Chapter VII: Part 7

The Fathers of the Church, and the Disciples of the Sorbonne, persuaded of the universal influence of the Christian faith, believed the dark cross on the back of the ass to date only from the day on which our Saviour made his entry into Jerusalem. The ass of the desert was an animal of great price. Pliny mentions that the Senator Arius paid for one the sum of four hundred thousand sesterces. Naturalists have frequently remarked the extraordinary dimensions of an ass's heart, which is thought an indication of courage; and it is the custom of the peasantry of some countries to make their children wear a piece of ass's skin about their person. The ass's skin is peculiarly valuable, both for the manufacture of writing-tablets and drums; which may be the reason why a dead ass is so rarely seen. It is too valuable to be left on the highway. In many places, the ass serves as a barometer. If he roll in the dust, fine weather may be expected; but if he erect his ears, rain is certain. Why should not these animals experience the same atmospheric influences as man? Are we not light-hearted in the sunshine, and depressed in a heavy atmosphere?

CHOICE RECEIPTS FROM "PHYSICK FOR THE POOR. LONDON, 1657."

_To make any one that Sleepeth answer to whatsoever thou ask._--Take the heart of an oul, and his right legg, and put them upon the breast of one that sleepeth, and they shall reveal whatsoever thou ask them.

_To know any Man or Woman's minde when they are Asleep._--Take the hart of a dove, and the legg of a frog, dry it well, and beat them to powder in a morter, put this up in a linnen cloth, with three or four round pibble stones, as big as wallnuts, then lay this upon the parties pit of their stomach, and they shall tell you all things that they have done, if there is anything remarkable that troubles them.

_To make the Nose Bleed._--Take the leaves of yerrow, put it up in thy nose; this will make the nose bleed immediately.

_To make a Tooth Drop out._--Mizaldus saith that if you make a powder of earth-worms and put it in the hollow of a rotten tooth, it will immediately drop out.

How strange must have been the education and intelligence of the period, when people could write, publish, and practice such incredible trash!

SHOCKING DEPRAVITY.

The following account, from an old magazine, affords a strange and lamentable instance of a wretch just about to die, being only intent with his latest breath to defame his own mother:--

Mary Lynn, condemn'd last Assizes for the County of Norfolk, was burnt to ashes at a stake, for being concern'd in the murder of her mistress; and Smith, the principal, was hang'd for the same fact. She deny'd her being guilty, and said Smith could clear her if he would. She behaved with decency, and died penitent. Smith was drunk at the gallows; and seem'd to have but little sense either of his crime or punishment; however, desired all masters to pay their servants' wages on Saturday night, that they might have money to spend, and not run in debt. Said, "My mother always told me I should die in my shoes, but I will make her a liar;" so threw them off.

PERSONAL CHARMS DISCLAIMED.

If any human being was free from personal vanity, it must have been the second Duchess d'Orleans, Charlotte Elizabeth of Bavaria. In one of her letters (dated 9th August, 1718), she says, "I must certainly be monstrously ugly. I never had a good feature. My eyes are small, my nose short and thick, my lips broad and thin. These are not materials to form a beautiful face. Then I have flabby, lank cheeks, and long features, which suit ill with my low stature. My waist and my legs are equally clumsy. Undoubtedly I must appear to be an odious little wretch; and had I not a tolerable good character, no creature could endure me. I am sure a person must be a conjuror to judge me by my eyes that I have a grain of wit."

CADER IDRIS.

On the very summit of Cader Idris there is an excavation in the solid rock, resembling a couch; and it is said that whoever should rest a night in that seat, will be found in the morning either dead, raving mad, or endued with supernatural genius.

OLD LONDON SIGNS.

Some notion of the houses and shops of old London may be gathered by a visit to Bell Yard, near Temple Bar; Great Winchester Street, near the Bank; the wooden houses near Cripplegate Church; and a few other districts which were spared by the Great Fire of 1666. In Bell Yard, for instance, the national feeling for improvement has from time to time effected changes; the lattices of diamond-shaped lead-work, carved pendants, and the projecting signs of the various tradesmen, have disappeared, and here and there sheets of plate glass have been used, to give a somewhat modern appearance to the places of business. Still the projecting and massive wood-work of the shops, and the peculiar picturesque appearance of the houses, cannot be altogether disguised; and if any of our readers, who may be curious in such matters, will walk up Bailey's Court, on the west side of Bell Yard, he will there see a group of wooden buildings exactly like the great mass which was cleared by the fire. In some of the pictures of London of about this time, the shops of the various tradesmen were chiefly unglazed, and above the door of each was suspended the silver swans; the golden swans; the chained swans; the golden heads; mitres; bells--black, red, white, and blue; rising and setting suns; moons of different phases; men in the moon; sceptres; crowns, and many other devices, which, even at that time, were necessary to distinguish one shop from another. The chequers; St. George and the dragon; royal oaks; king's heads; and double signs, such as the horseshoe and magpie; bell and crown; bell and horns, and such like, were more particularly set apart for the use of the various hostelries. Everyone, however, who had a London shop of any kind or consequence, had his sign. Many of them were well carved in wood, and ornamented with emblazonry and gilding.

