Chapter XXIII: Part 23

Among the many ornaments which the women of Egypt in modern times are so fond of wearing, none is more curious or more generally worn than the _Ckoo'r_. It is a round convex ornament, commonly about five inches in diameter, of which there are two kinds. The first that we shall describe, and which is the only kind worn by ladies, or by the wives of tradesmen of moderate property, is the _ckoor's alma's_, or diamond ckoor's. This is composed of diamonds set generally in gold; and is open work, representing roses, leaves, &c. The diamonds are commonly of a very poor and shallow kind; and the gold of this and all other diamond ornaments worn in Egypt is much alloyed with copper. The value of a moderately handsome diamond ckoor's is about a hundred and twenty-five, or a hundred and fifty pounds sterling. It is very seldom made of silver; and I think that those of gold, when attached to the deep red turboo'sh, have a richer effect, though not in accordance with our general taste. The wives even of petty tradesmen sometimes wear the diamond ckoor's: they are extremely fond of diamonds, and generally endeavour to get some, however bad. The ckoor's, being of considerable weight, is at first painful to wear; and women who are in the habit of wearing it complain of headache when they take it off: hence they retain it day and night; but some have an inferior one for the bed. Some ladies have one for ordinary wearing, another for particular occasions, a little larger and handsomer; and a third merely to wear in bed. The other kind of ckoor's, _ckoor's dah'ab_ (or, of gold), is a convex plate of very thin embossed gold, and almost always a false emerald (a piece of green glass), not cut with facets, set in the centre. Neither the emerald nor the ruby are here cut with facets: if so cut, they would generally be considered false. The simple gold ckoor's is lined with a thick coat of wax, which is covered with a piece of paper. It is worn by many women who cannot afford to purchase diamonds; and even by some servants.

ANTIQUE ROMAN MEDICINE STAMP.

Roman Medicine Stamp.]

By far the most remarkable of the recently discovered remains of the Roman occupants of Scotland is a medicine stamp, acquired by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, along with a very valuable collection of antiquities, bequeathed to them by E. W. A. Drummond Hay, Esq., formerly one of the secretaries of the society. From his notes it appears that it was found in the immediate vicinity of Trenent Church, East Lothian, in a quantity of _debris_, broken tiles, and brick-dust, which may not improbably have once formed the residence and laboratory of Lucius Vallatinus, the Roman oculist, whose name this curious relic supplies. It consists of a small cube of pale green stone, two and three-fifth inches in length, and engraved on two sides as in the annexed woodcut; the letters being reversed for the purpose of stamping the unguents or other medicaments retailed by its original possessor. The inscriptions admit of being extended thus on the one side: L. VALLATINI EVODES AD CICATRICES ET ASPRITUDINES, which may be rendered--The evodes of Lucius Vallatinus for cicatrices and granulations. The reverse, though in part somewhat more obscure, reads: L. VALLATINI A PAL{O} CR{O}CODES AD DIATHESES--The crocodes, or preparation of saffron, of L. Vallatinus, of the Palatine School, (?) for affections of the eyes. Both the Euodes and the Crocodes are prescriptions given by Galen, and occur on other medicine stamps. Several examples have been found in England, and many in France and Germany, supplying the names of their owners and the terms of their preparations. Many of the latter indicate their chief use for diseases of the eye, and hence they have most commonly received the name of Roman oculists' stamps. No example, however, except the one figured here, has ever occurred in Scotland; and amid legionary inscriptions, military votive altars, and sepulchral tablets, it is peculiarly interesting to stumble on this intelligent memento, restoring to us the name of the old Roman physician who ministered to the colonists of the Lothians the skill, and perchance also the charlatanry, of the healing art.

CANDLES IN THE CHURCH.

In the formulae of Marculphus, edited by Jerome Bignon, he tells us, with respect to lights, that the use of them was of great antiquity in the church; that the primitive Christians made use of them in the assemblies which they held before day out of necessity; and that afterwards they were retained even in daylight, as tokens of joy, and in honour of the Deity. Lactantius says, speaking of the absurdities of the wax lights in Romish churches, "They light up candles to God, as if he lived in the dark; and do they not deserve to pass for madmen who offer lamps and candles to the author and giver of light?" It is really astounding to our ideas that wax candles as long as serjeants' pikes should be held as necessary in the worship of God. That it is so held, and that by a large class of Christians, every one must allow, for they may have occular demonstration of the singular fact. The show is however extremely imposing. Thirty-five thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds of wax lights were burned every year, for nine hundred masses said in the castle of Wittemburgh! Philip Melancthon speaks of a Jesuit who said that "he would not extinguish one taper, though it were to convert all the Huguenots" (Protestants).

A RICH AND CRUEL CRIMINAL.

John Ward, Esq. of Hackney, Member of Parliament, being prosecuted by the Duchess of Buckingham, and convicted of forgery, was first expelled from the House, and then stood on the pillory on the 17th of March, 1727. He was suspected of joining in a conveyance with Sir John Blount, to secrete L50,000 of that director's estate, forfeited to the South Sea Company by Act of Parliament. The Company recovered the L50,000 against Ward; but he set up prior conveyances of his real estate to his brother and son, and concealed all his personal, which was computed to be L150,000. These conveyances being also set aside by a bill in chancery, Ward was imprisoned, and hazarded the forfeiture of his life, by not giving in his effects till the last day, which was that of his examination. During his confinement, his amusement was to give poison to dogs and cats, and see them expire by slower or quicker torments. To sum up the _worth_ of this man, at the several eras of his life; at his standing in the pillory, he was worth above L200,000; at his commitment to prison, he was worth L150,000.

