hanging on his hat, which he carried in his hand, and the hive they came
out of in his other hand; this was to show that he could take honey and
wax without destroying the bees. Then he returned to his room, and came
out with them hanging on his chin with a very venerable beard. After
showing them to the company, he took them out upon the grass walk facing
the windows, where, a table and a table-cloth being provided, he set the
hive upon the table and made the bees hive therein. Then he made them
come out again and swarm in the air, the ladies and nobility standing
amongst them, and no person stung by them. He made them go on the table
and took them up by handfuls, and tossed them up and down like so many
peas; he then made them go into the hive at the word of command.

At five o'clock in the afternoon he exhibited again with the three
swarms of bees, one on his head, one on his breast, and the other on his
arm, and waited on Lord Spencer in his room, who had been too much
indisposed to see the former experiment; the hives which the bees had
been taken from were carried by one of the servants. After this
exhibition he withdrew, but returned once more to the room with the bees
all over his head, face and eyes, and was led blind before his
lordship's window. One of his lordship's horses being brought out in his
body clothes, Mr. Wildman mounted the horse, with the bees all over his
head and face (except his eyes); they likewise covered his breast and
left arm: he held a whip in his right hand, and a groom led the horse
backwards and forwards before his lordship's window for some time. Mr.
W. afterwards took the reins in his hand, rode round the house,
dismounted, and at his word of command the bees sought their hives. The
performance surprised and gratified the earl and countess and all the
spectators who assembled to witness the bee-master's extraordinary
exhibition.—_Annual Register_, 1766.


_A Treacherous Talisman._

Gübner mentions that a Jew once presented himself before Duke Albrecht,
of Saxony, and offered him a charm, engraved with rare signs and
characters, which should render him invulnerable. The duke, determined
to try it, had the Jew led out in the field, with his charm round his
neck; he then drew his sword, and at the first thrust ran the Jew
through.


_The Cavern Chapel._

Waldron, in his "Description of the Isle of Man" (1731), speaking of a
crypt or subterranean chapel near Peel Castle, says: "Within are
thirteen pillars, on which the whole chapel is supported. They have a
superstition that whatsoever stranger goes to see this cavern out of
curiosity, and omits to count the pillars, shall do something to
occasion his being confined there."


_Glastonbury Thorn._

This famous hawthorn, which grew on a hill in the church-yard of
Glastonbury Abbey, was said to have sprung from the staff of Joseph of
Arimathea, who, having fixed it in the ground with his own hand on
Christmas day, the staff took root immediately, put forth leaves, and
the _next_ day was covered with milk-white blossoms. It was declared
that this thorn continued to blow every Christmas day during a long
series of years, and that slips from the original plant are still
preserved, and continue to blow every Christmas day to the present
time. There certainly was in the abbey church-yard a hawthorne-tree
which blossomed in winter, and was cut down in the time of the civil
wars; but that it always blossomed on Christmas day was a mere tale of
the monks, calculated to inspire the vulgar with notions of the sanctity
of the place.


_Buying and Selling._

There was a singular custom at Rome in connection with the purchase of
provisions. Purchaser and vendor simultaneously closed, and then
suddenly opened, one of their hands or some of their fingers. If the
number of fingers on both sides was even, the vendor obtained the price
which he had previously asked: but if the number was uneven, the buyer
received the goods for the sum he had just tendered.


_Fairy Treasure._

In the Leverian Museum were deposited "Orbicular sparry bodies, commonly
called fairies' money, from the banks of the Tyne, Northumberland."
Ramon, a character in the play of "The Fatal Dowry," 1632, says—

     But not a word of it, 'tis fairies' treasure;
     Which but reveal'd, brings on the babbler's ruine.


_Hour Glasses in Coffins._

A writer in the "Gentleman's Magazine," 1746, says: "In June, 1718, as I
was walking in the fields, I stopt in Clerkenwell church-yard to see a
grave-digger at work. He had dug pretty deep, and was come to a coffin
which had lain so long that it was quite rotten, and the plate eaten so
with rust that he could not read anything of the inscription. In
cleaning away the rotten pieces of wood, the grave-digger found an
hour-glass close to the left side of the skull, with sand in it, the
wood of which was so rotten that, it broke where he took hold of it.
Being a lover of antiquity, I bought it of him, and made a drawing of it
as it then appeared. Some time after, mentioning this affair in company
of some antiquarians, they told me that it was an ancient custom to put
an hour-glass into the coffin as an emblem of the sand of life being run
out; others conjectured that little hour-glasses were anciently given at
funerals, like rosemary, and by the friends of the dead put in the
coffin or thrown into the grave."


_Macduff's Cross._

The law of Clan Macduff was a privilege of immunity for homicide
anciently enjoyed by those who could claim kindred with Macduff, Earl of
Fife, within the ninth degree. Macduff's cross stood on the march or
boundary between Fife and Strathearn, above Newburg. Any homicide
possessed of the right of clanship who could reach it, and who gave nine
kye (cows) and a clopindash (a young cow) was free of the slaughter
committed by him.


_Woman's Cleverness._

It is a singular fact that on one occasion the lives of thousands of the
Irish Protestants were saved by a clever device of a woman.

At the latter end of Queen Mary's reign a commission was signed for the
purpose of punishing the heretics in that kingdom, and Dr. Cole, Dean of
St. Paul's, was honored with the appointment, to execute which he set
off with great alacrity. On his arrival at Chester, he sent for the
mayor to sup with him, and, in the course of conversation, related his
business. Going to his cloak-bag, he took out the box containing the
commission, and, having shown it, with great joy exclaimed: "This will
lash the heretics of Ireland." Mrs. Edmonds, the landlady, overheard
this discourse, and having several relations in Ireland who were
Protestant, as well as herself, resolved to play a trick upon the
doctor, and while he went to attend the magistrate to the door, took the
commission out of the box, and in its room placed a pack of cards, with
the knave of clubs uppermost. The zealous doctor, suspecting nothing of
the matter, put up his box, took shipping and arriving safe in Dublin,
went immediately to the viceroy. A council was called, and, after a
speech, the doctor delivered his box, which being opened by the
secretary, the first thing that presented itself was the knave of clubs.
The sight surprised the viceroy and the council, but much more the
doctor, who assured them that he had received a commission from the
queen, but what had become of it he could not tell. "Well, well,"
replied the viceroy, "you must go back for another, and we will shuffle
the cards in the meantime." The doctor hastened across the channel, but
at Holyhead he received the intelligence of the queen's death, and the
accession of Elizabeth, who settled on Mrs. Edmonds a pension of forty
pounds a year for saving her Protestant subjects in Ireland.


_Queer Place to Secrete a Diamond._

An old gentleman recently died at Brussels who has solved in his will a
problem which his friends could never quite unravel. He came home after
a few years absence abroad, some time ago, with plenty of pecuniary
means, though when he left Brussels he went literally to seek his
fortune, since he had none on starting. In his will, before he specifies
his bequests, of which there are several very liberal ones to friends,
relatives, and also to charitable institutions, he tells for the first
time how he became possessed of his wealth. He went to Asia and engaged
himself as a day laborer in the mines, and while working there found a
diamond of large size and great value. He at once made a deep cut in the
calf of his leg, where he secreted the gem. Of course, the limb became
very sore and lame, and led to his being permitted to leave the mine
unsuspected. Having reached a safe locality, he removed the stone and
the sore healed up. He worked his way to Amsterdam, where he sold the
diamond for $80,000. This money, put at interest, not only afforded him
a good living, but enabled him to go on accumulating. The precious stone
is now one of the crown diamonds of Russia.


_Incredible Liars._

The French papers, in the autumn of 1821, mention that a man named
Desjardins was tried, on his own confession, as an accomplice with
Louvel, the assassin of the Duke de Berri. But on his defense,
Desjardins contended that his confession ought not to be believed
because he was so notorious for falsehood that nobody would give credit
to a word he said. In support of this, he produced a host of witnesses,
his friend and relatives, who all swore that the excessively bad
character which he had given of himself was true, and he was declared
not guilty.

Before that a similar instance occurred in Ireland. A man was charged
with highway robbery. In the course of the trial the prisoner roared out
from the dock that he was guilty, but the jury, in their verdict,
pronounced him "not guilty." "Good heavens, gentlemen!" exclaimed the
astonished judge, "did you not hear the man himself declare that he was
guilty?" The foreman answered: "We did, my lord, and that was the very
reason we acquitted him, for we _knew_ the fellow to be such a notorious
liar that he never told a word of truth in his life."


_Force of Imagination._

A peasant saw his dog attacked by a strange and ferocious mastiff. He
tried to separate the animals, and received a bite from his own dog,
which instantly ran off through the fields. The wound was healed in a
few days, and the dog was not to be found, and the peasant after some
time began to feel symptoms of nervous agitation. He conceived that the
dog, from disappearing, was mad, and within a day or two after this idea
had struck him, he began to feel symptoms of hydrophobia. They grew
hourly more violent; he raved, and had all the evidence of a violent
distemper.

As he was lying with the door open to let in the last air he was to
breathe, he heard his dog bark. The animal ran up to the bedside and
frolicked about the room; it was clear that he at least was in perfect
health. The peasant's mind was relieved at the instant; he got up with
renewed strength, dressed himself, plunged his head into a basin of
water, and thus refreshed walked into the room to his astonished
family.—_Prof. Barrantini._


_A Wife Returned._

The annexed story is gravely recorded in "Dodsley's Annual Register:"
"The following extraordinary affair happened at Ferrybridge, in 1767.
The wife of one Thomas Benson, being suddenly taken ill, she, to all
appearances, expired, and continued without any symptoms of life the
whole day, and every proper requisite was ordered for her burial; but
the husband, hoping for consolation in his distress, by some money
which he had reason to believe she had secreted from him in her
lifetime, began a rummage for it, and found seven pounds ten shillings
in crown pieces concealed in an old box; but, upon his attempting to
take it away, he was surprised by his wife, who was just then recovered,
and met him and terribly frightened him by appearing as if nothing had
happened."


_Life in Death._

The wife of the consul of Cologne, Retchmuth, apparently died of the
plague, in 1571. A ring of great value, buried with her, tempted the
cupidity of the grave-digger, and was the cause of many future years of
happiness. At night the purloiner marched to his plunder, and she
revived. She lived to be the mother of three children, and, when really
dead, she was reburied in the same church, where a monument was erected,
upon which the above particulars are recited in German verse.—_Edmund
Fillingham King._


_Remedy for Bad Dreams._

When a man has dreamed a bad dream in China he need not despair, for an
interpreter of dreams is ready to supply him with a mystic scroll, which
will avert the impending calamity. It is written on red or yellow paper,
and the interpreter rolls it up in the form of a triangle and attaches
it to the dress of his client. The dreamer is then made to look toward
the east, with a sword in his right hand and his mouth full of spring
water. In this position he ejects the water from his mouth, and beats
the air with the sword, repeating in an imperative tone certain words,
of which the following is an interpretation: "As quickly and with as
much strength as rises the sun in the east, do thou, charm or mystic
scroll, avert all the evil influences which are likely to result from
my bad dream. As quickly as lightning passes through the air, O charm,
cause impending evils to disappear."—_Credulities Past and Present._


_The Letiche._

At Bayeux, in Normandy, one of the superstitions still current relates
to a being called a letiche. It is an animal whose form is scarcely
defined—of dazzling whiteness—which is only seen in the night time,
and disappears the moment any one attempts to touch it. The letiches are
believed to be the souls of infants who died without baptism. Most
probably this pretty little spirit was no other than the agile and timid
ermine of Normandy and Brittany.—_Summer Among the Bocages._


_Hell-stones._

These were vast stones formerly used for covering graves, _helicin_
being the Saxon for "to cover" or conceal. In Dorsetshire is one of
these stones; and the tradition is, that the devil flung it from
Portland Pike to its present position, as he was playing at quoits.


_The Golden Tooth._

In 1593 it was reported that a Silesian child, seven years old, had lost
all its teeth, and that a golden tooth had grown in the place of a
natural double one. In 1595 Horstius, professor of medicine in the
University of Helmstadt, wrote the history of this golden tooth. He said
it was partly a natural event and partly miraculous, and that God had
sent it to the child to console the Christians for their persecution by
the Turks. In the same year Rullandus drew up another account of the
golden tooth. Two years afterwards, Ingosteterus, another learned man,
wrote against the opinion which Rullandus had given on this golden
tooth. Rullandus immediately replied in a most elegant and erudite
dissertation. Libavius, a very learned man, compiled all that had been
said relative to this tooth, and subjoined his remarks upon it. Nothing
was wanting to recommend these erudite writings to posterity but proof
that the tooth was gold. A goldsmith examined it, and found it a natural
tooth artificially gilt.


_The Devil Regarded as a Benefactor of the Human Race._

The Ophites were a sect who, like most Gnostics, regarded the Jehovah of
the Old Testament with great abhorrence. Regarding the emancipation of
man from the power and control of Jehovah as the most important end,
they considered the serpent who tempted Eve and introduced "knowledge"
and "revolt" into the world, to have been the great benefactor of the
human race. They worshipped the serpent, and sought to engraft Ophism
upon Christianity by causing the bread designed for the Eucharistic
sacrifice to be licked by a serpent which was kept in a cave for the
purpose, and which the communicants kissed after receiving the
Eucharist.


_Curse of Scotland._

This is a term applied to the nine of diamonds in a pack of playing
cards. Much uncertainty prevails respecting the origin of the phrase.
The most probable explanation is that it refers to the detestation
entertained in Scotland toward John Dalrymple, first Earl of Stair, on
account of his connection with the Massacre of Glencoe, for which he had
to resign office in 1695. The heraldic bearing of this person consisted
of nine lozenges on a field of azure. These nine lozenges resembled the
nine of diamonds, and hence the popular phrase, the "Curse of Scotland."


_Curse of Innocent Blood._

Southey, in his "Common-place Book," has traced the outlines of what
might be worked up into a very effective story of "citation" for those
who unjustly and cruelly put others to death. "The Philipsons of
Colgarth coveted a field, like Ahab, and had the possessor hung for an
offence which he had not committed. The night before his execution the
old man (for he was very old) read the 109th Psalm as his solemn and
dying commination, verses 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16." The
verses contain a prayer for vengeance upon the "wicked and deceitful,"
who "have spoken with a lying tongue," and whose days are to be few,
their children to be fatherless and continually vagabonds and beggars,
and their posterity to be cut off. "The curse," Southey adds, "was fully
accomplished; the family were cut off, and the only daughter who
remained sold laces and bobbins about the country."


_Legend of an Inventor._

A story is told of an inventor whose skill was the occasion of his own
death. An immense bell, with the twelve hours carved upon it, had been
hung in a high tower. A female figure was so arranged as to glide from
her hiding place and strike each hour on the bell with a huge hammer.
Everything was in its place, and it had been previously arranged with
the concourse below, who had assembled to hear the bell strike, that it
should sound the hour of one. Forgetful that the hour approached, the
artist was still at work upon the carving of the bell, with his head
near it, when the female figure, true to the machinery that moved it,
glided from its place, and, hammer in hand, struck a fatal blow upon the
head of the workman.


_A Strange Legend._

We are told that when St. Helena had discovered the true cross of
Christ, she permitted various fragments to be taken from it, which were
encased, some in gold and some in gems, and conveyed to Europe, leaving
the main part of the wood in the charge of the Bishop of Jerusalem, who
exhibited it annually at Easter, until Chosroes, King of Persia,
plundered Jerusalem in the reign of Phocas, and took away the holy
relic. Before this fatal event we are taught to believe, by Rigordus, an
historian of the thirteenth century, that the mouths of Christians used
to be supplied with thirty teeth, and in some instances, no doubt
according to their faith, with thirty-two teeth; but that _after_ the
cross was stolen by the infidels no mortal has ever been allowed more
than twenty-three!


_Abraham and Sarah._

The Talmudists relate that Abraham, in traveling to Egypt, brought with
him a chest. At the custom house the officers exacted the duties.
Abraham would have readily paid them, but desired they would not open
the chest. They first insisted on the duties for clothes, which Abraham
consented to pay; but then they thought, by his ready acquiescence, that
it might be gold; he consented to pay for gold. They then began to
suspect it might contain silk, whereupon Abraham was willing to pay for
silk or costly pearls; in short, he consented to pay as if the chest
contained the most valuable of things. It was then resolved to open and
examine the chest; and, behold! as soon as the chest was opened, that
great lustre of human beauty broke out which made such a noise in the
land of Egypt,—it was Sarah herself! The jealous Abraham, to conceal
her beauty, had locked her up in the chest.


_Tradition of the Temple._

There is a beautiful tradition connected with the site on which the
temple of Solomon was erected. It is said to have been occupied in
common by two brothers, one of whom had a family and the other none. On
the spot was a field of wheat. On the evening succeeding the harvest,
the wheat having been gathered in shocks, the elder brother said to his
wife, "My younger brother is unable to bear the burden and heat of the
day; I will arise, take of my shocks, and place them with his, without
his knowledge." The other brother, actuated by the same benevolent
motives, said within himself, "My elder brother has a family, and I have
none; I will contribute to their support; I will arise, take of my
shocks, and place them with his, without his knowledge."

Judge of their mutual astonishment when, on the following morning, they
found their respective shocks undiminished. This course of events
transpired for several nights, when each resolved in his mind to stand
guard and solve the mystery. They did so, and on the following night met
each other halfway between the respective shocks, with their arms full.


_Magnetic Cures._

The use of the magnet for the cure of diseases was known to the
ancients. It was known to Aëtius, who lived as early as the year 500. He
says: "We are assured that those who are troubled with the gout in
their hands or their feet, or with convulsions, find relief when they
hold a magnet in their hands." Paracelsus recommended the magnet in a
number of diseases, while Kircher tells us that it was worn around the
neck as a preventive against convulsions and affections of the nerves.
About the end of the seventeenth century magnetic tooth-picks were made,
and extolled as a secret preventive against pains in the teeth, eyes and
ears.


_May Dew a Cure for Freckles._

The "Morning Post," (England,) issued for the 2d day of May, 1791,
states that the day before, "being the first of May, according to annual
and superstitious custom, a number of persons went into the fields and
bathed their faces with the dew on the grass, under the idea that it
would render them beautiful."


_Singular Hindoo Vow._

The following extraordinary vow is performed by some of the Hindoos at
their festival of _Charak Puja:_ Stretching himself on the ground on his
back, the devotee takes a handful of moist earth, and placing it on his
under lip, he plants in it some mustard seed, and exposes himself to the
dews of the night and the heat of the day until the seeds germinate. In
this posture the man must remain in a fixed, motionless condition,
without food or drink, until the vegetable process liberates him, which
will generally be about the fourth day.


_Satanic Superstitions._

That the devil has a "cloven foot," which he cannot hide if it be looked
for, is a common belief with the vulgar. There is a popular
superstition in England relative to goats, that they are never to be
seen for twenty-four hours together, and that once in that space they
pay a visit to the devil in order to have their beards combed.


_Healing by the King._

On the 18th of May, 1664, the following public advertisement was issued
for the healing of the people by King Charles II.:—

  NOTICE.

His sacred majesty having declared it to be his royal will and purpose
to continue the healing of his people for the evil during the month of
May, and then give over till Michalmas next, I am commanded to give
notice thereof, that the people may not come up to the town in the
interim and lose their labour.

  NEWES, 1664.


_Hallow E'en Customs._

Burns says that "burning the nuts is a favorite charm. They name the lad
and lass to each particular nut, as they lay them in the fire; and
accordingly, as they burn quietly together or start from beside one
another, the course and issue of the courtship will be." In Ireland,
when the young women would know if their lovers are faithful, they put
three nuts upon the bars of the grates, naming the nuts after the
lovers. If a nut cracks or jumps, the lover will prove unfaithful; if it
begins to blaze or burn, he has a regard for the person making the
trial. If the nuts, named after the girl and her lover, burn together,
they will be married. This sort of divination is also practiced in
England. Gay mentions it in his "Spell"—

    "Two hazel nuts I threw into the flame,
     And to each nut I gave a sweetheart's name;
     This with _the loudest bounce_ me sore amaz'd,
     That in a _flame of brightest colour_ blaz'd;
     As _blaz'd the nut_, so _may thy passion grow_,
     For 'twas thy nut that did so brightly glow."

Another charm consisted in eating an apple. "Take a candle and go alone
to a looking-glass; eat an apple before it, and some traditions say you
should comb your hair all the time; the face of your conjugal companion
_to be_ will be seen in the glass, as if peeping over your shoulder."

A third is, "to dip your left shirt-sleeve in a burn where three lairds'
lands meet." "You go out, one or more—for this is a social spell—to a
south-running spring or rivulet, where three lairds' lands meet, and dip
your left shirt-sleeve. Go to bed in sight of a fire, and hang your wet
sleeve before it to dry. Lie awake; and some time near midnight an
apparition, having the exact figure of the party in question, will come
and turn the sleeve, as if to dry the other side of it."

A fourth is performed as follows: "Take three dishes; put clean water in
one, foul water in another, and leave the third empty; blindfold a
person and lead him to the hearth where the dishes are ranged; he (or
she) dips the left hand; if by chance in the clean water, the future
husband or wife will come to the bar of matrimony a maid; if in the
foul, a widow; if in the empty dish, it foretells with equal certainty
no marriage at all. It is repeated three times, and every time the
arrangement of the dishes is altered."

Pennant says that the young women in Scotland determine the figure and
size of their prospective husbands by _drawing cabbages blindfolded_.
"They must go out, hand in hand, with eyes shut, and pull the first they
meet with. Its being little, straight or crooked, is prophetic of the
size and shape of the grand object of all their spells—the husband or
wife. Earth sticking to the roots indicates a fortune."


_St. Agnes' Eve._

Formerly this was a night of great import to maidens who desired to know
whom they were to marry. Of such it was required that they should not
eat on this day, and those who conformed to the rule called it fasting
St. Agnes' fast. Ben Jonson says—

    And on sweet St. Agnes' night,
    Please you with the promis'd sight,
    Some of husbands, some of lovers,
    Which an empty dream discovers.

Old Aubrey gives a form whereby a lad or lass was to attain a sight of
the fortunate lover. "Upon St. Agnes' night you take a row of pins, and
pull out every one, one after another, saying a Pater Noster, sticking a
pin in your sleeve, and you will dream of him or her you shall marry."

                  —Her vespers done
    Of all its wreathed pearls her hair she frees;
    Unclasps her warmed jewels one by one;
    Loosens her fragrant boddice; by degrees
    Her rich attire creeps rustling to her knees.
    Half hidden, like a mermaid in sea-weed,
    Pensive awhile she dreams awake, and sees,
    In fancy, fair St. Agnes in her bed,
    But dares not look behind, or all the charm is fled.—_Keates._


_St. Patrick's Birthday._

Saint Patrick, according to ancient lore, having been born at
Kilpatrick, Scotland, landed near Wicklow, in the year of grace 433.
Originally there was a dispute, according to Lover, as to the true
anniversary of this renowned saint, some supposing the eighth and others
the ninth to be the correct day. The humorist represents a priest as
settling the difficulty as follows:—

    Says he, "Boys, don't be fighting for eight or for nine;
    Don't be always dividing—but sometimes combine;
    Combine eight with nine, and seventeen is the mark,
    So let that be his birthday." "Amen," says the clerk.
    So they all got blind drunk—which completed their bliss,
    And we keep up the practice from that day to this!


_Wassailing the Orchards._

In Devonshire, according to Brand, on the eve of the Epiphany, the
farmer and his men, with a large pitcher of cider, visit the orchard,
and, encircling one of the best bearing trees, they drink the following
toast three several times:—

              "Here's to thee, old apple tree,
    Whence thou may'st bud, and whence thou may'st blow,
    And whence thou may'st bear apples enow!
                Hats full! caps full!
              Bushel—bushel—sacks full!
              And my pockets full too! Huzza!"

This done, they return to the house, to find the doors bolted by the
ladies, who will not open until some one guesses what is on the spit,
and which is the reward of him who names it. Some are so superstitious
as to believe that if they neglect this ceremony, the trees will bear no
apples that year. In allusion to a similar ceremony practiced in Sussex
and Essex on New Year's eve, Herrick, in his "Hesperides," says—

    "Wassail the trees, that they may bear
     You many a plum, and many a pear;
     For more or less fruits they will bring,
     As you do give them wassailing."


_Cutting Off the Fiddler's Head._

A very singular merriment in the Isle of Man is mentioned by Waldron, in
his history of that place. He says that "during the whole twelve days of
Christmas there is not a barn unoccupied, and that every parish hires
fiddlers at the public charge. On twelfth-day the fiddler lays his head
in some one of the girls' laps, and a third person asks who such a maid,
or such a maid shall marry, naming the girls then present one after
another; to which the fiddler answers, according to his own whim, or
agreeably to the intimacies he has taken notice of during this time of
merriment. But whatever he says is as absolutely depended upon as an
oracle; and if he happens to couple two people who have an aversion to
each other, tears and vexation succeed the mirth. This they call cutting
off the fiddler's head; for after this he is dead for the whole year."


_Striking with Nettles._

A painful and mischievous custom prevailed on May eve in the south of
Ireland so late as the year 1825. "It was a common practice for school
boys, on that day, to consider themselves privileged to run wildly about
with a bunch of nettles, striking at the face and hands of their
companions, or any other person whom they felt they could assault with
impunity."


_Singular Burial Customs._

In the department of the Hautes Alpes, of France, in and around the
village of Andrieux, the dead are wrapped in a winding sheet, but are
not inclosed in a coffin. In the valleys of Queyras and Grave, the dead
are suspended in a barn during five months in the winter, until the
earth is softened by the sun's rays, when the corpse is consigned to
its native element. On the return to the home of the deceased, it
becomes a scene of bacchanalian revelry, in which the groans and sighs
of the mourners mingle with the songs and jests of the inebriated
guests. At Argentiere, after the burial, the tables are set out round
the church-yard; that of the curate and the mourning family over the
grave itself.


_Treatment of Lepers in England._

According to the tenor of various old civil codes and local enactments,
when a person became affected with leprosy he was looked upon as legally
and politically dead, and lost the privileges of citizenship. He was
classed with idiots, madmen and outlaws, and was not allowed to inherit.
The church performed the solemn ceremonies of the burial of the dead
over him on the day on which he was separated from his fellow-men, and
confined to a lazar-house. A priest, with surplice, stole and crucifix,
conducted the leper from his residence to the church, and thence to the
lazar-house. As the priest left the latter place he threw upon the body
of the poor outcast a shovelful of earth, in imitation of the closing of
a grave.


_Kissed while Asleep._

There exists an old social custom of claiming a pair of gloves, from man
or woman, by a kiss given when asleep. Allusion to this occurs in
Scott's "Fair Maid of Perth." Catherine Glover, on St. Valentine's day,
found Henry of the Wynd asleep in a chair in her father's house. She
stole a kiss from him, thereby choosing him as her valentine, and
winning a pair of gloves. Her father, who was a glove-maker, says: "Thou
knowest the maiden who ventures to kiss a sleeping man wins of him a
pair of gloves. Come to my booth. Thou shalt have a pair of delicate
kid-skin that will exactly suit her hand and arm."


_How the Chinese Secure a Pastor._

The fourth of February, says the Nevada _Transcript_, is the day on
which the Chinese select one of their number to preside over their Joss
house. The manner of proceeding is as follows: The two companies here
are permitted to have each a certain number of representatives, and the
fleetest and strongest men are generally chosen. These delegates repair
to a vacant lot at the rear of the Joss house. A stipulated number of
bombs, each one containing a metallic ring, are placed in charge of a
committee, whose duty it is to fire off the bombs, one at a time. When
the explosion takes place, the ring contained in the bomb is sent flying
into the air. It is the desire of the two factions to have their
respective delegates to secure as many of the rings as possible. Of
course, a general scramble ensues. At the close, the side which has
secured the most rings is entitled to select a Joss (equivalent to a
minister of the gospel with us) from among their number.


_Easter-Box._

A custom was instituted in the city of Toulouse by Charlemagne, that at
Easter any Christian might give a box on the ear to a Jew wherever he
chanced to meet him, as a mark of contempt for the nation which had, at
that season, crucified the Saviour of mankind. This usage, scandalous in
itself, was sometimes, through zeal, practiced with great violence. It
is stated that the eye of a poor Jew was forced out on the side of the
head whereon the blow was given. In the course of centuries this cruel
custom was commuted for a tax, and the money appropriated to the use of
the church of St. Saturnin.


_Antipathies._

Amatus Lusitanus relates the case of a monk who fainted whenever he saw
a rose, and never quitted his cell when that flower was blooming.
Scaliger mentions one of his relatives who experienced a similar horror
when seeing a lily. Montaigne stated that there were men who dreaded an
apple more than they did a musket ball. Zimmerman tells us of a lady who
could not endure the touch of silk and satin, and shuddered when placing
her hand upon the velvet skin of a peach. Boyle records the case of a
man who felt a natural abhorrence to honey. Without his knowledge, some
honey was mixed with a plaster applied to his foot, and his agony
compelled his attendants to withdraw it. A young man was known to faint
whenever he heard the servant sweeping. Hippocrates mentions one Nicanor
who swooned whenever he heard a flute. Erasmus experienced febrile
symptoms when smelling fish. The Duke d'Epernon swooned on beholding a
leveret, although a hare did not produce the same effect. Henry III. of
France fainted at the sight of a cat, and Marshal d'Albert at the sight
of a pig.