No doubt if it were possible to find at the present time the same picturesque architectural displays as were to be met with in London in Queen Elizabeth's days, our artistic friends would be able to pick up many a nice subject for their pencils, but in those days there were plenty of drawbacks; the pavement was bad, the drainage was worse, and from the eaves of the houses and pents of the shops, streams of water ran down in wet weather upon the wayfarers, and, by lodging in the thoroughfares, made the London streets something in the same state as those of Agar Town and some other neglected parts of the metropolis. We must not forget that in the days to which we allude there were no flagged footpaths, and that the only distinction from the horse and cart roads, and that for the foot passengers, was a separation by wooden posts, which, in genteel places, were made supports for chains. People, however, got tired of this bad state of things, and measures were taken to put a stop to the streams of water from the roofs, &c. After the Great Fire, an enactment was made for an alteration in the spouts, &c.; all barbers poles, and projecting signs, and other projections were to be done away with, and other changes made for the better. Up to the reign of Queen Anne, we find, by reference to views of Cheapside and the neighbourhood of the Monument, that the projecting signs were still in use; and that even at that recent date, many of the London shops in the important neighbourhoods above mentioned were without glazing, and looked much like some of the greengrocers' sheds in use now in Bermondsey and some other places.

Severe measures seem to have been at length taken against the projecting signs, and most of them disappeared, and then it became a most difficult matter either to address letters, or find a man's shop. In Dr. Johnson's day, he and other persons gave the address "over against" a particular sign, or so many doors from such a sign. In consequence of this uncertainty, many houses in London, which from their association with eminent men would possess much interest now, cannot be pointed out; and it was a wonderful benefit to the metropolis when the plan of numbering the houses in each street was hit upon. But for this, considering that the population has doubled in the last fifty years, it is difficult to know how the genius of Rowland Hill would have worked his plan of London post-office delivery, or business could be carried on with any kind of comfort.

The booksellers and publishers seem to have been the last, with the exception of the tavern-keepers, to give up the old signs. After the Great Fire, some of the ancient signs which were cut in stone, and which had escaped the conflagration, were got out of the ruins, and afterwards placed in the front of the plain, yet solid, brick buildings which were erected after that event. Some of these--the "Chained Bear," the "Collared Swan," the "Moon and Seven Stars," and "Sun," in Cheapside, and some others which we now engrave--are still preserved. The carved wooden sign of the "Man in the Moon," in Wych Street, Strand, is a rare example; and the "Horse-shoe and Magpie," in Fetter Lane, is one of the last of the suspended signs to be now found in the City.

Painted Signs of London Taverns.]

Amongst the painted signs of London taverns worth notice, is one in Oxford-street (nearly opposite Rathbone-place), said to have been painted by Hogarth. The subject is "a man loaded with mischief." He has a stout woman on his shoulders, together with a monkey, magpie, etc. The male figure shown in this street picture seems to bear up pretty well under his burden.

NARROW ESCAPE.--CALM RELIANCE ON PROVIDENCE.

In the year 1552, Francis Pelusius, of sixty-three years old, digging a well forty foot deep in the hill of St. Sebastian, the earth above him fell in upon him to thirty-five foot depth; he was somewhat sensible before of what was coming, and opposed a plank, which by chance he had with him, against the ruins, himself lying under it; by this means he was protected from the huge weight of earth, and retained some room and breath to himself, by which he lived seven days and nights without food or sleep, without any pain or sorrow, being full of hope, which he placed in God only. Ever and anon he called for help, as being yet safe, but was heard by none, though he could hear the motion, noise and words of those that were above him, and could count the hours as the clock went. After the seventh day, he being all this while given for dead, they brought a bier for his corpse, and when a good part of the well was digged up, on a sudden they heard the voice of one crying from the bottom. At first they were afraid, as if it had been the voice of a subterranean spirit; the voice continuing, they had some hope of his life, and hastened to dig to him, till at last, after they had given him a glass of wine, they drew him up living and well, his strength so entire that to lift him out he would not suffer himself to be bound, nor would use any help of another. Yea, he was of so sound understanding, that, jesting, he drew out his purse and gave them money, saying _He had been with such good hosts, that for seven days it had not cost him a farthing_.

CEILING OF WHITEHALL.

The celebrated painting on the roof of the Banqueting House, has been restored, re-painted, and refreshed, not fewer than three times. In the reign of James II., 1687, Parrey Walton, a painter of still life, and the keeper of the king's pictures, was appointed to re-touch this grand work of art, which had then (as appears by the Privy Council Book) been painted only sixty years. Walton was paid L212 for its complete restoration, which sum was considered by Sir Christopher Wren, "as very modest and reasonable." It was restored a second time by the celebrated Cipriani; and for a third time by a painter named Rigaud.

BUNYAN'S BIBLE.

John Bunyan's Bible (printed by Bill and Barker) bound in morocco, and which had been his companion during his twelve years' unjustifiable confinement in Bedford gaol, where he wrote his "Pilgrim's Progress," was purchased at the sale of the library of the Rev. S. Palmer, of Hackney, March, 1814, for the late Samuel Whitbread, Esq., for the sum of L21. This Bible, and the "Book of Martyrs," are said to have constituted the whole library of Bunyan during his imprisonment.

SPECIMENS OF ROYAL GRANTS.

In 1206, King John grants to W. de Camville a licence to destroy game in any of the royal forests, which proves the origin of the Game Laws.

1238. Henry III. gave 500_l._ to Baldwyn, Emperor of Constantinople.

1342. King Edward III. forgives to the mayor and citizens of London the indignation and rancour of mind that he had conceived against them.