FOOD OF THE ANCIENTS.

The diversity of substances which we find in the catalogue of articles of food is as great as the variety with which the art or the science of cookery prepares them. The notions of the ancients on this most important subject are worthy of remark. Their taste regarding meat was various. Beef they considered the most substantial food: hence it constituted the chief nourishment of their athletae. Camels' and dromedaries' flesh was much esteemed, their heels most especially. Donkey-flesh was in high repute: Maecenas, according to Pliny, delighted in it; and the wild ass, brought from Africa, was compared to venison. In more modern times we find Chancellor Dupret having asses fattened for his table. The hog and the wild boar appear to have been held in great estimation; and a hog was called "animal propter convivia natum;" but the classical portion of the sow was somewhat singular--"vulva nil dulcius ampla." Their mode of killing swine was as refined in barbarity as in epicurism. Plutarch tells us that the gravid sow was actually trampled to death, to form a delicious mass fit for the gods. At other times, pigs were slaughtered with red-hot spits, that the blood might not be lost. Stuffing a pig with assafoetida and various small animals, was a luxury called "porcus Trojanus;" alluding, no doubt, to the warriors who were concealed in the Trojan horse. Young bears, dogs, and foxes, (the latter more esteemed when fed upon grapes,) were also much admired by the Romans; who were also so fond of various birds, that some consular families assumed the names of those they most esteemed. Catius tells us how to drown fowls in Falernian wine, to render them more luscious and tender. Pheasants were brought over from Colchis, and deemed at one time such a rarity, that one of the Ptolemies bitterly lamented his never having tasted any. Peacocks were carefully reared in the island of Samos, and sold at such a high price, that Varro informs us they fetched yearly upwards of L2,000 of our money.

THE EARLIEST ENGLISH BIBLE.

The first translation of any part of the Holy Scriptures into English that was committed to the press was the New Testament, translated from the Greek, by William Tyndale, with the assistance of John Foye and William Roye, and printed first in 1526, in octavo.

Tyndale published afterwards, in 1530, a translation of the Five Books of Moses, and of Jonah, in 1531, in octavo. An English translation of the Psalter, done from the Latin of Martin Bucer, was also published at Strasburgh in 1530, by Francis Foye, in octavo. And the same book, together with Jeremiah and the Song of Moses, were likewise published in 1534, in duodecimo, by George Joye, sometime Fellow of Peter-House in Cambridge.

The first time the whole Bible appeared in English was in the year 1535, in folio. The translator and publisher was Miles Coverdale, afterwards Bishop of Exeter, who revised Tyndale's version, compared it with the original, and supplied what had been left untranslated by Tyndale. It was printed at Zurich, and dedicated to King Henry the Eighth. This was the Bible, which by Cromwell's injunction of September, 1536, was ordered to be laid in churches.

GREAT ERUPTION OF MOUNT ETNA.

One of the most remarkable eruptions of this mountain was that which occurred in the year 1669, which was so violent that fifteen towns and villages were destroyed, and the stream was so deep that the lava flowed over the walls of Catania, sixty feet in height, and destroyed a part of the city. But the most singular circumstance connected with this eruption was the formation of a number of extensive fissures, which appeared as though filled with intumescent rock. At the very commencement of the volcanic excitement, one was formed in the plain of St. Lio, twelve miles in length and six feet broad, which ejected a vivid flame, and shortly after five others were opened. The town of Nicolosi, situated twenty miles from the summit of Etna, was destroyed by earthquake; and near the place where it stood two gulfs were formed, from which so large a quantity of sand and scoriae was thrown, that a cone, called Mount Rossi, four hundred and fifty feet high, was produced in about three months.

AMULETS WORN BY MODERN EGYPTIAN FEMALES.

Amulet.]

One of the most remarkable traits in modern Egyptian superstition is the belief in written charms. The composition of most of these amulets is founded upon magic, and occasionally employs the pen of almost every village schoolmaster in Egypt. A person of this description, however, seldom pursues the study of magic further than to acquire the formulae of a few charms, commonly consisting, for the greater part, of certain passages of the Koran, and names of God, together with those of spirits, genii, prophets, or eminent saints, intermixed with combinations of numerals, and with diagrams, all of which are supposed to have great secret virtues. The amulet thus composed, or _hhega'b_, as it is called, is covered with waxed cloth, to preserve it from accidental pollution, and enclosed in a case of thin embossed gold or silver, which is attached to a silk string, or a chain, hung on the right side, above the girdle, the string or chain being passed over the left shoulder. Sometimes these cases bear Arabic inscriptions, such as "Ma'sha-lla'h" ("God's will") and "Ya'cha'dee el-hhaga't" ("O decreer of the things that are needful!") We here insert an engraving of three hhega'bs of gold, attached to a string, to be worn together. The central one is a thin, flat case, containing a folded paper: it is about a third of an inch thick; the others are cylindrical cases, with hemispherical ends, and contain scrolls: each has a row of burck along the bottom. Hhega'bs such as these, or of a triangular form, are worn by many children, as well as women; and those of the latter form are attached to a child's head-dress.