_Superstitions Respecting Bees._

The lower order of people in some parts of England have curious
superstitions respecting the bee. A poor old widow once complained to me
that all her stocks of bees had died, and on inquiring the cause, she
informed me that on the death of her husband, a short time before, she
had neglected to _tap_ at each of the hives, to inform the bees of the
circumstance; that, in consequence of this omission, they had been
gradually getting weaker and weaker, and that now she had not one left.
Mr. Loudon mentions, that when he was in Bedfordshire, he was informed
of an old man who sang a psalm in front of some hives which were not
doing well, but which he said would thrive in consequence of that
ceremony. In Norfolk, at places where bees are kept, it is an
indispensable ceremony, in case of the death of any of the family, to
put the bees in mourning, or the consequence would be that all of them
would die. The method of putting them in mourning is to attach a piece
of black cloth to each of the hives. In the neighborhood of Coventry, in
the event of the death of any of the family, it is considered necessary
to inform the bees of the circumstance, otherwise they will dwindle and
die. The manner of communicating the intelligence to the little
community, is, with due form and ceremony, to take the key of the house,
and knock with it three times against the hive, informing the inmates,
at the same time, of the bereavement. A similar custom prevails in
Kent.—_Mr. Jesse._


_Welcoming the New Moon._

In Scotland, especially among the Highlanders, the women make a courtesy
to the new moon. In some parts of England the women exclaim, upon seeing
the new moon: "A fine moon, God bless her!"


_The Bodach Glas._

Among the warnings or notices of death to be found in the dark chronicle
of superstitions, the omens peculiar to certain families are not the
least striking. Pennant tells us that many of the great families in
Scotland had their demon, or genius, who gave them monitions of future
events. Thus the family of Rothmurchan had the Bodac an Dun, or Ghost of
the Hill; and the Kincardines, the Spectre of the Bloody Hand. The
Bodach Glas is introduced in the novel of "Waverley," as the family
superstition of the MacIvors, the truth of which had been proved by an
experience of three hundred years. Bodach is from the Saxon, Bode, a
messenger, a tidings-bringer; Glas, the Gælic for gray, the "Gray
Messenger." The appearance of a tall figure in a gray plaid was always
regarded as an omen of an early death in the family.


_Strange Instance of Sympathy._

The Duke de Saint Simon mentions in his "Memoirs" a singular instance of
constitutional sympathy between two brothers. These were twins—the
President de Banquemore and the Governor de Bergues, who were
surprisingly alike, not only in their persons, but in their feelings.
One morning, he tells us, when the president was at his royal audience,
he was suddenly attacked by an intense pain in the thigh; at the same
instant, as it was discovered afterwards, his brother, who was with the
army, received a severe wound from a sword on the same leg, and
precisely the same part of the leg.


_Double Apparition._

In a letter of Philip, the second Earl of Chesterfield, it is related,
that "on a morning in 1652, the earl saw an object in white, like a
standing sheet, within a yard of his bedside. He attempted to catch it,
but it slid to the foot of the bed, and he saw it no more. His thoughts
turned to his lady, who was then at Networth, with her father, the Earl
of Northumberland. On his arrival at Networth, a footman met him on the
stairs, with a packet directed to him from his wife, whom he found with
Lady Essex, her sister, and Mr. Ramsey. He was asked why he had returned
so suddenly. He told his motive; and on perusing the letters in the
packet, he found that his lady had written to him, requesting his
return, for she had seen an object in white, with a black face, by her
bedside. These apparitions were seen by the earl and countess _at the
same moment_, when they were forty miles asunder."


_Spirit of Dundee._

At the time Viscount Dundee fell in the battle of Killiecrankie, in
1689, his friend, the Lord Balcarras, was a prisoner in the Castle of
Edinburgh, upon a strong suspicion of attachment to the unfortunate
house of Stuart. The captive earl was in bed, when a hand drew aside the
curtain, and the figure of his friend was revealed to him, armed as for
battle. The spectre gazed mournfully on Lord Balcarras, passed to the
other end of the chamber, leaned some time on the mantlepiece, and then
slowly passed out of the door. The earl, not for a moment supposing that
he was looking at an apparition, called out "Stop!" but the figure
heeded him not. Immediately afterwards, the news was conveyed to his
lordship of the battle, and that the gallant Dundee was slain; or, as
the song says, that

    "Low lay the bonnet of bonny Dundee."


_Captain Kidd's Vision._

Lord Byron used to mention a strange story which the commander of a
packet related to him. This officer stated, that being asleep one night
in his berth, he was awakened by the pressure of something heavy on his
limbs; and, there being a faint light in his room, could see, as he
thought distinctly, the figure of his brother, who was at that time in
the same service in the East Indies, dressed in his uniform, and
stretched across the bed. Concluding it to be an illusion of the senses,
he shut his eyes and made an effort to sleep. But still the same
pressure continued, and still, as often as he ventured to look, he saw
the figure lying across in the same position. To add to his wonder, on
putting forth his hand to touch the figure, he found the uniform in
which it appeared to be dressed _dripping wet_. On the entrance of one
of his brother officers, to whom he called out in alarm, the apparition
vanished. A few months later Captain Kidd received intelligence that on
that very night his brother had been drowned in the Indian
seas.—_Moore's Life of Byron._


_Sir Henry Wotton's Strange Dream._

Honest Isaac Walton makes Sir Henry Wotton a dreamer in the family line;
for, just before his death, he dreamed that the University treasury was
robbed by townsmen and poor scholars, and that the number was five. He
then wrote to his son Henry at Oxford, inquiring about it, and the
letter reached him the morning after the night of the robbery. "Henry,"
says the account, "shows his father's letter about, which causes great
wonderment, especially as the number of thieves was exactly correct."


_Supernatural Appearance at Holland House._

Aubrey tells us, in his "Miscellanies," that "the beautiful Lady Diana
Rich, daughter of the Earl of Holland, as she was walking in her
father's garden, at Kensington, to take the fresh air before dinner,
about eleven o'clock, being then very well, met with her own
apparition—habit and everything—as in a looking-glass. About a month
after she died of smallpox. It is said that her sister, the Lady
Elizabeth Thynne, saw the like of herself also, before she died. This
account I had from a person of honor."


_Old Grimaldi's Death._

Grimaldi, the father of "Joe," the celebrated clown, had a vague yet
profound dread of the 14th day of the month. At its approach he was
always nervous, disquieted, anxious; directly it had passed, he was
another man again, and invariably exclaimed, in his broken English, "Ah!
now I am safe for anoder month." If this circumstance were unaccompanied
by any singular coincidence, it would be scarcely worth mentioning; but
it is remarkable that Grimaldi actually died on the 14th of March, and
that he was born, christened and married on the 14th of the
month.—_Dickens' Life of Grimaldi._


_Twelfth-night Omens._

In Normandy, if any of the family are absent when the cake is cut on
Twelfth-night, his share is carefully put by. If he remains well, it is
believed that the cake continues fresh; if ill, it begins to be moist;
if he dies, the cake spoils.


_Twofold Apparition._

Mrs. Mathews relates, in the memoirs of her husband, the celebrated
comedian, that he was one night in bed and unable to sleep from the
excitement that continues some time after acting; when, hearing a
rustling by the side of his bed, he looked out and saw his first wife,
who was then dead, standing by the bedside, dressed as when alive. She
smiled and bent forward, as if to take his hand; but in his alarm he
threw himself out on the floor to avoid the contact, and was found by
the landlord in a fit. On the same night, and at the same hour, the
second Mrs. Mathews, who was far away from her husband, received a
similar visit from her predecessor, whom she had known when alive. She
was quite awake, and in her terror seized the bell-rope to summon
assistance; the rope gave way, and she fell with it in her hand to the
floor.


_Dr. Donne's Apparition._

Isaac Walton gives an account of this apparition in the life of Dr.
Donne. The doctor left his wife unwell in London, and went with Sir
Robert Drury to Paris. Two days after arriving there he stated to Drury
that he had had a vision of his wife walking through his room, with her
hair hanging over her shoulders, and a dead child in her arms. So
impressed were they by the incident that they immediately sent a
messenger to London to inquire regarding Mrs. Donne's health. The
intelligence procured by the man was, that she had been brought to bed
of a dead child at the very hour in which her husband thought he had
seen her in Paris.


_Picture Omens._

Archbishop Laud, not long before the disastrous circumstance happened
which hastened his tragical end, on entering his study one day, found
his picture at full length on the floor, the string which held it to the
wall having snapped. The sight of this struck the prelate with such a
sense of the probability of his fate, that from that time he did not
enjoy a moment's peace. The Duke of Buckingham was struck by an
occurrence of a similar kind; he found his picture in the Council
Chamber fallen out of its frame. This accident, in that age of omens,
was looked upon with a considerable degree of awe.


_Felling Oaks._

In the "Magna Britannia," the author, in his "Account of the Hundred of
Croydon," says: "Our historians take notice of two things in this parish
which may not be convenient to us to omit, viz: A great wood called
Norwood, belonging to the archbishops, wherein was anciently a tree
called the Vicar's Oak, where four parishes met, as it were, in a point.
It is said to have consisted wholly of oaks, and among them was one that
bore a mistletoe, which some persons were so hardy as to cut for the
gain of selling it to the apothecaries of London, leaving a branch of it
to sprout out; but they proved unfortunate after it, for one of them
fell lame and others lost an eye. At length, in the year 1678, a certain
man, notwithstanding that he was warned against it, upon the account of
what the others had suffered, ventured to cut the tree down, and he soon
after broke his leg.

"To fell oaks has long been counted fatal, and such as believe it
produce the instance of the Earl of Winchilsea, who, having felled a
curious grove of oaks, soon after found his countess dead in her bed
suddenly, and his eldest son, the Lord Maidstone, was killed at sea by a
cannon ball."


_Lord Bacon's Dream._

When Lord Bacon, as he himself records, dreamt in Paris that he saw "his
father's house in the country plastered all over with black mortar," his
feelings were highly wrought upon; the emotions under which he labored
were of a very apprehensive kind, and he had no doubt that the next
intelligence from England would apprise him of the death of his father.
The sequel proved that his apprehensions were well grounded, for his
father actually died the same night in which he had his remarkable
dream.


_Reckless Disregard of Omens._

P. Claudius, in the First Punic War, caused the sacred chickens, who
would not leave their cage, to be pitched into the sea, saying: "If they
will not eat, they must drink."


_Sailors' Whistling._

Zoraster imagined there was an evil spirit that could excite violent
storms of wind. The sailors are tinctured with a superstition of the
kind, which is the reason why they so seldom whistle on ship-board; when
becalmed, their whistling is an invocation.


_The Hinder Well-spout Unlucky._

A curious instance of popular superstition, in defiance of plain facts
to the contrary, is related in a letter written in the year 1808,
published in Dr. Aikin's "Athenæum." The writer says that in the year
1801, he visited Glasgow, and, passing one of the principal streets in
the neighborhood of the Iron Church, observed about thirty people,
chiefly women and girls, gathered round a large public pump, waiting
their turn to draw water. The pump had two spouts, behind and before;
but he noticed that the hinder one was carefully plugged up, no one
attempting to fill her vessel from that source, although she had to wait
so long till her turn came at the other spout.

On inquiry, the visitor was informed that, though the same handle
brought the same water from the same well through either and both of the
spouts, yet the populace, and even some better informed people, had for
a number of years conceived an idea, which had become hereditary and
fixed, that the water passing through the hindermost spout would be
_unlucky and poisonous_. This prejudice received from time to time a
certain sanction; for in the spout, through long disuse, a kind of dusty
fur collected, and this, if at any time the water was allowed to pass
through, made it at first run foul—thus confirming the superstitious
prejudice of the people, who told the traveler that it was certain death
to drink of the water drawn from the hindermost spout. The magistrates
had sought to dispel the ignorant terror of the populace, by cleaning
out the well repeatedly in their presence, and explaining to them the
internal mechanism of the pump, but all was in vain.


_Assuming the Form of a Bird._

That the soul quits the dead body in the form of a bird, is a
wide-spread belief, and has been the subject of superstitious fancies
from the earliest times. In the Egyptian hieroglyphics, a bird signifies
the soul of man.

In the legend of St. Polycarp, who was burned alive, his blood
extinguished the flames, and from his ashes arose a white dove which
flew towards heaven. It was said that a dove was seen to issue from the
funeral pyre of Joan of Arc.

In the Breton ballad of "Lord Nann and the Korrigan" there is an
allusion to spirit-bearing doves—

    "It was a marvel to see, men say,
     The night that followed the day,
     The lady in earth by her lord lay,
     To see two oak-trees themselves rear
     From the new-made grave into the air;

    "And on their branches two doves white,
     Who were there hopping gay and light;
     Which sang when rose the morning ray,
     And then toward heaven sped away."

A wild song, sung by the boatmen of the Mole, in Venice, declares that
the spirit of Daniel Manin, the patriot, is flying about the lagoons to
this day in the shape of a beautiful dove.

In the Paris _Figaro_ (October, 1872), is an account of the death of a
gipsy belonging to a tribe encamped in the Rue Duhesme. Among other
ceremonies, a live bird was held close to the lips of the dying girl,
with the view of introducing her soul into the bird.

In certain districts of Russia bread-crumbs are placed in a piece of
white linen, outside of the window, for six weeks, under the belief that
the soul of the recent inmate will come, in the shape of a bird, to feed
upon the crumbs. When Deacon Theodore and his three schismatic brethren
were burnt in 1681, the souls of the martyrs, as the "Old Believers"
affirm, appeared in the air as pigeons.


_Talismanic Stones in Birds._

Among the curiosities of ancient credulity was the belief that certain
birds possessed stones of remarkable talismanic virtue. One of these was
supposed to be found in the brain of the vulture, which gave health to
the finder and successful results when soliciting favors. Dioscorides
gives an account of the use of an eagle-stone in detecting larceny. The
_Alectorius_, a stone worn by the wrestler Milo, was so called from
being taken out of the gizzard of a fowl. A stone like a crystal, as
large as a bean, extracted from a cock, was considered by the Romans to
make the wearer invisible. _Corvia_ was the name of a stone obtained
from the nest of a crow. The swallow-stone was a Norman superstition,
according to which the bird knows how to find on the seashore a stone
that restores sight to the blind. Longfellow, in "Evangeline," says—

  "Seeking with eager eyes that wondrous stone which the swallow
   Brings from the shore of the sea, to restore the sight of her fledglings."


_Birds Prognosticating Death._

In old times it was believed that certain birds prognosticated death. In
Lloyd's "Stratagems of Jerusalem" (1602), he says: "By swallows lighting
upon Pirrhus' tents, and lighting upon the mast of Mar. Antonius' ship,
sayling after Cleopatra to Egypt, the soothsayers did prognosticate that
Pirrhus should be slaine at Argos, in Greece, and Mar. Antonius in
Egypt." He alludes to swallows following Cyrus from Persia to Scythia,
from which the magi foretold his death. Ravens followed Alexander the
Great in returning from India, and going to Babylon, which was a sure
presage of his end.

Among the Danish peasantry the appearance of a raven in the village is
considered an indication that the parish priest is to die. "There is a
common feeling in Cornwall," observes Mr. Hunt, "that the croaking of a
raven over the house bodes evil to some of the family." Marlowe, in his
"Rich Jew of Malta," described the "sad-presaging raven"—

                  "That tolls
  The sick man's passport in her hollow beak,
  And in the shadow of the silent night
  Doth shake contagion from her sable wings."

Gay, in "The Dirge," notices the presage—

  "The boding raven on her cottage sat
   And with hoarse croakings warn'd us of our fate."

A number of crows are said to have fluttered about Cicero's head on the
very day he was murdered.

An evil prognostic attends the bittern in its flight. Bishop Hall,
alluding to a superstitious man, says: "If a bittern flies over his head
by night, he makes his will."

Homer has immortalized the crane as foreboding disaster—

    "That when inclement winters vex the plain
     With piercing frosts, or thick descending rain,
     To warmer seas the cranes embodied fly,
     With noise and order, through the midway sky;
     To pigmy nations wounds and death they bring,
     And all the war descends upon the wing."

Here is a saying that includes the magpie as a presager of death—

    "One's joy, two's a greet [crying],
     Three's a wedding, four's a sheet [winding sheet]."

The _burree churree_, an Indian night bird, preys upon dead bodies. The
Mohammedans say that should a drop of the blood of a corpse, or any part
of it, fall from this bird's beak on a human being, he will die at the
end of forty days.


_The Crossbill._

There is an odd superstition connected with the crossbill, in Thuringia,
which makes the wood-cutters very careful of the nests. This bird in
captivity is subject to many diseases, such as weak eyes, swelled and
ulcerated feet, etc., arising probably from the heat and accumulated
vapors of the stove-heated rooms where they are kept. The Thuringian
mountaineer believes that these wretched birds can take upon themselves
any diseases to which he is subject, and always keeps some near him. He
is satisfied that a bird whose upper mandible bends to the right, has
the power of transferring colds and rheumatisms from man to itself; and
if the mandible turns to the left, he is equally certain that the bird
can render the same service to the women. The crossbill is often
attacked with epilepsy, and the Thuringians drink every day the water
left by the bird, as a specific against that disease.


_The Ostrich._

The ancient myth about the ostrich was that she did not hatch her eggs
by setting upon them, but by the rays of light and warmth from her eyes.
Southey alludes to this in "Thalaba"—

  With such a look as fables say
  The mother ostrich fixes on her eggs,
  Till that intense affection
  Kindle its light of life.


_Honoring the Lark._

In Russia, on the 9th of March, the day on which the larks are supposed
to arrive, the rustics make clay images of those birds, smear them with
honey, tip their heads with tinsel, and then carry them about, singing
songs to spring, or to Lada, their vernal goddess.


_The Nightingale._

Milton's exquisite sonnet to the nightingale makes pointed reference to
the fancy that her song portended success in love. Faber, in the
"Cherwell Water Lily," gives an angelic character to the strains of the
nightingale. The classical fable of the unhappy Philomela may have given
origin to the conception that the nightingale sings with its breast
impaled upon a thorn. The earliest notice of this myth by an English
poet is, probably, that in the "Passionate Pilgrim" of Shakespeare—

    "Everything doth banish moan,
     Save the nightingale alone.
     She, poor bird, as all forlorn,
    _Lean'd her breast up till a thorn_,
     And there sung the dolefull'st ditty,
     That to hear it was great pity."


_The Blackbird originally White._

There is a curious story of the blackbird that its original color was
white, but it became black because one year three of the days were so
cold that it had to take refuge in a chimney. Mr. Swainson says that
"these three days (January 30th, 31st and February 1st) are called in
the neighborhood of Brescia, 'I giorni della merla,' the blackbird's
days."


_The Dove._

The dove amongst birds, from its gentle and loving nature in the first
place, and in the second from the purity of its plumage, has been
preferably selected as the image of the Holy Ghost.

According to an apocryphal gospel, the Holy Ghost, under the form of a
dove, designated Joseph as the spouse of the Virgin Mary by alighting on
his head; and in the same manner, says Eusebius, was Fabian indicated as
the divinely-appointed Bishop of Rome. According to a singular legend,
the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, was present at the Council of
Nice, and _signed the creed_ that was there framed! There are many
legends of a similar character.

At the consecration of Clovis the divine dove is said actually to have
presided over the Christian destinies of France. Clovis and the Bishop
of Rheims, St. Remi, proceeded in procession to the baptistry, where the
chief of the Franks was to be consecrated king and made a Christian.
When they arrived there, the priest, bearing the holy chrism, was
stopped by the crowd, and could not reach the font. But a dove, whiter
than snow, brought thither in her beak the "ampoule" (a phial of white
glass) filled with chrism sent from heaven. St. Remi took the vessel and
perfumed with chrism the baptismal water.

In a painted window at Lincoln College, Oxford, Elisha the prophet is
represented with a double-headed dove seated on his shoulder. This
becomes intelligent on referring to his petition to Elijah, when he
entreated that "a double portion" of his spirit might rest upon him.

The dove, as a harbinger of good news, is alluded to in one of Martial's
epigrams—

    "A dove soft glided through the air
     On Aretulla's bosom bare.
     This might seem chance, did she not stay,
     Nor would, permissive, wing her way.
     But, if a pious sister's vows
     The Master of mankind allows,
     This envoy of Sardoan skies
     From the returning exile flies."


_Killing a Robin._

In old times ill-luck attended the killing of a robin. If one died in
the hand, it was believed that the hand would always tremble. In "Six
Pastorals," by George Smith, 1770, the following occurs:—

    "I found a robin's nest within our shed
     And in the barn a wren has young one's bred;
     I never take away their nest, nor try
     To catch the old ones, lest a friend should die.
     Dick took a robin's nest from the cottage side,
     And ere a twelvemonth pass'd his mother died."

In Derbyshire, among many other places, it is believed that the catching
and killing of a robin, or taking the eggs from the nest, is sure to be
followed by misfortune, such as the death of cattle, blight of corn,
etc. The folks say—

    "Robins and wrens
     Are God's best cocks and hens.
     Martins and swallows
     Are God's best scholars."

In Yorkshire, if a robin is killed, it is believed that the family cow
will give bloody milk.


_The Cuckoo._

A superstition prevails in Ireland, and in some parts of England, that
any young person, on first hearing the cuckoo, will find a hair of the
color of their sweetheart's adhering to their stocking, if they will at
once take off their left shoe and examine it carefully. Gay, in his
"Shepherd's Week," says—

    "Upon a rising bank I sat adown,
     Then doff'd my shoe, and, by my troth, I swear
     Therein I spied this yellow frizzled hair,
     As like to Lubberkin's in curl and hue
     As if upon his comely pate it grew."

In Norfolk there is a belief that an unmarried person will remain single
as many years as the cuckoo utters its call, when first heard in the
spring. Subjoined is an old English invocation—

    "Cuckoo, cherry-tree,
     Good bird, tell me,
     How many years I have to live?"

At the first call of the cuckoo the German peasant does the same thing
as when he hears thunder for the first time in the year. He rolls
himself two or three times on the grass, thinking himself thereby
insured against pains in the back throughout the rest of the year, and
all the more so if the bird continues its cry whilst he is on the
ground.

If the first note of the cuckoo comes upon you when you have no money in
your pocket, it is held, both in Germany and England, to portend want of
money throughout the year.

A valuable virtue is attributed to cuckoos in keeping off fleas. In
Hill's "Naturall and Artificiall Conclusions," (1650), we find: "A very
easie and merry conceit to keep off fleas from your beds or chambers.
Pliny reporteth that if, when you first hear the cuckow, you mark well
where your first foot standeth, and take up that earth, the fleas will
by no means breed where any of the same earth is thrown or scattered."
This belief still exists in some parts of France.


_Why the Cuckoo Builds no Nest._

"If you wish to know," says Horace Marryat, in his "Jutland and the
Danish Isles," "why the cuckoo builds no nest of its own, I can easily
explain it, according to the belief in Denmark. When in early
spring-time the voice of the cuckoo is first heard in the woods, every
village girl kisses her hand, and asks the question: 'Cuckoo! cuckoo!
when shall I be married?' And the old folks, borne down with age and
rheumatism, inquire: 'Cuckoo! when shall I be relieved from this world's
cares?' The bird, in answer, continues singing 'Cuckoo!' as many times
as years will elapse before the object of their desires will come to
pass. But as many old people live to an advanced age, and many girls die
old maids, the poor bird has so much to do in answering the questions
put to her, that the building season goes by; she has no time to make
her nest, but lays her eggs in the nest of the hedge-sparrow."


_The Magpie._

The magpie has always had many superstitions connected with it. _One_
magpie foretells misfortune, which can be obviated, however, by pulling
off the hat and making a polite bow to the bird. In Lancashire the
saying is—

    "One for anger, two for mirth,
     Three for a wedding, four for a birth,
     Five for rich, six for poor,
     Seven for a witch, I can tell you no more."

To meet a magpie portends misfortune in a journey, and it is thought
best to return. It is the usual habit of the peasants to cross
themselves when they meet a single chattering magpie. In the north of
England the bird is thus addressed—

    "Magpie, magpie, chatter and flee,
     Turn up thy tail, and good luck fall me."

Of all living creatures in Russia, magpies are those whose shapes
witches like best to take. The wife of the false Demetrius, according to
popular poetry, escaped from Moscow in the guise of a magpie.


_Why the Magpie Builds but Half a Nest._

The half-nest of the magpie is accounted for by a rural ornithological
legend. Once on a time, when the world was very young, the magpie, by
some accident or other, although she was quite as cunning as she is at
present, was the only bird that was unable to build a nest. In this
perplexity she applied to the other members of the feathered race, who
kindly undertook to instruct her. So, on a day appointed, they
assembled for the purpose, and, the materials having been collected, the
blackbird said, "Place that stick there," suiting the action to the
word, as she commenced the work. "Ah!" said the magpie, "I knew that
before." The other birds followed with their suggestions, but to every
piece of advice the magpie kept saying, "Ah! I knew that before." At
length, when the nest was half finished, the patience of the company was
fairly exhausted by the pertinacious conceit of the magpie; so all left
her, with the united exclamation, "Well, Mistress Mag, as you seem to
know all about it, you may finish the nest yourself." Their resolution
was obdurate and final, and to this day the magpie exhibits the effects
of partial instruction by her incomplete abode.


_A Swallow Drinks the King's Health._

Aubrey, in his "Miscellanies," relates that "At Stretton, in
Hertfordshire, 1648, when Charles I. was prisoner, the tenant of the
manor-house there sold excellent cyder to gentlemen of the neighborhood.
Among others that met there was old Mr. Hill, B. D., parson of the
parish, _quondam_ Fellow of Brazennose College at Oxford. This venerable
good old man one day (after his accustomed fashion), standing up, with
his head uncovered, to drink his Majesty's health, saying, 'God bless
our gracious sovereign,' as he was going to put the cup to his lips, a
swallow flew in at the window, and pitched on the brim of the little
earthen cup (not half a pint) and sipt, and so flew out again. This was
in the presence of the aforesaid Parson Hill, Major Gwillim, and two or
three more that I knew very well then, my neighbors, and whose joint
testimony of it I have more than once had in that very room. It was in
the bay-window of the parlor, and Mr. Hill's back was next to the
window. The cup is preserved there still as a rarity."


_Birds of Paradise._

These birds have been the subject of many a fable. Old naturalists
describe them as being destitute of feet, dwelling in the air, without
an abiding place, nourished by dews and the odor of flowers. Tavernier
relates, "that they come in flocks during the nutmeg season to the south
cities of India. The strength of the nutmeg intoxicates them, and while
they lie in this state on the earth, the ants eat off their legs!" Moore
says, in his "Lalla Rookh—"

    "Those golden birds that in the spice-time drop
     About the gardens, drunk with that sweet fruit
     Whose scent hath lur'd them o'er the summer flood."

The natives of New Guinea and the neighboring islands looked upon the
skins of these birds as sacred, and as charms against the dangers of
war. In preparing them, the legs of the bird were cut off in a manner
that gave rise to the idea, when the skins were exported from the
islands, that the birds were legless.

    "But thou art still that Bird of Paradise,
     Which hath no feet, and ever nobly flies."


_The Owl._

The owl, "the fatal bellman which gives the sternest good night," was
the dread of the superstitious from the earliest times. Virgil
introduces the owl among the prodigies and horrors that foreran the
suicide of Dido. It was said that two large owls would perch upon the
battlements of Wardour Castle whenever an Arundel's last hour had come.
The cry of the owl is heard by Lady Macbeth, during the murder. Hogarth
introduces the owl in the murder scene of his "Four Stages of Cruelty."

The Ethiopians, when they wished to pronounce sentence of death upon any
person, carried to him a table upon which an owl was painted. When the
guilty man saw it, he was expected to destroy himself with his own hand.
To the peasants, the cry of the owl foretells hail and rain, accompanied
by lightning. The practice of nailing the bird to a barn-door, to avert
evil consequences, is common throughout Europe, and is mentioned by
Palladius in his "Treatise on Agriculture." Pliny wrote: "If an owl be
seen either within cities or otherwise abroad in any place, it is not
for good, but prognosticates some fearful misfortune."


_The Phœnix._

The Rabbins tell us "that all the birds having complied with the first
woman, and, with her, having eaten of the forbidden fruit, except the
phœnix, as a reward it obtained a sort of immortality. It lived five
hundred years in the wilderness; then making a nest of spices, it
lighted it by the wafting of its wings, and the body was consumed. From
the ashes arose a worm which grew up to be a phœnix." Moore, in
"Paradise and the Peri," alludes to

    The enchanted pile of that lonely bird
    Who sings at the last his own death-lay,
    And in music and perfumes dies away.

"The myth of the phœnix," says George Stephens, in Archæologia, "is one
of the most ancient in the world. Originally a temple type of the
immortality of the soul, its birthplace appears to have been the sunny
clime of the fanciful and gorgeous East. Even in the days of Job and
David it was already a popular tradition in Palestine and Arabia."