1344. The king grants to Adam Thorp, the trimmer of his beard, certain lands at Eye, near Westminster. The scrupulous attention which Edward III. paid to that ornament of his face, may be seen in his bronze effigy in Westminster Abbey, which was taken from a mask after his death.

1409. The king settles on Joan of Navarre, his queen, 10,000_l._ per annum.

1417. Henry V. grants to Joan Warin, his nurse, an annuity of 20_l._ during life.

1422. The jewels which had belonged to King Henry V., and were valued at so large a sum as 40,000_l._, were delivered to Sir Henry Fitz Hugh, and his other executors, for the payment of his personal debts.

1422. The "Pysane," or great collar of gold and rubies, was pawned by the king to his uncle, Cardinal Beaufort, who is supposed, at the time of his death, to have amassed more wealth than any subject in England.

COFFEE AND TEA.

The bill for attendance at the Dorchester Assizes in 1686 of Mr. John Bragge, the town-clerk of Lyme, presents this novelty--the article _coffee_ is charged 2d. This may have been drunk at a coffee-house. Coffee was introduced from Turkey in 1650.

An advertisement in the "Mercurius Politicus," Sept. 30, 1658, instructs how "That excellent and by all physitians approved _China_ drink, called by the Chineans Tcha, by other nations, _tay_ alias _tee_, is sold at the Sultana's Head Coffee-house, in Sweeting's-rents, by the Exchange, _London_.--"

There was a "cophee-house" in St. Michael's-alley, Cornhill, about 1657. Tea, coffee, and chocolate were placed under the excise. There was no tax upon these commodities when imported, but when made into drink, as tea was, at 8d. a gallon, and sold at these houses.

REMARKABLE PRESERVATION OF HUMAN HAIR SINCE THE NORMAN PERIOD.

In 1839 a coffin was discovered in the abbey church of Romsey, which had originally contained the body of a female of the above early time. The bones had entirely decayed, but the hair, with its characteristic indestructibility, was found entire, and appeared as if the skull had only recently been removed from it, retaining its form entire, and having plaited tails eighteen inches in length. It is still preserved in a glass case, lying upon the same block of oak which has been its pillow for centuries.

PUBLIC TASTE FOR CONJURING IN 1718.

One of the amusements of 1718 was the juggling exhibition of a fire-eater, whose name was De Hightrehight, a native of the valley of Annivi in the Alps. This tremendous person ate burning coals, chewed flaming brimstone and _swallowed_ it, licked a red-hot poker, placed a red-hot heater on his tongue, kindled coals on his tongue, suffered them to be blown, and broiled meat on them, ate melted pitch, brimstone, bees-wax, sealing-wax, and rosin, with a spoon; and, to complete the business, he performed all these impossibilities five times _per diem_, at the Duke of Marlborough's Head, in Fleet-street, for the trifling receipts of 2s. 6d., 1s. 6d., and 1s. Master Hightrehight had the honour of exhibiting before Lewis XIV., the Emperor of Germany, the King of Sicily, the Doge of Venice, and an infinite number of princes and nobles--and the Prince of Wales, who had nearly lost this inconceivable pleasure by the envious interposition of the Inquisition at Bologna and in Piedmont, which holy office seemed inclined to try _their mode of burning_ on his _body_, leaving to him the care of resisting the flames and rendering them harmless; but he was preserved from the unwelcome ordeal by the interference of the Dutchess Royal Regent of Savoy and the Marquis Bentivoglia.

THE TRIUMPHS OF SCIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE.

Distance seems not to have entered into the calculations of the engineers who built those monuments of human skill--carriage-roads over the Alps. They were after a certain grade, and they obtained it, though by contortions and serpentine windings that seem almost endless. Thus the Simplon averages nowhere more than one inch elevation to a foot, and, indeed, not quite that. Thirty thousand men were employed on this road six years. There are six hundred and eleven bridges in less than forty miles, ten galleries, and twenty houses of refuge, while the average width of the road is over twenty-five feet. The Splugen presents almost as striking features as the Simplon. From these facts, some idea may be gathered of the stupendous work it must be to carry a carriage-road over the Alps.

CHRISTMAS PIE.

The following appeared in the _Newcastle Chronicle_, 6th January, 1770:--

"Monday last was brought from Howick to Berwick, to be shipped for London, for Sir Henry Grey, bart., a pie, the contents whereof are as follows:--2 bushels of flour, 20 lbs. of butter, 4 geese, 2 turkeys, 2 rabbits, 4 wild ducks, 2 woodcocks, 6 snipes, 4 partridges, 2 neats' tongues, 2 curlews, 7 blackbirds, and 6 pigeons: it is supposed a very great curiosity, was made by Mrs. Dorothy Patterson, housekeeper at Howick. It was near nine feet in circumference at bottom, weighs about twelve stones, will take two men to present it at table; it is neatly fitted with a case, and four small wheels to facilitate its use to every guest that inclines to partake of its contents at table."

THE UPAS, (POISON) TREE.