PERSONAL ORNAMENTS OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

The passion of the Egyptians for decorative jewellery was indeed excessive. Men as well as women delighted thus to adorn themselves; and the desire was not confined to the higher ranks, for though the subordinate classes could not afford the sparkling gems and precious metals which glowed upon the persons of their superiors, their vanity was gratified by humbler imitations, of bronze, glass, and porcelain.

"Costly and elegant ornaments," observes Professor Rosselini, "abounded in proportion as clothing in general was simple and scarce among the Egyptians. Girdles, necklaces, armlets, ear-rings, and amulets of various kinds suspended from the neck, are found represented in the painting, and in fact still exist on the mummies. Figures of noble youths are found entirely devoid of clothing, but richly ornamented with necklaces and other jewels."

An immense number of these "jewels of silver and jewels of gold" have been found in the tombs, and on the persons of mummies, and are deposited in profusion in every museum. The accompanying engravings will give an idea of the style and form of some of them.

Personal Ornaments.]

The ear-rings generally worn by the ladies were large, round, single hoops (as _a_) from 1-1/2 inches to 2-1/3 inches in diameter; and frequently of a still greater size; or made of six rings soldered together (as _b_); sometimes an asp, whose body was of gold, set with precious stones, was worn by persons of rank as a fashionable caprice. Figures _c_, _d_, of gold bear the heads of fanciful animals; _e_, also of gold, is remarkable for its singularity of form, and for the delicacy of its workmanship; and _f_ for its carrying two pearls and being double in its construction.

Ear-Rings.]

Bracelets, armlets, and anklets were worn by men as well as by women; they were usually of gold, frequently set with precious stones, or inlaid with enamel. The one marked _a_ in the annexed cut is now in the Leyden Museum: it is of gold, 3 inches in diameter, and 1-1/2 inches in height, and is interesting, because it belonged to the Pharaoh whom we conclude to have been the patron and friend of Joseph, Thothmes III., whose name it bears. The armlet _b_ is of gold, and represents a snake; the other, _c_, is of bronze. Rings were worn in profusion, gold being the material chiefly selected. Some resemble watch seals of the present day--sometimes the stone having four flat sides, all engraved, turned on a pivot, like some seals seen at present. One of this character, which Sir J. G. Wilkinson estimates to contain 20_l._ worth of gold, is represented at _d_ in the above engraving. It consists of a massive ring of gold, bearing an oblong plinth of the same metal, an inch in length, and more than half an inch in its greatest width. On one side is engraved the hieroglyphic name of Storus, the successor of Amunoph III.; the three others contain respectively a scorpion, a crocodile, and a lion.

GREAT PEAR TREE.

The most remarkable pear tree in England stands on the glebe of the parish of Holme Lacy, in Herefordshire. When the branches of this tree, in its original state, became long and heavy, their extremities drooped till they reached the ground. They then took root; each branch became a new tree, and in its turn produced others in the same way. Eventually it extended itself until it covered more than an acre of ground, and would probably have reached much further if it had been suffered to do so. It is stated in the church register, that "the great natural curiosity, the great pear tree upon the glebe, adjoining to the vicarage-house, produced this year (1776) fourteen hogsheads of perry, each hogshead containing one hundred gallons." Though now much reduced in size, it is still healthy and vigorous, and generally produces from two to five hogsheads. The liquor is not of a good quality, being very strong and heating. An idea of the superior size of this tree, when in its prime, over others of the same kind, may be formed from the fact, that in the same county, an acre of ground is usually planted with thirty trees, which, in a good soil, produce annually, when full grown, twenty gallons of perry each. So large a quantity as a hogshead from one tree is very unusual. The sorts principally used for perry are such as have an austere juice.

LAW OF THE MOZCAS.

A very remarkable law prevailed among the Mozcas, one of the tribes of the Nuevo Reyno de Granada. There, as among more advanced nations, the king could do no wrong; but the subordinate chiefs could. These chiefs were men, the people reasoned, like themselves; they could not be punished by their vassals, for there would be a natural unfitness in that; the king, it seems, was not expected to interfere, except in cases of state offences; the power of punishment, therefore, was vested in their wives; and a power it was, says Piedrahita, which they exercised famously whenever it fell to them to be judges of their poor husbands. The conqueror Quesada calling one morning upon the chief of a place called Suesca, found him under the hands of his nine wives, who were tying him, and having done so, proceeded, in spite of Quesada's intercession, to flog him one after the other. His offence was, that some Spaniards the night before had lodged in his house, and he had partaken too freely of their Spanish wine. Drunkenness was one of the sins which fell under the cognizance of his wives: they carried him to bed that he might sleep himself sober, and then awoke him in the morning to receive the rigour of the law.

LARGEST METAL STATUE IN THE WORLD.

Arona is an island on the Lago Maggiore, and has a strong castle. Upon an eminence is a statue of bronze to St. Charles Borromeo, from whom the hill is called, Monte di S. Carlo. The statue was erected by the Pope in 1624, in memory of the Saint, who was Archbishop of Milan. The pedestal of the statue is thirty-six feet high. It is the largest metal statue in existence; and the height of the statue itself is seventy-two feet, making a total of 108 feet. Fifteen persons may get into the saint's head, which will also accommodate four persons and a table on which they can dine. The cost is said to have been one million one hundred Milanaise livres.

THE OAK OF MAMRE.

