Chapter XXVI: Part 26

"Every professed, inveterate, and incurable snuff-taker," says his lordship, "at a moderate computation, takes one pinch in ten minutes. Every pinch, with the agreeable ceremony of blowing and wiping the nose and other incidental circumstances, consumes one minute and a half. One minute and a half out of every ten, allowing sixteen hours to a snuff-taking day, amounts to two hours and twenty-four minutes out of every natural day, or one day out of ten. One day out of every ten, amounts to thirty-six days and a half in a year. Hence, if we suppose the practice to be persisted in forty years, two entire years of the snuff-taker's life will be dedicated to tickling his nose, and two more to blowing it. The expense of snuff, snuff-boxes, and handkerchiefs, will be the subject of a second essay, in which it will appear that this luxury encroaches as much on the income of the snuff-taker as it does on his time; and that by proper application of the time and money thus lost to the public, a fund might be constituted for the discharge of the national debt."

VALUE OF A LONG PSALM.

Formerly a psalm was allowed to be sung at the gallows by the culprit, in case of a reprieve. It is reported of one of the chaplains to the famous Montrose, that being condemned in Scotland to die, for attending his master in some of his glorious exploits, and being upon the ladder, ordered to set out a psalm, he expecting a reprieve, named the 119th Psalm (with which the officer attending the execution complied, the Scotch Presbyterians being great psalm-singers): and it was well for him he did so, for they had sung it half through before the reprieve came: any other psalm would have hanged him.

ANCIENT INCENSE CHARIOT.

Ancient Incense Chariot.]

The implement which we have engraved was found in a tomb at Cervetri in Etruria, and unquestionably belongs to a very remote date of the archaic period. It was used in the ritual services of the ancients, and seems to have been destined for burning incense. The perfume was, no doubt, placed in the concave part, and the fact of the whole being mounted upon four wheels proves that it was intended to be moved about, which, in religious services, may have been a great convenience. The borders are adorned by a row of flower-shaped ornaments, the graceful forms of which will be appreciated in the side-view we have given of it. It must be confessed, indeed, that this monument, which is marked by the stamp of an antiquity so exceedingly remote, displays within the limits of its archaic character much elegance, conveying the idea of a highly refined taste, suitable to a person of dignified position, as the priest or king may be supposed to have been, to whom the article belonged.

TOO MUCH PARENTAL AUTHORITY.

All the world over, the current of natural affection flows strongly downwards to posterity. Love for children, in most nations, seems to be stronger than the love for parents. But in China, the current of natural affection is thrown back towards parents with undue strength. The love of posterity is in danger of being checked and weakened by their excessive veneration for parents. The father has absolute power, even the power of life and death, over his children. A few years ago, a Chinese father said to his wife, "What shall we do with our young son? He is undutiful and rebellious, and will bring disgrace on our family name; let us put him to death." Accordingly, having tied a cord round the boy's neck, the father pulled one end of it, and the mother the other, and thus they strangled their son. The magistrates took no notice of the occurrence. A wealthy Chinese gentleman at Ningpo shut up one of his orphan grandchildren and starved her to death. He could not be troubled rearing her up. Another man at the same place, having commanded two of his sons one day to follow him, entered a boat, and rowed out to the middle of the stream. He then deliberately tied a stone to the neck of one of his sons, and threw him into the river. The other lad was compelled to assist his father in the cruel proceeding. These facts are well known to the missionaries at that place. They heard the cries of the poor girl, and rescued her sister from a similar fate, and they saw the youth drowned by his father. But the authorities never thought of interfering.

POPULAR PASTIMES.

The popular pastimes of the time of James the First are enumerated in the following lines, in a little work entitled "The Letting of Humour's Blood in the Head-vaine; with a New Morisco daunced by seven Satyres upon the bottome of Diogenes' tubbe:" 8vo, Lond. 1611.

"Man, I dare challenge thee to THROW THE SLEDGE,
To jump or LEAPE over ditch or hedge,
To WRASTLE, play at STOOLEBALL, or to RUNNE:
To PITCH THE BARRE, or to SHOOTE OFF A GUNNE:
To play at LOGGETS, NINE HOLES, or TEN PINNES:
To try it out at FOOT-BALL by the shinnes:
At TICKTACKE, IRISH NODDIE, MAW, and RUFFE,
At HOT-COCKLES, LEAP-FROG, or BLINDMAN-BUFFE;
To drinke halfe-pots, or deale at the whole can:
To play at BASE, or PEN-AND-YNKHORNE SIR JUAN;
To daunce the MORRIS, play at BARLEY-BREAKE,
At all exploytes a man can thinke or speake;
At SHOVE-GROATE, VENTER-POYNT, or CROSSE & PILE,
At BESHROW HIM THAT'S LAST AT YONDER STYLE;
At LEAPING O'ER A MIDSOMMER-BON-FIER,
Or at the DRAWING DUN OUT OF THE MYER:
At any of those, or all these presently,
Wagge but your finger, I am for you, I!"

VACILLATING NEWSPAPERS.

The newspapers of Paris, submitted to the censorship of the press, in 1815, announced in the following terms, Bonaparte's departure from the Isle of Elba, his march across France, and his entry into the French Capital:--9th March--The Cannibal has escaped from his den. 10th--The Corsican ogre has just landed at Cape Juan. 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 towards 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. 22nd--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.