Herodotus describes the phœnix in the following words: "The plumage is
partly red, partly golden, while the general make and size are almost
exactly that of the eagle. They tell a story in Egypt of what this bird
does, which appears incredible,—that he comes all the way from Arabia,
and brings the parent bird, all plastered over with myrrh, to the Temple
of the Sun, and there buries the body. In order to bring him, they say,
he first forms a ball of myrrh as big as he finds that he can carry;
then he hollows out the ball and puts his parent inside, after which he
covers over the opening with fresh myrrh, and the ball is then exactly
of the same weight as at first. So he brings it to Egypt, as I have
said, and deposits it in the Temple of the Sun." Ariosto alludes to this
fable in the voyage of Astolfo—

    "Arabia, named the Happy, now he gains;
     Incense and myrrh perfume her grateful plains;
     The virgin phœnix there, in need of rest,
     Selects from all the world her balmy nest."

The phœnix, as a sign over chemists' shops, was adopted from the
association of this fabulous bird with alchemy.


_The Wren._

The story of the contest for the crown, in which the wren outwitted the
eagle, is traditional in Germany, France, Ireland and other countries.
It seems that the birds all met together one day, and settled among
themselves that which ever of them could fly the highest was to be king
of them all. As they were starting, the wren, unknown to the eagle,
perched himself on his tail. Away flew the birds, and the eagle soared
far above the others, until, tired, he perched himself on a rock, and
declared that he had gained the victory. "Not so fast," cried the wren,
getting off the tail and springing above the eagle; "you have lost your
chance, and I am king of the birds." The eagle, angry at the trick
played upon him, gave the wren, as he came down, a smart stroke with
his wing, from which time the wren has never been able to fly higher
than a hawthorn bush.

The story is told with a different conclusion in Germany. According to
the German version, the tricky wren was imprisoned in a mouse-hole, and
the owl was set to watch before it, whilst the other birds were
deliberating upon the punishment to be inflicted upon the offender. The
owl fell asleep, and the prisoner escaped. The owl was so ashamed that
he has never ventured to show himself by daylight.

In the Ojibua legend the gray linnet is the tricky bird, and the verdict
was rendered in favor of the eagle, for he not only flew nearest to the
sun, but carried the linnet with him.

In France the wren is called _roitelet_ (little king), and also
_poulette au bon Dieu_, "God's little hen." To kill it or to rob its
nest would bring down lightning on the culprit's head. Robert Chambers,
in "Popular Rhymes," says—

    "Malisons, malisons, mair than ten
     That harry the Ladye of Heaven's hen."

At Carcasonne the wren was carried about on a staff adorned with a
garland of olive, oak and mistletoe. In the Isle of Man the wren is
believed to be a transformed fairy.


_White-breasted Birds._

In Devonshire the appearance of a white-breasted bird has long been
considered an omen of death. This belief has been traced to a
circumstance which happened to the Oxenham family in that county, and
related by Howell, in his "Familiar Letters," wherein is the following
monumental inscription: "Here lies John Oxenham, a goodly young man, in
whose chamber, as he was struggling with the pangs of death, a bird with
a white breast was seen fluttering about his bed, and so vanished." The
same circumstance is related of his sister Mary, and two or three others
of the family.


_The Penguin's Solitary Egg._

The female penguin of Patagonia does not commit her offspring to any
kind of nest. She constantly carries her solitary egg in a pouch formed
by a fold in the skin of the abdomen, and it is held so fast in this
that she leaps or sometimes rolls from rock to rock without letting it
fall. It is well for her she does so, for should such a mishap befall
her the male bird chastises her without pity.


_The Crocodile Plover._

One of the best friends of the crocodile is a little bird of the plover
species. The mouth of the reptile is infested with painful parasites,
and the bird fearlessly flies into the open jaws and picks out the
insects. The crocodile appears to be conscious of this kindly office,
for it never offers to hurt its little feathered friend.


_Peacocks' Crests._

In ancient times peacocks' crests were among the ornaments of the kings
of England. Ernald de Aclent (Acland) "paid a fine to King John in a
hundred and forty palfries, with sackbuts, gilt spurs and peacocks'
crests, such as would be for his credit."


_Worshipful Cranes._

Tame cranes, kept in the Middle Ages, are said to have stood before the
table at dinner, and kneeled and bowed the head when a bishop
pronounced the benediction. But how they knelt is as fairly open to
inquiry as how Dives could take his seat in torment, as he did,
according to an old carol, "all on a serpent's knee."


_The Great Auk._

Pennant says that this bird never wanders beyond soundings, by which
sailors are assured that land is not very remote. Aristophanes tells us
that the Greek mariners, more than two thousand years ago, made note of
the habits and movements of birds.

    "From birds, in sailing, men instructions take,
     Now lie in port, now sail and profit make."


_The Kingfisher._

Sir Thomas Brown, in his "Vulgar Errors," says: "A kingfisher hanged by
the bill sheweth what quarter the wind is, by an occult and secret
property, converting the breast to that part of the horizon from whence
the wind doth blow. This is a received opinion, and very strange,
introducing natural weathercocks and extending magnetical positions as
far as animal natures, a conceit supported chiefly by present practice,
yet not made out by reason nor experience." The ancients believed that
so long as the female kingfishers sat on their eggs, no storm or tempest
disturbed the ocean. In Wild's "Iter Boreale," we read—

    "The peaceful kingfishers are met together
     About the decks, and prophesy calm weather."

Gmelin, in his "Voyage en Sibérie," says that "the Tartars believe that
if they touch a woman, or even her clothes, with a feather from a
kingfisher, she must fall in love with them. The Ostiacs take the skin,
the bill and the claws of this bird, shut them up in a purse, and so
long as they preserve this sort of amulet they believe they have no ill
to fear. The person who told me of this means of living happily could
not forbear shedding tears, for the loss of a kingfisher's skin had
caused him to lose both his wife and his goods."


_The Albatross._

The albatross is remarkable for its migrations; indeed, it may almost be
said to pass from pole to pole, and is seen at a greater distance from
land than any other bird. Hence sailors regard this companion of their
voyage with superstitious fondness. Coleridge speaks of the albatross in
his "Ancient Mariner"—

     And all averr'd I had killed the bird
       That made the breezes to blow;
    "A wretch," said they, "the bird to slay,
       That made the breezes to blow."


_The Stork._

A feeling of attachment, not devoid of superstition, procures the stork
an unmolested life in all Moslem countries. The Dutch regard them as
birds of good omen, and a wagon-wheel is often laid upon the house-top
for the stork to build his nest on, during which time the house is safe
from fire. It is sometimes called by them the "fire-fowl" and
"baby-bringer."

In North Germany, the first time in the year that a girl hears the
stork, if it clatter with its bill, she will break something; if it be
flying, she will be a bride before the year is out; if it be standing,
she will be asked to stand godmother.

Storks are "fabled" to be very attentive to their aged parents,
carrying them from place to place and feeding them if they are blind.
Aristophanes says—

          "'Tis an ancient law
  Among the birds, on the storks' tables writ,
  Soon as the father stork hath nourished all
  His brood, and made them fit for flight, in turn
  The younglings should support their aged sire."


_Cocks and Hens._

Schweinfurth, in his "Heart of Africa," gives the following curious
auguries from cocks and hens, common to various negro tribes: "An oily
fluid, concocted from a red wood called 'Bengye,' is administered to a
hen. If the bird dies, there will be misfortune in war; if it survives,
there will be victory. Another mode of trying their fortune consists in
seizing a cock and ducking its head repeatedly under water, until the
creature is stiff and senseless. They then leave it to itself. If it
should rally, they draw an omen that is favorable to their design: if it
should succumb, they look for an adverse issue."

A curious notion respecting fowls existed in various parts of England.
On the morning of St. Valentine's day, the girls, before opening the
outer door, would look into the yard through the key-hole. If they saw a
cock and hen in company, it was taken for granted that the person most
interested would be married before the year was out.

In Hooker's "Tour in Morocco," recently published, he mentions that in a
storm in the heights of the Atlas, one of his attendants cut the throat
of a cock he carried, to appease the wrath of the demons of the
mountains.

Mr. Dalyell, in his "Darker Superstitions of Scotland," observes that
during the prevalence of infectious diseases in the East, a cock was
killed over the bed of the invalid, sprinkling him with the blood. A
red cock was dedicated by sick persons in Ceylon to a malignant
divinity, and afterwards offered as a sacrifice in the event of
recovery.

In "Credulities Past and Present," it is stated that "in Durham there is
a superstition that if any person was bewitched, the author of the evil
might be discovered by the following means: To _steal_ a black hen, take
out the heart, stick it full of pins, and roast it at midnight. The
'double' of the witch would come and nearly pull the door down. If the
'double' was not seen, any one of the neighbors who had passed a
remarkably bad night was fixed upon!"


_Led by a Gander._

In Germany an aged blind woman was led to church every Sunday by a
gander, which dragged her along, holding her gown in his beak. As soon
as the old woman was seated in her pew the gander retired to the
church-yard to feed upon the grass, and when the service was ended he
conducted his mistress to her home.—_Menault._


_Crows Lost in a Fog._

The Hartford Times tells a curious story of a flock of crows in that
vicinity who recently lost their way in a fog. They lost their bearings
at a point directly above the South Green, in Hartford. For a good while
they hovered there, coming low down, circling and diving aimlessly
about, like a blindfolded person in "blind man's buff," and keeping up a
hoarse cawing and general racket beyond description. It was plain enough
that of the entire company each individual crow was not only puzzled and
bothered, but highly indignant, and inclined to utter "cuss words" in
his frantic attempts to be heard above the general din, and tell the
others which way to go. Once or twice the whole flock swept down to a
distance of not more than one hundred feet above the street. Finally,
after going around for many times, they sailed away in a southerly
direction, evidently having got some clue to the way out of the fog, or
desperately resolved to go _somewhere_ till they could see daylight.


_The Peacock at Home._

Peacocks are found in almost all parts of India and Siam, and the
multitudes in which they occur in some districts is wonderful. Colonel
Williamson, in his "Oriental Field Sports," says: "About the passes in
the Jungletery district whole woods were covered with the beautiful
plumage, to which a rising sun imparted additional brilliancy. I speak
within bounds when I assert that there could not have been less than
1200 or 1500 pea-fowls, of various sizes, within sight of the spot where
I stood." Sir James Emerson Tennent says, in his work on Ceylon, "that
in some of the unfrequented portions of the eastern province, to which
Europeans rarely resort, and where the pea-fowl are unmolested by the
natives, their number is so extraordinary that, regarded as game, it
ceased to be sport to destroy them; and their cries at early morning are
so tumultuous and incessant as to banish sleep, and amount to an actual
inconvenience."


_Story of the Dodo._

This extinct bird was a native of Mauritius, in the Indo-African Ocean,
and was first described by Van Neck, a Dutchman, in 1598, in which year
a living specimen was embarked for Holland, but died on its way. This
specimen is supposed to have been preserved at Leyden; and one of the
feet is believed to be that in the British Museum. Several successive
voyagers mention the bird, down to Canche, in 1638, in which year a
living dodo was brought to England by Sir Hamon l'Estrange, who
describes the back as of "dunn or deare colour." It was exhibited for
money in London, in a house which bore a figure of the bird represented
on canvas. This specimen has been traced to Tradescant's Museum at
Lambeth, whence it was conveyed, in 1682, to Oxford by Ashmole. The body
and a leg were destroyed by vermin before 1775, but the other leg and
the head are preserved to this day in the Ashmolean Museum, in which
place there also is a large drawing of a dodo, taken from nature, by
John Savery. It was not related to the ostrich or the vulture, as many
have supposed, but was closely allied to the pigeons and the solitaire
bird seen by Leguat in the Island of Rodrigeux in 1691.—_Wells._


_An Old Gander._

Willoughby states, in his work on Ornithology, that a friend of his
possessed a gander eighty years of age, which in the end became so
ferocious that they were forced to kill it, in consequence of the havoc
it committed in the barn-yard. He also mentions a swan three centuries
old and several parrots that attained the age of one hundred and fifty
years.


_Chaffinch Contest._

At the town of Armentières, in France, there is a _fete du pays_, in
which the chaffinch and its fellows are the chief actors and objects of
attraction. Numbers of these birds are trained with the greatest care
and no small share of cruelty, for they are frequently blinded by their
owners, that their song may not be interrupted by the sight of any
external object. The point upon which the amusement, the honor and the
emolument rests is the number of times a bird will repeat his song in a
given time.

A day being fixed, the amateurs repair to the appointed place, each with
his bird in a cage. The prize is then displayed, and the birds are
placed in a row. A bird-fancier notes how many times each bird sings,
and another verifies his notes. In the year 1812, a chaffinch repeated
his song seven hundred times in one hour. Emulated by the songs of each
other, they strain their little plumed throats, as if conscious that
honor was to result from their exertions.


_The Fabulous Roc._

The roc, the huge bird that gave Sindbad the sailor his ride through the
air, is not to be compared with some of those mentioned in the Talmud.
Some mariners saw one of those large birds standing up to the lower
joint of the leg in a river, and thinking the water could not be deep,
they were hastening to bathe, when a voice from heaven said: "Step not
in there; seven years ago a carpenter dropped his axe there, and it hath
not yet reached the bottom."


_Fable of the Pelican._

The pelicans are said to carry water to their young, as well as food, in
their pouch. During the night the pelican sits with its bill resting on
its breast. The nail or hook which terminates the bill is red, and Mr.
Broderip supposes that the ancient fable of the pelican feeding its
young with blood from its own breast originated from its habit of
pressing the bill upon the breast in order the more easily to empty the
pouch, when the red tip might be mistaken for blood.


_Night Owls._

It is worthy of remark that in all owls that fly by night the exterior
edges and sides of the wing-quills are slightly recurved, and end in
fine hairs or points, by means of which the bird can pass through the
air with the greatest silence—a provision necessary to enable it the
better to surprise its prey.—_Adam White._


_Imprisoned During Incubation._

In his work on "The Birds of India," M. Jerdon details the curious
domestic arrangements of some species of the genus Homrain of French
naturalists, the males of which, at the time of laying, imprison the
female in her nest. They close the entrance to it by means of a thick
wall of mud, leaving only a small hole by which the hen breathes and
through which she protrudes her beak to receive food, which is brought
by her spouse. Though barbarous enough to imprison her, he is not cruel
enough to starve her. This forced retirement only ceases with the
termination of the hatching, when the pair break the prison door.


_Love-Birds._

These birds receive their name from the affection which they manifest
towards one another. Anatomically, this genus is remarkable in the
parrot tribe for having no furcula, or merry-thought bone.


_Penguin Breeding Grounds._

These birds often occupy acres for their breeding ground, which is laid
out and leveled and divided into squares, as nicely as if done by a
surveyor. They march between the compartments as accurately as soldiers
on parade, and somewhat resembling them from a distance, or, according
to another similitude which has been used, looking like bands of little
children in white aprons. Bennett describes one breeding ground on
Macquarie Island as covering thirty or forty acres, and, to give some
notion of the multitudes, speaks of 30,000 or 40,000 birds as
continually landing, and as many putting to sea.


_The Ear of Birds not to be Deceived._

A bird-catcher, wishing to increase his stock of bullfinches, took out
his caged bird and his limed twigs and placed them in such a situation
of hedge and bush as he judged favorable to his success. It so happened
that his own bird was an educated one, such as is usually termed a
piping bullfinch. In the first instance a few accidentally thrown out
natural notes or calls had attracted three or four of his kindred
feather, which had taken their station not far distant from the cage.
There they stood in doubt and curiosity, and, presently, moving inch by
inch and hop by hop toward him and the fatal twigs, they again became
stationary and attentive. It was in this eager and suspended moment that
the piping bullfinch set up the old country dance-tune of "Nancy
Dawson." Away flew every astonished bullfinch as fast as wings could
move, in confusion and alarm.


_A Bird Hammock._

In his voyage to India, Sonnerat speaks of a Cape titmouse, the nest of
which is made of cotton and is shaped like a bottle. While the female is
hatching inside, the male, a most watchful sentinel, remains outside in
a pouch or hammock, fixed to one side of the neck of the nest. When his
mate moves off and he wishes to follow her, he beats the opening of the
nest violently with his wing until he closes it, in order to protect
the young from enemies.


_Sagacity of a Bird._

In the museum of Brown University, Providence, R. I., is a curiosity in
the shape of a bird's nest. Aside from its ingenious construction as a
swinging nest, partly suspended by strings and cords carefully woven
into it and around the slender branch which holds it, another evidence
of the builder's sagacity is given. As the young birds grew, and the
nest daily became heavier, the mother saw that the slender twig, about
the thickness of a pipe-stem, to which it was attached, could not
support it much longer, so she made it secure by fastening a stout cord
about it and passing the end around a strong limb above, which steadied
it and made it safe.


_Change of Sight in Birds._

Birds destined to move in the medium of a very rare atmosphere and which
has but little tendency to refract the rays of the sun, have a great
quantity of aqueous humor, in order that the light, strongly refracted
in entering their eyes, may bring distinct images. Thus birds at heights
where they appear to us only as points, perceive the smallest reptile
concealed in the grass. But, as presbyte birds do not distinguish
objects when brought near, nature has provided for this difficulty,
which occurs when they descend from the heights of the air to seize
their prey. To provide for this emergency, they have a membrane, by
means of which they remove the crystalline lens from the retina; and
thus changing the power of the eye by changing the focal distance of
objects, as we do with spectacles, they never lose sight of their prey,
whether in the air or on the ground.


_Nest of the Flamingo._

The flamingo arranges its nest in a peculiar way, as its long legs would
not adapt themselves to the ordinary style of nest-building. The nests
are placed upon the ground, are built solely of coarsely-tempered mud,
and are very curiously shaped, being like narrow, lengthened cones. They
are twenty inches in height, and their truncated summit presents a
concavity, at the bottom of which the female deposits her eggs. In order
to hatch them she places her abdomen over them, and allows her legs to
hang down on both sides of the raised nest.


_Barking of Dogs._

The Australian dog never barks; indeed, Gardiner, in his "Music of
Nature," states "that dogs in a state of nature never bark; they simply
whine, howl and growl; the explosive noise is only heard among those
which are domesticated." Sonnini speaks of the shepherd dogs in the
wilds of Egypt as not having this faculty; and Columbus found the dogs
which he had previously carried to America to have lost their propensity
for barking.


_Superstitions about Eggs._

Thiers, in his "Traité des Superstitions," observes that he has known
people who preserved all the year such eggs as are laid on Good Friday,
as they think them good to extinguish fires when thrown on them.

People in the northern parts of Germany, remarks William Jones, say that
to cross one's face with the first new-laid egg of a chicken that has
been hatched in spring and begins to lay shortly before Christmas of the
same year, is considered the means of improving and beautifying the
complexion.

Camden, in his "Ancient and Modern Manners of the Irish," says that if
the owners of horses eat eggs, they must take care to eat an even
number, otherwise some mischief will betide the horses. Grooms are not
allowed eggs, and the riders are obliged to wash their hands after
eating eggs.

In Derbyshire it is considered a bad omen to gather eggs and bring them
into the house after dark. Eggs ought not to be brought in on Sunday,
and no hen must be set on that day. The number of eggs for a setting
must be either eleven or thirteen; the number must be odd, and if twelve
eggs are sat upon, the hen will scarcely succeed in hatching them; or,
if hatched, the chickens will do no good.

In some parts of England it is believed that the first egg laid by a
white pullet, placed under the pillow at night, will bring dreams of
those you wish to marry.

In some parts of Java, at a wedding, the bride, as a sign of her
subjection, kneels and washes the feet of the bridegroom, after he has
trodden upon raw eggs.

In Ireland, at Hallow E'en, among other curious customs, the women take
the yolks from some eggs boiled hard, fill the cavity with salt, and eat
egg, shell and salt. They are careful not to quench their thirst until
morning. If at night they dream that their lovers are at hand with
water, they believe they will be jilted.


_The Camel as a Scape-Goat._

A very singular account of the use to which a camel is sometimes put is
given by the traveler Bruce. He tells us that he saw one employed to
appease a quarrel between two parties, somewhat in the same way as the
scape-goat was used in the religious sacrifices of the Jewish people.
The camel being brought out, was accused of all the injuries, real or
fancied, which belonged to each. All the mischief that had been done
they accused this camel of doing. They upbraided it with being the cause
of all the trouble that had separated friends, called it by every
opprobious epithet, finally killed it, and then declared themselves
reconciled over its body.


_The Mark of the Cross on the Ass._

It is a common superstition that the dark marks across the shoulders of
the ass, and which bear some resemblance to a cross, were given as
memorials of our Saviour having entered Jerusalem riding on one of that
humble species. In the north of England, however, a tradition prevails
that the dark streaks are a memento of Balaam's having thrice smitten
one of the family, which carried him, and, as the Bible states, reproved
him for wilful disobedience of the Divine command.


_White Elephants._

White elephants are reverenced throughout the East, and the Chinese pay
them a certain kind of worship. The Burmese monarch is called "The King
of the White Elephants," and is regarded under that title with more than
ordinary veneration, which oriental despotism extracts from its abject
dependants.


_Tenacity of Life in an Elephant._

In March, 1826, it became necessary to kill an infuriated elephant at
Exeter Change, in London. One hundred and fifty-two bullets were fired
into him at short range, and directed toward vital parts, before he fell
dead. It was found necessary to kill an elephant at Geneva, May 31st,
1820. Three ounces of prussic acid and three ounces of arsenic were
administered, but produced no effect. He was shot by a cannon thrust
through a breach in the wall, the muzzle almost touching him. The ball
entered near the ear, behind the right eye, went through a thick
partition on the opposite side of the enclosure, and spent itself
against a wall. The animal stood still two or three seconds, then
tottered, and fell without any convulsive movement.


_Ears of the Elephant._

The ears of the African elephant are said to be much larger, in
proportion to the size of the animal, than those of the Indian species.
Baker, the African traveler, says that he has frequently cut off an ear
of one of these animals to form a mat, on which he has slept
comfortably.


_A Shaved Bear._

"At Bristol I saw a shaved monkey shown for a fairy, and a shaved bear,
in a check waistcoat and trousers, sitting in a great chair as an
Ethiopian savage. This was the most cruel fraud I ever saw. The
unnatural position of the beast and the brutality of the woman keeper,
who sat upon his knee, put her arm around his neck, called him husband
and sweetheart, and kissed him, made it the most disgusting spectacle I
ever witnessed. Cottle was with me."—_Southey._


_Retailing a Lion._

A lion in a Cincinnati menagerie recently lost a part of his tail. A
vicious hyena, confined in an adjoining cage, nipped it off, for want of
something better or worse to do. The _Enquirer_ of that city tells the
sequel of the story—

"The noble king of the woods was much mortified in consequence, and it
was feared would worry himself to death. He kept continually biting his
tail and playing all kinds of mysterious pranks in his cage. Two men
were kept continually employed, at an expense of $21 a week each, to
watch the lion and prevent him from further injury upon himself.

"Mr. John Carney, the new superintendent of the Zoological Gardens,
devised a plan for the pacification of the king of the forest, which has
succeeded beyond the most sanguine expectations. He had a small box-cage
constructed adjoining the lion's cell, and coaxed the wounded beast
therein. The cage was so constructed that the lion could not turn about
in it. Once in, his tail was treated medically, and covered with a black
snake's skin. The lion now seems perfectly satisfied with the amendment
to his tail, and holds his head as erect and is as proud as ever. Mr.
Carney is a genius."


_Magpie Stoning a Toad._

There is a story told of a tame magpie which was seen busily employed in
a garden gathering pebbles, and with much solemnity and a studied air
dropping them into a hole about eighteen inches deep, made to receive a
post. After dropping each stone it cried "Currack" triumphantly, and set
off for another. On examining the spot, a poor toad was found in the
hole, which the magpie was stoning for his amusement.


_Cynocephalic Apes._

A correspondent in the "Transvaal Republic" writes that a species of
large cynocephalic apes are in the habit of ravaging the coffee
plantations there, which therefore have to be guarded. Among the coffee
trees there grows a shrub whose fruit the apes particularly enjoy. But
a species of wasp had fastened their nests to these shrubs, and the apes
were kept from their tempting food by their fear of being stung. One
morning fearful cries were heard from the apes, and the following scene
was witnessed: A large baboon, the leader of the band, was throwing some
young apes down into the shrubs, that they might break off the wasp
nests with the shock of their fall. The poor victims, stung by the
infuriated insects, were crying piteously, but the old baboon paid no
heed to their miserable condition. While they were down below, suffering
from the anger of the wasps, he quietly proceeded to regale himself with
the fruit, now safely within his reach, and occasionally threw a handful
to some females and young a little way off.


_Monkeys Demanding their Dead._

Mr. Forbes tells a story of a female monkey who was shot by a friend of
his and carried to his tent. Forty or fifty of her tribe advanced with
menacing gestures, but stood still when the gentleman pointed his gun at
them. One, however, who appeared to be the chief of the tribe, came
forward, chattering and threatening in a furious manner. Nothing short
of firing at him seemed likely to drive him away. At length he
approached the door of the tent with every sign of grief and
supplication, as if he were begging for the body. It was given to him;
he took it in his arms and carried it to his companions with actions
expressive of affection, after which they all disappeared.


_Can Dogs Count?_

A gentleman on a visit to Scotland came across some men who were washing
sheep. Close to the water where the operation was being carried on was a
small pen, in which a detachment of ten sheep were placed handy to the
men for washing. While watching the performance his attention was called
to a sheep-dog lying down close by. This animal, on the pen becoming
nearly empty, without a word from any one, started off to the main body
of the flock, and brought back ten of their number, and drove them into
the empty washing-pens. The fact of his bringing exactly the same number
of sheep as had vacated it he looked upon at first as a strange
coincidence—a mere chance. But he continued looking on, and, much to
his surprise, as soon as the men had reduced the number to three sheep,
the dog started off again, and brought back ten more, and so he
continued throughout the afternoon, never bringing one more nor one
less, and always going for a fresh lot when only three were left in the
pen, evidently being aware that during the time the last three were
washing he would be able to bring up a fresh detachment.


_Can Hens Count?_

On one occasion the author found a hen disposed to set in a
horse-trough. She had but eight eggs under her, and he added five more.
The next morning he noticed that she had discarded five of the eggs;
they were replaced, and were again hustled to the other end of the
trough. He next marked the eggs, in order to discover whether she
objected to the five eggs with which he had supplied her. At his next
visit he found that she had once more rejected five eggs, two of which
were marked and three not marked. She would accept but eight eggs, and
was left to incubate in peace.


_How Rats and Mice use their Tails._

To test the correctness of the popular belief that rats and mice use
their tails for feeding purposes, when the food to be eaten is
contained in vessels too narrow to admit the entire body of the animal,
a writer in "Nature" made the following experiments: Into a couple of
preserve bottles with narrow necks he put as much semi-liquid fruit
jelly as filled them within three inches of the top. The bottles were
then covered with bladder and set in a place frequented by rats. Next
morning the covering of each bottle had a small hole gnawed in it, and
the level of the jelly was lowered to an extent about equal to the
length of a rat's tail, if inserted in the hole. The next experiment was
still more decisive. The bottles were refilled to the extent of half an
inch above the level left by the rats, a disk of moist paper laid upon
the surface, and the bottles covered as before. The bottles were now
laid aside in a place unfrequented by rats, until a good crop of mould
had grown upon one of the moistened disks of paper. This bottle was then
transferred to the place infested by the rats. Next morning the bladder
had again been eaten through at one edge, and upon the mould were
numerous and distinct tracings of the rats' tails, evidently caused by
the animals sweeping their tails about in the endeavor to find a hole in
the paper.


_Kicked by a Camel._

The camel's kick is a study. As it stands demurely chewing the cud, and
gazing abstractedly at some totally different far-away object, up goes a
hind leg, drawn close in to the body, with the foot pointing out; a
short pause, and out it flies with an action like the piston and
connecting-rod of a steam-engine, showing a judgment of distance and
direction that would lead you to suppose the leg gifted with perceptions
of its own, independent of the animal's proper senses. I have seen a
heavy man fired several yards into a dense crowd by the kick of a camel,
and picked up insensible.—_Keane._


_Crocodiles of the Nile._

The crocodile of the Nile is one of the most celebrated of the eastern
species. Among the ancient Egyptians it was a sacred animal, and to
destroy it was a crime. The priests kept crocodiles in tanks in the
temple grounds; they ornamented them with jewels and fed them with the
choicest food. After death the bodies were carefully embalmed and buried
with great ceremony, and it is not uncommon at this date to find
crocodile mummies in their tombs.


_Alligators Swallowing Stones._

The alligators on the banks of the Oronoko, previous to going in search
of prey, swallow large stones, that they may acquire additional weight
to aid them in diving and dragging their victims under water. Bolivar
shot several with his rifle, and in all of them were found stones
varying in weight according to the size of the animal. The largest
killed was about seventeen feet in length, and had within him a stone
which weighed sixty or seventy pounds.


