new exercises of Rope-dancing, Tumbling, Vaulting, Equilibres,
Ladder-dancing, and Balancing, by Madame Kerman, Sampson Rogetzi,
Monsieur German, and Monsieur Dominique; with a new Grand Dance,
called Apollo and Daphne, by Mr. Phillips, Mrs. Lebrune, and others;
singing by Mrs. Phillips and Mrs. Jackson; likewise the extraordinary
performance of Herr Von Eeckenberg, who imitates the lark, thrush,
blackbird, goldfinch, canary-bird, flageolet, and German flute; a
Sailor's Dance by Mr. Phillips; and Monsieur Dominique flies through
a hogshead, and forces both heads out. To which will be added The
Harlot's Progress. Harlequin by Mr. Phillips; Miss Kitty by Mrs.
Phillips. Also, an exact representation of the late glorious victory
gained over the French by the English at the battle of Dettingen, with
the taking of the White Household Standard by the Scots Greys, and
blowing up the bridge, and destroying and drowning most part of the
French army. To begin every evening at five o'clock. Every one will be
admitted for a pint of wine, as usual.
DANCING ROOMS.
Dancing rooms were much frequented a century or so ago in London, which
was then pretty well supplied with this means of recreation. We find
that there were rare dancing doings at the original dancing room
in the year
at the _field_-end of King-Street, Bloomsbury, 1742
Hickford's great room, Panton-Street, Haymarket, 1743
Mitre Tavern, Charing-Cross, 1743
Barber's Hall, 1745
Richmond Assembly, 1745
Lambeth Wells, 1747
Duke's long room, Paternoster Row, 1748
Large Assembly Room at the Two Green Lamps, near Exeter Change,
(at the particular desire of Jubilee Dickey!) 1749
The large room next door to the Hand and Slippers, Long-lane,
West Smithfield, 1750
Lambeth Wells, where a _Penny Wedding_, in the _Scotch_
manner, was celebrated for the benefit of a young couple, 1752
Old Queen's Head, in Cock-lane, Lambeth, 1755
and at Mr. Bell's, at the sign of the Ship, in the Strand, where, in
1755, a _Scotch_ Wedding was kept. The bride "to be dressed without any
linen; all in ribbons, and green flowers, with Scotch masks. There will
be three bagpipes; a band of Scotch music, &c. &c. To begin precisely
at two o'clock. Admission, two shillings and sixpence."
ORIGIN OF THE USE OF TOBACCO.
"Maister John Nicot, Counsellor to the Kyng, beeyng Embassadour for
the Kyng in Portugall, in the yeres of our Lorde, 1559, 60, 61, wente
one daye to see the Prysons of the Kyng of Portugall, and a gentleman
beeyng the keeper of the saide Prisons presented hym this hearbe, as
a strange Plant brought from Florida; the same Maister Nicot, hauyng
caused the saide hearbe to be set in his garden, where it grewe and
multiplied marveillously, was vpon a tyme aduertised, by one of his
Pages, that a young man, a kinne to that Page, made a saye of that
hearbe bruised, both the herbe and the joice together upon an ulcer
whiche he had vpon his cheeke nere vnto his nose, coming of a _Noli
me tangere_ whiche bega to take roote already at the gristles of the
Nose, wherewith he founde hym self marveillously eased. Therefore the
said Maister Nicot caused the sicke yong man to be brought before hym,
causing the said herbe to be continued to the sore eight or tenne
daies, this saide _Noli me tangere_, was vtterly extinguished and
healed: and he had sent it, while this cure was a working to a certaine
Physition of the Kyng of Portugall of the moste fame, for to see the
further workyng and effect of the said _Nicotiane_, and sending for the
same yong man at the end of tenne daies, the said Phisition seeyng the
uisage of the said sicke yong man certified, that the saide _Noli me
tangere_ was utterly extinguished, as in deede he never felt it since.
Within a while after, one of the Cookes of the said Embassadour hauyng
almost cut off his Thombe, with a great choppyng knife, the steward
of the house of the saide gentleman ranne to the saide _Nicotiane_,
and dresssed him there with fyve or sixe times, and so in the ende
thereof he was healed: from that time forwarde this hearbe began to
bee famous throughout all _Lisborne_, where the court of the Kyng of
Portugall was at that presente, and the vertue of this saide hearbe was
preached, and the people beganne to name it the Ambassadour's hearbe!