PRESSING TO DEATH, AND PRAYING AND FASTING.

In a number of Oliver Cromwell's Newspaper, "The Perfect Account of the Daily Intelligence," dated April 16th, 1651, we find this horrid instance of torture:--

"Mond. April 14th.--This session, at the Old Bailey, were four men pressed to death that were all in one robbery, and, out of obstinacy and contempt of the court, stood mute and refused to plead; from whence we may perceive the exceeding great hardness some men are grown unto, who do not only swerve from instructions, exhortations, and goodnesse, but become so lewd and insolent that they render themselves the proper subjects for whom severe laws were first invented and enacted."

The very next paragraph in the paper is to the following effect:--

"Those of the congregate churches, and many other godly people in London and parts adjacent, have appointed Friday, the 25th instant, as a day of solemn fasting and prayer, for a blessing upon the armies at land, the fleet at sea, and negociations abroad."

THE FIRST WATCHES IN ENGLAND.

In 1584 watches began to come from Germany, and the watchmaker soon became a trader of importance. The watches were often of immense size, and hung in a rich case from the neck, and by fops wound up with great gravity and ceremony in Paul's or at the ordinary dinner. Catgut mainsprings must have been slightly affected by changes of weather, and sometimes a little out of time in wet Novembers; but, Sessa, let the world live! An early specimen of the watch that we have seen engraved was, however, not larger than a walnut, richly chased, and enclosed in a pear-shaped case. It had no minute hand, but was of beautiful workmanship. Country people, like Touchstone, sometimes carried pocket dials, in the shape of brass rings, with a slide and aperture, to be regulated to the season.

EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCE.

Jesse, in his interesting "Gleanings in Natural History," gives the following remarkable instance of an extraneous substance being found imbedded in the solid timber of an ash:--"A person on whose accuracy and veracity I can place every reliance, informed me that hearing from some of his brother workmen, that in sawing up the butt of a large ash-tree, they had found a bird's nest in the middle of it; he immediately went to the spot, and found an ash cut in two longitudinally on the saw-pit, and the bird's nest nearly in the centre of the tree. The nest was about two-thirds of a hollow globe, and composed of moss, hair, and feathers, all seemingly in a fresh state. There were three eggs in it, nearly white and somewhat speckled. On examining the tree most minutely with several other workmen, no mark or protuberance was found to indicate the least injury. The bark was perfectly smooth and the tree quite sound." In endeavouring to account for this curious fact, we can only suppose that some accidental hole was made in the tree before it arrived at any great size, in which a bird had built its nest, and forsaken it after she had laid three eggs. As the tree grew larger, the bark would grow over the hole, and in process of time the nest would become embedded in the tree.

PORT COON CAVE.

Port Coon Cave.]

The above is a sketch of a cave which well deserves a place among our collection of Wonders. It is called Port Coon Cave, and is in the line of rocks near the Giants' Causeway. It may be visited either by sea or by land. Boats may row into it to the distance of a hundred yards or more, but the swell is sometimes dangerous; and although the land entrance to the cave is slippery, and a fair proportion of climbing is necessary to achieve the object, still the magnificence of the excavation, its length, and the formation of the interior, would repay greater exertion; the stones of which the roof and sides are composed, and which are of a rounded form, and embedded, as it were, in a basaltic paste, are formed of concentric spheres resembling the coats of an onion; the innermost recess has been compared to the side aisle of a Gothic cathedral; the walls are most painfully slimy to the touch; the discharge of a loaded gun reverberates amid the rolling of the billows, so as to thunder a most awful effect; and the notes of a bugle, we are told, produced delicious echoes.

ANECDOTE IN PORCELAIN.

Count Bruehl's Tailor and His Wife.]

The finest specimens of Dresden porcelain were undoubtedly made previously to the Seven Years' War, when no expense was spared, and when any price might be obtained. Count Bruehl, the profligate minister of Augustus III., whose splendid palace and terrace is the great ornament of Dresden, was importuned by his tailor to be allowed to see the manufactory, admission to which was strictly prohibited. At length he consented, and the tailor upon his entrance was presented with the two last new pieces made, which were--one a grotesque figure, a portrait of himself mounted upon a he-goat, with the shears, and all his other implements of trade; and the other, his wife upon a she-goat, with a baby in swaddling clothes. The poor tailor was so annoyed with these caricatures, that he turned back without desiring to see more. These pieces, known as Count Bruehl's Tailor and his Wife, are now much sought after, from their historical interest. They were made in 1760, by Kaendler.

ANGLO-SAXON FEASTS.