In one remarkable instance the Jews, the Christians, and the pagan Arabs united in religious feelings. This was in their reverence for the Oak of Mamre, where the angels appeared to Abraham: for Abraham's sake the Jews held the place holy; the Arabs for the angels'; the Christians, because, in their ignorance of their Scriptures, they affirmed that the Son of God had accompanied those angels to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. An annual fair was held there, and every man sacrificed after the manner of his country; nor was the meeting ever disgraced by any act of intemperance or indecency. Nothing had been done to injure the venerable antiquity of the place. There was nothing but the well which Abraham had dug, and the buildings which he had inhabited, beside the oak. These remains were destroyed by order of Constantine, in abhorrence of the _impious_ toleration exhibited there! A church was built upon the spot, and Mamre, so interesting to the poet, the philosopher, and the pious man, became a mere den of superstition.

STRANGE ADVERTISEMENT.

The following appeared in the _Evening Post_, May 23rd, 1730:--

"I, Elizabeth, duchess dowager of Hamilton, acknowledge I have for several months been ill in my health, but never speechless, as certain penny authors have printed; and so, to confute these said authors and their intelligence, it is thought by my most intimate friends, _it is the very last thing that will happen to me_. I am so good an Englishwoman, that I would not have my countrymen imposed upon by purchasing false authors; therefore, have ordered this to be printed that they may know what papers to buy and believe, that are not to be bribed by those who may have private ends for false reports. The copy of this is left in the hands of Mr. Berington, to be shown to any body who has a curiosity to see it signed with my own hand.

"E. HAMILTON."

INTERMITTENT SPRINGS.

One of the most remarkable of these is at Bolder-Born in Westphalia. After flowing for twenty-four hours, it entirely ceases for the space of six hours. It then returns with a loud noise, in a stream sufficiently powerful to turn three mills very near its source. Another spring of the same nature occurs at Bihar in Hungary, which issues many times a day, from the foot of a mountain, in such a quantity as in a few minutes to fill the channel of a considerable stream.

The Lay Well near Torbay, ebbs and flows sixteen times in an hour: and in Giggleswick Well in Yorkshire, the water sometimes rises and falls in ten or fifteen minutes.

St. Anthony's Well, on Arthur's Seat, near Edinburgh, has a similar movement, but on a smaller scale.

In Savoy, near the lake of Bourget, is another spring of this kind, but it differs from those which have been already mentioned in being very uncertain in its intervals.

CURIOUS JEWEL WHICH BELONGED TO JAMES I.

In former times it was a common practice with princes and nobles to have elaborate articles of jewellery constructed in such forms as had a religious and emblematical signification. An inventory of the Dukes of Burgundy, made in 1396, speaks of a _fleur-de-lys_ which opened, and contained inside a picture of the Crucifixion. In 1416, the Duke of Berri had "a fair apple," which opened, and contained within on one side the figure of Christ, and on the other that of the Virgin. Among the jewels of the Dukes of Burgundy in 1392 there were two pears of gold, enamelled, each containing an image of Our Lady. We find similar entries in the other different inventories of the Dukes of Burgundy: An apple of silver, enamelled, containing in the inside a picture of St. Catherine, in 1400; a pine-apple of gold, which contained figures of the birth of Christ, and of the three kings, in 1467; and, in the same year, two apples of gold, one containing, on the opposite halves, Our Lady and St. Paul, the other, St. Peter and St. Paul--the latter suspended by three small chains. These kinds of devices continued in fashion till a much later period, and a very curious example, from the collection of Lord Londesborough, which appears to have belonged to King James I., is here engraved.

Small Skull.]

Apple.]

The whole is of silver, and the leaves appear to have been painted green. On opening it we find in the inside the small skull here represented above the apple. The top of the skull opens like a lid, and inside are two small paintings, representing the Creation and the Resurrection, with the inscription, "_Post Mortem, vita eternitas_." The external inscription is not gallant. To give the apple externally a more natural appearance, there are marks of two bites on the side opposite that here represented, showing a large and small set of teeth.

STRANGE CURIOSITIES.

In the Anatomy Hall of Leyden is a drinking cup of the skull of a Moor, killed in the beleaguring of Haerlem. Also a cup made of a double brain pan. We observe also that No. 51 is the skin of a woman, and No. 52 the skin of a woman, prepared like leather; No. 53 the skin of a Malacca woman, above 150 years old, presented by Richard Snolk, who probably had her flayed.

THE CROSS OF CONG.

The cross, of which the following is a correct representation, possesses eminent claims to a place among our curiosities, since it constitutes the gem of the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy.

Cross of Kong.]

This cross was made at Roscommon, by native Irishmen, about the year 1123, in the reign of Turlogh O'Connor, father of Roderick, the last monarch of Ireland, and contains what was supposed to be a piece of the true cross, as inscriptions in Irish, and Latin in the Irish character, upon two of its sides record. The engraving affords a correct idea of the original, as the extremely minute and elaborate ornaments with which it is completely covered, and a portion of which is worked in pure gold, could not possibly be expressed on so reduced a scale. The ornaments generally consist of tracery and grotesque animals fancifully combined, and similar in character to the decorations found upon crosses of stone of about the same period. A large crystal, through which a portion of the wood which the cross was formed to enshrine is visible, is set in the centre.

FOOT-RACING IN 1699.