We give here an instance of the extravagancies of ancient travellers, this tissue of falsehoods being taken from "Foersch's Description of Java:"--

The _Bohon Upas_ is situated in the Island of Java about twenty-seven leagues from Batavia, fourteen from Soulis Charta, the seat of the Emperor, and between eighteen and twenty leagues from Tinkjoe, the present residence of the Sultan of Java. It is surrounded on all sides by a circle of high hills and mountains; and the country round it, to the distance of ten or twelve miles from the tree, is entirely barren. Not a tree, nor a shrub, nor even the least plant or grass is to be seen. I have made the tour all around this dangerous spot, at about eighteen miles distant from the centre, and I found the aspect of the country on all sides equally dreary. The easiest ascent of the hills is from that part where the old Ecclesiastick dwells. From his house the criminals are sent for the poison, into which the points of all warlike instruments are dipped. It is of high value, and produces a considerable revenue to the Emperor. The poison which is procured from this tree is a gum that issues out between the bark and the tree itself, like the _camphor_. Malefactors, who for their crimes are sentenced to die, are the only persons who fetch the poison; and this is the only chance they have of saving their lives. After sentence is pronounced upon them by the Judge, they are asked in Court, whether they will die by the hands of the executioner, or whether they will go to the Upas-tree for a box of poison? They commonly prefer the latter proposal, as there is not only some chance of preserving their lives, but also a certainty, in case of their safe return, that a provision will be made for them in future by the Emperor. They are also permitted to ask a favour from the Emperor, which is generally of a trifling nature, and commonly granted. They are then provided with a silver or tortoise-shell box, in which they are to put the poisonous gum, and are properly instructed how to proceed while they are upon their dangerous expedition. They are always told to attend to the direction of the wind, as they are to go towards the tree before the wind; so that the effluvia from the tree is always blown from them. They go to the house of the old ecclesiastick who prepares them by prayers and admonitions for their future fate; he puts them on a long leathern cap with two glasses before their eyes, which comes down as far as their breast; and also provides them with a pair of leather gloves. They are conducted by the priest, and their friends, and relations, about two miles on their journey. The old Ecclesiastick assured me that in upwards of thirty years, he had dismissed above seven hundred criminals in the manner described, and that scarcely two out of twenty have returned. All the Malayans consider this tree as an holy instrument of the great prophet to punish the sins of mankind, and, therefore, to die of the poison of the Upas is generally considered among them as an honourable death. This, however, is certain, that from fifteen to eighteen miles round this tree, not only no human creature can exist, but no animal of _any kind_ has ever been discovered, there are no fish in the waters, and when any birds fly so near this tree that the effluvia reaches them, they drop down dead.

DEATH CAUSED BY SUPERSTITION.

In Hamburg, in 1784, a singular accident occasioned the death of a young couple. The lady going to the church of the Augustin Friars, knelt down near a Mausoleum, ornamented with divers figures in marble, among which was that of Death, armed with a scythe, a small piece of the scythe being loose, fell on the hood of the lady's mantelet. On her return home, she mentioned the circumstance as a matter of indifference to her husband, who, being a credulous and superstitious man, cried out in a terrible panic, that it was a presage of the death of his dear wife. The same day he was seized with a violent fever, took to his bed, and died. The disconsolate lady was so affected at the loss, that she was taken ill, and soon followed him. They were both interred in the same grave; and their inheritance, which was very considerable, fell to some very distant relations.

ST. PAUL AND THE VIPER.--THE CHURCH AT MALTA.

Not far from the old city of Valetta, in the island of Malta, there is a small church dedicated to St. Paul, and just by the church, a miraculous statue of the Saint with a viper on his hand; supposed to be placed on the very spot on which he was received after his shipwreck on this island, and where he shook the viper off his hand into the fire, without being hurt by it. At which time the Maltese assure us, the Saint cursed all the venomous animals of the island, and banished them for ever; just as St. Patrick treated those of his favourite isle. Whether this be the cause of it or not, we shall leave to divines to determine, though if it had, St. Luke would probably have mentioned it in the Acts of the Apostles; but the fact is certain, that there are no venomous animals in Malta.

THE FIRST HERMITS--WHY SO-CALLED.

Hermits, or _Eremites_, (from the Greek [Greek: _eremos_], a desert place,) were men who retired to desert places to avoid persecution; they lodged in caves and cells:--

"Where from the mountain's grassy side,
Their guiltless feast they bring;
A scrip with herbs and fruit supply'd,
And water from the spring."

The first hermit was Paul, of Thebes, in Egypt, who lived about the year 260; the second, was St. Anthony, also of Egypt, who died in 345, at the age of 105.

ST. JAMES'S SQUARE.

The author of _A Tour through the Island of Great Britain_ (Daniel Defoe), second edition, 1738, gives us the following particulars of this aristocratic locality:--"The alterations lately made in St. James's Square are entitled to our particular notice. It used to be in a very ruinous condition, considering the noble houses in it, which are inhabited by the first quality. But now it is finely paved all over with heading-stone; a curious oval bason full of water, surrounded with iron rails on a dwarf wall, is placed in the middle, mostly 7 feet deep and 150 diameter. In the centre is a pedestal about fifteen feet square, designed for a statue of King William III. The iron rails are octagonal, and at each angle without the rails, is a stone pillar about 9 feet high, and a lamp on the top. The gravel walk within the rails is about 26 feet broad from each angle to the margin of the basin. It was done at the expense of the inhabitants by virtue of an act of parliament. The house that once belonged to the Duke of Ormond, and since to the Duke of Chandos, is pulled down and makes three noble ones, besides fine stables and coach-houses behind, and two or three more good houses in the street leading to St. James's Church. This noble square wants nothing but to have the lower part of it, near Pall Mall, built of a piece with the rest, and the designed statue to be erected in the middle of the basin.