It is a mark of Anglo-Saxon delicacy, that table-cloths were features at Anglo-Saxon feasts; but, as the long ends were used in place of napkins, the delicacy would be of a somewhat dirty hue, if the cloth were made to serve at a second feast. There was a rude sort of display upon the board; but the order of service was of a quality that would strike the "Jeameses" of the age of Victoria with inexpressible disgust. The meat was never "dished," and "covers" were as yet unknown. The attendants brought the viands into the dining-hall on the spits, knelt to each guest, presented the spit to his consideration; and, the guest having helped himself, the attendant went through the same ceremony with the next guest. Hard drinking followed upon these same ceremonies; and even the monasteries were not exempt from the sins of gluttony and drunkenness. Notwithstanding these bad habits, the Anglo-Saxons were a cleanly people; the warm bath was in general use. Water, for hands and feet, was brought to every stranger on entering a house wherein he was about to tarry and feed; and, it is said that one of the severest penances of the church was the temporary denial of the bath, and of cutting the hair and nails.

HOUSEHOLD RULES IN THE SIXTEENTH 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, 1d.; and the same sum for leaving a door open.

A fine of 2d., from Lady Day to Michaelmas, for all who are in bed after six, or out after ten.

The same fine, from Michaelmas to Lady Day, for all who are in bed after seven, or out after nine.

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

A fine of 4d. for any man detected teaching the children obscene words.

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

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

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

A fine of 4d. for any one absent a day without leave.

For any man striking another, a fine of 1d.

For any follower visiting the cook, 1d.

A fine of 1d. for any man appearing in a foul shirt, broken hose, untied shoes, or torn doublet.

A fine of 1d, for any stranger's room left for four hours after he be dressed.

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

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

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

All these fines were deducted by the steward at the quarterly payment of the men's wages. If these laws were observed, the domestic discipline must have been almost military in it.

THE QUEEN OF SHEBA.

Belkis, according to the Arabs, was the famous Queen of Sheba or Saba, who visited, and afterwards married, Solomon, in the twenty-first year of her reign. Tabari has introduced her story with such gorgeous embellishments as to resemble a fairy tale rather than episode in serious narrative. She is said to have been subdued by the Jewish monarch, who discovered her retreat among the mountains, between Hejaz and Yemen by means of a lapwing, which he had despatched in search of water during his progress through Arabia. This princess is called Nicolaa by some writers. The Abyssinians claim the same distinction for one of their queens; and have preserved the names of a dynasty alleged to have been descended from her union with Solomon.

SUPERSTITION IN FRANCE.

In France, superstition at this day is even more prevalent than it is in England. Garinet, in his history of Magic and Sorcery in that country, cites upwards of twenty instances which occurred between the years 1805 and 1818. In the latter year no less than three tribunals were occupied with trials originating in this humiliating belief: we shall cite only one of them. Julian Desbourdes, aged fifty-three, a mason, and inhabitant of the village of Thilouze, near Bourdeaux, was taken suddenly ill, in the month of January 1818. As he did not know how to account for his malady, he suspected at last that he was bewitched. He communicated this suspicion to his son-in-law Bridier, and they both went to consult a sort of idiot, named Boudouin, who passed for a conjuror or _white-witch_. This man told them that Desbourdes was certainly bewitched, and offered to accompany them to the house of an old man named Renard, who, he said, was undoubtedly the criminal. On the night of the 23rd of January all three proceeded stealthily to the dwelling of Renard, and accused him of afflicting persons with diseases by the aid of the devil. Desbourdes fell on his knees and earnestly entreated to be restored to his former health, promising that he would take no measures against him for the evil he had done. The old man denied in the strongest terms that he was a wizard; and when Desbourdes still pressed him to remove the spell from him, he said he knew nothing about the spell, and refused to remove it. The idiot Boudouin, the _white-witch_, now interfered, and told his companions that no relief for the malady could ever be procured until the old man confessed his guilt. To force him to confession they lighted some sticks of sulphur which they had brought with them for the purpose, and placed them under the old man's nose. In a few moments he fell down suffocated and apparently lifeless. They were all greatly alarmed; and thinking that they had killed the man, they carried him out and threw him into a neighbouring pond, hoping to make it appear that he had fallen in accidentally. The pond, however, was not very deep, and the coolness of the water reviving the old man, he opened his eyes and sat up. Desbourdes and Bridier, who were still waiting on the bank, were now more alarmed than before, lest he should recover and inform against them. They therefore waded into the pond, seized their victim by the hair of the head, beat him severely, and then held him under water till he was drowned.

They were all three apprehended on the charge of murder a few days afterwards. Desbourdes and Bridier were found guilty of aggravated manslaughter only, and sentenced to be burnt on the back, and to work in the galleys for life. The _white-witch_ Boudouin was acquitted on the ground of insanity.

HELMET OF SIR JOHN CROSBY.

Helmet of Sir John Crosby.]

We here present our readers with a sketch of the helmet of Sir John Crosby, as it originally appeared when suspended over his tomb in St. Helen's Church, Bishopsgate. He was an eminent merchant of London; but is represented upon his tomb in a full suit of armour. He died in 1475. The extreme height of the crown of the helmet resembles that on the tomb of the Earl of Warwick, in the Beauchamp Chapel at Warwick; and was intended to support the crest of the wearer, the holes for affixing it being still visible.

EARTHQUAKE PANIC.