A remarkable foot-race was run about the year 1699, which is thus described in the manuscript journal of a lady who was one of the spectators:--"I drove through the forest of Windsor to see a race run by two footmen, an English and a Scotch, the former a taller bigger man than the other. The ground measured and cut even in a round was about four miles; they were to run it round so often as to make up twenty-two miles, which was the distance between Charing Cross and Windsor Cross, that is, five times quite round, and so far as to make up the odd miles and measure. They ran a round in twenty-five minutes. I saw them run the first three rounds and half another in an hour and seventeen minutes, and they finished it in two hours and a half. The Englishman gained the start the second round, and kept it at the same distance the five rounds, and then the Scotchman came up to him and got before him to the post. The Englishman fell down within a few yards of the post. Many hundred pounds were won and lost about it. They ran both very neatly, but my judgment gave it to the Scotchman, because he seemed to save himself to the last push."

THE CHERRY TREE.

The Cherry Tree was introduced into Great Britain before A.D. 53. The earliest mention of the fruit being exposed to sale by hawkers in London is in Henry the Fifth's reign, 1415. New sorts were introduced from Flanders, by Richard Haines, Henry the Eighth's fruiterer, and being planted in Kent were called "Flanders," or "Kentish Cherries," of which Gerard (1597) says, "They have a better juice, but watery, cold, and moist." Philips says, "There is an account of a cherry-orchard of thirty-two acres in Kent, which, in the year 1540, produced fruit that sold in those early days, for 1,000_l._; which seems an enormous sum, as at that period good land is stated to have let at one shilling per acre." Evelyn tells us, that in his time (1662) an acre planted with cherries, one hundred miles from London, had been let at 10_l._ During the Commonwealth (1649), the manor and mansion of Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I., at Wimbledon, in Surrey, were surveyed previously to being sold, and it appears that there were upwards of two hundred cherry trees in the gardens. Since that time the cherry tree has found universal admission into shrubberies, gardens, and orchards.

INSTRUCTIONS TO A CHAPLAIN.

The following, and we believe they are unique, are Sir John Wynne of Gwedir's instructions to his chaplain, the Rev. John Pryce. "First, you shall have the chamber I showed you in my gate, private to yourself, with lock and key, and all necessaries. In the morning, I expect you should rise, and say prayers in my hall, to my household below, before they go to work, and when they come in at night, that you call before you all the workmen, specially the youth, and take account of them of their belief, and of what Sir Meredith taught them. I beg you to continue for the most part in the lower house: you are to have onlye what is done there, that you may inform me of any disorder there. There is a bayliff of husbandry and a porter, who will be commanded by you. The morning after you be up, and have said prayers, as afore, I would you to bestow in study on any commendable exercise of your body. Before dinner you are to come up and attend grace or prayers, if there be any publicke; and to sit up if there be not greater strangers above the chyldren, who you are to teach in your own chamber. When the table from half downwards is taken up, then you are to rise and to walk in the alleys near at hand until grace time, and to come in then for that purpose. After dinner, if I be busy, you may go to bowles, shuffel bord, or any other honest, decent recreation, until I go abroad. If you see me void of business, and go to ride abroad, you shall command a gelding to be made ready by the grooms of the stable, and to go with me. If I go to bowles or shuffel bord, I shall lyke of your company, if the place be not made up with strangers. I would have you to go every Sunday in the year to some church hereabouts, to preache, giving warnynge to the parish, to bring the yowths at after noon to the church to be catechysed; in which poynt is my greatest care that you should be paynfull and dylygent. Avoyd the alehouse, to sytte and keepe drunkard's company ther, being the greatest discredit your function can have."

TWO MISERS.

In the year 1778 died, at a village near Reading, John Jackson, aged ninety-three, and James Jackson, aged eighty-seven. These two brothers were old bachelors, and afforded a striking instance of the insufficiency of wealth to create happiness. Though these old men had been blest with great riches ever since they were twenty years of age, they absolutely denied themselves the common necessaries of life; and lived in the village for fifty years past as poor men, and often accepted of charity from rich persons who resided near them. They never suffered any woman or man to come into their apartment (which was only one shabby room), and were both taken ill, and languishing a short time, they expired on the same day, within one hour of each other. It is computed, by the writings left behind them, that they died worth L150,000.

ANECDOTE OF THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK.

The following anecdote relating to the august House of Brunswick is taken from the "Annual Register" of 1765:--"The late Duchess of Blakenburgh, great grandmother to the hereditary prince, who died some years since in a very advanced age, had the singular happiness to reckon amongst her posterity, sixty-two princes and princesses; (fifty-three of whom she saw at one time alive;) and amongst them three emperors, two empresses, two kings, and two queens; a circumstance that, probably, no sovereign house but that of Brunswick ever produced anything like it."

AMUSEMENTS OF SOME LEARNED AUTHORS.

Tycho Brahe polished glass for spectacles, and made mathematical instruments. D'Andilly delighted, like our Evelyn, in forest-trees; Balzac, with the manufacturing of crayons; Pieresc, with his medals and antiques; the Abbe de Marolles, with engravings; Rohault's greatest recreation was in seeing different mechanics at their labour; Arnauld read the most trashy novels for relaxation; as did our Warburton, the late Lords Loughborough and Camden; Montaigne fondled his cat; Cardinal Richelieu, in jumping and leaping. Grumm informs us that the Chevalier de Boufflers would crow like a cock, and bray like an ass; in both of which he excelled, not metaphorically but literally.