_Animals Forecasting Danger._

That animals forebode the approach of an earthquake is a fact which
frequently has been demonstrated. When no sign announces to unthinking
man the coming terror, these creatures indicate it by their agitation
and their cries. Every animal, without exception, feels this singular
presentiment, but it has been more particularly observed among the
poultry in the barn-yard. Dogs howl distressingly, and great
restlessness is shown by horses and oxen in the open country.

Humboldt relates that, in the earthquakes so frequent in South America,
oxen and other domesticated animals will stand with their legs placed
wide apart, as if they hoped by that device to lessen the danger of
being precipitated into a crevasse which might suddenly open under their
feet. It is for this reason that men in the same regions are advised, on
the occurrence of an earthquake, to extend their arms from their bodies
in the shape of a cross. The precaution is one which tradition and
experience have impressed on the inhabitants.


_Singular Provision against Famine._

The synapta is a marine animal closely allied to the sea-cucumber. If
one of them is preserved in sea-water for a short time, and subjected to
a forced fast, a very strange thing will be observed. The animal, being
unable to feed itself, successively detaches various parts of its body,
which it amputates spontaneously. "It would appear," says M.
Quatrefages, "that the animal, feeling that it had not sufficient food
to support its whole body, is able successively to abridge its
dimensions by suppressing the parts it would be most difficult to
support, just as we should dismiss the most useless mouths from a
besieged city." This singular mode of meeting a famine is employed by
the synapta up to the last moment. In order to preserve life in the
head, all the other parts of the body are sacrificed.


_Looking for the Head of the Bed._

Every one has observed that dogs, before they lie down, turn themselves
round and round, which has been facetiously called "looking for the head
of the bed." Those who have had an opportunity of witnessing the actions
of animals in a wild state, know that they seek long grass for their
beds, which they beat down and render more commodious by turning around
in it several times. It would appear, therefore, that the habit of our
domesticated dogs in this respect is derived from the nature of the same
species in the wild state.—_Mr. Jesse._


_Getting Himself Outside of his Dinner._

The intelligence of a toad is remarkable. When an insect is too large to
swallow, it thrusts the creature against a stone to push it down its
throat. On one occasion, when a toad was attempting to swallow a locust,
the head was down the former's throat, the hinder part protruding. The
toad then sought a stone or clod, but as none were to be found, he
lowered his head and crept along, pushing the locust against the ground.
But the ground was too smooth (a rolled path), and the angle at which
the locust lay to the ground too small, and thus no progress was made.
To increase the angle, he straightened up his hind legs, but in vain. At
length he threw up his hind quarters, and actually stood on his head,
or, rather, on the locust sticking out of his mouth; and, after
repeating this several times, succeeded in getting himself outside of
his dinner.


_Superstition about the Camel._

The Orientals declare that, at the time of the rising of the Pleiades,
the camel sees the constellation before it is visible to the human eye,
and will not lie down in any other direction than with its head toward
the east.


_Pedigree of Arabian Horses._

The Arabs claim that their finest horses are direct descendants of the
stud of Solomon. The pedigree of an Arabian horse is hung around his
neck soon after his birth, properly witnessed and attested. The
following is the pedigree of a horse purchased by a French officer in
Arabia:—

"In the name of God, the merciful and compassionate, and of Saed
Mahomed, agent of the high God, and of the companions of Mahomed, and of
Jerusalem. Praised be the Lord, the omnipotent Creator. This is a
high-bred horse, and its colt's tooth is here in a bag about his neck,
with his pedigree, and of undoubted authority, such as no infidel can
refuse to believe. He is the son of Rabbamy, out of the dam Labadah, and
equal in power to his sire of the tribe of Zazhalah; he is finely
moulded, and made for running like an ostrich. In the honors of
relationship he reckons Zuluah, sire of Mahat, sire of Kallac, and the
unique Alket, sire of Manasseh, sire of Alsheh, father of the race down
to the famous horse, the sire of Lahalala. And to him be ever abundance
of green meat and corn, and water of life, as a reward from the tribe of
Zazhalaha; and may a thousand branches shade his carcass from the hyæna
of the tomb, from the howling wolf of the desert; and let the tribe of
Zazhalah present him with a festival within an enclosure of walls; and
let thousands assemble at the rising of the sun in troops hastily, where
the tribe holds up, under a canopy of celestial signs within the walls,
the saddle with the name and family of the possessor. Then let them
strike the bands with a loud noise incessantly, and pray to God for
immunity for the tribe of Zoab, the inspired tribe."


_Voracity of the Mole._

A naturalist has calculated that a mole devours annually 20,000 grubs.
It is so voracious that it must eat every six hours. No animal is so
favored in its carnivorous instincts as the mole; forty-four teeth
studded with points never cease working from morning to night. It
requires nourishment to such an extent, that if deprived of food for a
day it dies of inanition. It is a complete eating machine, gulping down
every day a proportionately enormous quantity of food, so that M. de la
Blanchére was right in saying that "if we could magnify the mole to the
size of an elephant, we should be face to face with the most terrific
brute the world ever brought forth."


_Cat Worship._

In the Middle Ages animals formed as prominent a part in the worship of
the time as they did in the old religion of Egypt. The cat was a very
important personage in religious festivals. At Aix, in Provence, on the
festival of Corpus Christi, the finest tom cat of the country, wrapt in
swaddling clothes like a child, was exhibited in a magnificent shrine to
public admiration. Every knee was bent, every hand strewed flowers or
poured incense, and the cat was treated in all respects as the god of
the day.


_Horses Feeding one Another._

M. de Bossanelle, captain of cavalry in the regiment of Beauvilliers,
relates in his "Military Observations," printed in Paris in 1760, "that
in the year 1757 an old horse of his company, that was very fine and
full of mettle, had his teeth suddenly so worn down that he could not
chew his hay and corn, and that he was fed for two months, and would
still have been so fed had he been kept, by two horses on each side of
him that ate in the same manger. These two horses drew hay from the
rack, which they chewed, and afterward threw before the old horse; that
they did the same with the oats, which they ground very small and also
put before him. This was observed and witnessed by a whole company of
cavalry, officers and men."


_Odd Mode of Revenge._

Monkeys in India are more or less objects of superstitious reverence,
and are, consequently, seldom destroyed. In some places they are fed,
encouraged and allowed to live on the roofs of the houses. If a man
wishes to revenge himself for any injury done him, he has only to
sprinkle some rice or corn upon the top of his enemy's house or granary,
just before the rains set in, and the monkeys will assemble upon it, eat
all they can find outside, and then pull off the tiles to get at that
which falls through the crevices. This, of course, gives access to the
torrents which fall in such countries, and house, furniture and stores
are all ruined.


_Cats with Knotted Tails._

We extract the following paragraph from the narrative of a voyager in
the Indian Ocean, because it contains an account of a rarity in natural
history with which few, we suspect, are acquainted:—

"The steward is again pillowed on his beloved saltfish, and our only
companion is a Malacca cat, who has also an attachment for the steward's
pillow. Puss is a tame little creature and rubs herself mildly against
our shoes, looking up in our faces and mewing her thoughts. Doubtless
she is surprised that you have been so long looking at her without
noticing the peculiarity in her tail, which so much distinguishes her
from the rest of the female race in other quarters of the globe. Did you
ever observe such a singular knot? so regular, too, in its formation?
Some cruel monster must have tied it in a knot while puss was yet a
kitten, and she has outlived both the pain and the inconvenience. But
here comes a kitten, all full of gambols and fun, and we find that the
tail is in precisely the same condition. So, then, this is a remarkable
feature amongst the whole race of Malayan cats, but for which no one we
meet with is able to give us a satisfactory explanation."


_Tortoises Afraid of Heat and Rain._

Tortoises seem, by their thick shells, to be protected against all
changes of the weather. But one of immense size, imported from the
Galapagos Islands to England, was actually afraid of rain. Its owner
says: "No part of its behaviour ever struck me more than the extreme
timidity it always expresses with regard to rain; and though it has a
shell that would secure it against a loaded cart, yet it exhibits as
much solicitude about rain as a lady dressed in her best attire,
shuffling away on the first sprinklings and running its head into a
corner. If attended to, it becomes an excellent weather glass; for as
sure as it walks elate, and as it were on tip-toe, feeding with great
earnestness in the morning, so sure will it rain before night." The same
tortoise was careful to keep out of the hot sun, and always sought a
shady nook at mid-day in summer.


_Pea Crabs._

The fact that these small crabs take up their abode within the shells of
mollusks was well known to the ancients, and gave rise to many curious
fables. A species is very common in the _pinnæ_ (mollusks) of the
Mediterranean, and was imagined to render important services to its host
in return for its lodging, keeping a lookout for approaching dangers,
against which the blind pinna itself could not guard, and particularly
apprising it, that it might close its shell when the cuttle-fish came
near. It is curious to find this repeated by Hasselquist, in the middle
of the last century, as a piece of genuine natural history. Whether the
pea crab lives at the expense of the mollusk, and sucks its juices, is
uncertain. It is certain, however, that the flesh of such mollusks is
palatable to pea crabs, as they eat it greedily in the aquarium.


_Extraordinary Muscular Strength of the Bat._

When bats bring forth their young they are obliged to carry them on
their backs, as they do not build nests like the birds, the little
things hanging fast to their fur during flight. The extrordinary
strength of muscle possessed by the bat is shown in the fact that two of
the young, which are often born at a birth, weigh two-thirds as much as
the parent. Thus, flying at nearly double its ordinary weight, we can
fancy the power of this animal, surpassing in proportion the strength of
the eagle or condor.


_Great Digestive Powers._

In certain caterpillars the digestive power is so great that they
swallow every day three or four times their own weight in food. If the
elephant and rhinoceros were to feed on this scale, and were as numerous
as the caterpillars, they would require but a short time to devour all
the vegetation on the globe.


_The Earwig._

This insect is supposed to have a "fondness" for getting into the human
ear, the effect of which, it has been believed, is to penetrate the
brain and cause madness. The earwig is not more likely than any other
insect to enter the ear. The wings of the earwig, when fully expanded,
are in shape precisely like the human ear, from which fact it is highly
probable that the original name of the insect was ear-_wing_ and not
ear-_wig_, which appears to be entirely without meaning. The name is
also traced to the Saxon _ear-wigca_, from its destroying ears of grain
and fruit.


_Eyes of the Cuttle-Fish._

The eyes of the cuttle-fish are so solid as to be almost calcareous.
They are exceedingly beautiful, and reflect light with a splendid play
of color, like an opal. They are used for necklace beads in Italy, and
are highly valued objects for the jeweler's art.


_Innate Appetite._

McKenzie mentions the following fact as having been witnessed by Sir
James Hall: He had been engaged in making experiments in hatching eggs
by artificial heat, and on one occasion observed in one of his boxes a
chicken in the act of breaking from its confinement. It happened that
just as the creature was getting out of the shell a spider ran along the
box, when the chicken darted forward, seized and swallowed it.


_Leaf-Butterfly of Java._

This butterfly, as a defense against the birds of the tropics, almost
exactly imitates, in its color and appearance, the leaves of the trees
among which it lives. The upper surface of the wings, when outspread, of
a rich orange blue, is very marked, but the lower side consists of some
shade of ash or brown or ochre, such as are found among dead and
decaying leaves. When the insect is at rest on a tree, it resembles so
closely a leaf that the most acute observation fails to note the
difference. It sits on a twig, the wings closely fitted back to back,
concealing the antennæ and head, which are drawn up beneath their
basis. The little tails of the hind wing touch the branch and form a
perfect stalk to the seeming leaf. The irregular outline of the wings
gives exactly the perspective effect of the outline of a shriveled leaf.


_The Jump of a Flea._

M. de Fonvielle, in his interesting work on the "Invisible World,"
maintains that a flea can raise itself from the ground to a height equal
to two hundred times its stature. At this rate, he says, a man would
only make a joke of jumping over the towers of Notre-Dame or the heights
of Montmartre. A prison yard would be useless unless the walls were more
than a quarter of a mile in height.


_Book-Worms._

An instance is recorded of twenty-seven folio volumes being perforated,
in a straight line, by the same worm, in such a manner that, by passing
a cord through the round hole made by it, the twenty-seven volumes could
be raised at once.


_Spider Barometers._

If the weather is likely to become rainy, windy or in other respects
disagreeable, spiders fix the terminating filaments, on which the whole
web is sustained, unusually short. If the terminating filaments are made
uncommonly long, the weather will be serene, and continue so, at least
for ten or twelve days. If spiders be totally indolent, rain generally
succeeds; their activity during rain is certain proof that it will be of
short duration, and followed by fair and constant weather. Spiders
usually make some alteration in their webs every twenty-four hours; if
these changes take place between the hours of six and seven in the
evening, they indicate a clear and pleasant night.

    "The clouds grow heavier over head—
     The spider strengtheneth his web."


_Muscles of the Caterpillar._

Our varied movements are executed by the aid of fleshy muscles attached
to the skeleton. In these, insects possess a numerical and dynamical
superiority over the human race. Anatomists calculate that there are
only 370 of these muscles in a man, whilst the patient Lyonet discovered
more than 4000 in a single caterpillar.


_A Persistent Fly._

Linnæus saw one of the flies which attack cattle follow a reindeer an
entire day, though dragging its sled at a gallop over the snow. The fly
flew almost continuously by its side, watching for the moment when it
might introduce one of its eggs beneath the skin.


_Phosphorescent Insects._

In tropical America there are phosphorescent insects of remarkable
splendor. In Cuba the women often inclose several of the luminous
beetles in little cages of glass, which they hang up in their rooms, and
this living lustre throws out sufficient light for them to work by.
Travelers, in a difficult road, light their path in the middle of the
night by attaching one of these beetles to each of their feet. The
Creoles sometimes set them in the curls of their hair, where, like
resplendent jewels, they give a fairy-like aspect to their heads. The
negresses, at their nocturnal dances, scatter these brilliant insects
over their robes of lace which nature provides for them, all woven from
the bark of the Lagetto.


_Eating Clouds._

Dr. Livingstone, relating his adventures on Lake Nyassa, says: "During a
portion of the year the northern dwellers on the lake have a harvest
which furnishes a singular kind of food. As we approached our limit in
that direction, clouds as of smoke arising from miles of burning grass
were observed tending in a southeasterly direction, and we thought that
the unseen land on the opposite side was closing in, and that we were
near the end of the lake. But next morning we sailed through one of the
clouds on our own side, and discovered that it was neither smoke nor
haze, but countless millions of midges, called "kungo," (a cloud or
fog.) They filled the air to an immense height and swarmed upon the
water, too light to sink in it. Eyes and mouth had to be kept closed
while passing through this living cloud—they struck upon the face like
fine drifting snow. The people gathered these insects by night, and
boiled them into thick cakes to be used as a relish—millions of midges
in a cake. A kungo cake an inch thick, and as large as the blue bonnet
of a Scotch plow-man, was offered to us. It was very dark in color, and
tasted not unlike caviare or salted locust."


_A Hundred Stomachs._

Some of the animalcules have in the interior of the body large cavities,
which incessantly empty and fill themselves with colored fluid. These
cavities represent the heart of large animals and their fluid the
blood; and this circulating system is relatively so large that it may be
stated, without exaggeration, that some microscopic beings have hearts
fully fifty times as large and as strong, in proportion, as that of the
horse or ox. A man has only one stomach, whilst invisible microzoa have
sometimes a hundred.


_Motherly Sacrifice by the Gall Insect._

Some kinds of gall insects immolate themselves in order to protect their
offspring. As the enormously distended insect gradually expels its eggs,
it heaps them up in a little pile, and when its body is quite cleared
out, and only resembles a hollow bladder, the female straightway covers
its progeny with it, attaches the edges round them, and dies directly
after. It thus forms for them a convex, solid roof, the impermeability
of which protects its eggs against the injurious agency of the air and
storms. The mother pays for her childbirth with her life, and her young
are born under the shelter of her mummified corpse.


_Wonderful Spider's Web._

Across the sunny paths of Ceylon, where the forest meets the open
country, and which constitute the bridle-roads of the island, an
enormous spider stretches its web at the height of from four to eight
feet from the ground. The cordage of these webs is fastened on either
side to projecting shoots of trees or shrubs, and is so strong as to
hurt the traveler's face, and even lift off his hat, if he happened not
to see the line. The nest in the centre is sometimes as large as a man's
head, and is continually growing larger, as it is formed of successive
layers of the old webs rolled over each other, sheet after sheet, into a
ball. These successive envelopes contain the limbs and wings of insects
of all descriptions, which have been the prey of the spider and his
family, who occupy the den formed in the midst. There seems to be no
doubt that the spider casts the web loose and rolls it around the
nucleus in the centre when it becomes overcharged with carcasses, and
then proceeds to construct a fresh one, which in its turn is destined to
be folded up with the rest.


_Horrible Mode of Assassination._

Before English law and custom had subdued the barbarism of Hindostan,
the following mode of assassination was not uncommon: The murderer would
kill one of a pair of cobras, and drag the body of the snake along the
ground into the bungalow, over the floor, and into the very bed of the
victim. After a few moments, the dead snake, having accomplished the
purpose of leaving an odorous trail to the sleeping couch of the victim,
would be thrown away. The dead cobra's living mate would infallibly
follow the trail to the bed, where it would coil itself at rest, waiting
to strike the sleeper.


_Fighting Fish._

It is a favorite amusement among the natives of the East Indian islands
to secure a number of these fish, and pit them one against the other,
just as English "gentlemen" of days gone by used to match game-cocks to
fight each other. Mons. Carbonnier has never placed two together in the
same vessel, but if two are put into separate glasses and placed near to
each other, it is very amusing to watch their attempts at combat. At
first they will closely scan each other from a distance; then, changing
color and becoming almost black, the gill-covers are opened out and form
a sort of collarette round the head, giving the fish a most curious
appearance. The tail and fins become phosphorescent in color, as well as
the eyes, and are tinted with the most beautiful hues. Then they attempt
to get at each other, but are prevented by the intervening glass. When
their anger is sufficiently aroused, they are turned into the same
vessel, when they fight vigorously with rapid strokes of the tails and
fins, till one of them seeks safety in flight, and turns a sort of
grayish-white color, often jumping out of the water to escape his
conqueror.


_A Snake's Attachment for Home._

Lord Monboddo relates the following anecdote of a serpent: "I am well
informed of a tame serpent in the East Indies, which belonged to the
late Dr. Vigot, once kept by him in the suburbs of Madras. This serpent
was taken by the French when they invested Madras, and was carried to
Pondicherry in a close carriage. But from thence he found his way back
to his old quarters, though Madras was above one hundred miles distant
from Pondicherry."


_Queer Legend about Fish._

Most of the flat-fish, such as the flounder, plaice, sole, &c., are
white or colorless on one side and dark colored on the other.
Naturalists account for this by saying that these fish live at the
bottom of the sea, dark side uppermost, to prevent their being easily
seen by the ocean monsters that devour them. The Egyptians give another
explanation. They tell that Moses was once cooking a flat-fish, and when
it had been broiled on one side, the fire or the oil gave out, and Moses
angrily threw the fish into the sea, where, though half broiled, it
became as lively as ever, and its descendants have retained its
parti-colored appearance to the present day, being white on one side and
brown or black on the other.


_An Old Pike._

In the year 1497 a pike was captured in the vicinity of Mannheim,
Germany, with the following announcement, in Greek, appended to his
muzzle:—

"I am the first fish that was put into this pond by the hands of the
Emperor Frederic the Second, on this third day of October, 1262."

The age of the pike, therefore, if the notice spoke the truth (and the
enormous dimensions of his body left little doubt on that point), was
more than two hundred and thirty-five years. Already he had been the
survivor of many important changes in the political and social world
around him, and would have survived perhaps as many more, had it not
been for his capture. His carcass, which weighed three hundred and fifty
pounds, and measured nineteen feet, was sent to the museum at Mannheim,
where it now hangs, a light, desiccated skeleton, which a child might
move.


_Colossal Shells._

One of these in particular has acquired a certain celebrity on account
of its size and the peculiar use to which it has been put. It is the
gigantic Tridacna, commonly known as the "font," because it is sometimes
employed in churches to contain the sacred water. The great Tridacnæ,
which are only detached from the rocks by cutting their cable with an
axe, sometimes weigh more than five hundred pounds. The natives of the
Molucca Islands eat them like we do oysters, to which they are
analogous, and the flesh of one is a sufficient meal for twenty people.
Their thick valves, which are sometimes five feet long, serve as troughs
for the inhabitants, which nature offers ready cut and polished, and
which they often use for feeding pigs, or convert into bath-tubs for
their children. Buffon speaks of a shell, the diameter of which was
equal to that of a carriage-wheel, and which was used for a mill-stone.


_Changing Colors in a Dying Mullet._

The mullet is a fish that was much esteemed by the ancients. The
Italians have a proverb which says: "He who catches a mullet is a fool
if he eats it and does not sell it"—owing to the high price which the
fish commanded. When it is dying, it changes its colors in a very
singular manner until it is lifeless. This spectacle was so gratifying
to the Romans that they used to show the fish dying in a glass vessel to
their guests before dinner.


_An Immense Zoological Cabinet._

Schleiden maintains that a single visiting card, when it is covered with
a white layer of chalk, represents a zoological cabinet containing
nearly 100,000 shells of animals. These shells are formed of carbonate
of lime, and are so extremely small that it has been calculated that it
would require 10,000,000 of them to make a pound of chalk.


_Chank-Shell._

This name is given to a shell of several species of _Turbinella_, a
genus of mollusks found in the East Indian seas. They are much used as
ornaments by Hindoo women, the arms and legs being encircled with them.
Many of them are buried with opulent persons. A chank-shell opening to
the right is rare, and highly prized in Calcutta, one hundred pounds
being sometimes paid for one.


_Edifices of the Polypi._

The prodigious surface over which the combined and ceaseless toil of
these little architects extends, must be taken into consideration in
order to understand the important part they play in nature. They have
built a barrier of reefs 400 miles long round New Caledonia, and another
which extends along the northeast coast of Australia 1000 miles in
length. This represents a mass in comparison with which the walls of
Babylon and the Pyramids of Egypt are as children's toys. And these
edifices of the Polypi have been reared in the midst of the ocean waves,
and in defiance of tempests which so rapidly annihilate the strongest
works constructed by man. They build their reefs and islands with
remarkable rapidity. One of the straits in the approaches to Australia,
which a few years ago only possessed twenty-six madrepore islands, at
present displays one hundred and fifty.


_Showers of Blood._

In the old chronicles we often read of drops of blood scattered here and
there being regarded as a sinister omen, or even of regular showers of
blood which carried terror into the minds of our superstitious
ancestors. Now-a-days we know that the phenomenon is connected with the
metamorphosis of insects. Gregory of Tours speaks of a shower of blood
which fell in the reign of Childebert and spread alarm among the Franks.
But the most celebrated is that which took place at Aix during the
summer of 1608. It struck the inhabitants of the country with terror.
The walls of the church-yard and those of the houses for half a league
round were spotted with great drops of blood. A careful examination of
them convinced a savant of that day, M. de Peirese, that all that was
told about the subject was only a fable. He could not at first explain
the extraordinary phenomenon, but chance revealed the cause. Having
inclosed in a box the chrysalis of one of the butterflies which were
then showing themselves in great numbers, he was astonished to see a
stain of scarlet red at the spot where the metamorphosis had taken
place. He had discovered the cause of the wondrous rain which had
alarmed the people. A prodigious swarm of butterflies had appeared at
the time, and his conjectures were confirmed by the fact that no drops
of blood had been found on the roofs of the houses, but only on the
lower stories, the places which the butterflies had chosen for their
metamorphoses.


_Shirts Growing on Trees._

"We saw on the slope of the Cerra Dnida," says Humboldt, "shirt trees
fifty feet high. The Indians cut off cylindrical pieces two feet in
diameter, from which they peel the red and fibrous bark without making
any longitudinal incision. This bark affords them a sort of garment
which resembles a sack of very coarse texture, and without a seam. The
upper opening serves for the head, and two lateral holes are cut to
admit the arms. The natives wear these shirts of Marina in the rainy
season; they have the form of the ponchos and manos of cotton which are
so common in New Grenada, at Quito and in Peru. As in this climate the
riches and beneficence of nature are regarded as the primary cause of
the indolence of the inhabitants, the missionaries do not fail to say,
in showing the shirts of Marina, 'In the forests of Oroonoka garments
are found ready made upon the trees.'"


_Whistling Trees._

Schweinfurth, in his "Heart of Africa," describes what may be termed an
insect organ-builder. In the country of the Shillooks, he says, the
acacia groves extend over an area of a hundred miles square and stretch
along the right bank of the stream. From the attacks of larvæ of
insects, which have worked to the inside, their ivory white shoots are
often distorted in form and swollen out at their base with globular
bladders measuring about an inch in diameter. After the mysterious
insect has unaccountably managed to glide out of its circular hole, this
thorn-like shoot becomes a sort of musical instrument, upon which the
wind, as it plays, produces the regular sound of a flute. On this
account the natives of the Soudan have named it the whistling tree.


_Aconite._

This plant was regarded by the ancients as the most violent of poisons.
They said that it was the invention of Hecate, and that it sprung from
the foam of Cerberus.


_Oysters Growing on Trees._

Mr. C. H. Williams, of the Geographical Society of England, tells us how
oysters inhabit the Mangrove woods in Cuba: "For several years I resided
in that island, and have several times come across scenes and objects
which many people would consider great curiosities—one in particular.
Oysters grow on trees, in immense quantities, especially in the southern
part of the island. I have seen miles of trees, the lower stems and
branches of which were literally covered with them, and many a good meal
have I enjoyed with very little trouble in procuring it. I simply placed
the branches over the fire, and, when opened, I picked out the oysters
with a fork or a pointed stick. These peculiar shell-fish are indigenous
in lagoons and swamps on the coast, and as far as the tide will rise and
the spray fly so will they cling to the lower parts of the Mangrove
trees, sometimes four or five deep, the Mangrove being one of the very
few trees that flourish in salt water."


_The Shaking Aspen._

The aspen is popularly said to have been the tree which formed the cross
upon which the Saviour was crucified, and since then its boughs have
been filled with horror and tremble ceaselessly. Unfortunately for the
probability of this story, the shivering of the aspen in the breeze may
be traced to other than a supernatural cause. The construction of its
foliage is particularly adapted for motion; a broad leaf is placed upon
a long footstalk so flexible as scarcely to be able to support the leaf
in an upright posture. The upper part of this stalk, on which the play
or action seems mainly to depend, is contrary to the nature of
footstalks in general, being perfectly flattened, and, as an eminent
botanist has acutely observed, is placed at a right-angle with the leaf,
being thus particularly fitted to receive the impulse of every wind that
blows.


_Tree Planting in Java._

In Java a fruit tree is planted on the birth of each child, and is
carefully tended as the record of his or her age.


_Turkish Superstition about the Geranium._

The Turks believe that the geranium was originally a swallow, and that
its existence was changed by a touch from the robe of Mahomet.


_Four-leaved Clover._

For centuries it has been considered lucky to find a four-leaved clover.
Melton, in his "Astrologaster," says: "That if a man, walking in the
fields, find any foure-leaved grasse, he shall in a small while after
find some good thing."


_Bitterness of Strychnia._

Strychnia, the active principle of the nux vomica bean, which has become
so famous in the annals of criminal poisoning, is so intensely bitter
that it will impart a sensibly bitter taste to six hundred thousand
times its weight of water.


_Copied from Nature._

The remarkably pleasing patterns which adorn the Cashmere shawls from
the foot of the Himalaya mountains are copied from the leaves of the
begonia.


_Rose of Jericho._

Under this trivial name is known one of the most singular forms of
plant-life. It is an annual, and is found in northern Africa, Syria and
Arabia. It presents nothing strange during the growing season, but, as
the pods begin to ripen on the approach of dry weather, the branches
drop their leaves and curl inward, appearing like dead twigs. When
completely ripe the whole plant presents the aspect of a ball of curious
wicker-work at the top of a short stem. The roots die away, and the wind
carries the plant to great distances. When the apparently dead,
worthless ball reaches the sea or other water, or becomes wedged
somewhere till a rain comes, then the curled and dried ball, under the
influence of water, unbends, and the branches resume their proper
places. The pods open and discharge their seeds perhaps hundreds of
miles from the place of original growth.

The monks of Palestine call it "Mary's Flower," from the belief that it
expands each year on the day and hour of the birth of the Saviour. It is
also known as the resurrection plant, and women in Palestine, about to
undergo the pangs of childbirth, place it in water at the beginning of
their pains in the hope that the blooming may be the signal of their
deliverance.


_Curious Oranges._

There are many oranges, of curious shape and flavor, which we seldom or
never see in this country. Such are the pear-shaped kind grown in the
far East; the orange of the Philippines, which is no larger than a
good-sized cherry; the double orange, in which two perfect oranges
appear, one within the other; and the "fingered citron" of China, which
is very large, and is placed on the table by the Celestials rather for
its exquisite fragrance than for its flavor.