A panic terror of the end of the world seized the good people of Leeds and its neighbourhood in the year 1806. It arose from the following circumstances. A hen, in a village close by, laid eggs, on which were inscribed the words, "_Christ is coming_." Great numbers visited the spot, and examined these wondrous eggs, convinced that the day of judgment was near at hand. Like sailors in a storm, expecting every instant to go to the bottom, the believers suddenly became religious, prayed violently, and flattered themselves that they repented them of their evil courses. But a plain tale soon put them down, and quenched their religion entirely. Some gentlemen, hearing of the matter, went one fine morning and caught the poor hen in the act of laying one of her miraculous eggs. They soon ascertained beyond doubt that the egg had been inscribed with some corrosive ink, and cruelly forced up again, into the bird's body. At this explanation, those who had prayed, now laughed, and the world wagged as merrily as of yore.

OLD ENGLISH SACK-POT.

Sack-Pot.]

Sack was such a national beverage of the jolly old England of the seventeenth century, that we are sure our readers will thank us for giving them an idea of the vessel in which it was commonly used. The bottle here engraved, and inscribed "Sack," was found in Old Tabley Hall, Cheshire, and is a veritable specimen of the sort of vessel from which the topers of the "good old times" poured into their cups the drink with which they so loved to warm their heart-strings. It is of a dull-white, with blue letters, and it is in the possession of the Hon. Robert Curzon, jun., author of the interesting work on the Monasteries of the Levant. Two old English bottles of similar character, one lettered Sack, the other Claret, dated 1646, were sold at Strawberry Hill.

AGE OF TREES.

Mr. Twining was engaged, in the year 1827, in measuring and inspecting a large lot of hemlock timber cut from the north-eastern slope of East Rock, New Haven (America), and destined for the foundation of a wharf. While thus employed he took particular notice of the successive layers, each of which constitutes a year's growth of the tree, and which in that kind of wood are very distinct. These layers were of various breadths, and plainly showed that in some seasons the trees made a much greater advance than in others, some of the layers being five or six times broader than others. Every tree had thus preserved a _record of the seasons_ for the period of its growth, whether thirty years or two hundred--and what was worthy of notice, _every tree told the same story_. Thus, by beginning at the outer layer of two trees, the one young the other old, and counting back twenty years, if the young tree indicated, by a full layer, a _growing season_ for that kind of timber, the other tree indicated the same.

"I had then before me," (says this intelligent observer) "two or three hundred _meteorological tables_, all of them as unerring as nature; and by selecting one tree from the oldest, and sawing out a thin section from its trunk, I might have preserved one of the number to be referred to afterwards. It might have been smoothed on the one side by the plane, so as to exhibit its record to the eye with all the neatness and distinctness of a drawing. On the opposite side might have been minuted in indelible writing the locality of the tree, the kind of timber, the year and month when cut, the soil where it grew, the side and point which faced the north, and every other circumstance which can possibly be supposed ever to have the most remote relation to the value of the table in hand. The lover of science will not be backward to incur such trouble, for he knows how often, in the progress of human knowledge, an observation or an experiment has lost its value by the disregard of some circumstance connected with it, which at the time was not thought worthy of notice. Lastly, there might be attached to the same section a written meteorological table compiled from the observations of some scientific person, if such observations had been made in the vicinity. This being done, why, in the eye of science, might not this _natural_, _unerring_, _graphical_ record of seasons past deserve as careful preservation as a curious mineral, or a new form of crystals?"

THE CAMEL AS A SCAPE-GOAT.

A very singular account of the use to which a camel is sometimes put, is given by the traveller Bruce. He tells us that he saw one employed to appease a quarrel between two parties, something in the same way as the scape-goat was used in the religious services of the Jewish people. The camel being brought out was accused by both parties of all the injuries, real or supposed, which belonged to each. All the mischief that had been done, they accused this camel of doing. They upbraided it with being the cause of all the trouble that had separated friends, called it by every opprobious epithet, and finally killed it, and declared themselves reconciled over its body.

SUSPENDED VOLITION.

A young lady, an attendant of the Princess ----, after having been confined to her bed for a great length of time with a violent nervous disorder, was at last, to all appearance, deprived of life. Her lips were quite pale, her face resembled the countenance of a dead person, and the body grew cold.

She was removed from the room in which she lay, was put in a coffin, and the day of her funeral fixed on. The day arrived, and, according to the custom of the country, funeral songs and hymns were sung before the door. Just as the people were about to nail on the lid of the coffin, a kind of perspiration was observed to appear on the surface of her body. It grew greater every moment, and at last a kind of convulsive motion was observed in the hands and feet of the corpse. A few minutes after, during which time fresh signs of returning life appeared, she at once opened her eyes and uttered a most pitiable shriek. Physicians were quickly procured, and in the course of a few days she was considerably restored.

The description which she gave of her situation is extremely remarkable, and forms a curious and authentic addition to psychology.

She said it seemed to her, as if in a dream, that she was really dead; yet she was perfectly conscious of all that happened around her in this dreadful state. She distinctly heard her friends speaking, and lamenting her death, at the side of her coffin. She felt them pull on the dead-clothes, and lay her in them. This feeling produced a mental anxiety which is indescribable. She tried to cry, but her soul was without power, and could not act on her body. She had the contradictory feeling as if she were in her body, and yet not in it, at one and the same time. It was equally impossible for her to stretch out her arm or to open her eyes, or to cry, although she continually endeavoured to do so. The internal anguish of her mind was, however, at its utmost height when the lid of the coffin was about to be nailed on. The thought that she was to be buried alive was the one that gave activity to her soul, and caused it to operate on her corporeal frame.