EARLY GERMAN DRINKING CUP.

Early German Drinking Cup.]

The above, taken from the Londesborough collection, is a good example of the German drinking cups of fanciful shape, which were so much in fashion in that country in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The specimen before us is of silver, and dated 1619. The mill and scroll ornament on the cup are gilt. It was held in the hand to be filled, and could not be set down until emptied; the drinker, blowing through the tube into the mill, set the sails in motion, and reversed the cup on the table.

THE KING'S STONE.

The King's Stone.]

Kingston-on-Thames is among the oldest of English towns; and is said to have been "the metropolis of the Anglo-Saxon kings:" certainly it was a famous place when the Romans found and conquered the Britons in this locality: there are indeed arguments for believing that the "ford" which Caesar crossed was here, and not at Walton; and indications of barrows, fosses, and ramparts of Roman origin, are to be found in many places in the neighbourhood. It is more than probable that a bridge was constructed by the Romans here, and that a fortress was erected for its protection. The Saxons followed in due course, and here they had many contests with their enemies the Danes; but A.D. 838, Egbert convened at Kingston an assembly of ecclesiastics and nobles in council, and here, undoubtedly, many of the Saxon kings were crowned: "The townish men," says Leland, "have certen knowledge that a few kinges were crounid afore the Conqueste." Its first charter was from King John, and many succeeding sovereigns accorded to it various grants and immunities. During the war between Charles I. and the Parliament, Kingston was the scene of several "fights," being always on the side of the king. The town is now populous and flourishing, although without manufactures of any kind. Since the establishment of a railway, villa residences have largely increased in the neighbourhood; and the two suburbs, Surbiton and Norbiton, are pretty and densely-crowded villages of good houses. The church has suffered much from mutilation and restoration; it is a spacious structure, and was erected about the middle of the fourteenth century, on the site of an earlier edifice. Amongst the monuments is a fine brass, to a civilian and his wife, of the year 1437. Of existing antiquities there are but few: county historians, however, point out the sites of the ancient Saxon palace, "the castle," the Jews' quarter, and the Roman town, Tamesa; and the game of "foot-ball," it is said, is still practised by the inhabitants on Shrove Tuesday, in commemoration of the feats of their ancestors, by whom the head of a king-assassin was "kicked" about the town. But perhaps the most interesting object now to be found in Kingston is "THE KING'S STONE." It had long remained neglected, though not unknown, among disregarded heaps of _debris_ in "the new court-yard," when it occurred to some zealous and intelligent antiquaries that so venerable a relic of remote ages was entitled to some show of respect. It was consequently removed from its degraded position, planted in the centre of the town, and enclosed by a "suitable" iron railing. It is now, therefore, duly and properly honoured, as may be seen by the preceding engraving.

TRANCE AT WILL.

Colonel Townsend possessed the remarkable faculty of throwing himself into a trance at pleasure. The heart ceased apparently to throb at his bidding, respiration seemed at an end, his whole frame assumed the icy chill and rigidity of death; while his face became colourless and shrunk, and his eye fixed, glazed, and ghastly. His mind itself ceased to manifest itself, for during the trance it was as utterly devoid of consciousness as his body of animation. In this state he would remain for hours, when these singular phenomena wore away, and he returned to his usual condition. Medical annals furnish no parallel to this extraordinary case. Considered whether in a physiological or metaphysical point of view, it is equally astonishing and inexplicable.

DESTRUCTIVE FORCE OF RATS.

The amount of destructive force possessed by rats cannot be better exemplified than in the report given to the French Government, relating to the removal of the horse slaughter-houses, situated at Montfaucon, to a greater distance from Paris; one great objection being the disastrous consequences which might accrue to the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, if these voracious creatures were suddenly deprived of their usual sustenance. It is well known that the mischief which they occasion is not confined to what they eat; but they undermine houses, burrow through dams, destroy drains, and commit incalculable havoc in every place and in everything.

The report states, that the carcases of horses killed one day, and amounting to thirty-five, would be found the next morning with the bones picked clean. A person of the name of Dusaussois, belonging to the establishment, made this experiment. A part of his yard was enclosed by solid walls, at the foot of which, several holes were made for the entrance and exit of the rats. Into this enclosure he put the bodies of three horses, and in the middle of the night he stopped up all the holes as quietly as he could; he then summoned several of his workmen, and each, armed with a torch and a stick, entered the yard, and carefully closed the door. They then commenced a general massacre; in doing which, it was not necessary to take aim, for wherever the blow fell it was sure to knock over a rat, none being allowed to escape by climbing over the walls. This experiment was repeated at intervals of a few days, and at the end of a month, 16,050 rats had been destroyed. In one night they killed 2,650; and yet this cannot give an entirely adequate idea of their number, for the yard in question did not cover more than a twentieth part of the space allotted to killing horses. The rats in this place have made burrows for themselves, like catacombs; and so great is their number, that they have not found room close by the slaughter-houses. They have gone farther; and the paths to and from their dwellings may be traced across the neighbouring fields.

ORDEAL OF THE CROSS.