_Trifoliated Plants considered Sacred._

Many trifoliated plants have been held sacred from a remote antiquity.
The trefoil was eaten by the horses of Jupiter, and a golden,
three-leaved, immortal plant, affording riches and protection, is
noticed in Homer's Hymn _in Mercurium_. In the palaces of Nineveh, and
on the medals of Rome, representations of triple branches, triple leaves
and triple fruit are to be found. On the temples and pyramids of
Gibel-el-Birkel, considered to be much older than those of Egypt, there
are representations of a tri-leaved plant, which, in the illustrations
of Hoskin's "Travels in Ethiopia," seem to be nothing else than the
shamrock. The triad is still a favorite figure in national and heraldic
emblems.


_The Belladonna Lily._

This flower (the _Amaryllis formosissima_), in a strong light, has a
yellow lustre like gold. It was originally named _flos Jacobœbus_,
because some imagined that they discovered in it a likeness to the badge
of the knights of the order of St. James, founded in Spain in the
fourteenth century.


_Thirty Years in Blossoming._

The bamboo tree does not blossom until it attains its thirtieth year,
when it produces seed profusely and then dies. It is said that a famine
was prevented in India, in 1812, by the sudden flowering of the bamboo
trees, where fifty thousand people resorted to the jungles to gather the
seed for food.


_Mouse-Ear._

Lupton, in his third "Book of Notable Things," 1660, says: "Mousear, any
manner of way administered to horses, brings this help unto them, that
they cannot be hurt while the smith is shoeing of them; therefore it is
called of many, herba clavorum, the herb of nails."


_Mugwort._

Coles, in his "Art of Simpling," says: "If a footman take mugwort and
put into his shoes in the morning, he may goe forty miles before noon,
and not be weary."


_The Shoe-black Plant._

There is a species of hibiscus growing in New South Wales, the showy
flowers of which contain a large proportion of mucilaginous juice of a
glossy, varnish-like appearance. Chinese ladies use the juice for dyeing
their hair and eyebrows. In Java the flowers are used for blacking
shoes.


_St. John's Wort._

The common people in France and Germany gather this plant with great
ceremony on St. John's day, and hang it in their windows as a charm
against thunder and evil spirits. In Scotland it is carried about as a
charm against witchcraft and enchantment, and the people fancy it cures
ropy milk, which they suppose to be under some malignant influence. As
the flowers, when rubbed between the fingers, yield a red juice, it has
obtained the name of _Sanguis hominis_ (human blood) among some fanciful
medical writers.

     The young maid stole through the cottage door,
     And blushed as she sought the plant of pow'r—
    "Thou silver glow-worm, O lend me thy light,
     I must gather the mystic St. John's wort to-night."


_Vegetable Fungus._

At the beginning of the present century Sir Joseph Banks, of London, had
a cask of wine which was too sweet for immediate use, and it was placed
in the cellar to become mellowed by age. At the end of three years he
directed his butler to ascertain the condition of the wine, when, on
attempting to open the cellar door, he could not effect it in
consequence of some powerful resistance. The door was cut down, and the
cellar was found completely filled with a firm fungus vegetable
production—so firm that it was necessary to use an ax for its removal.
This had grown from and had been nourished by the decomposed particles
of the wine. The cask was empty and touched the ceiling, where it was
supported by the surface of the fungus.—_Hone._


_The Rose at Midsummer._

The gathering of a rose on midsummer eve was once superstitiously
associated with the choice of a husband. The custom is stated to be a
relic of Druidical times, and is thus mentioned in the _Connoisseur_,
No. 50:—

"Our maid Betty tells me, that if I go backward, without speaking a
word, into the garden, upon midsummer eve, and gather a rose, and keep
it in a clean sheet of paper without looking at it until Christmas day,
it will be as fresh as in June; and if I then stick it in my bosom, he
that is to be my husband will come and take it out."

Another custom was to gather the rose and seal it up while the clock was
striking twelve at mid-day.


_The House Leek._

A superstition used to exist that the house leek preserved a house from
lightning. It is still common in many parts of England to plant it on
top of the houses.


_Ordeal of the Cross._

When a person accused of crime had declared his innocence upon oath, and
appealed to the cross for its judgment in his favor, he was brought into
church before the altar. The priest previously prepared two sticks
exactly alike, upon one of which was carved the figure of a cross. They
were both wrapped up with great care and much ceremony in a quantity of
wool, and laid upon the altar, or upon the relics of the saints. A
solemn prayer was then offered up to God, that he would be pleased to
discover, by the judgment of his holy cross, whether the accused person
was innocent or guilty. A priest then approached the altar and took up
one of the sticks, and the assistants reverently unswathed it. If it was
marked with the cross, the accused person was innocent; if unmarked, he
was guilty. It would be unjust to assert that the judgments delivered
were in all cases erroneous, and it would be absurd to believe that they
were left altogether to chance.


_Ordeal of the Eucharist._

This ordeal was in use among the clergy. The accused party took the
sacrament in attestation of innocence, it being believed that, if
guilty, he would be immediately visited with divine punishment for the
sacrilege. A somewhat similar ordeal was that of the _corsned_, or
consecrated bread and cheese. If the accused swallowed it freely, he was
pronounced innocent; if it stuck in his throat, he was presumed to be
guilty. Godwin, Earl of Kent, in the reign of Edward the Confessor, when
accused of the murder of the king's brother, is said to have appealed to
the ordeal of the corsned, and was choked by it.


_Ordeals in Africa._

Ordeals seem to be prevalent in Africa. "When a man," says Dr.
Livingstone, "suspects that any of his wives have bewitched him, he
sends for the witch-doctor, and all the wives go forth into the field,
and remain fasting till that person has made an infusion of a plant
called goho. They all drink it, each one holding up her hand to heaven
in attestation of her innocence. Those who vomit it are considered
innocent, while those whom it purges are pronounced guilty, and put to
death by burning. The innocent return to their homes, and slaughter a
cock as a thank-offering to their guardian spirits. The Barotse pour the
medicine down the throat of a cock or dog, and judge of the innocence or
guilt of the person accused by the vomiting or purging of the animal."


_Ordeal of Cold Water._

The suspected person was flung into the river. If he floated, without
any appearance of swimming, he was judged guilty; while if he sank he
was acquitted.


_Ordeal of Chewing Rice._

It is a common practice, in many parts of India, to oblige persons
suspected of crimes to chew dry rice in the presence of the officers of
the law. Curious as it may appear, such is the intense influence of fear
on the salivary glands, that, if they are actually guilty, there is no
secretion of saliva in the mouth, and chewing is impossible. Such
culprits generally confess without any further efforts. On the contrary,
a consciousness of innocence allows of a proper flow of fluid for
softening the rice.


_Ordeal by Fire._

This ordeal was allowed only to persons of high rank. The accused had to
carry a piece of red-hot iron for some distance in his hand, or to walk
nine feet, blindfolded and barefooted, over red-hot ploughshares. The
hand or foot was bound up and inspected three days afterwards; if the
accused had escaped unhurt, he was pronounced innocent; if otherwise,
guilty.


_Ordeal of Touch._

At one time a superstition prevailed that if a murderer, at the inquest,
or when on trial, touched the dead body of his victim, it would commence
to bleed. On the trial, in Edinburgh, of Philip Standsfield, for the
murder of his father, the following deposition was made by Mr. Humphrey
Spurway:—

"When the chirurgeons had caused the body of Sir James to be, by their
servants, sewen up again, and his grave-clothes put on, a speech was
made to this purpose: 'It is requisite, now, that those of Sir James
Standsfield's relations and nearest friends should take him off from the
place where he now lies, and lift him into his coffin.' So I saw Mr.
James Rowe at the left side of Sir James' head and shoulder, and Mr.
Philip Standsfield at the right side of his head and shoulder; and,
going to lift off the body, I saw Mr. Philip drop the head of his father
upon the form, and much blood in hand, and himself flying off from the
body, crying, 'Lord, have mercy upon me,' or 'upon us,' wiping off the
blood on his clothes, and so laying himself over a seat in the church;
some, supposing that he would swaiff or swoon away, called for a bottle
of water for him."

Sir George McKenzie takes this notice of the above evidence, in his
speech to the inquest:—

"But they, fully persuaded that Sir James was murdered by his own son,
sent out some chirurgeons and friends, who, having raised the body, did
see it bleed miraculously upon his touching it. In which God Almighty
himself was pleased to bear a share in the testimonies which we produce:
that Divine Power which makes the blood circulate during life, has
oft-times, in all nations, opened a passage to it after death upon such
occasions, but most in this case."


_Chinese Veneration for the Lily._

Among the Chinese, should the lily blossom on New Year's day, it is
regarded as a most happy omen, presaging the best of luck to the
fortunate owner of the plant.


_The Passion Flower._

This genus of plants received its name from some fanciful persons among
the first Spanish settlers in America, who imagined that they saw in its
flowers a representation of our Lord's Passion—the filamentous
processes being taken to represent the crown of thorns, the nail-shaped
styles the nails of the cross, and the five anthers the marks of the
wounds.


_Burned Wastes Replenished._

Mr. Veitch, the well-known author on "Coniferæ," recently stated that
the cones of many of the species on the Pacific coast never open and
permit the seed to escape unless opened by a forest fire, when they fall
out and replenish the burned waste. They hang on the trees for many
generations—even for thirty years.


_Unlucky Stumbling._

When Mungo Park took his leave of Sir Walter Scott, prior to his second
and fatal expedition to Africa, his horse stumbled on crossing a ditch
which separated the moor from the road. "I am afraid," said Scott, "this
is a bad omen." Park smilingly answered: "Omens follow them who look to
them," and, striking spur into his horse, he galloped off. Scott never
saw him again.


_Patagonian Superstitions._

To the Patagonians the cry of the nightjar on the Cordillera betokens
sickness, a certain toad-like lizzard mysteriously lames horses, a
fabulous two-headed guanaco is a sure forerunner of epidemic disease,
&c. To counteract the influence of these, charms and talismans are
liberally employed.


_Superstition about the Caul._

One of the superstitions that still clings to seafaring life, is the
confidence in the virtues of a child's caul, as a preservative against
drowning. The caul is a thin membrane found encompassing the head of
some children when born; it was considered a good omen for the child
itself, and productive of good fortune and security from danger to the
purchaser. The superstition was so common in the primitive church that
St. Crysostom felt it his duty to inveigh against it in many of his
homilies. In later times midwives sold the caul at enormous prices to
advocates, "as an especial means of making them eloquent," and to seamen
as "an infallible preservative against drowning." In Ben Jonson's
"Alchemist" Face says to Dapper—

  "Ye were born with a caul o' your head."

In Digby's "Elvira" (Act V.), Don Sancho says—

  "Were we not born with cauls upon our heads?
   Think'st thou, chicken, to come off twice arow
   Thus rarely from such dangerous adventures?"

The caul is alluded to in a _rondeau_ by Claude de Malleville, born
1597. "_Il est né coiffé_" is a well-known expression, describing a
lucky man, and indicating that he was born with a caul. Weston, in his
"Moral Aphorisms from the Arabic" (1801), says that the superstition
came from the East, and that there are several Arabic words for it.


_The Will-with-a-Wisp._

This phenomenon, known also as "Jack-with-a-Lantern" and "Ignis fatuus,"
has terrified many a simple-minded rustic, whereas it is simply the
phosphuretted hydrogen gas which rises from stagnant waters and marshy
grounds. Its origin is believed to be in the decomposition of animal
substances. Collins has left us some fine lines upon this phenomenon,
beginning—

    "Ah, homely swains! your homeward steps ne'er lose;
       Let not dank Will mislead you to the heath;
     Dancing in murky night o'er fen and lake,
       He glows to draw you downward to your death,
     In his bewitch'd, low, marshy willow brake."

At Bologna, in 1843, the painter Onofrio Zanotti saw this phenomenon in
the form of globes of fire, issuing from between the paving-stones in
the street, and even about his feet. They rose into the air and
disappeared; he even felt their heat when they passed near him.


_Cramp Rings._

These rings were supposed to cure cramp and the "falling sickness." They
are said to have originated as far back as the middle of the eleventh
century, in a ring presented by a pilgrim to Edward the Confessor,
which, after that ruler's death, was preserved as a relic in Westminster
Abbey, and was applied for the cure of epilepsy and cramp. Hence appears
to have arisen the belief that rings blessed by English sovereigns were
efficacious in such cases, and the custom of blessing for distribution
large numbers of cramp rings on Good Friday, which continued in
existence down to the time of Queen Mary. The accomplished Lord Berners,
ambassador to Spain in the time of Henry VIII., wrote from Saragossa to
Cardinal Wolsey: "If your grace remember me with some cramp rings ye
shall doo a thing muche looked for; and I trust to bestow thaym with
Goddes grace."


_Horseshoes._

An ancient superstition existed that horseshoes kept witches out of the
house. It was a common practice to nail them to the threshold,
stipulated, however, that the shoe was to be one that had been found. In
Gay's fable of "The Old Woman and her Cats," the supposed witch makes
the following complaint:—

            "—Crowds of boys
    Worry me with eternal noise;
    Straws laid across, my pace retard;
    The horseshoe's nailed (each threshold's guard);
    The stunted brooms the wenches hide,
    For fear that I should up and ride."


_Breaking a Piece of Money._

It was an ancient custom to break a piece of gold or silver in token of
a verbal contract of marriage and promises of love; one half of the coin
was kept by the woman, the other half was retained by the man.


_Love Charms._

Theocritus and Virgil both introduce women into their pastorals, using
charms and incantations to recover the affections of their sweethearts.
Shakespeare represents Othello as accused of winning Desdemona "by
conjuration and mighty magic." In Gay's "Shepherd's Week," these are
represented as country practices—

    "Strait to the 'pothecary's shop I went,
     And in love-powder all my money spent,
     Behap what will, next Sunday, after prayers,
     When to the ale-house Lubberkin repairs,
     These golden flies into his mug I'll throw,
     And soon the swain with fervent love shall glow."

Throwing bay leaves into the fire, or bruising poppy flowers in the
hands, was believed to influence the love of others. In Herrick's
"Hesperides" is given "a charm or an allay for love"—

    "If so a toad be laid
     In a sheep-skin newly flay'd,
     And that ty'd to a man, 'twill sever
     Him and his affections ever."


_Spellbound._

It was a popular belief in Scotland that the Duke of Monmouth was
spellbound to Lady Henrietta Wentworth, the charm being lodged in the
gold toothpick case which he sent to her from the scaffold.—_William
Jones, F.S.A._


_Amulets Inserted under the Skin._

Devices to procure invulnerability are common in the Indo-Chinese
countries. The Burmese sometimes insert pellets of gold under the skin
with this view. At a meeting of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, in 1868,
gold and silver coins were shown which had been extracted from under the
skin of a Burmese convict, at the Andaman Islands. Friar Odoric speaks
of the practice in one of the Indian Islands (apparently Borneo), and
the stones possessing such virtue were, according to him, found in the
bamboo, presumably the silicious concretions called _Tabashir_. Conti
also describes the practice in Java of inserting amulets under the skin.


_Divining Rods._

Divination by the rod or wand is an imposition of the highest antiquity.
Hosea reproaches the Jews for believing in it: "My people ask counsel at
their stocks, and their _staff_ declareth it unto them." (IV. 12.) It
was a custom in vogue among the Chaldeans, among almost every nation
with any pretence to scientific knowledge, and also among the wilder or
ruder races, as the Alani and the ancient Germans. Dr. Henry states that
after the Saxons and Danes had embraced Christianity, the priests were
commanded by their ecclesiastical superiors to preach very frequently
against _diviners_, sorcerers, augurers, and "all the filth of the
wicked and the dotages of the Gentiles." The divining rod, _virgula
divina_, or _baculus divinatorius_, was a forked branch of hazel, cut in
the form of a Y, and was supposed to reveal not only the hidden spring,
but mines of gold and silver, and any other concealed treasure.

The "Quarterly Review," in an early number, relates that a certain Lady
Noel possessed the divining faculty: "She took a thin forked hazel twig,
about sixteen inches long, and held it by the ends, the joint pointing
downwards. When she came to the place where water was under the ground,
the twig immediately bent, and the motion was more or less rapid as she
approached or withdrew from the spring. When just over it, the _twig
turned so quick as to snap, breaking near the fingers_, which, by
pressing it, were indented and heated and _almost blistered_; a degree
of agitation was also visible in her face. The exercise of the faculty
is independent of any volition."


_Washing but Once in a Lifetime._

No devout Spanish woman dares to bathe without the permission of her
confessor. A female Bulgarian is permitted to wash only once in her
life—on the day before her wedding; and in most South Sclavonian
families the girls are rarely allowed to bathe—the women never.


_Looking Back._

The superstition of the ill-luck of looking back, or returning, is
nearly as old as the world itself, having no doubt originated in Lot's
wife "having looked back from behind him," when he was leaving the
doomed city of the Plain. Whether walking or riding, the wife was behind
the husband, according to a usage still prevalent in the East. In
Robert's "Oriental Illustrations" it is stated to be "considered
exceedingly unfortunate in Hindostan for men or women to look back when
they leave their house. Accordingly, if a man goes out and leaves
something behind him which his wife knows he will want, she does not
call him to turn or look back, but takes or sends it after him; and if
some emergency obliges him to look back, he will not then proceed on the
business he was about to transact."


_Toad-Stone Rings._

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries a curious superstition was
prevalent in England in connection with what was known as the toad-stone
ring. The setting was of silver, and the stone was popularly believed
to have been formed in the heads of very old toads. It was eagerly
coveted by sovereigns, and by all persons in office, because it was
supposed to have the power of indicating to the person who wore it the
proximity of poison, by perspiring and changing color. Fenton, who wrote
in 1569, says: "There is to be found in the heads of old and great toads
a stone they call borax or stelon;" and he adds, "They, being used as
rings, give forewarning against venom." Their composition is not
actually known; by some they are thought to be a stone—by others, a
shell; but of whatever they may be formed there is to be seen in them a
figure resembling that of a toad, but whether produced accidentally or
by artificial means, is not known, though, according to Albertus Magnus,
the stone always bore the figure on its surface when it was taken out of
the toad's head. Lupton, in his "One Thousand Notable Things," says: "A
toad-stone, called crepaudina, touching any part envenomed, hurt or
stung with rat, spider, wasp or any other venomous beast, ceases the
pain or swelling thereof." The well known lines in Shakespeare are
doubtless in allusion to the virtue which Lupton says it possesses—

    "Sweet are the uses of adversity,
     Which, like a toad, ugly and venomous,
     Wears yet a precious jewel in his head."

And Lyly, in his Euphues, says—

    "The foule toad hath a faire stone in his head."


_Royal Dinner Time._

The Khan of the Tartars, who had not a house to dwell in, who subsisted
by rapine, and lived on mare's milk and horse flesh, every day after his
repast caused a herald to proclaim, "That the Khan having dined, all
other potentates, princes and great men of the earth might go to
dinner."


_Throwing an Old Shoe._

The custom of throwing an old shoe after a person is still, in many
rural districts, believed to propitiate success, as in servants seeking
or entering upon situations, or about to be married. In Scripture, "the
receiving of a shoe was an evidence and symbol of asserting or accepting
dominion or ownership; the giving back the shoe was the symbol of
rejecting or resigning it." Hence the throwing of a shoe after a bride
was a symbol of renunciation of dominion over her by her father or
guardian; and the receipt of the shoe by the bridegroom, even if
accidental, was an omen that the authority was transferred to him.


_Cock-crowing an Omen of Victory._

Cicero quotes an instance where a Bœotian soothsayer promised victory
to the Thebans from the crowing of a cock. The same circumstance once
served the Bœotians as an omen of victory over the Lacedæmonians.


_The Unicorn's Horn._

The unicorn's horn was considered an amulet of singular efficacy. It is
now known that the object shown as such in various museums is the horn
of the rhinoceros. They were sold at six thousand ducats, and were
thought infallible tests of poison, just as Venitian glass and some
sorts of jewels were. The Dukes of Burgundy kept pieces of the horn in
their wine jugs, and used others to touch all the meat they tasted.
Drinking-cups of this kind were greatly esteemed in former times. In the
inventory of jewels and plate in the Tower (1649), with cups and beakers
of unicorn's horn, is entered, "A rinoceras cupp, graven with figures,
with a golden foot," valued at £12. Decker, in "Gul's Hornbook," speaks
of "the unicorn whose horn is worth a city."


_The Evil Eye in Spain._

In the Gitano language casting the evil eye is called _querelar nasula_,
which simply means "making sick," and which, according to the common
superstition, is accomplished by casting an evil look at people,
especially at children, who, from the tenderness of their constitution,
are supposed to be more easily blighted than those of a more mature age.
After receiving the evil glance, they fall sick and die in a few hours.
The Spaniards have very little to say about the evil eye, though the
belief in it is very prevalent, especially in Andalusia, among the lower
orders. A stag's horn is considered a good safeguard, and on that
account a small horn, tipped with silver, is frequently attached to the
children's necks by means of a cord braided from the hair of a black
mare's tail. Should the evil glance be cast, it is imagined that the
horn receives it, and instantly snaps asunder. Such horns may be
purchased in some of the silversmiths' shops at Seville.—_Borrow._


_Witchcraft Charms._

The charms by which witches worked were short rhymes at the different
stages. In the fifteenth century an old dame was tried for using
witchcraft in curing diseases, when the judges promised to liberate her
if she would divulge her charm. This she readily did, and informed the
court that the charm consisted in repeating the following words, after
the stipulated pay, which was a loaf of bread and a penny—

    "My loaf in my lap,
     My penny in my purse,
     Thou art never the better,
     And I am never the worse."

That was ludicrous indeed. Here is a "Charme for a Thorne"—

    "Christ was of a Virgin born,
     And he was pricked with a thorn;
     And it did neither bell nor swell,
     And I trust in Jesus this never will."

For "A Burning":—

    "There came three angels out of the East;
     The one brought fire, the other brought frost—
     Out fire—in frost,
     In the name of the Father, and Son
     And Holy Ghost. Amen."


_A Mountain Highway._

During the occupation of Java by the English in May, 1814, it was
unexpectedly discovered that in a remote but populous part of the island
a road leading to the top of the mountain of Sumbeng, one of the highest
in Java, had been constructed. The delusion which gave rise to the work
had its origin in the province of Banyunas, in the territories of the
Susunan, and the infection spread to the territory of the Sultan, and
thence extended to that of the Europeans.

On examination, a road was found constructed twenty feet broad and from
fifty to sixty miles long, and it was wonderfully smooth and well made.
One point which appears to have been considered necessary, was that this
road should not cross rivers, and in consequence it wound in a thousand
ways. Another point as peremptorily insisted upon, was that its course
should not be interrupted by any private rights, and in consequence
trees and houses were overturned to make way for it. The population of
whole districts, occasionally to the amount of five or six thousand
laborers, were employed on the road, and, among people disinclined to
active exertion, the laborious work was nearly completed in two
months—such was the effect of the temporary enthusiasm with which they
were inspired.

It was found in the sequel that the whole work was set in motion by an
old woman who dreamed, or pretended to have dreamed, that a divine
personage was about to descend from heaven on the mountain in question.
Piety suggested the propriety of constructing a road to facilitate his
descent; and it was rumored that divine vengeance would pursue the
sacrilegious person who refused to join in the meritorious labor. These
reports quickly wrought on the fears and ignorance of the people, and
they heartily joined in the enterprise. The old woman distributed to the
laborers slips of palm-leaves, with magic letters written upon them,
which were charms to secure them against sickness and accidents. When
this strange affair was discovered by the native authorities, orders
were issued to desist from the work, and the inhabitants returned
without a murmur to their usual occupations.


_A Buffalo's Skull._

Nowhere has superstition a greater power over the human mind than among
the inhabitants of Java. Mr. Crawford relates that some years since it
was accidentally discovered that the skull of a buffalo was
superstitiously conveyed from one part of the island to another. The
point insisted upon was never to let it rest, but to keep it in constant
progressive motion. It was carried in a basket, and no sooner was one
person relieved from the load than it was taken up by another; for the
understanding was that some dreadful imprecation was denounced against
the man who should let it rest. In this manner the skull was hurried
from one province to another, and, after a circulation of many hundred
miles, it at length reached the town of Samarang, the Dutch governor of
which seized it and threw it into the sea, and thus the spell was
broken. The Javanese expressed no resentment, and nothing further was
heard of this unaccountable transaction. None could tell how or where it
originated.


_Superstitious Notion of the Number One._

The Bedui, a people found in the interior of Bantam, Java, have a
superstitious notion of the number _one_. It is an established rule
among them to allot but one day for each of the different successive
operations of husbandry,—one day for cutting down the trees and
underwood; one day for clearing what has been so cut down; one day for
sowing the grain; one for weeding the field; one for reaping; one for
binding up the grain; one for carrying it home. If any part of what has
been reaped cannot be carried home in one day, it is left to rot in the
field.


_Thunder and Lightning._

Thunder and lightning have been fruitful sources of superstitious
terror. The ancients considered lightning as a visible manifestation of
Divine wrath; hence whatever was struck with it was considered to be
accursed and separated from human uses. The corpse of a person struck by
lightning was never removed from the place where it fell; there it lay,
and, with everything pertaining to it, was covered with earth and
enclosed by a rail or mound. In some parts of the East, however, it is
considered a mark of Divine favor to be struck by lightning. In England,
formerly, during storms, bells were rung, and the aid of Saint Barnabas
was invoked, in abbeys, to drive away thunder and lightning.

The bay-tree was commonly believed to afford protection from lightning.
It was also believed that if a fir-tree were touched, withered or burned
by lightning, its owner would soon die. It was customary to place a
piece of iron on the beer barrel, during a storm, to keep the beer from
souring.


_Manna Marked with the Number Six._

In the _Cabala_, the number _six_ was considered to be one of potent
mystical properties. The rabbinical writers assert that the manna, when
it was found, was marked with the Hebrew _vau_, the equivalent of number
six. As the world was created in six days; as a servant had to serve six
years (Exodus xxi. 2); as the soil was tilled for six years (Exodus
xxiii. 10); as Job endured six tribulations—so this number was typical
of labor and suffering. Consequently it was impressed on the manna not
only to show the Israelites that it fell but on six days, but also to
warn them of the miseries they would undergo if they dared to desecrate
the Sabbath day.


_The Seventh Son of the Seventh Son._

Grose remarks as a popular superstition that the seventh son of a
seventh son is born a physician, having an intuitive knowledge of the
art of healing all disorders, and sometimes the faculty of performing
wonderful cures by touching only.

It is recorded as a superstition in Yorkshire (1819), that if any woman
has seven boys in succession, the last should be bred to the profession
of medicine, in which he would be sure of being successful.

In an article on "Fairy Superstitions in Donegal," published in the
_University Magazine_ for August, 1879, are the following statements
respecting the seventh son: "It is not generally known that a particular
ceremony must be observed at the moment of the infant's birth, in order
to give him his healing power. The woman who receives him in her arms
places in his tiny hand whatever substance she decides that he shall rub
with in after life, and she is very careful not to let him touch
anything until this shall have been accomplished. If silver is to be the
charm, she has provided a sixpenny or threepenny bit; but as the coinage
of the realm may possibly change during his lifetime, and thus render
his cure valueless, she has more likely placed meal or salt upon the
table, within reach. Sometimes it is determined that he is to rub with
his own hair, and in this case the father is summoned and requested to
kneel down before his new-born son, whose little fingers are guided to
his head, and helped to close upon a lock of hair. Whatever substance a
seventh son rubs with must be worn by his patients so long as they
live."


_Virtue in the Number Seven._

In the manuscript on Witchcraft, by John Bell, a Scottish minister
(1705), he says: "Are there not some who cure by observing number 7 after
the example of Balaam, who used magiam geometricam (Numbers xxiii. 1),
'Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven
rams,' etc. There are some witches who enjoin the sick to dip their
shirt seven times in south-running water. Elisha sends Naaman to wash in
Jordan seven times. Elijah, on the top of Carmel, sends his servant
seven times to look for rain. When Jericho was taken they compassed the
city seven times."

Not only the ancient Jews but the heathens regarded this number of great
efficacy in religious ceremonies. Apuleius says: "Desirous of purifying
myself, I wash in the sea, and dip my head in the waves seven times,
Pythagoras having thought that this number is, above all others, most
proper in the concerns of religion."

The Bektashi dervishes of Turkey have many superstitious beliefs in
connection with their girdle, cap and cloak. One ceremony with the stone
worn in the girdle is rather striking. The Sheikh puts it in and out
_seven_ times, saying: "I tie up greediness, and unbind generosity. I
tie up anger, and unbind meekness. I tie up ignorance, and unbind the
fear of God. I tie up passion, and unbind the love of God. I tie up the
devilish, and unbind the divine."

In Lane's "Modern Egyptians," mention is made of a ridiculous ceremony
for the cure of a pimple on the edge of the eyelid. The person affected
with it goes to any seven women of the name of Fa't'meh, in seven
different houses, and begs from each of them a morsel of bread; these
seven morsels constitute the remedy.