FASHIONS FOR THE DEAD.

The following advertisement appeared in a Glasgow paper about the middle of the last century. "James Hodge, who lives in the first close above the Cross, on the west side of the street, Glasgow, continues to sell burying Crapes ready made; and his wife's niece, who lives with him, dresses dead Corpses at as cheap a rate as was formerly done by her aunt, having been educated by her, and perfected at Edinburgh, from whence she is lately arrived, and has all the newest and best fashions."

COMMON USE OF PLATE IN THE TIME OF HENRY VIII.

A writer in the early part of the sixteenth century tells us that in his time, in the reign of Henry the Eighth, the luxury of the table had descended even to citizens, and that there were few whose tables were not daily provided with spoons, cups, and a salt-cellar of silver. Those of a higher sphere affected a greater profusion of plate; but the quantity accumulated by Cardinal Wolsey, though the precious metals are now so copious, still continues to excite our surprise. At Hampton Court, where he feasted the French ambassadors and their splendid retinue in 1528, two cupboards, extending across the banquet chambers, were piled to the top with plate and illuminated; yet, without encroaching on these ostentatious repositories, a profuse service remained for the table. Two hundred and eighty beds were provided for the guests; every chamber had a bason and ewer of silver, beside other utensils.

DIOGENES IN A PITHOS, NOT TUB.

A pithos is a description of earthen vessel or jar, distinguished from the amphora by its large mouth, and comparatively flattened base. Its shape was more that of a gourd, or pot; its size large enough to have rendered it applicable to the purposes of a cistern, or water butt. Such, indeed, appear in some instances to have been its dimensions, that it has long been a matter of dispute amongst the learned whether, if Diogenes dwelt in a tub at all (a point by no means settled), his humble habitation were of wood or earthenware. Brougniart adopts the latter opinion, and has illustrated it by a partial copy from a print in Winckelmann. In the original, the philosopher is shown holding his well-known chat with Alexander the Great, at the gate of the Metroum, or Temple of the Mother of the Gods at Athens; but his tub has there the addition of a dog lying on the outside, above his master's head, evidently on the watch to defend him, if necessary, against any attack from the royal warrior. Winckelmann's engraving, which we here present, is taken from a bas-relief discovered in the Villa Albani; in which the cynic's tub is clearly of earthenware, having a large fracture on one side, which has been repaired with some other material dovetailed across the crack. This, Winckelmann concludes to have been lead (commesso col piombo), simply, however, upon the authority of the following lines in Juvenal:--

"Si Fregeris, altera fiet
Cras domus, aut eadem plumbo commissa manebit."

_Sat._ xiv 310.

Diogenes in a Pithos.]

Be all this, however, as it may, the controversy is not without its value in connexion with the ceramic productions of the period. If the "dolia" and "[Greek: pithakne]." of the ancients had not been of sufficient capacity, however kennel-like, to have served as a dwelling, or shelter, for the philosopher, the tale would hardly have existed. Nor does it seem probable that Juvenal, in allusion to the story, would have used the term _testa_ (testa cum vidit in illa magnum habitatorem), or have dwelt upon their fragility, or have said that they would not burn (dolia nudi non ardent Cynici), if vessels of the sort had not been commonly of earthenware. These vessels, both ancient and modern, have a thickness and strength which enables them to be rolled on a ladder to and from the top of the kiln, where they are baked, without injury.

CHINESE SCHOOL.

Native Chinese School.]

The annexed engraving is a curiosity both in itself and in what it represents. It is taken from a sketch by a native Chinese artist, and depicts the internal arrangements of a native Chinese school. The extraordinary nature of the Chinese language renders it impossible for a schoolmaster to instruct more than a very few scholars at a time, since the meaning of the words actually depends on their correct intonation. Every vocable in the language is capable of being pronounced in six different tones of voice, and of conveying six meanings, totally different from each other, according to the tone given to it. Pronounced in one tone, it conveys one meaning, and is represented by one written character; pronounced in another tone, it conveys an entirely distinct meaning, and is represented in writing by another character altogether different. The correct and distinct enunciation of these tones is the chief difficulty in learning to speak the language. These tones are stereotyped and fixed, and must be learned, as part of the word, at the same time that its form and signification are mastered. Moreover, they are all arranged upon system, like the notes in a gamut, and when thoroughly mastered, the theory of the tones is really beautiful. If a wrong tone, then, is given to a word in reading or in conversation, it grates upon a Chinese ear like a false note in playing the fiddle. Further, if the voice be not correctly modulated, and the words correctly intoned, not only is a jarring note pronounced, but actually a wrong word is uttered, and a different meaning conveyed from what was intended. A missionary to the Chinese, therefore, should be possessed of a musical ear. Without this, the acquisition of the spoken language will be attended by very arduous labour; and, perhaps, after years of toil, he will find that he still frequently fails in correctly conveying his meaning.