When a person accused of any crime had declared his innocence upon oath, and appealed to the cross for its judgment in his favour, he was brought into the church before the altar. The priest previously prepared two sticks exactly like one another, upon one of which was carved a figure of the cross. They were both wrapped up, with great care and many ceremonies, in a quantity of fine wool, and laid upon the altar, or on 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 were innocent or guilty. A priest then approached the altar, and took up one of the sticks, and the assistants unswathed it reverently. 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 just delivered were in all cases erroneous; and it would be absurd to believe that they were left altogether to chance. Many true judgments were doubtless given, and, in all probability, most conscientiously; for we cannot but believe that the priests endeavoured beforehand to convince themselves by strict inquiry and a strict examination of the circumstances, whether the appellant were innocent or guilty, and that they took up the crossed or uncrossed stick accordingly. Although, to all other observers, the sticks, as enfolded in the wool, might appear exactly similar, those who enwrapped them could, without any difficulty, distinguish the one from the other.

KING JOHN AND POPE INNOCENT.

When Cardinal Langton was made Archbishop of Canterbury, by the intrigues of the Pope, whose creature he was, in despite of King John, to appease the latter, his Holiness presented him with four gold rings, set with precious stones, and enhanced the value of the gift (mark that, jewellers!) by informing him of the many mysteries implied in it. He begged of him (John) to consider seriously the _form_ of the rings, their _number_, their _matter_, and their _colour_. Their _form_, he said, being round, shadowed out eternity, which had neither beginning nor end, and he ought thence to learn the duty of aspiring from earthly objects to heavenly, from things temporal to things eternal. The _numbers_ four, being a square, denoted steadiness of mind, not to be subverted either by prosperity or adversity, fixed for ever in the basis of the four cardinal virtues. _Gold_, which is the matter, being the most precious of metals, signified wisdom, which is the most precious of all accomplishments, and justly preferred by Solomon to riches, power, and all exterior attainments. The blue _colour_ of the sapphire represented faith; the verdure of the emerald hope; the richness of the ruby charity; and the splendour of the topaz good works.

DRUID'S SEAT.

Druid's Judgment Seat.]

The singular pile of stones which we have sketched here is popularly called the "Druid's Judgment Seat," and stands near the village of Killiney, not far from Drogheda, near the Martello Tower. It was formerly enclosed within a circle of great 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 refers it, an unusual degree of care must have been exercised for 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.

BOOTS AN OBJECT OF HONOUR.

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 all congregate to do him honour. If he leaves the city where he has presided, 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 their 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.

SAINT LAWRENCE.

In the south aisle of the church at Tuxford, beneath a flowery arch is a very rude relief of St. Lawrence placed on the gridiron. By him is a fellow with a pair of bellows, blowing the fire, and the executioner going to turn him. The zealous Fox, in his "Martyrology," has this very thought, and makes the martyr say, in the midst of his sufferings, "This side is now roasted; turn me, O tyrant dear."

PARIS GARDEN AT BLACKFRIARS.

Paris Garden.]

The Blackfriar's Road now passes over the site of Paris Garden where, in the sixteenth century, bear and bull-baiting rejoiced the citizens, the gala days being usually Sundays. Our cut is copied from the rare woodcut map in the time of Henry VIII., in the library at Guildhall, and exhibits in the foreground the kennels for the dogs, and the tanks in which they were washed. A graphic description of the place has been left by Paul Hentzner, a German, who visited it in 1598. He says it was "built in the form of a theatre, for the baiting of bulls and bears: they are fastened behind, and then worried by great English bull-dogs; but not without great risk to the dogs, from the horns of the one and the teeth of the other; and it sometimes happens they are killed upon the spot: fresh ones are immediately supplied in the place of those that are wounded or tired. To this entertainment there often follows that of whipping a blinded bear, which is performed by five or six men, standing circularly with whips, which they exercise upon him without any mercy, as he cannot escape from them because of his chain. He defends himself with all his force and skill, throwing down all who come within his reach, and are not active enough to get out of it, and tearing the whips out of their hands, and breaking them. At these spectacles, and everywhere else, the English are constantly smoking tobacco. Fruits, such as apples, pears, and nuts, according to the season, are carried about to be sold, as well as ale and wine."

CANVASS OF AN INSURANCE AGENT.

The Manchester agent of an Insurance Company, gives the following curious results of a personal canvass at 1,349 houses, in seventy streets in the district of Hulme and Charlton, chiefly rentals from L12 to L24 per annum. The inquiry showed that there were 29 insured; 8 persons too old; 11 who never heard of life assurances, and who were anxious to have it explained to them; 471 who had heard of it, but did not understand it; 419 who were disinclined to assure; 19 favourable, if their surplus incomes were not otherwise invested; 89 persons who had it under consideration, with a view to assure, as soon as their arrangements were completed, and who appointed times for the agent to call again; 21 refused the circulars, or to allow an explanation; 175 doors not answered; 102 houses empty; 3 had sufficient property not to require it; 1 favourable, but afraid of litigation; 1 preferred the saving's bank; 1 used abusive language; 2 would trust their families to provide for themselves; and 1 had been rejected by an office, although he never was unwell, and was consequently afraid to try again, although very anxious.

TERRA-COTTA WRITINGS.