"His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales has taken the Duke of Norfolk's house, and another adjoining to it, which are now (October, 1737), actually repairing for his town residence; Carlton House being too small for that purpose."

THE MORAYSHIRE FLOODS.

The Morayshire Floods.]

In the month of August, 1829, the province of Moray and adjoining districts were visited by a tremendous flood. Its ravages were most destructive along the course of those rivers which have their source in the Cairngorm mountains. The waters of the Findhorn and the Spey, and their tributaries, rose to an unexampled height. In some parts of their course these streams rose fifty feet above their natural level. Many houses were laid desolate, much agricultural produce was destroyed, and several lives were lost. The woodcut in our text represents the situation of a boatman called Sandy Smith, and his family, in the plains of Forres. "They were huddled together," says the eloquent historian of the Floods, "on a spot of ground a few feet square, some forty or fifty yards below their inundated dwelling. Sandy was sometimes standing and sometimes sitting on a small cask, and, as the beholders fancied, watching with intense anxiety the progress of the flood, and trembling for every large tree that it brought sweeping past them. His wife, covered with a blanket, sat shivering on a bit of a log, one child in her lap, and a girl of about seventeen, and a boy of about twelve years of age, leaning against her side. A bottle and a glass on the ground, near the man, gave the spectators, as it had doubtless given him, some degree of comfort. About a score of sheep were standing around, or wading or swimming in the shallows. Three cows and a small horse, picking at a broken rick of straw that seemed to be half-afloat, were also grouped with the family." The account of the rescue of the sufferers is given with a powerful dramatic effect, but we cannot afford space for the quotation. The courageous adventurers who manned the boat for this dangerous enterprise, after being carried over a cataract, which overwhelmed their boat, caught hold of a floating hay-cock, to which they clung till it stuck among some young alder-trees. Each of them then grasping a bough, they supported themselves for two hours among the weak and brittle branches. They afterwards recovered the boat under circumstances almost miraculous, and finally succeeded in rescuing Sandy and his family from their perilous situation.

TREATMENT AND CONDITION OF WOMEN IN FORMER TIMES.

From the subversion of the Roman Empire, to the fourteenth or fifteenth century, women spent most of their time alone, almost entire strangers to the joys of social life; they seldom went abroad, but to be spectators of such public diversions and amusements as the fashions of the times countenanced. Francis I. was the first who introduced women on public days to Court; before his time nothing was to be seen at any of the Courts of Europe, but grey-bearded politicians, plotting the destruction of the rights and liberties of mankind, and warriors clad in complete armour, ready to put their plots in execution. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries elegance had scarcely any existence, and even cleanliness was hardly considered as laudable. The use of linen was not known; and the most delicate of the fair sex wore woollen shifts. In Paris they had meat only three times a week; and one hundred livres, (about five pounds sterling,) was a large portion for a young lady. The better sort of citizens used splinters of wood and rags dipped in oil, instead of candles, which, in those days, were a rarity hardly to be met with. Wine was only to be had at the shops of the Apothecaries, where it was sold as a cordial; and to ride in a two-wheeled cart, along the dirty rugged streets, was reckoned a grandeur of so enviable a nature, that Philip the Fair prohibited the wives of citizens from enjoying it. In the time of Henry VIII. of England, the peers of the realm carried their wives behind them on horseback, when they went to London; and in the same manner took them back to their country seats with hoods of waxed linen over their heads, and wrapped in mantles of cloth to secure them from the cold.

HOMER IN A NUTSHELL.

Huet, Bishop of Avranches, thus writes in his autobiography:--"When his Highness the Dauphin was one day confined to his bed by a slight illness, and we who stood round were endeavouring to entertain him by pleasant conversation, mention was by chance made of the person who boasted that he had written Homer's Iliad in characters so minute, that the whole could be enclosed in a walnut shell. This appearing incredible to many of the company, I contended not only that it might be done, but that I could do it. As they expressed their astonishment at this assertion, that I might not be suspected of idle boasting, I immediately put it to the proof. I therefore took the fourth part of a common leaf of paper, and on its narrower side wrote a single line in so small a character that it contained twenty verses of the Iliad: of such lines each page of the paper could easily admit 120, therefore the page would contain 2400 Homeric verses: and as the leaf so divided would give eight pages it would afford room for above 19,000 verses, whereas the whole number in the Iliad does not exceed 17,000. Thus by my single line I demonstrated my proposition."

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF CHARING CROSS AND CHEAPSIDE CROSS.

The following interesting "Autobiographies" of the Old London Crosses, are extracted from Henry Peacham's _Dialogue between the Crosse in Cheap and Charing Cross, confronting each other, as fearing their fall in these uncertaine times_, four leaves, 4to. 1641.

"_Charing Cross._--I am made all of white marble (which is not perceived of euery one) and so cemented with mortar made of the purest lime, Callis sand, whites of eggs and the strongest wort, that I defie all hatchets and hammers whatsoever. In King Henry the Eighth's daies I was begged, and should have been degraded for that I had:--Then in Edward the Sixe, when Somerset-house was building, I was in danger; after that, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, one of her footmen had like to have run away with me; but the greatest danger of all I was in, when I quak'd for fear, was in the time of King James, for I was eight times begged:--part of me was bespoken to make a kitchen chimney for a chiefe constable in Shoreditch; an inn-keeper in Holborn had bargained for as much of me as would make two troughes, one to stand under a pumpe to water his guests' horses, and the other to give his swine their meate in; the rest of my poore carcase should have been carried I know not whither to the repaire of a decayed stone bridge (as I was told) on the top of Harrow-hill. Our royall forefather and founder, King Edward the First you know, built our sister crosses, Lincolne, Granthame, Woburne, Northampton, Stonie-Stratford, Dunstable, Saint Albanes, and ourselves here in London, in the 21st yeare of his raigne, in the yeare 1289."