LONDON LOCALITIES IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

At Ludgate was a gaol, where the prisoners clamoured for alms at the barred grate; and it was here that Sir Thomas Wyatt had been repulsed. The city wall that joined this gate to its other fellow gates ran from the Tower through the Minories to Aldgate, Houndsditch, and Bishopsgate, through Cripplegate to Aldersgate, and so past Christ's Hospital by Newgate and Ludgate to the Thames.

Pimlico was a country place where citizens used to repair to eat "pudding pies" on a Sunday, as they did to Islington or Hogsden to take tobacco and drink new milk; as Islington was famous for its dairy, where Sir Walter Raleigh is said to have lived in an old house still standing, so Holloway was famous for its cheese cakes; and it is these peculiarities that, after all, confer immortality upon a place. Chelsea was the mere village of Chelsea, known from Sir Thomas More's house, where Henry VIII. had walked with his arm round that great statesman's doomed neck; as Holborn was then a country road leading to the pleasant village of St. Giles, and trending on to the way that led to Oxford and to fatal Tyburn, so called from its burn or brook, then well known to patient city anglers. The triple tree or gallows stood at the corner of the present Edgware Road. The same Oxford Street led also, if you turned up one side of the Hampstead Road, to the Tottenham Court, which stood there alone far in the country, and Primrose Hill was an untrodden hillock, surrounded by wide paths and ditches between this court and Hampstead.

A cheerful little stream, known by the pleasant name of the Fleet, rose near Hampstead Hill, and joined by the Old Bourne and recruited by sparkling Clerken Well, emptied itself in the Thames. Though even then merely a sewer, it was open, and had four bridges of its own, while the Thames had but one; and these were known as Holborn Bridge, Fleet-lane Bridge, Fleet Bridge, and Bridewell Bridge.

Spitalfields was a grassy open space, with artillery grounds and a pulpit and cross, where fairs were held and sermons preached. There were also Tothill Fields, and Finsbury Fields, and Moor Fields, just outside the city walls, laid out in walks, and planted, as far as Hoxton. Round these squares there were windmills and everything equally rural. As for Piccadilly, it was everywhere known as a road to Reading, and by many herbalists, as harbouring the small wild foxglove in its dry ditches.

Outside Temple Bar, before the wooden gatehouse was built, lay the Strand, the road leading from the city to the houses of Court. This river bank was the chosen residence of the nobility, whose gardens stretched to the edge of the then undefiled river. The sky then was pure and bright, for our ancestors burnt wood fires, and the water was gay with thousands of boats. Each house had its terrace, its water stairs, and garden. The street houses were so scattered that the river could be seen between them, and there were three water courses there traversed by bridges, besides two churches and a maypole. Here stood York House, where Bacon was born, and Durham Place, where Raleigh lived, with his study in a turret overlooking the river; there also were Arundel House and Essex House, where great men pined and plotted.

At Whitehall stood Wolsey's Palace, enlarged by Henry VIII., and Elizabeth's favourite residence when not at Nonsuch in Surrey, Windsor, Greenwich, or Richmond. The tilt-yard stood where the Horse Guards now stands. St. James's Palace, also built by Henry VIII., where the Queen's melancholy-bigot sister had died, was seldom inhabited by the Court; but the park was even then existing. As for the old palace of Richard III. (Baynard's Castle), that had been let to the Earl of Pembroke, and the same king's dwelling of Crosby Hall had fallen into the hands of an alderman.

WARWICK THE KING-MAKER.

On the right-hand side of Newgate-street are various streets and courts leading into Paternoster-row. Of these, Warwick and Ivy lanes, Panyer-alley, and Lovel's-court, merit the attention of the lover of literary and historical antiquities. Warwick-lane, now the abode of butchers and tallow-chandlers, took its name from the inn or house of the celebrated Warwick, the king-maker.

Stow mentions his coming to London in the famous convention of 1458, with 600 men, all in red jackets, embroidered, with ragged staves, before and behind, and was lodged in Warwick-lane; "in whose house there was often six oxen eaten at a breakfast, and every taverne was full of his meate, for hee that had any acquaintance in that house, might have there so much of sodden and roaste meate, as he could pricke and carry upon a long dagger."

The memory of the earl was long preserved by a small stone statue, placed in the side front of a tobacconist's, at the corner of this lane; and there is a public-house which has the earl's head for its sign.

THANKSGIVING DAY IN 1697.

The following is an extract from the "Post Boy" of the above date:--

"Thursday, December 2, 1697. Thursday being appointed for the day of Thanksgiving, the same was ushered in with ringing of bells; the king went to the Chapel Royal, where, &c., and at night we had bonfires and illuminations. The fine fireworks in St. James's Square were lighted after this manner:--About twelve o'clock, the Foot Guards lined the avenues; the rockets and all things being fixed on the rails the day before: a little after six, the king, attended by his guards, came to the Earl of Romney's house, from whence soon after a signal was given, by firing a rocket, for the fireworks to go off, which were immediately lighted; the performance was extraordinary fine, and much applauded; the same continued somewhat better than half an hour, and there were divers sorts of fireworks; some had the king's name, others the arms of England; in a word, they were very curious. There was a man and a woman unfortunately killed, and divers others hurt by the falling down of sticks. About half an hour after, His Majesty went to St. James's there being a fine ball."

THE GREY MAN'S PATH.