A curious French manuscript belonging to the latter part of the
thirteenth century has a singular illustration of the number seven. It
is a miniature,—a wheel cut into seven rays, and composed of seven
concentric cordons. The rays form seven compartments divided into as
many cordons, containing in each cordon one of the seven petitions of
the Lord's prayer, one of the seven sacraments, one of the seven
spiritual arms of justice, one of the seven works of mercy, one of the
seven virtues, and one of the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost.—_William
Jones, F.S.A._


_Onomancy._

The notion that an analogy existed between men's names and their
fortunes is supposed to have originated with the Pythagoreans; it
furnished some reveries for Plato, and has been the source of much wit
to Ausonius. Two leading rules in what was called Onomancy were, first,
that an even number of vowels in a man's name signified something amiss
in his left side; an uneven number, a similar affection in the right; so
that between the two perfect sanity was little to be expected. Secondly,
of two competitors, that one would prove successful the numeral letters
in whose name, when summed up, exceeded the amount of those in the name
of his rival; and this was one of the reasons which enabled Achilles to
triumph over Hector.


_Mystic Gifts._

Chrysostom says that the three gifts of the three Magi—gold, myrrh and
frankincense—were mystic gifts, signifying that Christ was king, man
and God.


_Exterminating Vermin._

In France it is believed that water from the well of the Church of St.
Gertrude of Nivelles will drive away rats and mice if sprinkled about
the house. Earth from the tomb of St. Ulric, at Augsbourg, is believed
to possess the same virtue. In Scotland it was the custom to paste the
following rhyme against the wall of the house—

    "Ratton and mouse,
     Lea' the puir woman's house;
     Gang awa' owre by to the mill,
     And there ye'll a' get ye'r fill."

The Bulgarians beat copper pans all over the house on the last day of
February, calling out at the same time, "Out with you, serpents,
scorpions, fleas, bugs and flies!" A pan held by a pair of tongs is put
outside in the courtyard.


_Perforated Stones._

Creeping through perforated stones was a Druidical ceremony, and is
practiced in the East Indies. Barlase mentions a stone in the parish of
Marsden, Cornwall, through which many persons have crept for pains in
their backs and limbs, and many children have been drawn for the
rickets. He adds that two brass pins were carefully laid across each
other on the top edge of this stone, for oracular purposes.


_St. Helena Coins._

Among amulets in repute in the Middle Ages were the coins attributed to
St. Helena, the mother of Constantine. These and other coins marked with
a cross were thought especially efficacious against epilepsy, and are
generally found perforated for the purpose of being worn suspended from
the neck.


_Weighing a Witch._

At Wingrave, in Buckinghamshire, in 1759, a case occurred of the old
popular witchcraft trial by weighing against the church Bible. One
Susannah Hameokes, an elderly woman, was accused by a neighbor of being
a witch. The overt act offered in proof was, that she had bewitched the
said neighbor's spinning-wheel, so that she could not make it go round
either one way or the other. The complaining party offered to make oath
of the fact before a magistrate, on which the husband of the poor woman,
in order to justify his wife, insisted that she should be tried by the
church Bible, and that the accuser should be present. The woman was
accordingly conducted by her husband to the ordeal, attended by a great
concourse of people, who flocked to the parish church to see the
ceremony. Being stripped of nearly all her clothes, she was put into
one scale and the Bible into another, when, to the no small astonishment
and mortification of her accuser, she actually outweighed it, and was
honorably acquitted of the charge.


_Poetry of Omens._

Omens constitute the poetry of history. They cause the series of events
which they are supposed to declare to flow into epical unity, and the
political catastrophe seems to be produced not by prudence or by folly,
but by the superintending destiny. The numerous tokens of the death of
Henry IV. are finely tragical. Mary de Medicis, in her dream, saw the
brilliant gems of her crown change into pearls, the symbol of tears and
mourning. An owl hooted until sunrise at the window of the chamber to
which the king and queen retired at St. Denis, on the night preceding
her coronation. During the ceremony, it was observed, with dread, that
the dark portals leading to the royal sepulchre, beneath the choir, were
gaping and expanded. The flame of the consecrated taper held by the
queen was suddenly extinguished, and twice her crown nearly fell to the
ground. The prognostications of the misfortunes of the Stuarts have
equally a character of solemn grandeur; and we are reminded of the
portents of Rome when we read how the sudden tempest rent the royal
standard on the Tower of London. Charles I., yielding to his destiny,
was obstinate in the signs of evil death. He refused to be clad in the
garments of Edward the Confessor, in which all his predecessors had been
arrayed, and he would be attired in white velvet. Strongly did the Earl
of Pembroke attempt to dissuade him—for the prophecy of the misfortunes
of the _white king_ had long been current; but his entreaties were in
vain, and Charles was crowned invested with the raiment which indicated
his misfortunes.—_Quarterly Review._


_House Crickets._

It is singular that the house cricket should, by some weak persons, be
considered a lucky, and by others an unlucky, inmate of a dwelling.
Those who hold the former opinion consider its destruction the means of
bringing misfortune on their habitations. "In Dumfriesshire," says Sir
William Jardine, "it is a common superstition, that if crickets forsake
a house which they have long inhabited, some evil will befall the
family—generally the death of some member is portended. In like manner,
the presence or return of this cheerful little insect is lucky, and
portends some good to the family."


_Sitting Cross-Legged._

Sir Thomas Browne tells us that to sit cross-legged, or with our fingers
pectinated or shut together, is accounted bad, and friends will dissuade
us from it. The same conceit religiously possessed the ancients; but Mr.
Park says: "To sit cross-legged, I have always understood, was intended
to produce good or fortunate consequences. Hence it was employed as a
charm at school, by one boy who wished well for another, in order to
deprecate some punishment which both might tremble to have incurred the
expectation of. At a card-table I have also caught some superstitious
players sitting cross-legged, with a view of bringing good
luck."—_Brand._


_The Death-Watch._

This name has been given to a harmless little insect which lives in old
timber, and produced a noise which somewhat resembles the ticking of a
watch. It is simply the call of the insect to another of its kind, when
spring is far advanced. The general number of distinct strokes in
succession is from seven to nine, or eleven, and the noise exactly
resembles that produced by tapping moderately with the finger nail upon
a table, and, when familiarized, the insect will readily answer to the
tap of the nail. The noise used to be regarded as an omen of death in
the family, and is mentioned by Baxter in his "World of Spirits." Swift
ridicules the superstition as follows:—

                        "A wood worm,
    That lies in old wood, like a hare in her form,
    With teeth or with claws it will bite, it will scratch,
    And chamber-maids christen this worm a death-watch;
    Because, like a watch, it always cries click:
    Then woe be to those in the house that are sick!
    For, sure as a gun, they will give up the ghost,
    If the maggot cries click when it scratches the post,
    But a kettle of scalding hot water injected,
    Infallibly cures the timber affected;
    The omen is broken, the danger is over,
    The maggot will die, the sick will recover."


_Sundry Rural Charms._

For good bread—

    This I'll tell ye, by the way:
    Maidens, when ye leavens lay,
    Cross your dow and your dispatch
    Will be better for your batch.—_Herrick._

To make the butter come—

    Come butter, come,
    Come butter, come,
    Peter stands at the gate
    Waiting for a butter'd cake,
    Come butter, come.

Scattering wash-water—

    In the morning, when ye rise,
    Wash your hands and cleanse your eyes.
    Next be sure ye have a care
    To disperse the water farre,
    For as farre as that doth light,
    So farre keeps the evil spright.—_Herrick._

There is mention of older charms in "Bale's Interlude Concerning the
Laws of Nature, Moses and Christ," 1562—

    "With blessynges of Saynt Germayne
     I will me so determyne
     That neyther fox nor vermyne
         Shall do my chyckens harme;
     For your gese seke Saynt Legearde,
     And for your duckes Saynt Leonarde,
         There is no better charme."

    "Take me a napkin folte
     With the byas of a bolte,
     For the healing of a colte
         No better thynge can be;
     For lampes and for bottes
     Take me Saynt Wilfrid's knottes,
     And holy Saynt Thomas Lottes,
         On my life I warrande ye."


_Charm against Dogs._

On the 22d of November the sun enters Sagittarius. According to an old
magical manuscript of the fourteenth century, an aspect of "Sagittary"
seems to have dominion over dogs. "When you wish to enter where there
are dogs, that they may not hinder you, make a tin image of a dog, whose
head is erected towards his tail, under the first face of _Sagittary_,
and say over it, 'I bind all dogs by this image, that they do not raise
their heads or bark;' _and enter where you please_."—_Fosbroke._


_Barnacles._

An extraordinary belief was long current that the barnacle, which is
found adhering to the bottom of ships, would, when broken off, become a
species of goose. Several old writers assert this, and Holinshed gravely
declares, that "with his own eyes he saw the feathers of these barnacles
hang out of the shell at least two inches." Giraldus Cambrensis gives
similar ocular testimony. "Who," he says, "can marvel that this should
be so? When our first parent was made of mud, can we be surprised that a
bird should be born of a tree?" The following lines occur in Isaac
Walton's quotations from "The Divine Weekes and Workes" of Du Bartas—

    "So, Sly Boots, underneath him sees
     In the cycles, those goslings hatcht of trees,
     Whose fruitfull leaves falling into the water
     Are turn'd (they say) to living fowls soon after.
     So rotten sides of broken ships do change
     To barnacles! O, transformation strange!
     'Twas first a green tree, then a gallant hull,
     Lately a mushroom, now a flying gull!"

In a description of West Connaught, Ireland, by Roderic O'Flaherty
(1684), the barnacle is thus mentioned: "There is the bird engendered by
the sea, out of timber long lying in the sea. Some call these birds
_clakes_, and solan'd geese, and some puffins, others barnacles; we call
them _girrinn_." Butler tells us, in "Hudibras," of those

    "Who from the most refined of saints
     As naturally grow miscreants,
     As barnacles turn soland geese
     In the islands of the Orcades."

The numerous tentacles or arms of the animal inhabiting the barnacle
shells, which are disposed in a semicircular form and have a feathery
appearance, seem to have been all that could reasonably have been
alleged in favor of this strange supposition.


_Odd Way to Discover a Dead Body._

In the "Gentleman's Magazine" (February 8th, 1767), is a curious notice
of the mode of discovering the body of a drowned person: "An inquisition
was taken at Newbury, Berks, on the body of a child nearly two years
old, who fell into the river Kennet, and was drowned. The body was
discovered by a very singular experiment. After diligent search had been
made in the river for the child, to no purpose, a two-penny loaf, with a
quantity of quicksilver put into it, was set floating from the place
where the child, it was supposed, had fallen in, which steered its
course down the river upwards of half a mile, before a great number of
spectators, when the body, happening to lay on the contrary side of the
river, the loaf suddenly tacked about and swam across the river, and
gradually sunk near the child, when both the child and the loaf were
brought up with grabbers ready for that purpose."


_The Salagrama Stone._

In India the "salagrama" stone is supposed to possess extraordinary
powers. It is about the size of a billiard ball, of a black color, and
usually perforated, as if by worms. It is believed to be found only in
the Gandaki, a river in Nepaul, which, according to the followers of
Vishnu, flows from the foot of that deity, but, according to the Saivas,
from the head of Siva. The fortunate possessor of this stone preserves
it in a clean cloth, from which it is frequently taken and bathed and
perfumed. The water with which the ablution is performed acquires a
sin-expelling potency, and it is therefore swallowed and greatly prized.
This stone possesses many other mysterious powers, and in death it is an
essential ingredient in the viaticum. The departing Hindoo holds it in
his hand, and, through his confidence in its influence, hope brightens
the future, and he dies in peace.


_Charm for the Cramp._

Coleridge tells us of a couplet that it was common to repeat in his
boyhood, to relieve the foot when asleep, or to cure the cramp in the
leg. The sufferer pressed the sole of the foot hard on the floor, and
said—

    "The devil is tying a knot in my leg!
     Mark, Luke and John, unloose it, I beg!"


_Fisherman's Luck._

The fishermen of the Firth of Forth believed that if they chanced to
meet a woman barefooted, who had broad feet and flattish great toes,
when they were proceeding to go to sea, they would have "bad luck," and,
consequently, need not go out in search of fish. It was also considered
unlucky to sell fish for the first time in the day to a person having
broad thumbs.

The Swedish anglers say that if a woman strides the rod, no trout will
be caught that day. Tackle, they say, stolen from a friend or neighbor,
would bring better luck than that bought with money.

In Forfarshire there are fishermen who, on a hare crossing their path,
while on their way to their boats, will not put to sea.

It is unfortunate, on starting out, to sneeze to the left side; the
print of a flat foot in the sand is considered unlucky.

Fishermen, while standing or walking, consider it unlucky to be
numbered, or to be asked where they are going. A pin picked up in
church, and made into a hook, brings luck.


_Luck of Birthdays._

In the west of England the fortunes of children are believed to be much
regulated by the day of the week on which they are born—

    "Monday's child is fair in face,
     Tuesday's child is full of grace,
     Wednesday's child is full of woe,
     Thursday's child has far to go,
     Friday's child is loving and giving,
     Saturday's child works hard for its living;
     And a child that's born on a Christmas day
     Is fair and wise, good and gay."


_Sleeping on Stones._

Borlase, in his Antiquities of Cornwall, mentions, as a relic of Druid
fancies and incantations, the custom of sleeping on stones, on a
particular night, in order to be cured of lameness.


_Spilling Salt._

In Scotland there exists a common belief that it is unlucky to spill
salt at table, but that the luck can be changed by taking up a pinch of
the spilled salt and throwing it over the left shoulder. To spill salt
on Friday is considered especially unlucky.

    "Help me to _salt_,
     Help me to _sorrow_,"

Is a saying among the Highlanders, and they always decline salt
with a wave of the hand. The popular superstition of this accident
being unlucky is said to have originated in the celebrated picture
of The Last Supper, by Leonardo da Vinci, in which Judas Iscariot
is represented as overturning the salt. Among the Italians, to
spill oil at table is regarded as an omen of the worst import.


_Charm for the Ague._

This charm for the ague, on "St. Agnes' Eve," is recited up the chimney,
in England, by the eldest female in the family—

    "Tremble and go!
     First day shiver and burn;
     Tremble and quake!
     Second day shiver and learn;
     Tremble and die!
     Third day never return."


_Ancient Practice of Medicine._

The blood of an innocent child, or of a virgin, was believed to cure the
leprosy; that of an executed criminal, the falling sickness. The hearts
of animals, because the seat of life, were held to be potent drugs. The
Rosicrucian physicians treated a case of wounding by applying the salve
to the weapon, instead of to the wound itself.


_Amethyst Amulets._

The ancients imagined that the amethyst possessed the property of
preventing intoxication, and persons much addicted to drinking therefore
wore it on their necks.


_Preservative against Toothache._

In some parts of England it is believed that carrying suspended round
the neck a molar-tooth taken from some grave in the church-yard, is a
preservative against toothache.


_Mixed Moons._

The dim form of the full moon seen with the new moon was considered an
evil sign by the sailors of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries—

    "I saw the new moon late yestreen,
        With the old moon in her arm,
     And if we go to sea, master,
      I fear we'll come to harm."


_The Blood of the Martyrs._

During the horrible persecutions of the primitive Christians at Rome,
the blood of the martyrs was esteemed a talisman of especial power. A
sponge saturated therewith was sometimes worn as a sacred relic.
Prudentius describes the spectators of the martyrdom of St. Vincent as
dipping their clothes in his blood, that they might keep it as a sort of
palladium for successive generations—

    "Crowds haste the linen vest to stain,
     With gore distill'd from martyr's vein,
     And thus a holy safeguard place
     At home, to shield a future race."


_The First Sale for the Day._

In London, in the street market-places, amongst the stall-keepers, it is
considered unfortunate to refuse a "first bid" for an article. It
brings bad luck on the day's selling, and it is better to get the first
sale over, even at a loss. In all such places, much to the
stall-keeper's exasperation, there are to be found mean folks who are
known as hansel (first-sale) hunters, and who are early at market, on
the alert to take advantage of the poor vendor's superstition. The
latter is well aware of the paltry device to obtain goods at less than
cost price; but though he may swear somewhat, he will rarely turn away
the "first bid," and "chance" it for the day. When he has taken hansel
money, he would as soon think of throwing it into the road as putting it
into his pocket without first "spitting upon it."


_Arsenic as an Amulet._

During the severe visitation of the plague in London, amulets composed
of arsenic were very commonly worn in the region of the heart, upon the
principle that one poison would drive out or prevent the entry of
another. Large quantities of arsenic were imported into London for the
purpose. Dr. Henry, in his "Preservatives against the Pestilence"
(1625), wrote against them as "dangerous and hurtful, if not pernicious
to those who wear them." The wearing of arsenic in the way of an amulet,
common in olden times, is said to have arisen chiefly from ignorance of
Arabic, the word in the Arabian authors which is rendered _arsenic_
properly signifying _cinnamon_.


_Red Tape a Protection against the Plague._

Taylor, in his "Account of the Rebellion in Wexford," relates a curious
story of the amuletive properties of _red tape_ as a protection against
the plague: "Before the rebellion broke out in Wexford, all the red
tape in the country was bought up, and more ordered from Dublin. It was
generally bought in half-yards, and all the Roman Catholic children,
boys and girls, wore it round their necks. This was so general and so
remarkable as to occasion some inquiry, and the reason given was this: A
priest had dreamed there would be a great plague among all the children
of their church under fifteen years of age; that their brains would boil
out at the back of their heads. He dreamed also that there was a charm
to prevent it, which was to get some red tape, have it blessed and
sprinkled with holy water, and tie it round the children's necks till
the month of May, when the season of danger would be past. The
Protestants suspected that it was intended as a mark to distinguish
their own children, like the blood of the Paschal Lamb, when the
Egyptian first-born were to be cut off."


_Owl's Claws._

The Russian Non-conformists (Raskolnics) are in the habit of carrying
about with them, in rings and amulets, parings of an owl's claws, and of
their own nails. Such relics are supposed by the peasantry in many parts
of Russia to be of the greatest use to a man after his death, for by
their means his soul will be able to clamber up the steep sides of the
hill leading to heaven.


_Witch-ridden Horses._

In olden times it was believed that witches took from their stalls the
horses, and rode them through the night. Aubrey, in his "Miscellanies,"
mentions the practice and publishes a remedy: "Hang in a string a flint
with a hole in it by the manger; but, best of all, they say, hang about
their necks, and a flint will do that hath not a hole in it. It is to
prevent the nightmare, viz: the hag or witch from riding their horses,
who will sometimes sweat all night." Herrick says—

    "Hang up hooks and shears to scare
     Hence the hag that rides the mare,
     Till they be all over wet
     With the mire and the sweat;
     This observed, the manes shall be
     Of your horses all knot-free."


_A Smuggler's Talisman._

The following was found in a linen purse on the body of one Jackson, a
murderer and smuggler, who died in Chichester Gaol, February, 1749—

    "Ye three holy kings,
     Gaspar, Melchior, Balthasar,
     Pray for us now, and at the hour of death."

"These papers have touched the three heads of the holy kings of Cologne;
they are to preserve travelers from accidents on the roads, falling
sickness, fevers, _sudden death_." He was struck with such horror on
being measured for his irons, that he expired soon afterward. His
talisman failed him.


_Rubbing with a Gold Ring._

Pegge, in his "Curialia," alludes to the superstition that a
wedding-ring of gold, rubbed on a stye upon the eyelid, was considered a
sovereign remedy, but it required to be rubbed nine times. In Beaumont
and Fletcher's "Mad Lovers," reference is made to the practice. In the
West Indies the explanation of the merits of the gold wedding-ring used
for this purpose is, that it is something which, once given, can never
be taken back; and the Barbadians believe if you give anything away and
take it back, you are sure of a stye, or "cat-boil," as they call it.


_Divination of the Bible and Key._

This was long popular, and is still practised. A case was tried before
Mr. Ballantine, an English magistrate, as late as June 10th, 1832. "A
person named Eleanor Blucher, a tall, muscular native of Prussia, was
charged with an assault upon Mary White. They lived in the same court,
and Mrs. White having lost several articles from her yard, suspected the
defendant. She and her neighbors, after a consultation, agreed to have
recourse to the key and Bible to discover the thief. They placed the
street door-key on the fiftieth Psalm, closed the book, and fastened it
very tightly with a garter. The Bible and key were then suspended to a
nail; the prisoner's name was repeated three times by one of the women,
while another recited the following words—

  'If it turns to thee thou art the thief,
   And we all are free.'

The incantation over, the key turned, or the women thought it did; they
unanimously agreed that Mrs. Blucher had stolen two pairs of
inexpressibles belonging to Mrs. White's husband, and severely beat
her."


_Visions of Destiny._

A singular mode of divination practised at the period of the harvest
moon is thus described in an old chap-book: "When you go to bed, place
under your pillow a prayer-book, opened at the part of the matrimonial
service 'With this ring I thee wed;' place on it a key, a ring, a flower
and a sprig of willow, a small heart-cake, a crust of bread and the
following cards—the ten of clubs, nine of hearts, ace of spades and
the ace of diamonds. Wrap all these in a thin handkerchief of gauze or
muslin, and on getting into bed, cross your hands and say—

    "Luna, every woman's friend,
     To me thy goodness condescend;
     Let me this night in visions see
     Emblems of my destiny."


_Selecting an Avocation._

A writer in "Notes and Queries" mentions a species of divination (sent
him from Northamptonshire) of the leading events in a man's life, or
rather of future employment, drawn from the last chapter of the Book of
Proverbs. This consists of thirty-one verses, each of which is supposed
to have a mystical reference to each of the corresponding days of the
month. Thus, a person born on the 14th will be prognosticated "to get
their food from afar." This was so fully believed in by some, that a boy
was actually apprenticed to a _linen_-draper, for no other reason than
because he was born on the 24th of the month, the twenty-fourth verse of
the chapter mentioning "fine linen."


_Spitting for Luck's Sake._

Spitting for "luck's sake," and as a charm against all kinds of
fascinations, was regarded with importance by the ancients. Theocritus
says—

  "Thrice on my breast I spit to guard me safe
   From fascinating charms."

Among the Greeks it was customary to spit three times into their bosoms
at the sight of a mad man, or one troubled with an epilepsy. Children
were lustrated with spittle by their nurses or relations; the old
grandmother, or aunt, moved around in a circle, and rubbed the child's
forehead with spittle, selecting her middle finger, to preserve it from
witchcraft. Persius alludes to this custom—

    "See how old beldams expiation make,
     To atone the gods the bantling up they take
     His lips are wet with lustrous spittle; thus
     They think to make the gods propitious."

Spitting, as an Irish luck superstition, is noticed by Camden: "It is by
no means allowable to praise a horse or any other animal, unless you
say, 'God save him,' or spit upon him. If any ill-luck befalls the horse
three days after, they hunt up the person who praised him, that he may
whisper the Lord's prayer into the animal's right ear."

Spitting for good luck has still its votaries among hucksters, pedlers
and others. The first money received for the day is spat upon by dealers
in England, Scotland and Roumania.

A Yorkshire custom to secure luck when a rainbow appeared was marking a
cross on the ground and spitting on each of its four corners.


_May Marriages Unlucky._

It is a common notion that May marriages are unlucky, and the
superstition is as old as the time of Ovid. An old saw says, "The girls
are all stark naught that wed in May;" and another saying was

    "From the marriages in May
     All the bairns die and decay."

An ancient proverb, cited by Ray, says, "Who marries between the sickle
and the scythe, will never thrive."

In the rural districts of France a marriage contracted in May or August
is unlucky. In the "Almanach des Laboureurs," it stated that a woman
marrying in these months will put her husband under a yoke. The
superstition of the month of May being unlucky for marriages still
prevailed in Italy in 1750.


_Pin Superstitions._

It used to be considered lucky for bridesmaids to throw away pins on a
wedding-day. In Brittany the young girls who visit the bridal chamber
secure the pins used in fastening the bride's dress for a lucky
marriage.

Randolph, in his "Letters," writing of the marriage of Mary Queen of
Scots to Lord Darnley, says that when the queen, after her marriage,
went to her chamber to change her clothes, she suffered "them that stood
by her, every man that could approach, to take a pin." The Bretons throw
pins into certain wells for good luck. The following saying is connected
with pins—

    "See a pin and pick it up,
     All the day you'll have good luck.
     See a pin and let it lie,
     All the day you'll need to cry."


_Superstitions about Children._

A superstition used to exist that a child which did not cry when
sprinkled in baptism would not live long. The same would be the case if
the children were prematurely wise. Shakespeare puts this superstition
into the mouth of Richard III.

Bulwer mentions the tradition concerning children born open-handed, that
they will prove of a bountiful disposition and frank-handed. A character
in one of Dekker's plays says: "I am the most wretched fellow; surely
some _left-handed_ priest christened me, I am so unlucky." The following
charms for infancy are taken from Herrick—

    Bring the holy crust of bread,
    Lay it underneath the head;
    'Tis a certain charm to keep
    Hags away while children sleep.

    Let the superstitious wife
    Near the child's heart lay a knife;
    Point be up, and haft be down,
    (While she gossips in the towne);
    This, 'mongst other mystic charms,
    Keeps the sleeping child from harmes.


_Digging for Water._

The divining rod is not the only superstition connected with the digging
for water. In the country of the Damazas, in South Africa, before they
dig, the natives offer an arrow, or a piece of skin or flesh, to a large
red man with a white beard, who is supposed to inhabit the place; at the
same time they repeat a prayer for success in finding water. To dig for
it without this ceremony, they say, occasions sickness and death.


_Wolf Superstition._

In Normandy a phantom in the form of a wolf is believed to wander about
at night amongst the graves. The chief of the band of phantoms is a
large black wolf, who, when approached, rises on his hind legs and
begins to howl, when the whole party disappear, shrieking out, "Robert
is dead! Robert is dead!"—_Nimmo._


_Stanching Blood._

The ancients firmly believed that blood could be stanched by charms. The
bleeding of Ulysses is reputed to have been stopped by this means; and
Cato the Censor has given us an incantation for setting dislocated
bones. To this day charms are supposed to arrest the flow of blood.

    "Tom Potts was but a serving man,
       But yet he was a doctor good;
     He bound his kerchief on the wound,
       And with some kind word he stanched the blood."

Sir Walter Scott says, in the "Lay of the Last Minstrel"—

    "She drew the splinter from the wound,
     And with a charm she stanch'd the blood."


_Arab Charms._

The Arabs have many family nostrums, and are implicit believers in the
efficacy of charms and mystic arts. No species of knowledge is more
highly venerated than that of the occult sciences, which afford
maintenance to a vast number of quacks and impudent pretenders. The
science of _Isen-Allah_ (or Name of God) enables the possessor to
discover what is passing in his absence, to expel evil spirits, cure
diseases, and dispose of the wind and seasons as he chooses. Those who
have advanced far in this study pretend to calm tempests at sea by the
rules of art, or say their prayers at noon in Mecca, without stirring
from their own houses in Bagdad! The _Kurra_ is the art of composing
billets or amulets which secure the wearer from the power of
enchantments and all sorts of accidents. They are also employed to give
cattle an appetite for food and clear houses from flies and other
vermin.


_Superstitions among the Bretons._

In the district of Carhaix is a mountain called St. Michael, whither it
is believed all demons cast from the bodies of men are banished. If any
one sets his foot at night within the circle they inhabit, he begins to
run, and will never be able to cease all the rest of the night.

In one of the districts is a fountain called Krignac. To drink three
nights successively of this at midnight is an infallible cure for
intermittent fever. In other districts there are fountains into which,
if a child's shirt or shift be thrown, and it sinks, the child will die
within a year. If it should swim, it is then put wet on the child, and
is a charm against all kinds of diseases.

The _Ar cannerez nos_ are ghostly "wash-women," who ply their trade at
night, washing their linen while they sing quaint old ballads. They
solicit the assistance of people passing by to wring the linen. If the
assistance be given awkwardly, they break the person's arm; if it be
refused, they pull the "refusers" into the stream and drown them.


_Blessing of Beasts._

On St. Anthony's day the beasts at Rome were blessed and sprinkled with
holy water. Lady Morgan says that the annual benediction of the beasts
at Rome, at a church dedicated to St. Anthony, lasts for some days: "For
not only every Roman, who has a horse, a mule or an ass, sends his
cattle to be blessed at St. Anthony's shrine, but all the English go
with their job horses and favorite dogs; and for the small offering of a
couple of _paoli_, get them sprinkled, sanctified and placed under the
protection of this saint. Coach after coach draws up, strings of mules
mix with carts and barouches, horses kick, mules are restive, dogs
snarl, while the officiating priest comes forward from his little
chapel, dips a brush into a vase of holy water, sprinkles and prays over
the beasts, pockets the fee, and retires." Dr. Conyers Middleton says,
that when he was at Rome he had his own horses blest for eighteen
pence, as well to satisfy his curiosity as to humor his coachman, who
was persuaded that some mischance would befall them during the year, if
they had not the benefit of the benediction.


_Moles._

In "The Husbandman's Practice; or, Prognostication Forever," 1658, there
is much to show what moles on various parts of the body denote. For
example: If a man have a mole on the place right against the heart, it
denotes him to be undoubtedly wicked. If a mole in either man or woman
appear on the place right against the spleen, it signifies that he or
she shall be "much passionated and oftentimes sick." In "A Thousand
Notable Things," we find that moles on the arm and shoulder denote great
wisdom; on the left, debate and contention. Moles near the armpit
signify riches and honor. A mole on the neck is commonly a sign that
there is another near the stomach, which denotes strength. A mole on the
neck and throat denotes riches and health; a mole on the chin, that
there is another near the heart, and signifies riches. A mole on the
right side of the forehead is a sign of great riches both to men and
women; on the left side, quite the contrary. Moles on the right ear
denote riches and honor; on the left ear they signify the reverse.