"_Cheapside Cross._--After this most valiant and excellent king had built me in forme, answerable in beauty and proportion to the rest, I fell to decay, at which time one John Hatherley, maior of London, having first obtained a licence of King Henry the Sixt, anno 1441, I was repaired in a beautiful manner. John Fisher, a mercer, after that gave 600 markes to my new erecting or building, which was finished anno 1484, and after in the second yeare of Henry the Eighth, I was gilded over against the coming in of Charles the Fift Emperor, and newly then gilded against the coronation of King Edward the Sixt, and gilded againe anno 1554, against the coronation of King Philip. Lord, how often have I been presented by juries of the quest for incombrance of the street, and hindring of cartes and carriages, yet I have kept my standing; I shall never forget how upon the 21st of June, anno 1581, my lower statues were in the night with ropes pulled and rent down, as in the resurrection of Christ--the image of the Virgin Mary, Edward the Confessor, and the rest. Then arose many divisions and new sects formerly unheard of, as Martin Marprelate, _alias_ Penrie, Browne, and sundry others, as the chronicle will inform you. My crosse should have been taken quite away, and a _Piramis_ errected in the place, but Queen Elizabeth (that queen of blessed memory) commanded some of her privie councell, in her Majesties name, to write unto Sir Nicholas Mosely, then Maior, to have me againe repaired with a crosse; yet for all this I stood bare for a yeare or two after: Her Highness being very angry, sent expresse word she would not endure their contempt, but expressly commanded forthwith the crosse should be set up, and sent a strict command to Sir William Rider, Lord Maior, and bade him to respect my antiquity; for that is the ancient ensigne of Christianity, &c. This letter was dated December 24, anno 1600. Last of all I was marvellously beautified and adorned against the comming in of King James, and fenced about with sharp pointed barres of iron, against the rude and villainous hands of such as upon condition as they might have the pulling me down, would be bound to rifle all Cheapside."

It is scarcely necessary to say that both crosses have long since disappeared, and their sites become uncertain, although the name of Charing Cross still distinguishes an important London district.

SOMETHING LIKE A FEAST.

Leland mentions a feast given by the Archbishop of York, at his installation, in the reign of Edward IV. The following is a specimen:--300 quarters of wheat, 300 tuns of ale, 100 tuns of wine, 1,000 sheep, 104 oxen, 304 calves, 304 swine, 2,000 geese, 1,000 capons, 2,000 pigs, 400 swans, 104 peacocks, 1,500 hot venison pasties, 4,000 cold, 5,000 custards hot and cold. Such entertainments are a picture of manners.

EGYPTIAN TOYS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

The truth of the old proverb, that "there is nothing new under the sun," will be recognised on an examination of the interesting group which forms the subject of our engraving. Here are dolls of different shapes, some of them for good children, and some, perhaps, for bad; foot-balls, covered with leather, &c., the stitches in parts still firmly adhering; models of fishes and fruit; and round pellets, which the "small boys" of the present day would call "marbles." These toys have been played with by little Egyptians who have been dead and buried three or four thousand years.

Many of the toys that hold places in the English and other markets are, so far as fashion is concerned, of considerable antiquity, having been made, without any alteration in pattern, by certain families for several generations. In the mountainous districts of the Savoy and Switzerland, large numbers, both of children and grown persons, are constantly employed in the manufacture of Noah's-arks, milkmaids &c. Some of the animals carved in wood, and sold here for small prices, show considerable skill in the imitation of the forms of nature, and could only be produced at their present cost, owing to the cheapness of living in those districts, and to the systematic division of labour.

Egyptian Toys.]

Near the birthplace of Prince Albert is a very large manufactory of military toys, such as drums, trumpets, helmets, &c.; and in parts of Holland--

"----The children take pleasure in making
What the children of England take pleasure in breaking."

THE PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT.

The Pyramids of Egypt, especially the two largest of the Pyramids of Jizeh, are the most stupendous masses of building, in stone, that human labour has ever been known to accomplish. The Egyptian Pyramids, of which, large and small, and in different states of preservation, the number is very considerable, are all situated on the west side of the Nile, and they extend, in an irregular line, and in groups, at some distance from each other, from the neighbourhood of Jizeh, in 30 deg. N. lat. as far south as 29 deg. N. lat., a length of between 60 and 70 miles. All the Pyramids have square bases, and their sides face the cardinal points.

Pyramids of Jizeh.]

The Pyramids of Jizeh are nearly opposite to Cairo. They stand on a plateau or terrace of limestone, which is a projection from the Libyan mountain-chain. The surface of the terrace is barren and irregular, and is covered with sand and small fragments of rock; its height, measured from the base of the Great Pyramids, is 164 feet above the Nile in its low state, taken at an average of the years 1798 to 1801. The north-east angle of the Great Pyramid is 1700 yards from the canal which runs between the terrace and the Nile, and about five miles from the Nile itself.