The Assyrians, unlike any other nation of antiquity, employed pottery for the same objects, and to the same extent as papyrus was used in Egypt. Thus bulletins recording the king's victories, and even the annals of his reign, were published on terra-cotta cylinders, shaped like a rolling-pin, and usually hollow, and on hollow hexagonal prisms. These are of a remarkably fine material, sometimes unpolished or unglazed, and at others covered with a vitreous siliceous glaze, or white coating. On the cylinders the inscriptions are engraved lengthwise; on the prisms they are in compartments on each face. Each wedge is about one-eighth of an inch long, and the complicity with which the characters (a cuneiform writing-hand) are arranged is wonderful, and renders them extremely difficult for a tyro to read. Those hitherto published or known, contain the annals of the reign of Sennacherib, and the precis of the reign of another king.

There are the Shergat cylinder, containing the History of Tiglath Pileser; a cylinder of Sargon; Sennacherib's cylinders; Esarhaddon's cylinder.

Sales of land and other title-deeds were also incised on pieces of this polished terra-cotta, and, in order to prevent any enlargement of the document, a cylinder was run round the edges, leaving its impression in relief; or if the names of witnesses were affixed, each impressed his oval seal on the wet terra-cotta, which was then carefully baked in the kiln. The celebrated cylinders of carnelian, chalcedony, and other substances, were in fact the official or private seals by which the integrity of these documents was attested. These title-deeds are portable documents of four or five inches square, convex on each side, and occasionally also at the edges. Their colour varies, being a bright polished brown, a pale yellow, and a very dark tint, almost black. The paste of which they are made is remarkably fine and compact. The manner in which the characters were impressed on the terra-cotta barrels and cylinders is not known; those on the bricks used for building were apparently stamped from a mould, but those on the deeds and books were separately incised, perhaps with a prismatic stick, or rod, or, as others have conjectured, with the edge of a square rod of metal. In some instances, where this substance was used for taking accounts, it seems just possible that the moist clay, rolled up like paste, may have been unrolled and incised with rods. The characters are often so beautifully and delicately made, that it must have required a finely constructed tool to produce them.

Some small fragments of a fine reddish-grey terra-cotta which have been found among the ruins, appear to contain calculations or inventories, whilst others are perhaps syllabaries or vocabularies, to guide the Assyrian readers of these difficult inscriptions. A large chamber, or library, of these archives, comprising histories, deeds, almanacks, and spelling-books, was found in the palace of Sennacherib at Kouyunjik. It is supposed that altogether about 20,000 of these clay tablets or ancient books of the Assyrians, containing the literature of the country, have been discovered. Some of the finer specimens are covered with a pale straw-covered engobe, over which has been thrown a glaze. Some horoscopes have been already found on stone, and careful examination has now detected the records of some astronomer royal of Babylon or Nineveh inscribed on a brick. Thus, while the paper and parchment learning of the Byzantine and Alexandrian schools has almost disappeared after a few centuries, the granite pages of Egypt, and the clay leaves of Assyria, have escaped the ravages of time and the fury of barbarism.

In Egypt some receipts and letters have been discovered written on fragments of tile, and on the fine porcelain of the Chinese are often found extracts of biographical works, snatches of poetry, and even whole poems; but the idea of issuing journals, title-deeds, inventories, histories, prayers, and poems, not from the press, but from the kiln, is startling in the nineteenth century.

WONDERFUL FORMATION OF THE EYE IN INSECTS.

The perfection which is bestowed on the organs of sense in insects, especially when we consider their minuteness, is calculated to fill us with adoring admiration of the skill of "the Great Workmaster." Take an example from the _eyes_, which are of several kinds, evidently designed for distinct modes of vision, of which we, who have but one sort of eyes, can form no adequate notion. The bee and many other insects have on the crown of the head a number, usually three, of simple glassy eyes, set like "bull's-eyes" in a ship's deck; and besides these a great compound eye on each side, consisting of a multitude of lenses aggregated together upon the same optic nerve. The microscope reveals to us that the compound eye of an ant contains fifty lenses; that of a fly, four thousand; that of a dragon-fly, twelve thousand; that of a butterfly, seventeen thousand; and that of a species of _Mordella_ (a kind of beetle), the amazing number of twenty-five thousand. Every one of these regular, polished, and many-sided lenses; is the external surface of a distinct eye, furnished with its own iris and pupil, and a perfect nervous apparatus. It will thus be seen that each hexagonal facet forms a transparent horny lens, immediately behind which is a layer of pigment diminishing to a point in the centre, where it forms a pupil; that behind this a long six-sided prism, answering to the crystalline and vitreous humours in the human eye, extends, diminishing to its lower extremity, where it rests upon the retina, or network expansion of the optic nerve. Some of the minuter details of this exquisite organisation are still matters of conflicting opinion; but these we omit, as our purpose is rather to convey to our readers a general idea of the structure of this complex organ of vision. "This also cometh forth from the Lord of Hosts, which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working."

FIRST COIN WITH BRITANNIA ON IT.

Roman Coins.]

In process of clearing away the foundations of Old London Bridge many antiquities were discovered; it had been the great highway over the Thames from the Roman era, and numerous relics were obtained, varying in date from that period to our own. We here engrave such specimens of Roman coins that were found as belong to the Britannic series. The large central coin is one struck by Hadrian, and remarkable for the figure of Britannia, the first time impersonated as an armed female seated on a rock. It is the prototype of the more modern Britannia, reintroduced by Charles II., and which still appears on our copper money. The smaller coins are such as were struck, during the reign of Constantine the Great, in the City of London, and are marked with the letters P. LON., for "Pecunia Londinensis," money of London.

EXTRAORDINARY FORMATION OF THE TWIN-WORM.