_Whipping Toads to Produce Rain._

At one time the natives of Venezuela worshipped toads. They regarded the
toad as "the lord of the waters," and treated it with much reverence;
though, as has been the case with other idolaters, they were ready, in
times of difficulty, to compel favorable hearing from their pretended
deities. They whipped their imprisoned toads with little switches when
there was a scarcity of provisions and a want of rain.


_The First Butterfly._

A superstition prevails in Devonshire, England, that any individual
neglecting to kill the first butterfly he may see for the season, will
have ill-luck throughout the year.


_Child-Stealing Elves._

According to Irish as well as Scottish fairy superstitions, the elves,
though in the main harmless, or at most tricky, have the bad reputation
of stealing children from the cradle and substituting for them a
changeling who bears a resemblance to the stolen infant, but is an ugly
little creature, and never thrives. On such a theft of a female infant,
who is carried to Fairyland, but in the course of years returns to her
parents, James Hogg founded his fine ballad of "Kilmeny" (Queen's
Wake).


       *       *       *       *       *




INDEX.


  Abelard and Heloise, 29.

  Abraham and Sarah, 229.

  Absurdities of the toilet, 160.

  Abydos, bride of, 25.

  Abysynnian tradition, 213.

  Accidental rhymes, 43.

  Acid, citric, 136.

  Aconite, 301.

  Acrobatic figures, 202.

  Adding insult to injury, 179.

  Advertisements, slave, 27.

  Africa, ordeals in, 308.

  African rain doctors, 152.

  Africa, twins in, 197.

  Ague, charm for the, 337.

  Albatross, 265.

  Albertus Magnus, recipes from, 74.

  Alliterations carried to an absurd excess, 21.

  Alliterative whims, 21.

  Alligators swallowing stones, 282.

  Almanacs, prophetic, 17.

  Amulets, amethyst, 337.
    Arsenic as an, 339.
    Inserted under the skin, 315.
    Kingfisher, 264.
    Owl's claws, 340.
    St. Helena coins, 328.
    Unicorn's horn, 319.

  Amusements of some learned men, 14.

  Anachronisms, noted, 27.

  Anchors, sacred, 179.

  Ancient bit of waggery, 191.
    Dials, 86.
    Lottery, 64.
    Practice of medicine, 337.
    Smokers, 181.

  Animals forecasting danger, 282.

  Antiquity of acrobatic figures, 202.
    Curious piece of, on the Crucifixion of the Saviour, 50.
    Of riddles, 63.
    Of tarring and feathering, 183.

  Anne Boleyn's gloves, 179.

  Antipathies, 239.

  Antipathy to red hair, 72.

  Apes, cynocephalic, 278.

  Apothecary shop, walking, 192.

  Apparition, Dr. Donne's, 245.
    Double, 241.
    Twofold, 244.

  Appetite, innate, 290.

  Arab charms, 347.

  Arabian horses' pedigree, 284.

  Arabia, the turban in, 159.

  Arctic music, queer, 174.

  Articles of ringing, 126.

  Artificial limb, first, 198.

  Artist's tradition, 232.

  Asleep, kissed while, 237.

  Aspen, shaking, 302.

  Assuming the form of a bird, 248.

  Assassination, horrible mode of, 295.

  Astonished lawyer, 70.

  Astrologer, cunning, 156.

  Astronomical clock, famous, 81.

  Asylum for destitute cats, 163.

  Atlas, kneeling statue of, 109.

  Attar of roses, origin of, 215.

  Auk, great, 264.

  Automata, wonderful, 104.

  Avocation, selecting an, 343.


  Babes in the wood, 65.

  Babes of Bethlehem, 122.

  Bagging his rival, 190.

  Baker's dozen, 217.

  Ballad, oldest, 40.

  Bantam, warlike, 201.

  Barbers' basins, 210.

  Barbers, offending, 77.

  Barking of dogs, 274.

  Barnacles, 333.

  Barometer, spider, 291.

  Barometer, stone, 157.

  Bath, how the prophecy of its destruction came about, 66.

  Bat, muscular strength of the, 289.

  Beads, St. Cuthbert's, 193.

  Bear, shaved, 277.

  Beard, care of the, 214.

  Beards at communion, 62.

  Beards, gilt, 9.

  Beasts, blessing of, 348.

  Bed, looking for the head of the, 283.

  Bedford Missal, 14.

  Bees, superstitions about, 239.

  Bees, wonderful exhibition with, 217.

  Before houses were numbered, 180.

  Bells, articles of ringing, 126.
    Born within the sound of Bow, 61.
    Coral and, 190.
    Of Jersey, 120.
    Subterranean Christmas, 120.

  Bell, great of Rouen, 110.
    Great Tom of Lincoln, 118.
    Inscriptions, 122.
    Mammoth, of Buddah, 119.
    Passing, 121.
    Ringing the changes, 122.
    Ringing in Holland, 122.
    St. Fillan's, 119.
    St. Sepulchre's, 121.

  Belladonna lily, 305.

  Benefactor, the devil regarded as a, 227.

  Bernini's bust of Charles I, 102.

  Bible and key, divination by, 342.
    Bug, 8.
    Curious parallel between Shakespeare and the, 32.
    Eliot's Indian, 12.
    Gilt beards, 9.
    Illuminated MS., 8.
    Interesting MSS., 10.
    Magnificent Latin, 10.
    Mazarine, 9.
    Printed in gold letters, 10.
    Vinegar, 11.
    Wierix's, 9.

  Bill, curious play, 32.
    Of particulars, 36.
    Of repairs, odd, 63.

  Birds, Albatross, 265.
    A little bird told me, 66.
    Assuming the form of, 248.
    Auk, great, 264.
    Bantam, warlike, 201.
    Bittern, 251.
    Blackbird originally white, 253.
    Bullfinch, 272.
    Burree Churree, 251.
    Chaffinch contest, 269.
    Change of sight in, 273.
    Cranes, 251, 263.
    Crossbill, 251.
    Crows lost in a fog, 267.
    Cuckoo, 255.
    Cuckoo, why she builds no nest, 257.
    Dodo, 268.
    Dove, 253.
    Dove, double-headed, 259.
    Dove, harbinger of good news, 254.
    Ears of birds not to be deceived, 272.
    Introducing a soul into a, 249.
    Flamingo, nest of the, 274.
    Gander, an old, 269.
    Gander, led by a, 267.
    Hammock, 272.
    Kingfisher, 264.
    Imprisoned during incubation, 271.
    Love, 271.
    Lark, 252.
    Magpie, 257.
    Magpie, half a nest, 257.
    Magpie stoning a toad, 278.
    Nightingale, 252.
    Night owls, 271.
    Ostrich, 252.
    Owl, 259.
    Owl's claws, 340.
    Paradise, 259.
    Peacock at home, 268.
    Peacock crests, 263.
    Pelican, 270.
    Penguin breeding-grounds, 271.
    Penguin's solitary egg, 263.
    Phœnix, 260.
    Plover, 263.
    Prognosticating death, 250.
    Raven, 250.
    Robin, killing a, 254.
    Roc, 270.
    Sagacity of a bird, 273.
    Stork, 265.
    Swallow, 258.
    Swallow drinks the king's health, 258.
    Talismanic stones in, 249.
    Titmouse, 272.
    White-breasted, 262.
    Wren, 261.

  Bird hammock, 272.

  Birthdays, 62.

  Birthdays, luck of, 336.

  Birthday, St. Patrick's, 234.

  Bittern, 251.

  Bitterness of strychnia, 303.

  Blackbirds originally white, 253.

  Black stone of Mecca, 92.

  Bleeding for nothing, 70.

  Blessing beasts, 348.

  Blossoming, thirty years in, 305.

  Blood, curse of innocent, 228.
    Of the martyrs, 338.
    Showers of, 299.
    Stanching, 346.

  Blue Beard, 151.

  Blunders, Dr. Johnson's, 22.
    Of painters, 23.
    Thackeray's geographical, 23.

  Boards, groaning, 212.

  Boast, Richelieu's, 79.

  Bodach Glas, 240.

  Bogus dragon, 68.

  Book-keeping in Norway, 75.

  Book-shaped watch, 87.

  Books—Huge copy of the Koran, 12.
    Imperishable prison literature, 16.
    Library, King of India's, 19.
    Library, unique, 13.
    Long lost book recovered, 8.
    Lost book, 13.
    Lord Kingsborough's Mexico, 15.
    Missal, Bedford, 14.
    Most curious book in the world, 7.
    New England primer, 14.
    Odd titles of old books, 29.
    Printed in gold letters, 10.
    Prophetic almanacs, 17.
    Puffing their own books, 16.
    Queen Elizabeth's "Oone Gospell Book," 11.
    Remarkable instance of perseverance, 27.
    Riddles, 13.
    Sibylline books, 16.
    Silver book, 12.
    Swearing on the book, 172.
    Title pages that mislead, 31.
    Without words, 9.
    With unpronounceable names, 7.

  Book worms, 291.

  Boone's spelling, 33.

  Boots an object of honor, 193.

  Born of a Peri, 214.

  Born within sound of Bow Bells, 61.

  Borrowed days, 209.

  Borrowing watches, 88.

  Bottle, mammoth, 109.

  Brass medal of the Saviour, 94.

  Breaking a piece of money, 314.

  Bricks, durability of, 208.

  Brick, he's a, 76.

  Bride of Abydos, 25.

  Buddah, mammoth bell of, 119.

  Buffalo's skull, 322.

  Bug Bible, 8.

  Burial customs, singular, 236.

  Burned wastes replenished, 311.

  Burree churree, 251.

  Burn's snuff-box, 103.

  Butterfly, first, 350.

  Butterfly, leaf, of Java, 290.

  Butter, perfumed, 194.

  Buttons, none but brass, 73.

  Buying and selling, 220.


  Cabinet, immense Zoological, 298.

  Cader Idris couch, 216.

  Cæsar's wife must be above suspicion, 43.

  Camel as a scape-goat, 275.
    Kicked by a, 281.
    Superstition about the, 284.

  Can a clergyman marry himself? 211.

  Can dogs count? 279.

  Can hens count? 280.

  Candle clock, 196.

  Canes, gold-headed, for physicians, 207.

  Canute, the great, 154.

  Captain Kidd's vision, 242.

  Carara's toilet box, 100.

  Care of the beard, 214.

  Carmelite friar's poem, 31.

  Carrying coals to Newcastle, 170.

  Cashing lottery prizes, 63.

  Cats, asylum for destitute, 163.

  Cats with knotted tails, 287.

  Cat clock, 84.
    Concert, 173.
    Worship, 286.
    Whittington and his, 153.

  Caterpillar, muscles of the, 292.

  Caul, 312.

  Cavern chapel, 219.

  Cavern, St. George's, 165.

  Certificates of Gretna Green marriages, 41.

  Chaffinch contest, 269.

  Changing colors in a dying mullet, 298.

  Changes, ringing the, 122.

  Changes in signification, 40.

  Change in the sight of birds, 273.

  Chank shell, 298.

  Charms, dogs, 332.
    Arabian, 347.
    Ague, 337.
    Bread, 331.
    Burns, 321.
    Butter, 331.
    Cramp, 335.
    Love, 314.
    Molar tooth, 338.
    Thorn, 321.
    Scattering water, 332.
    Sundry rural, 331.
    Witchcraft, 320.

  Charlatans, prince of, 206.

  Charlemagne, talisman of, 91.

  Charlemagne, clock presented to, 85.

  Charter, rhyming, 42.

  Chateaubrun's escape from the guillotine, 204.

  Chaunt, oyster dredging, 201.

  Chewing rice, ordeal of, 309.

  Children's day in Japan, 195.

  Children, superstitions about, 345.

  Child played for, 65.

  Child-stealing elves, 350.

  Chinese giants, 162.
    Medical prescriptions, 182.
    Oaths, 172.
    Veneration for the lily, 311.

  Chronological table of remarkable events, 47.

  Christmas bells, subterranean, 120.

  Citric acid, 136.

  Claws, owl's, 340.

  Clergymen, duels fought by, 71.

  Cleopatra a myth, 28.

  Clock, astronomical, famous, 81.
    Candle, 196.
    Cat, 84.
    Earliest, 80.
    Harrison's, 84.
    Presented to Charlemagne, 85.
    That strikes thirteen, 82.
    Vocal, 83.
    Westminster, 82.
    Wonderful, 83.

  Clouds, eating, 293.

  Clover, four-leaved, 303.

  Coals, carrying to Newcastle, 170.

  Cobblers' stalls in Rome, 178.

  Cock-crower, king's, 188.
    Crowing an omen of victory, 319.
    Fighting among the ancients, 195.
    And Hen, 266.

  Coffins, hour-glasses in, 220.

  Coincidence, singular, 71.
    Crooked, 25.
    Curious historical, 61.

  Coins, St. Helena, 328.

  Cold water, ordeal of, 309.

  Colors most frequently hit in battle, 196.
    Of the hat for cardinals, 173.
    Isabella, 138.
    Parisian scarlet, 139.
    Tyrian purple, 139.

  Colossal shells, 297.

  Composition during sleep, 35.

  Composition of rollers discovered, 133.

  Confectionery decorations, 69.

  Copied from nature, 303.

  Copy of the Koran, huge, 12.

  Copy of a letter written by Cardinal Richelieu, 51.

  Coral and bells, 190.

  Cork jackets, 142.

  Coronations, feasts at, 217.

  Couch, Cader Idris, 216.

  Court fools, 155.

  Courtship of William the Conqueror, 155.

  Crabs, pea, 288.

  Cramp rings, 313.

  Cramp, charm for, 335.

  Cranes, worshipful, 263.

  Crests, peacock's, 263.

  Crickets, house, 330.

  Crinoline in 1744, 157.

  Critic, stupid, 24.

  Crocodiles of the Nile, 282.

  Crocodile plover, 263.

  Crooked coincidences, 25.

  Crossbill, 251.

  Cross-legged, sitting, 330.

  Cross, hymn in the form of a, 49.
    Macduff's, 221.
    Mark of, on the ass, 276.
    Ordeal of the, 307.
    Signature of the, 79.

  Crows lost in a fog, 267.

  Crucifix of Columbus, 96.

  Crucifixion, curious piece of antiquity on the, 50.

  Cruciform watch, 88.

  Cuckoo, 255.

  Cuckoo, why she builds no nest, 257.

  Cunning astrologer, 156.

  Cures, magnetic, 230.

  Curious epitaphs, 110.
    Custom in Strasburg, 59.
    Historical coincidence, 61.
    Lantern, 100.
    Law, 60.
    Locality for saying prayers, 169.
    Parallel, 80.
    Play bill, 32.
    Post-office, 76.
    Old memorandum, 38.
    Oranges, 304.
    Time-piece, 85.
    Signs in New York, 74.
    Wagers, 184.

  Curse of Scotland, 227.

  Curse of innocent blood, 228.

  Cuttle-fish, eyes of the, 290.

  Customs, Hallow E'en, 232.

  Cutting off the fiddler's head, 236.

  Cutting timber by the moon, 213.

  Cynocephalic apes, 278.


  Dance, gipsy, 181.

  Danger, animals forecasting, 282.

  Dairus, tomb of, 106.

  Day, first sale of the, 338.

  Dead drunk for twopence, 66.
    Body, odd way of discovering, 334.
    Monkeys demanding their, 279.

  Dean Swift's marriage ceremony, 67.

  Death warrant of the Saviour, 45.

  Death watch, 230.

  Decapitation by the guillotine, 204.

  Deepened damnation, 191.

  Delicate machinery, 86.

  Destiny, visions of, 342.

  Deutsche luft, 143.

  Devil regarded as a benefactor, 227.

  Dials, ancient, 86.

  Dialect rhyme, 26.

  Diamonds, veneered, 141.

  Diamond, queer place to secrete a, 222.

  Diaries, 17.

  Digestive powers, great, 289.

  Digging for water, 346.

  Dinner time, royal, 318.

  Dinner, getting outside of his, 284.

  Diogenes and his tub, 27.

  Dipping the left shirt sleeve, 233.

  Discovery of the body of Canute, 154.
    Of glass, 134.
    Of composition rollers, 133.

  Disfigurement, fashionable, 187.

  Divination by Bible and key, 342.

  Divinity, queer evidence of, 182.

  Divining rods, 316.

  Doctor, African rain, 152.
    Donne's apparition, 245.
    Johnson's blunders, 22.

  Dodo, story of the, 268.

  Dogs, barking of, 274.
    Charm against, 332.
    Can they count? 279.

  Donation to a fair, 69.

  Don Quixote's sheep, 40.

  Double-entendre, 39.

  Double apparition, 241.

  Dove, 253.
    Double-headed, 254.
    A harbinger of good news, 254.

  Dragon, bogus, 68.

  Drawing cabbages blindfolded, 233.

  Dream, Lord Bacon's, 246.

  Dreams, remedy for bad, 225.

  Dresses of Queen Elizabeth, 160.

  Drinking glass a yard long, 109.

  Drop letter retort, 67.

  Druid's seat, 110.

  Drum made of human skin, 212.

  Drunk for twopence, 66.

  Duels fought by clergymen, 71.

  Durability of bricks, 208.


  Earliest clocks, 80.

  Earliest traders, 197.

  Earthquake, swallowed by an, 175.

  Ear of birds not to be deceived, 272.

  Ears of the elephant, 277.

  Earwig, 289.

  Easter box, 238.

  Eating animals that have died a natural death, 193.
    Clouds, 293.
    Tea, 208.
    For a wager, 184.

  Eccentricity, Kant's, 44.

  Eccentric will, 59.

  Echoes, remarkable, 166.

  Echo verse, 78.

  Eden Hall, luck of, 101.

  Edict against fiddlers, 58.

  Edifices of the Polypi, 299.

  Effect of a new nose, 215.

  Efficacy in a mutilated saint, 216.

  Egg mistaken for a pearl, 170.

  Egg, penguin's solitary, 262.

  Eggs, superstition about, 274.

  Egyptian perfumes, 203.

  Egyptian physicians, 169.

  Electioneering in 1640, 62.

  Elephants' ears, 277.

  Elephants, tenacity of life in, 276.

  Elephants, white, 276.

  Eliot's Indian Bible, 12.

  Elves, child-stealing, 350.

  Embalmed in honey, 194.

  Eminent men, foppery in, 159.

  Epitaphs, curious, 110.

  Escape from the guillotine, 204.

  Essence of pearl, 134.

  Esteem, inordinate self-, 76.

  Etching upon glass, 136.

  Eucharist, ordeal of the, 308.

  Eve, St. Agnes, 234.

  Evidences of divinity, queer, 182.

  Executioner's sword, 101.

  Expenses of Charles II., private, 53.

  Exterminating vermin, 327.

  Extraordinary muscular strength of the bat, 289.

  Eyebrows, mole-skin, 189.

  Eye, evil, in Spain, 320.

  Eyes of the cuttle-fish, 290.


  Fable of the pelican, 270.

  Fabulous roc, 270.

  Fair, donation to a, 69.

  Fairy treasure, 220.

  False conclusion, 52.

  Famous astronomical clock, 81.

  Famine, singular provision against, 283.

  Farthing, half-penny and, 170.

  Farthing, Queen Anne's, 177.

  Fashionable disfigurement, 187.

  Fatal day to the royal family of England, 57.

  Feasts at coronations, 217.
    Gluttony of the monks, 181.
    Mammoth, 181.
    Skeletons at, 183.

  Feathers for the ladies, 176.

  Feathers, house of hen's, 164.

  Feat, manufacturing, 175.

  Felling oaks, 246.

  Few fish found at sea, 199.

  Fiddlers, edict against, 58.

  Fiddler's head, cutting off the, 236.

  Fiddling to some purpose, 137.

  Figures, acrobatic, 202.

  Fillan's bell, St., 119.

  Fineness of India muslins, 174.

  Fine for insulting a king, 187.

  Fire, ordeal by, 309.

  First artificial limb, 198.
    Brick house in Philadelphia, 54.
    Butterfly, 350.
    Hermits, 98.
    Meerschaum pipe, 130.
    Museums, 107.
    New-laid egg, 274.
    Opera, 198.
    Oval lathe, 131.
    Sale for the day, 338.

  Fish, cuttle, 290.
    Few found at sea, 199.
    Fighting, 295.
    Market at Scarborough, 198.
    Mullet, 298.
    Queer legend about, 296.

  Fisherman's luck, 335.

  Flea, jump of a, 291.

  Fleas, remedy for, 256.

  Flamingo, nest of the, 274.

  Flower, passion, 311.

  Flower pots, toppling, 62.

  Fly, persistent, 292.

  Following his nose, 133.

  Foppery in eminent men, 159.

  Food, yearly, of one man, 207.

  Fog, crows lost in a, 267.

  Fools, court, 155.

  Force of imagination, 224.

  Four-leaved clover, 303.

  Freckles, May dew a remedy for, 231.

  Freischutz, 168.

  Friar Bacon's brazen head, 96.

  Fungus, vegetable, 306.


  Gall insect, 294.

  Gambling for fingers, 160.

  Gander, an old, 269.

  Gander, led by a, 267.

  Gems, 196.

  Geranium, superstition about, 302.

  German silver, 138.

  Getting himself outside of his dinner, 284.

  Giants, Chinese, 162.

  Gifts, mystic, 327.

  Gilt beards, 9.

  Gipsy dance, 181.

  Gipsy reticence, 170.

  Glas, Bodach, 240.

  Glass, discovery of, 134.
    Drinking, a yard long, 109.
    Etching upon, 136.

  Glasses, hour, in coffins, 220.

  Glastonbury thorn, 219.

  Gloves, Anne Boleyn's, 179.

  Gloves, winning a pair of, 237.

  Gluttony of the monks, 181.

  Gods, moving, 167.

  Gold-headed canes for physicians, 207.

  Gold letters, printed in, 10.

  Golden tooth, 226.

  Good tenant, 209.

  Grace knives, 108.

  Grandiloquent outbursts, 25.

  Grave of Robin Hood, 118.

  Great auk, 264.
    Bell of Rouen, 119.
    Digestive powers, 289.
    Hero of the Bretons, 144.
    Tom of Lincoln, 118.
    Gretna Green marriages, 41.

  Grimaldi's death, 244.

  Grinning for a wager, 183.

  Groaning boards, 212.

  Guide posts, pious, 68.

  Guillotine, decapitation by the, 204.

  Guillotine, escape from the, 204.


  Haarlem, sea-woman of, 150.

  Hair cutting in Russia, 183.
    Care of the beard, 214.
    Human, 208.
    Red, ancient antipathy to, 72.

  Hallow E'en customs, 232.

  Half-penny and farthing, 170.

  Half-starved tramp, 137.

  Halls, spacious, 171.

  Hammock, bird, 272.

  Handkerchiefs, love, 185.

  Harrison's clock, 84.

  Hat, color of, for cardinals, 173.

  Hats, paradise of old, 205.

  Head dresses, pagoda-shaped, 157.
    Fiddler's, cutting off the, 236.
    Friar Bacon's brazen, 96.
    James IV. of Scotland, 153.
    Orpheus, 104.
    Of the bed, looking for the, 283.

  Healing by the king, 232.

  Hell-stones, 226.

  Hens, can they count? 280.

  Hens, cocks and, 266.

  Hermits, first, 198.

  Hero of the Bretons, 144.

  High-sounding prologue, 34.

  Hinder well-spout unlucky, 247.

  Hindostan, trying land titles in, 163.

  Hindoo oaths, 57.

  Hindoo vow, singular, 231.

  Holland, bell-ringing in, 122.

  Honey, embalmed in, 194.

  Hood, Robin, grave of, 118.

  Honor, boots an object of, 193.

  Honoring the lark, 252.

  Horn of Oldenburg, 98.

  Horn, unicorn, 319.

  Horrible mode of assassination, 295.

  Horses, Arabian, pedigree of, 284.
    Curing vicious, 211.
    Feeding one another, 286.
    Witch-ridden, 340.

  Horseshoes, 314.

  Hour glasses in coffins, 220.

  House, brick, first in Philadelphia, 54.
    Carried on his head, 176.
    Crickets, 330.
    Leek, 307.
    Of hen's feathers, 164.

  Houses, before numbered, 180.

  Household rules in the sixteenth century, 56.

  How the ancients rewarded inventors, 143.

  How the Chinese select a pastor, 238.

  How the prophesy of the destruction of Bath came about, 66.

  How rats and mice use their tails, 280.

  Huge copy of the Koran, 12.

  Human hair, 208.

  Human skin, drum made out of, 212.

  Hundred families' lock, 188.

  Hundred stomachs, 293.

  Hundred years too soon, 55.

  Hungary water, 141.

  Hymn in the form of a cross, 49.


  Illuminated manuscript Bible, 8.

  Imprisoned during incubation, 270.

  Imperishable prison literature, 16.

  Imagination, force of, 224.

  Immense value placed upon gems by the ancients, 196.

  Immense zoological cabinet, 298.

  Incredible liars, 223.

  India, library of the king of, 19.

  India, muslins, fineness of, 174.

  Indian Bible, Eliot's, 12.

  Inducements to subscribers, 34.

  Infamous nankeen, 75.

  Ingenuity, literary, 18.

  Injury, adding insult to, 179.

  Ink, river of, 200.

  Innate appetite, 290.

  Innocent blood, curse of, 228.

  Inordinate self-esteem, 76.

  Inscriptions on bells, 122.

  In search of a looking glass, 70.

  In search of a rhyme, 26.

  Insects, phosphorescent, 292.

  Instance of remarkable perseverance, 21.

  Instance of sympathy, strange, 241.

  Interesting manuscript Bible, 10.

  Introducing a soul into a bird, 249.

  Inventor, legend of, 228.

  Inventors, how the ancients rewarded, 143.

  Iron crown of Lombardy, 99.

  Isabella color, 138.

  Island, supposed to be a genuine, 18.

  Isaiah, martyrdom of, 154.

  Isthmus of Panama suggested three hundred years ago, 52.


  Japan, children's day in, 195.

  Java, leaf-butterfly of, 290.

  Java, tree-planting in, 302.

  Jericho, rose of, 303.

  Jersey, bells of, 120.

  Jew, wandering, 145.

  John O'Gaunt's will, 58.

  Judas Iscariot, legend of, 151.

  Judy, Punch and, in 1669, 77.

  Jumping jack, 185.

  Jump of a flea, 291.


  Kant's eccentricity, 44.

  Kicked by a camel, 281.

  Killing a robin, 254.

  King, fine for insulting a, 187.
    Fisher, 264.
    Healing by the, 232.
    Of India's library, 19.

  King's cock-crower, 188.

  King's health, a swallow drinks the, 258.

  Kircher's speaking trumpet, 198.

  Kissed while asleep, 237.

  Kneeling statue of Atlas, 109.

  Knives, grace, 108.

  Knotted tails, cats with, 287.

  Knot, true-lover's, 187.

  Koran, huge copy of the, 12.


  Ladies, feathers for the, 176.

  Lantern, curious, 100.

  Lark, honoring the, 252.

  Lathe, oval, 131.

  Latin Bible, magnificent, 10.

  Lawyer, astonished, 70.

  Law, curious, 60.

  Lead pencils, no lead in, 177.

  Leaf-butterfly of Java, 290.

  Led by a gander, 267.

  Legend, fish, 296.
    Inventor, 228.
    Judas Iscariot, 151.
    Pontius Pilate, 149.
    Strange, 229.
    Wandering Jew, 145.

  Lepers in England, treatment of, 237.

  Letiche, 226.

  Letters, gold, printed in, 10.

  Letter M and the Napoleons, 161.

  Letters, oddly addressed, 43.

  Letter, superscription to a, 70.

  Liars, incredible, 223.

  Library, King of India's, 19.

  Library, unique, 13.

  Life in death, 225.
    In the elephant, 276.
    Time, washing but once in a, 317.

  Light from potatoes, 178.

  Lightning prints, 72.

  Lightning, thunder and, 323.

  Lilly's predictions, 36.

  Lily, belladonna, 305.

  Lily, veneration for the, 311.

  Limb, first artificial, 198.

  Lincoln, accidental rhymes of, 43.

  Lincoln, Great Tom of, 118.

  Lion, re-tailing a, 277.

  Literary ingenuity, 18.

  Locality, strange, for saying prayers, 169.

  Lock, wonderful, 91.

  Lock, hundred families', 188.

  Lombardy, iron crown of, 99.

  Long lost book recovered, 8.

  Long psalm, value of a, 216.

  Long-toed shoes, 209.

  Looking back, 317.
    Glass, in search of, 70.
    For the head of the bed, 283.

  Lord Bacon's dream, 246.

  Lord Kingsborough's Mexico, 15.

  Lotteries, 65.

  Lottery, ancient, 64.

  Lottery, cashing prizes, 63.

  Lottery of women in India, 64.