Herodotus was informed by the priests of Memphis that the Great Pyramid was built by Cheops, King of Egypt, about 900 B. C., or about 450 years before Herodotus visited Egypt. He says that 100,000 men were employed twenty years in building it, and that the body of Cheops was placed in a room beneath the bottom of the Pyramid, surrounded by a vault to which the waters of the Nile were conveyed through a subterranean tunnel. A chamber under the centre of the Pyramid has indeed been discovered, but it does not appear to be the tomb of Cheops. It is about 56 feet above the low-water level of the Nile. The second Pyramid was built, Herodotus says, by Cephren, or Cephrenes, the brother and successor of Cheops; and the third by Mycerinus, the son of Cheops.

TEST OF COURAGE IN A CHILD.

In the education of their children, the Anglo-Saxons only sought to render them dauntless and apt for the two most important occupations of their future lives--war and the chase. It was a usual trial of a child's courage, to place him on the sloping roof of a building, and if, without screaming or terror he held fast, he was styled a stout herce, or brave boy.--_Howel._

EXECUTION OF RAVILLIAC, WHO ASSASSINATED HENRY THE FOURTH OF FRANCE.

The scene is thus described in a volume published in 1728:--

"This Francis Ravilliac was born in Angoulesme, by profession a lawyer, who, after the committing of that horrid fact, being seized and put upon the rack, May 27; the 25th he had sentence of death passed on him, and was executed accordingly in the manner following. He was brought out of prison in his shirt, with a torch of two pound weight lighted in one hand, and the knife wherewith he murdered the king chained to the other; he was then set upright in a dung-cart, wherein he was carried to the greve or place of execution, where a strong scaffold was built; at his coming upon the scaffold he crossed himself, a sign that he dyed a Papist; then he was bound to an engine of wood made like St. Andrew's cross; which done, his hand with the knife chained to it was put into a furnace, then flaming with fire and brimstone, wherein it was in a most terrible manner consumed, at which he cast forth horrible cries yet would he not confess any thing; after which the executioner having made pincers red hot in the same furnace, they did pinch the brawn of his arms and thighs, the calves of his legs, with other fleshy parts of his body, then they poured into the wounds scalding oil, rosin, pitch, and brimstone melted together; but to make the last act of his tragedy equal in torments to the rest, they caused four strong horses to be brought to tear his body in pieces, where being ready to suffer his last torment, he was again questioned, but would not reveal any thing, and so died without calling upon God, or speaking one word concerning Heaven: his flesh and joints were so strongly knit together, that these four horses could not in a long time dismember him, but one of them fainting, a gentleman who was present, mounted upon a mighty strong horse, alighted, and tyed him to one of the wretch's limbs, yet for all this they were constrained to cut the flesh under his arms and thighs with a sharp razor, whereby his body was the easier torn in pieces; which done, the fury of the people was so great, that they pulled his dismembered carcass out of the executioner's hands, which they dragged up and down the dirt, and, cutting off the flesh with their knives, the bones which remained were brought to the place of execution, and there burnt, the ashes were cast in the wind, being judged unworthy of the earth's burial; by the same sentence all his goods were forfeited to the king. It was also ordained that the house where he had been born should be beaten down, a recompence being given the owner thereof, and never any house to be built again upon that ground; that within fifteen days after the publication of the sentence, by sound of trumpet in the town of Angoulesme, his father and mother should depart the realm, never to return again; if they did, to be hanged up presently: his brethren, sisters, and other kindred were forbidden to carry the name of Ravilliac, but to take some other, and the substitute of the king's attorney-general had charge to see the execution of the sentence at his peril."

KNIVES AND FORKS.

"In all ancient pictures of Eating, &c. knives are seen in the hands of the guests, but _no Forks_."--_Turner's Saxons._

"Here I will mention a thing," says Coryat in his 'Crudities,' "that might have been spoken of before in the discourse of the first Italian toun. I obserued a custome in all those Italian cities and townes through which I passed, that is not vsed in any other country that I saw in my traules, neither doe I think that any other nation of Christendome doth vse it, but only Italy. The Italians, and also most strangers that are commorant in Italy, doe alwaies at their meales vse a _little forke_ when they cut their meate. For while with their knife, which they hold in one hand, they cut their meate out of the dish, they fasten their forke, which they hold in their other hand, upon the same dish, so that whatsoever he be that sitting in the company of others at meate, should vnaduisedly touch the dish of meate with his fingers from which all at the table doe cut, he will give occasion of offence unto the company, as hauing transgressed the laws of good manners, in so much that for his error he shall be at the least broue-beaten, if not reprehended in words.

This form of feeding, I vnderstand, is generally vsed in all places of Italy, their forkes being for the most part made of yron or steele, and some of siluer; but those are used only by gentlemen. The reason of this their curiosity is, because the Italian cannot by any means indure to have his dish touched with fingers, seeing all men's fingers are not alike clean. Hereupon I myself thought good to imitate the Italian fashion by this forked cutting of meate, not only while I was in Italy, but also in Germany, and oftentimes in England, since I came home: being once quipped for that frequent vsing of my forke, by a certain gentleman, a familiar friend of mine, one Mr. Laurence Whitaker, who in his merry humour doubted not to call me at table _furcifer_, only for vsing a forke at feeding, but for no other cause."--_Coryat's Crudities_, 1611.