The Grey Man's Path.]

The annexed sketch depicts a scene in the coast rocks at Fairhead, near Ballycastle in Ireland. Fhir Leith, or "The Grey Man's Path," (a fissure in the precipice,) viewed either from land or sea, is never to be forgotten: it seems as though some supernatural power, determined to hew for itself a pathway through the wonderful formations that tower along the coast--so that it might visit or summon the spirits of the deep, without treading a road made by mortal hands--had willed the fearful chasm that divides the rocky promontory in two. The singular passage, in its narrow part, is barred across by the fragment of a pillar, hurled, as it were, over the fissure, and supported on both sides at a considerable elevation. If you descend, you perceive the passage widens, and becomes more important; its dark sides assume greater height, and a more wild and sombre magnificence; and at last they extend upwards, above 220 feet, through which the tourist arrives at the massive _debris_ which crowd the base of the mighty promontory, where the northern ocean rolls his threatening billows. From the cragsmen and boatmen of this wild coast you hear no tales of Faery, no hints of the gentle legends and superstitions collected in the south, or in the inland districts of the north; not that they are a whit less superstitious, but their superstition is, as the superstition of the sea kings, of a bold and peculiar character; their ghosts come from out the deep, before or after the rising of the moon, and climb, or rather stalk up the rocks, and, seated upon those mysterious pillars, converse together; so that, in the fisherman's huts, they say, "it thunders." Even mermaids are deemed too trifling in their habits and manners for this stupendous scenery, where spirits of the gigantic world congregate, and where the "Grey Man" of the North Sea stalks forth, silently and alone, up his appropriate path, to witness some mighty convulsion of nature.

ANCIENT JET NECKLACE.

Ancient Jet Necklace.]

Various interesting ornaments, belonging to the Archaic, or Bronze period in Scotland, are preserved in the Museum of Scottish Antiquaries, and one set in particular, found enclosed in an urn within a rude stone cist, on the demolition of a tumulus near the Old House of Assynt, Rossshire, in 1824, we here engrave. They include a necklace of irregular oval jet beads, which appear to have been strung together like a common modern string of beads, and are sufficiently rude to correspond with the works of a very primitive era. The other ornaments which are represented here about one-fourth the size of the original, are curiously studded with gold spots, arranged in patterns similar to those with which the rude pottery of the British tumuli are most frequently decorated, and the whole are perforated with holes passing obliquely from the back through the edge, evidently designed for attaching them to each other by means of threads.

JUGGLERS IN JAPAN.

The perfection of jugglery in Japan entitles it to be ranked amongst the fine arts. An eye-witness thus describes the performance of a Japanese juggler. "Here are some of his feats:--No. 1. He took an ordinary boy's top, spun it in the air, caught it on his hand, and then placed it (still spinning) upon the edge of a sword, near the hilt. Then he dropped the sword point a little, and the top moved slowly towards it. Arrived at the very end, the hilt was lowered in turn, and the top brought back. As usual, the sword was dangerously sharp. No. 2 was also performed with the top. He spun it in the air, and then threw the end of the string back towards it with such accuracy that it was caught up and wound itself all ready for a second cast. By the time it had done this it had reached his hand, and was ready for another spin. No. 3 was still performed with the top. There was an upright pole, upon the top of which was perched a little house, with a very large front door. The top was spun, made to climb the pole, knock open the said front door, and disappear. As well as I remember, the hand end of the string was fastened near the door, so that this was almost a repetition of the self-winding feat. But feat No. 4 was something even more astonishing than all this. He took two paper butterflies, armed himself with the usual paper fan, threw them into the air, and, fanning gently, kept them flying about him as if they had been alive. 'He can make them alight wherever you wish! Try him!' remarked the Kami (Prince), through the interpreter. Mr. H---- requested that one might alight upon each ear of the juggler. No sooner expressed than complied with. Gentle undulations of the fan waved them slowly to the required points, and there left them comfortably seated. Now, whether this command over pieces of paper was obtained simply by currents of air, or by the power of a concealed magnet, Mr. H---- could not tell or ascertain. One thing, however, was certain, the power was there."

MAY-FAIR PLAY BILL IN THE TIME OF WILLIAM III.
WILLIAM REX.
MAY-FAIR.
MILLER'S,
OR THE LOYAL ASSOCIATION BOOTH,
AT THE UPPER END OF
BROOK-FIELD MARKET,
NEAR HYDE PARK CORNER.
DURING THE TIME OF MAY-FAIR, WILL BE PRESENTED
AN EXCELLENT DROLL, CALLED
KING WILLIAM'S HAPPY DELIVERANCE
AND GLORIOUS TRIUMPH OVER HIS ENEMIES,
OR THE CONSULTATION OF THE
POPE, DEVIL, FRENCH KING, AND THE GRAND TURK,
WITH THE WHOLE FORM OF THE SIEGE OF NAMUR,
AND THE HUMOURS OF A RENEGADE FRENCH MAN
AND BRANDY JEAN,
WITH THE CONCEITS OF SCARAMOUCH AND HARLEQUIN,
TOGETHER WITH THE BEST SINGING AND DANCING THAT WAS
EVER SEEN IN A FAIR, ALSO A DIALOGUE SONG.
VIVAT REX.