  Lost book, 13.

  Lost in a fog, crows, 267.

  Love birds, 271.
    Charms, 314.
    Handkerchiefs, 185.
    Knot, true, 87.

  Luck of Eden Hall, 101.
    Of birthdays, 336.
    Fisherman's, 335.
    Lundyfoot's, 136.
    Spitting for, 343.

  Lucky find, 205.

  Luminous human bodies, 178.

  Luncheon, 210.

  Luxury in 1652, 158.


  Macduff's cross, 221.

  Machinery, delicate, 86.

  Magpie, 257.
    Stoning a toad, 278.
    Half a nest, 257.

  Magnetic cures, 230.

  Magic rain stone, 203.

  Magnificent Latin Bible, 10.

  Magnus, Albertus, recipes from, 74.

  Mammoth bottle, 109.
    Bell of Buddah, 119.
    Feast, 181.
    Pawnbroker's shop, 170.

  Man carries his house on his head 176.

  Man, yearly food of one, 207.

  Manna marked with the number six, 324.

  Manner of watchmen imitating the clock at Hernhuth, 55.

  Manufacturing feat, 175.

  Mark of the cross on the ass, 276.

  Marriages, Gretna Green, 41.

  Marriages in May unlucky, 344.

  Martin Luther's tankard, 94.

  Martyrs, blood of the, 338.

  Martyrdom of Isaiah, 154.

  May dew a cure for freckles, 231.

  Mazarine Bible, 9.

  Meal, one a day, 206.

  Mecca, black stone of, 92.

  Medallions only for the royal, 171.

  Medical prescriptions, Chinese, 182.

  Medicine, ancient practice of, 337.

  Meerschaum pipe, first, 130.

  Memnon, statue of, 103.

  Memorandum, curious old, on the crucifixion of the Saviour, 38.

  Menageries, phantom, 60.

  Mexico, Lord Kingsborough's, 15.

  Mezzotinting, 134.

  Midsummer, rose at, 307.

  Military salute, 75.

  Minute mechanisms, 90.

  Miniature time-piece, 88.

  Missal, Bedford, 14.

  Mixed moons, 338.

  Mob wisdom, 173.

  Moles (on the skin), 349.

  Mole-skin eyebrows, 189.

  Mole, voracity of the, 285.

  Money, breaking a piece of, 314.

  Monkish prayers, 180.

  Monks, gluttony of the, 181.

  Monks ordered to shave, 62.

  Monkeys demanding their dead, 279.

  Moons, mixed, 338.

  Moon, cutting timber by the, 213.
    Welcoming the new, 240.
    Struck, 168.

  Most curious book in the world, 7.

  Motherly sacrifice of the gall insect, 294.

  Mountain highway, 321.

  Mouse ear, 305.

  Moving gods, 167.

  Mugwort, 305.

  Mullet, colors in a dying, 298.

  Mummies converted into paint, 174.

  Museums, temples, the first, 107.

  Muscles of the caterpillar, 292.

  Muslins, fineness of India, 174.

  Musical stones, 199.

  Musical sand, 200.

  Music, queer arctic, 174.

  Mutilated Saint, efficacy in a, 216.

  Mystic gifts, 327.


  Name, simply on account of her, 240.

  Nankeen, infamous, 75.

  Napoleons and the letter M, 161.

  Nature, copied from, 303.

  Nebuchadnezzar's golden mask, 98.

  Nest of the flamingo, 274.
    Why the cuckoo builds no, 256.
    Why the magpie builds but half a, 257.

  Nettles, striking with, 236.

  Newcastle, carrying coals to, 170.

  New England primer, 14.

  New moon, welcoming the, 240.

  New nose, effect of a, 215.

  Newspapers, vascillating, 22.

  Nightingale, 252.

  Night owls, 271.

  Nile, crocodiles of the, 282.

  No buttons but brass buttons, 73.

  No lead in lead pencils, 177.

  Nonius, opal of, 195.

  Normandy treasures, 201.

  Nose, following his, 133.

  Noted anachronisms, 27.

  Not buried at night, Sir John Moore, 28.

  Not divine until smeared with red paint, 169.

  Nothing new under the sun, 142.

  Novel way of curing vicious horses, 211.

  Number one, superstitious notion of, 323.
    Seven, virtue in the, 325.
    Six, manna marked with the, 324.


  Oaks, felling, 246.

  Oaths, Chinese, 172.

  Oaths, Hindoo, 57.

  Oddly addressed letters, 43.

  Odd bill of repairs, 63.
    Mode of revenge, 287.
    Titles of old books, 29.
    Way to discover a dead body, 334.

  Odor of patchouli, 141.

  Odors, tenacity of, 202.

  Offending barbers, 77.

  Oldenburg, Horn of, 98.

  Oldest ballad, 40.

  Old Grimaldi's death, 244.

  Old pike, 297.

  Old weather rhymes, 127.

  Omens, cock-crowing, 319.
    Picture, 245.
    Poetry of, 329.
    Reckless disregard of, 247.
    Twelfth-night, 244.

  One hundred years too soon, 55.

  One meal a day, 206.

  Onomancy, 326.

  Opera, first, 197.

  Opal of Nonius, 195.

  Oranges, curious, 304.

  Orchards, wassailing the, 235.

  Ordeal in Africa, 308.
    Of chewing rice, 309.
    Of the cross, 307.
    Of cold water, 309.
    Of the Eucharist, 308.
    By fire, 309.
    By touch, 310.

  Origin of attar of roses, 215.
    Blue-tinted paper, 132.
    Long-toed shoes, 209.

  Orthography, singular specimen of, 34.

  Orpheus, head of, 104.

  Ostrich, 252.

  Outburst, grandiloquent, 25.

  Oval lathe, first, 131.

  Owl, 259.

  Owl, night, 271.

  Owl's claws, 340.

  Oyster dredging chaunt, 201.

  Oysters growing on trees, 301.


  Painters, blunders of, 23.

  Paint, mummies converted into, 174.

  Paint, not divine until smeared with, 169.

  Pagoda-shaped head-dresses, 157.

  Palindromes, 20.

  Paper, blue-tinted, origin of, 132.

  Paper, note, diminutive, 135.

  Papers, watch, 78.

  Parallel passages between Shakespeare and the Bible, 32.

  Parallel, curious, 80.

  Parisian scarlet, 139.

  Paradise of old hats, 205.

  Paradise, bird of, 259.

  Passage through the Isthmus of Panama suggested three hundred years ago, 52.

  Passion flower, 311.

  Passing bell, 121.

  Pastor, how the Chinese secure a, 238.

  Patagonian superstitions, 312.

  Patchouli, odor of, 141.

  Pawning Bibles and Waterloo medals, 212.

  Pawnbroker's shop, mammoth, 170.

  Pea crabs, 288.

  Peacock at home, 268.

  Peacocks' crests, 263.

  Pearl, egg mistaken for a, 170.

  Pearl, essence of, 134.

  Pedigree of Arabian horses, 284.

  Pelican, fable of the, 270.

  Penguin breeding-grounds, 271.

  Penguin's solitary egg, 262.

  Peri, born of a, 214.

  Perfumes, Egyptian, 293.

  Perfumed butter, 194.

  Perfume, saffron as a, 202.

  Perforated stones, 328.

  Persistent fly, 292.

  Phantom menageries, 60.

  Physicians, Egyptian, 169.
    Gold-headed canes for, 207.
    Symbol, 162.

  Phœnix, 260.

  Phosphorescent insects, 292.

  Picnics centuries ago, 182.

  Picture omens, 245.

  Pigmies, 161.

  Pike, an old, 297.

  Pillory in Philadelphia, 54.

  Pin superstitions, 345.

  Pious guide posts, 68.

  Pipe, meerschaum, first, 130.

  Plague, red tape a protection against, 339.

  Play bill, curious, 32.

  Plate, Wesley's, 107.

  Plover, crocodile, 263.

  Poem, Carmelite friar's, 31.

  Poetry of omens, 329.

  Politeness, strained, 210.

  Polypi edifices, 299.

  Pontius Pilate at Vienne, 149.

  Pope's skull, 211.

  Portland vase, 93.

  Porcelain, 132.

  Posies for wedding rings, 52.

  Post-office, curious, 76.

  Potatoes, light from, 178.

  Prayers, curious locality for saying, 169.

  Prayers, monkish, 180.

  Praying for revenge, 189.

  Practice of medicine, ancient, 337.

  Prescriptions, Chinese medical, 182.

  Predictions, Lilly's, 36.

  Preserved in salt, 157.

  Preservative against toothache, 338.

  Prices, Scripture, 175.

  Primitive tavern signs, 78.

  Primer, New England, 14.

  Prince of Charlatans, 206.

  Prints, lightning, 72.

  Printed in gold letters, 10.

  Prison literature, imperishable, 16.

  Private expenses of Charles II., 53.

  Prizes, early lottery, 63.

  Prophetic almanacs, 17.

  Prologue, high-sounding, 34.

  Provision against famine, singular, 283.

  Psalm, value of a long, 210.

  Puffing their own books, 16.

  Pulpit, refreshments for the, 61.

  Punch and Judy in 1669, 77.

  Puritan surnames, 38.

  Pyed Piper, 147.


  Queer arctic music, 174.
    Evidence of divinity, 182.
    Legend about fish, 296.
    Place to secrete a diamond, 222.

  Quaint epitaphs, 110.

  Quaint recipes, 46.

  Queen's vow, 171.

  Queen Anne's farthings, 177.

  Queen Elizabeth's dresses, 166.

  Queen Elizabeth's "Oone Gospell Book," 11.


  Rain doctors, African, 152.
    Magic stone, 203.
    Whipping toads to produce, 349.

  Rats and mice, how they use their tails, 280.

  Raven, 250.

  Recipes from Albertus Magnus, 74.

  Recipes, quaint, 46.

  Reckless disregard of omens, 247.

  Red tape a remedy for the plague, 339.

  Refreshments for the pulpit, 61.

  Regal hunting party, 214.

  Remarkable events, chronological table of, 47.

  Remarkable perseverance, 21.

  Remarkable echoes, 166.

  Remedy for bad dreams, 225.

  Remedy for fleas, 256.

  Relics, religious, 108.

  Resurrection watch, 88.

  Retailing a lion, 277.

  Reticence, gipsy, 170.

  Retort, drop-letter, 67.

  Revenge, odd mode of, 287.

  Rhymes, accidental, 43.
    Dialect, 26.
    In search of, 26.
    Old weather, 127.
    Foul weather, 129.

  Rhyming charter, 42.

  Rhymer, Thomas the, 148.

  Rice, chewing, ordeal of, 309.

  Richelieu's boast, 79.

  Richelieu, copy of a letter written by, 51.

  Riddles, antiquity of, 63.

  Riddles, book of, 13.

  Rights and lefts, 216.

  Right and left hand, 197.

  Ringing, articles of, 126.
    Bell, in Holland, 122.
    The changes, 122.

  Rings, cramp, 313.
    Posies for, 52.
    Rubbing with, 341.
    Toad-stone, 317.
    Wedding, 206.

  River of ink, 200.

  Roasting a black hen's heart at midnight, 267.

  Robin Hood, grave of, 118.

  Robin, killing a, 254.

  Roc, fabulous, 270.

  Rollers, discovery of composition for, 133.

  Roman stamp, 91.

  Roses, attar of, 215.
    Jericho, 303.
    Midsummer, 307.

  Rouen, great bell of, 110.

  Royal dinner time, 318.

  Royal, medallions only for the, 171.

  Royal sportsmen, 215.

  Roving tinkers, 168.

  Rubbing with a gold ring, 341.

  Rules, household, in the sixteenth century, 56.


  Sacred anchors, 179.

  Sacro Catino, 99.

  Saffron as a perfume, 202.

  Sagacity of a bird, 273.

  Sailors whistling, 247.

  Salagrama stone, 334.

  Salute, military, 75.

  Salt, preserved in, 157.

  Salt, spilling, 336.

  Sand, musical, 200.

  Satanic superstitions, 231.

  Saturday a fatal day to the royal family of England, 57.

  Saviour, brass medal of the, 44.

  Saviour, death warrant of the, 45.

  Scapegoat, the camel as a, 275.

  Scarborough fishmarket, 198.

  Scarlet, Parisian, 139.

  Scipio's shield, 97.

  Scotland, curse of, 227.

  Screens, tavern, 71.

  Scripture, prices, 175.

  Sea, few fish found at, 199.

  Sea-woman of Haarlem, 150.

  Self-esteem, inordinate, 76.

  Selecting an avocation, 343.

  Selling snails, 190.

  Seventh son of the seventh son, 324.

  Shakespeare, parallel passages, 32.

  Shaking aspen, 302.

  Shaved bear, 277.

  Shells, chank, 298.

  Shells, colossal, 297.

  Sheep, Don Quixote's, 40.

  Shirts growing on trees, 300.

  Shoe-black plant, 306.

  Shoes, horse, 314.
    Rights and lefts, 216.
    Origin of long-toed, 209.
    Throwing an old, 319.

  Showers of blood, 299.

  Sibylline books, 16.

  Signature of the cross, 79.

  Signs in New York, curious, 74.

  Signs of foul weather, 129.

  Silver book, 12.

  Silver, German, 138.

  Simply on account of her name, 79.

  Singular burial customs, 236.
    Coincidence, 71.
    Hindoo vow, 231.
    Provision against famine, 283.
    Specimen of orthography, 34.

  Sir Henry Wotten's strange dream, 243.

  Sir John Moore not buried at night, 28.

  Sitting cross-legged, 330.

  Skeletons at feasts, 183.

  Skull, buffalo's, 322.
    Pope's, 211.
    Watches, 86.

  Slave advertisements, 27.

  Sleep, composition during, 35.

  Sleeping on stones, 336.

  Smokers, ancient, 181.

  Smuggler's talisman, 341.

  Snake's attachment for home, 296.

  Snuff-box, Burn's, 103.

  Spacious halls, 171.

  Spain, evil eye in, 320.

  Speaking trumpet, Kircher's, 198.

  Specific against epilepsy, 242.

  Spelling, Boone's, 33.

  Spellbound, 315.

  Spelling, vagaries of, 33.

  Spider barometers, 291.

  Spider's web, wonderful, 294.

  Spilling salt, 336.

  Spirit of Dundee, 242.

  Spitting for luck's sake, 343.

  Spontaneous combustion, 203.

  Sportsman, royal, 215.

  Stamp, Roman, 91.

  Statue of Memnon, 103.

  Strained politeness, 210.

  Strange instance of sympathy, 241.

  Strange legend, 229.

  Strasburg, curious custom in, 59.

  Stanching blood, 346.

  Striking parallel passages, 32.
    Watches, 89.
    With nettles, 236.

  Stomachs, hundred, 293.

  Stones, alligators swallowing, 282.
    Barometer, 157.
    Black, of Mecca, 92.
    Hell, 226.
    Magic rain, 203.
    Musical, 199.
    Perforated, 328.
    Salagrama, 334.
    Sleeping on, 336.
    Talismanic, in birds, 249.

  Stork, 265.

  Story of the dodo, 268.

  Strychnia, bitterness of, 303.

  St. Agnes eve, 234.

  St. Anthony's fire, 179.

  St. Cuthbert's beads, 193.

  St. Fillan's bell, 119.

  St. George's cavern, 165.

  St. Helena coins, 328.

  St. John's wort, 306.

  St. Patrick's day, 234.

  St. Sepulchre's bell, 121.

  Stumbling unlucky, 311.

  Stupid critic, 24.

  Subscribers, inducements to, 34.

  Subterranean Christmas bells, 120.

  Sugar, whitening, 134.

  Supernatural appearance at Holland House, 243.

  Superscription to a letter, 70.

  Superstitions, beard, 214.
    Bees, 239.
    Breton, 347.
    Birds, (see birds).
    Camel, 284.
    Caul, 312.
    Children, 345.
    Coral and bells, 190.
    Croaking of a raven, 250.
    Death-watch, 330.
    Cutting timber, 213.
    Eggs, 274.
    Geranium, 302.
    Hidden treasure, 164.
    House crickets, 330.
    Letiche, 226.
    Letter M, 161.
    Lily, 311.
    May dew, 231.
    Moon, 168.
    Number one, 323.
    Number seven, 325.
    Number six, 324.
    Patagonian, 312.
    Pin, 345.
    Pontius Pilate, 149.
    Rose of Jericho, 303.
    Rose at midsummer, 307.
    Rubbing with a gold ring, 341.
    Satanic, 231.
    Seventh son of the seventh son, 324.
    Spilling salt, 336.
    St. John's wort, 306.
    Whistling, 247.
    Wolf, 346.

  Supposed to be a genuine island, 18.

  Sundry rural charms, 331.

  Sun, temple of the, 105.

  Surnames, Puritan, 38.

  Swearing on the book, 172.

  Swift's Latin puns, 42.

  Swallowed by an earthquake and thrown up again, 175.

  Swallow drinks the king's health, 258.

  Sword, executioner's, 101.

  Symbol, physician's, 162.


  Talismanic stones in birds, 249.

  Talisman of Charlemagne, 91.
    Smuggler's, 341.
    Treacherous, 219.

  Tankard, Martin Luther's, 94.

  Tarring and feathering, antiquity of, 183.

  Tavern screens, 71.

  Tavern signs, primitive, 78.

  Tea, eating, 208.

  Temple of the sun, 105.
    Museums, first, 107.
    Tradition of the, 230.

  Tenacity of odors, 202.

  Tenacity of life in an elephant, 276.

  Tenant, good, 209.

  Thackeray's geographical blunders, 23.

  Thirty years in blossoming, 305.

  Thomas the Rhymer, 148.

  Thorn, Glastonbury, 219.

  Three borrowed days, 209.

  Throwing an old shoe, 319.

  Thunder and lightning, 323.

  Time-piece, miniature, 88.

  Time-piece, curious, 85.

  Time, royal dinner, 318.

  Timber, cutting by the moon, 213.

  Tinkers, roving, 168.

  Title pages which mislead, 31.

  Toad-stone rings, 317.
    Magpie, stoning a, 278.
    Whipping, to produce rain, 349.

  To disappoint his wife, 192.

  Toilet, absurdities of the, 160.

  Toilet box, Carara's, 100.

  Tomb of Darius, 106.

  Toppling flower pots, 62.

  Too many watches, 89.

  Toothache, preservative against, 338.

  Tooth, golden, 226.

  Tooth-picks, 60.

  Tooth-picks, magnetic, 231.

  Tortoises afraid of heat and rain, 288.

  Touch, ordeal of, 310.

  Traders, earliest, 197.

  Tradition, Abysynnian, 213.
    Artist, 213.
    Temple, 230.

  Trains in the fourteenth century, 158.

  Treasure, fairy, 220.
    Digging, 164.
    Normandy, 201.

  Treatment of lepers in England, 237.

  Trees, oysters growing on, 301.
    Planting in Java, 302.
    Shirts growing on, 300.
    Whistling, 301.

  Trifoliated plants considered sacred, 304.

  True-lover's knot, 187.

  Trumpet, Kircher's speaking, 198.

  Trying land titles in Hindostan, 163.

  Tub, Diogenes and his, 27.

  Turban in Arabia, 159.

  Turkish superstition about the geranium, 302.

  Twelfth-night omens, 244.

  Twins in Africa, 197.

  Twofold apparition, 244.

  Twopence, drunk for, 66.

  Tyrian purple, 139.


  Unicorn's horn, 319.

  Unique library, 13.

  Unlucky, stumbling, 311.
    The hinder well-spout, 247.
    May marriages, 344.

  Umbrellas, 185.


  Vagaries of spelling, 33.

  Value of a long Psalm, 210.

  Vascillating newspapers, 22.

  Vase, Portland, 93.

  Vegetable fungus, 306.

  Veneered diamonds, 141.

  Veneration for the lily, 311.

  Very long word, 178.

  Vermin, exterminating, 327.

  Verse, echo, 78.

  Victory, cock-crowing an omen of, 319.

  Vienne, Pontius Pilate at, 149.

  Vinegar Bible, 11.

  Virtue in the number seven, 325.

  Vicious horses, curing, 211.

  Visions of destiny, 342.

  Vision, Captain Kidd's, 242.

  Vocal clock, 83.

  Voracity of the mole, 285.

  Vow, Hindoo, singular, 231.

  Vow, Queen's, 171.


  Wager, curious, 184.
    Bating for a, 184.
    Grinning for a, 183.

  Waggery, ancient bit of, 191.

  Walking apothecary shop, 192.

  Wall paper pattern, 176.

  Wandering Jew, 145.

  Warlike bantam, 201.

  Washing but once in a lifetime, 317.

  Wassailing the orchards, 235.

  Watches, borrowing, 88.
    Book-shaped, 87.
    Cruciform, 88.
    Death, 330.
    Papers, 78.
    Resurrection, 88.
    Skull, 86.
    Striking, 89.
    Too many, 89.
    Wearing two, 89.

  Watchman imitating the clock at Hernhuth, 55.

  Water, digging for, 346.

  Water, Hungary, 141.

  Waterloo medals, 212.

  Weather rhymes, 127.

  Weather, signs of foul, 129.

  Wedding rings, 206.

  Wedding rings, posies for, 52.

  Welcoming the new moon, 240.

  Wesley's plate, 107.

  Westminster clock, 82.

  Whalebone, 177.

  Whims, alliterative, 21.

  Whipping toads to produce rain, 349.

  Whistling, sailors, 247.

  Whistling trees, 301.

  White elephants, 276.

  Whitening sugar, 134.

  White-breasted birds, 262.

  Whittington and his cat, 153.

  Why the cuckoo builds no nest, 256.

  Why the magpie builds half a nest, 257.

  Wierix's Bible, 9.

  Wife, returned, 224.

  Wife, to disappoint his, 192.

  Will, eccentric, 59.

  Will, John O'Gaunt's, 58.

  William the Conqueror, 155.

  Will-with-a-wisp, 313.

  Wine at two millions a bottle, 194.

  Winning a pair of gloves, 237.

  Wisdom, mob, 173.

  Witchcraft charms, 320.

  Witch-ridden horses, 340.

  Witch, weighing a, 328.

  Wolf superstitions, 346.

  Woman's cleverness, 221.

  Wonderful automata, 104.
    Clock, 83.
    Exhibition with bees, 217.
    Lock, 91.
    Spider's web, 294.

  Wren, 261.

  Worms, book, 291.

  Worshipful cranes, 263.


  Yearly food of one man, 207.


  Zoological cabinet, immense, 298.




[Transcriber's Notes:

Minor punctuation and apparent printing errors have been corrected
without note. Proper names and place names sometimes appear with
unfamiliar spelling but have been left in their original form.

Hyphen usage has been standardised without note where a clear preference
was found, although all quoted text was left as in the original.

The following is a list of changes made. The modified line is shown first
and the original line is shown second.

  Alliterative Whims. 21
  confounding the cockney warblers,
  confounding the cockney _wablers_,

  Puritan Surnames. 38
  Lower's English Surnames
  Lower's English _sirnames_

  Amusements of some Learned Men. 44
  Tycho Brahe polished glass for spectacles
  Tycho _Brake_ polished glass for spectacles

  Antiquity of Riddles. 63
  and the most ingenious made riddles.
  and the most _ingenius_ made riddles.

  House of Hen's Feathers. 164
  to pass the night in this immense dormitory.
  to pass the night in this immense _dormitoy_.

  St. George's Cavern. 165
  of wormwood, and keep large fires burning to protect
  of wormwood, and keep large fires burning to _ptotect_

  Curious Locality for Saying Prayers. 169
  In ascending the lofty flight of
  In ascending the lofty _flght_ of

  Queen Anne's Farthings. 177
  were designed by a German named Crocker or Croker,
  were designed by a German _name_ Crocker or Croker,

  Eating for a Wager. 184
  worthy is to perform a Tryal of Skill on St. James's Day,
  worthy is to _preform_ a Tryal of Skill on St. James's Day,

  Candle Clock. 196
  _Candlel Cock_.

  Musical Sand. 200
  a singular sound is heard, which is first feeble, but may be
  a _singnlar_ sound is heard, which is first feeble, but may be

  One Meal a Day. 206
  Dr. Fordyce contended that as one meal a day was enough
  Dr. Fordyce _contented_ that as one meal a day was enough

  A Good Tenant. 209
  unequalled in the history of landlord and tenant.
  _uneqalled_ in the history of landlord and tenant.

  Force of Imagination. 224
  strength, dressed himself, plunged his head into a basin of
  strength, dressed himself, plunged _is_ head into a basin of

  Spirit of Dundee. 242
  in the Castle of Edinburgh, upon a strong suspicion of attachment
  in the Castle of _Edinburg_, upon a strong suspicion of attachment

  Assuming the Form of a Bird. 248
  "Mole" was unclear in the scan:
  A wild song, sung by the boatmen of the _Mole_, in Venice,

  An Old Pike. 297
  Mannheim, Germany, with the following announcement, in
  _Manheim_, Germany, with the following announcement, in
  to the museum at Mannheim, where it now hangs, a light, desiccated
  to the museum at _Manheim_, where it now hangs, a light, _desicated_

  Manna Marked with the Number Six. 324
  In the Cabala, the number _six_ was considered to be one of
  In the _Calaba_, the number _six_ was considered to be one of

  Virtue in the Number Seven. 325
  observing number 7 after
  observing number _?_ after

  A Smuggler's Talisman. 341
  Gaol, February, 1749--
  _Goal_, February, 1749--

Sailors whistling, 247. moved to alphabetical order in index.


This list shows potential changes. The unmodified line is shown first
and the suggested line is shown second.

  Introductory poem
  Intiquities_ and blunders
  _Iniquities_ and blunders

  Temple of the Sun. 105
  edifice in the Persian empire
  edifice in the _Peruvian_ empire


Reformatted poem on the three crosses--

  INRI

  My God! My God! vers of my tears
  I come to Thee; bow down thy blessed ears
  To hear me, wretch, oh let thine eyes, which sleep
  Did never close, behold a sinner weep.
  Let not, O God! my God! my faults, though great
  And numberless, between thy mercy-seat
  And my poor soul be thrown, since we are taught.
  Thou, Lord! rememberest thyne, If thou beest sought.
  I come not, Lord, with any other merit
  Than what I by my Saviour Christ inherit:
  Be then his wounds my balm, his stripes my bliss,
  My crown his thorns, my death be lost in his,
  And thou my blest Redeemer, Saviour God!
  Quit my accounts, withhold thy vengeful rod;
  O beg for me my hopes on thee are set,
  Thou Christ forgiue, as well as pay the debt.
  The living fount, the life, the way I know;
  And but to thee o whither should I go?
  All other helps are vain, give thine to me;
  For by thy cross my saving health must be.
  Oh hearken then, what I with faith implore,
  Lest sin and death sink me forever more.
  Oh Lord! My God! my wayes direct and keep,
  In death defend that from thee I ne'er slip;
  And as the doom let me be raised then,
  To live with thee. Sweet Jesus say, Amen!

NB: forgive is spelt forgiue so that "Why hast tho_u_
forsaken me" is correct.


Richelieu's letter reformatted--

How it reads in the original:

SIR.--Mons. Compigne, a Savoyard by birth, a Friar of the order of Saint
Benedict, is the man who will present to you as his passport to your
protection, this letter. He is one of the most discreet, the wisest and
the least meddling persons that I have ever known or have had the
pleasure to converse with. He has long earnestly solicited me to write
to you in his favor, and to give him a suitable character, together with
a letter of credence; which I have accordingly granted to his real
merit, rather I must say, than to his importunity; for, believe me, Sir,
his modesty is only exceeded by his worth, I should be sorry that you
should be wanting in serving him on account of being misinformed of his
real character; I should be afflicted if you were as some other
gentlemen have been, misled on that score, who now esteem him, and those
among the best of my friends; wherefore, and from no other motive I
think it my duty to advertise you that you are most particularly
desired, to have especial attention to all he does, to show him all the
respect imaginable, nor venture to say any thing before him, that may
either offend or displease him in any sort; for I may truly say, there
is no man I love so much as M. Compigne, none whom I should more regret
to see neglected, as no one can be more worthy to be received and
trusted in decent society. Base, therefore, would it be to injure him.
And I well know, that as soon as you are made sensible of his virtues,
and shall become acquainted with him you will love him as I do; and then
you will thank me for this my advice. The assurance I entertain of your
Courtesy obliges me to desist from urging this matter to you further, or
saying any thing more on this subject. Believe me, Sir, &c., RICHELIEU.

How it reads when folded:

SIR.--Mons. Compigne, a Savoyard by birth, is the man who will present
to you this letter. He is one of the most meddling persons that I have
ever known He has long earnestly solicited me to give him a suitable
character, which I have accordingly granted to his importunity; for,
believe me, Sir, I should be sorry that you should be misinformed of his
real character; as some other gentlemen have been, and those among the
best of my friends; I think it my duty to advertise you to have especial
attention to all he does, nor venture to say any thing before him, in
any sort; for I may truly say, there is none whom I should more regret
to see received and trusted in decent society. And I well know, that as
soon as you shall become acquainted with him you will thank me for this
my advice. Courtesy obliges me to desist from saying any thing more on
this subject.]