Even when Heylin published his Cosmography, (1652,) forks were still a novelty. See his Third Book, where having spoken of the ivory sticks used by the Chinese, he adds, "The use of silver forks, which is by some of our spruce gallants taken up _of late_, came from thence into Italy, and from thence into England."--_Antiquarian Repertory._

CHINESE PUNISHMENT OF THE KANG OR WOODEN COLLAR.

The Chinese are very quiet and orderly; and no wonder, because they are afraid of the great bamboo stick.

Kang or Wooden Collar.]

The mandarins (or rulers of towns) often sentence offenders to lie upon the ground, and to have thirty strokes of the bamboo. But the wooden collar is worse than the bamboo stick. It is a great piece of wood with a hole for a man to put his head through. The men in wooden collars are brought out of their prisons every morning and chained to a wall, where everybody passing by can see them. They cannot feed themselves in their wooden collars, because they cannot bring their hands to their mouths; but sometimes a son may be seen feeding his father, as he stands chained to the wall. There are men also whose business it is to feed the prisoners. For great crimes men are strangled or beheaded.

CASCADE DES PELERINES.

Cascade des Pelerines.]

There is a waterfall in Chamouni which no traveller should omit going to see, called the Cascade des Pelerines. It is one of the most curious and beautiful scenes in Switzerland. A torrent issues from the Glacier des Pelerines, high up the mountain, above the Glacier du Bossons, and descends, by a succession of leaps, in a deep gorge, from precipice to precipice, almost in one continual cataract; but it is all the while merely gathering force, and preparing for its last magnificent deep plunge and recoil of beauty. Springing in one round condensed column out of the gorge, over a perpendicular cliff, it strikes, at its fall, with its whole body of water, into a sort of vertical rock basin, which one would suppose its prodigious velocity and weight would split into a thousand pieces; but the whole cataract, thus arrested, at once suddenly rebounds in a parabolic arch, at least sixty feet into the air; and then, having made this splendid airy curvature, falls with great noise and beauty into the natural channel below. It is beyond measure beautiful. It is like the fall of divine grace into chosen hearts, that send it forth again for the world's refreshment, in something like such a shower and spray of loveliness, to go winding its life-giving course afterwards, as still waters in green pastures. The force of the recoil from the plunge of so large a body of water, at such a height, is so great, that large stones, thrown into the stream above the fall, may be heard amidst the din striking into the basin, and then are instantly seen careering in the arch of flashing waters. The same is the case with bushes and pieces of wood, which the boys are always active in throwing in, for the curiosity of visitors, who stand below, and see each object invariably carried aloft with the cataract, in its rebounding atmospheric gambols. When the sun is in the right position, the rainbows play about the fall like the glancing of supernatural wings, as if angels were taking a shower-bath. If you have "the head and the legs of a chamois," you may climb entirely above this magnificent scene, and look out over the cliff right down into the point where the cataract shoots like the lightning, to be again shot back in ten thousand branching jets of diamonds.

INTERESTING INCIDENT CONNECTED WITH THE BAROMETER.

In navigation, the barometer has become an important element of guidance, and a most interesting incident is recounted by Capt. Basil Hall, indicative of its value in the open sea. While cruising off the coast of South America, in the Medusa frigate, one day, when within the tropics, the commander of a brig in company was dining with him. After dinner, the conversation turned on the natural phenomena of the region, when Captain Hall's attention was accidentally directed to the barometer in the state-room where they were seated, and to his surprise he observed it to evince violent and frequent alteration. His experience told him to expect bad weather, and he mentioned it to his friend. His companion, however, only laughed, for the day was splendid in the extreme, the sun was shining with its utmost brilliance, and not a cloud specked the deep blue sky above. But Captain Hall was too uneasy to be satisfied with bare appearances. He hurried his friend to his ship, and gave immediate directions for shortening the top hamper of the frigate as speedily as possible. His lieutenants and the men looked at him in mute surprise, and one or two of the former ventured to suggest the inutility of the proceeding. The captain, however, persevered. The sails were furled; the topmasts were struck; in short, everything that could oppose the wind was made as snug as possible. His friend, on the contrary, stood in under every sail.

The wisdom of Captain Hall's proceedings was, however, speedily evident; just, indeed, as he was beginning to doubt the accuracy of his instrument. For hardly had the necessary preparations been made, and while his eye was ranging over the vessel to see if his instructions had been obeyed, a dark hazy hue was seen to rise in the horizon, a leaden tint rapidly overspread the sullen waves, and one of the most tremendous hurricanes burst upon the vessels that ever seaman encountered on his ocean home. The sails of the brig were immediately torn to ribbons, her masts went by the board, and she was left a complete wreck on the tempestuous surf which raged around her, while the frigate was driven wildly along at a furious rate, and had to scud under bare poles across the wide Pacific, full three thousand miles, before it could be said that she was in safety from the blast.

ARCHBISHOP CRANMER'S DIETARY.

In this curious document, quoted by Warton (Hist. of Poet, iii., 177, edit. 1840) an archbishop is allowed to have two swans or two capons in a dish, a bishop one; an archbishop six blackbirds at once, a bishop five, a dean four, an archdeacon two. If a dean has four dishes in his first course, he is not afterwards to have custards or fritters. An Archbishop may have six snipes, an archdeacon two. Rabbits, larks, pheasants, and partridges, are allowed in these proportions. A canon residentiary is to have a swan only on a Sunday; a rector of sixteen marks, only three blackbirds in a week.

THE KING'S COCK CROWER.