BELLS.

Bells were formerly a prolific source of superstition. There is a valley in Nottinghamshire, where a village is said to have been swallowed up by an earthquake, and it was the custom on Christmas Day morning for the people to assemble in this valley and listen to the fancied ringing of the church bells underground. At Abbot's Morton there is a tradition that the silver bells belonging to the abbot are buried in the site of his old residence there. At Ledbury, a legend relates that St. Katharine had a revelation that she was to travel about, and not rest at any place, till she heard the bells ringing of their own accord. This was done by the Ledbury bells on her approaching that town. When the church at Inkberrow was rebuilt on a new site in ancient days, it was believed that the fairies took umbrage at the change, as they were supposed to be averse to bells; they accordingly endeavoured to obstruct the building, but, as they did not succeed, the following lamentation was occasionally heard by the startled rustics:

"Neither sleep, neither lie,
For Inkbro's ting-tangs hang so nigh."

Many years ago the twelve parish churches in Jersey each possessed a beautiful and valuable peal of bells; but during a long civil war, the states determined on selling these bells to defray the heavy expenses of their army. The bells were accordingly collected, and sent to France for that purpose; but, on the passage, the ship foundered, and everything was lost, to show the wrath of Heaven at the sacrilege. Since then, before a storm, these bells ring up from the deep; and, to this day, the fishermen of St. Ouen's Bay always go to the edge of the water before embarking, to listen if they can hear "the bells upon the wind;" and, if those warning notes are heard, nothing will induce them to leave the shore; if all is quiet they fearlessly set sail. As a gentleman, who has versified the legend, says:

"'Tis an omen of death to the mariner,
Who wearily fights with the sea;
For the foaming surge is his winding sheet,
And his funeral knell are we:
His funeral knell our passing bells beat,
And his winding sheet the sea."

BRIBING THE DEMONS.

The rich inhabitants of the Celestial Empire, it is almost needless to say, make an exorbitant display at funerals. They invite as many relations and friends as they can, in order to muster an imposing procession, and the mourning dresses worn by the whole party are at the cost of the family of the deceased, who are also bound to provide them for several days together with splendid repasts. A great number of musicians are hired for the occasion, and also of _weepers_, for though most people in China are pretty well skilled in the art of shedding tears, there exist mourners by profession, who have carried it to still greater perfection, and are absolutely inimitable at sobs and groans. They follow the coffin in long white robes, hempen girdles, and dishevelled hair; and their lamentations are accompanied by the beating of gongs, by the sharp and discordant sounds of rude instruments of music, and the discharge of fireworks. The sudden explosion and the smell of the powder are supposed to be efficacious in frightening away the demons, and hindering them from seizing on the soul of the defunct, which never fails to follow the coffin; and as these malevolent spirits have also the reputation of being extremely covetous and fond of money, people endeavour to get on their weak side. They let fall, for this purpose, all along the road, sapecks and bank-notes, that the wind carries away in all directions; and as the demons in China are by no means so cunning as the men, they are taken in by this device, and fall into the trap with charming simplicity, though, the supposed bank-notes are in fact only bits of white paper. Whilst they are engaged in pursuing these deceitful appearances of riches, the soul of the defunct proceeds quietly and comfortably after its coffin without any danger of its being stopped by the way.

HOLY-WATER SPRINKLER.

To sprinkle the holy water was, in ancient times, the cant phrase for fetching blood, which will account for the appellation of a certain class of weapons, as there is no resemblance whatever between them and the aspergillum used by Roman Catholics. The specimen we have here sketched is a demi holy-water-sprinkler--to speak in the language of the time--"with gonnes at the ende." This awkward weapon, prior, in point of date, to the invention of the matchlock, and, therefore, not later than the time of Edward IV., was made to hang at the saddle-bow instead of a mace. The iron cap at the end is furnished with a spear-like blade, and opens on an hinge, or is held in its place by a hook. It contains four short barrels, each of which is fired by a match, and its touch-hole is protected by a sliding piece of wood.

Holy Water Sprinkler.]

In using this weapon the intention was first to fire at the enemy with the "gonnes at the ende," and then to club him on coming to close quarters. To effect all this, however, in a satisfactory manner, much time must have been lost, and many accidents, no doubt, were liable to happen to the person who used such a weapon as this, which was almost as dangerous to the man who possessed it, as to the enemy against whom he directed it. The lid at the top must first have been opened, and not only so, but must have been kept open all the time the weapon was used as a gun, and then, previously to closing with the foe, it must have been necessary to secure it, lest, in brandishing the instrument as a club, the open lid should strike against the head of the man who wielded it. No wonder that this dangerous compound of club and gun soon went out of fashion, and survived its invention only a very few years.

FIRST TEA-DRINKERS PUZZLED.

The first brewers of tea were often sorely perplexed with the preparation of the new mystery. "Mrs. Hutchinson's great grandmother was one of a party who sat down to the first pound of tea that ever came into Penrith. It was sent as a present, and without directions how to use it. They boiled the whole at once in a bottle, and sat down to eat the leaves with butter and salt, and they wondered how any person could like such a diet."

COLUMN AT CUSSI.

Column at Cussi.]