Wherefore there came certaine daies after, a gentleman of the country,
Father to one of the Pages of the Ambassadour, who was troubled with
an vlcer in his Legge, hauyng had the same two yeres, and demaunded
of the saide Ambassadour for his hearbe, and vsing the same in suche
order as is before written, at the ende of tenne or twelve daies he
was healed. From that time fourth the fame of that hearbe encreased in
such sorte, that manye came from all places to have that same herbe.
Emong all others there was a woman that had her face covered with a
Ringworme rooted, as though she had a Visour on her face, to whom the
saide L: Ambassadour caused the herbe to be given her, and told how she
should vse it, and at the ende of eight or tenne daies, this woman was
thoroughleye healed, she came and shewed herself to the Ambassadour,
shewing him of her healyng. After there came a captain to presente
his sonne, sick of the Kinges euill to the saide L: Ambassadour, for
to send him into France, vnto whom there was saye made of the saide
hearbe, whiche in fewe daies did beginne to shewe greate signes of
healing, and finally was altogether healed of the kinges euill. The
L: Ambassadour seeing so great effectes proceeding of this hearbe,
and hauing heard say that the Lady Montigny that was, dyed at Saint
Germans, of an vlcer bredde in her breast, that did turn to a _Noli
me tangere_, for which there could never be remedey bee founde, and
likewise that the Countesse of Ruffe, had sought for all the famous
Phisitions of that Realme, for to heale her face, unto whom they
could give no remedy, he thought it good to communicate the same into
Fraunce, and did send it to Kyng Fraunces the seconde; and to the
Queen Mother, and to many other Lords of the Courte with the maner of
governyng the same: and how to applie it vnto the said diseases, even
as he had found it by experience; and chiefly to the lorde of Jarnac
governour of Rogell, with whom the saide Lorde Ambassadour had great
amitie for the service of the Kyng. The whiche Lorde of Jarnac, told
one daye at the Queenes Table, that he had caused the saide _Nicotiane_
to be distilled, and caused the water to be dronke, mingled with
water _Euphrasie_, otherwise called eyebright, to one that was shorte
breathed, and was therewith healed."--_Joyfvll News ovt of the newe
found worlde, &c._, 1577.--_Black Letter._
ANCIENT INSTRUMENTS OF PUNISHMENT AND TORTURE IN THE TOWER OF LONDON.
There are few things among the valuable collection of antiquities
preserved in the Tower of London, which excite so much interest as the
grim-looking objects forming the group figured in the accompanying
engraving.
With the executioner's axe, that long list of unfortunates who have met
their fate within the walls of the Tower, or on Tower Hill, since the
time of Henry VIII., have been beheaded. Among them may be enumerated
Queen Anne Boleyn, whom Henry first presented to his people as their
Queen while standing with her on the Tower Stairs, after she had been
conveyed thither from Greenwich with every possible pomp. Crowds of
gilded barges, with gay banners waving at their sterns, then lined the
stream. The noblest of the land were in the young Queen's train or were
waiting to receive her. Loud rounds of cannon, and soft, merry strains,
announced her arrival; and the burly King stepped forward to kiss her
in the sight of the assembled multitude. On the same day, three short
years afterwards, she was led forth to execution within the Tower
walls. The good Sir Thomas More and the chivalrous Earl of Surrey, Lady
Jane Grey and her young husband, the gallant Raleigh, and a host of
others, also perished by that sad symbol of the executioner's office.
The block is said to be of less ancient date, but is known to have been
used at the execution of three Scotch lords--the unfortunate adherents
of the Pretender--a little more than a century ago. On the top part of
the block, there are three distinct cuts, two of them very deep and
parallel, and the other at an angle and less effective.
The horrible instrument of torture called the "Scavenger's Daughter,"
was, in the "good old days," used as a means of extorting confession.
The head of the culprit was passed through the circular hole at the
top, and the arms through those below. The whole of this part of the
machine opens in somewhat the same manner as a pair of tongs, the upper
part being fixed round the neck and arms, and the semicircular irons
placed on the legs. The body was then bent, and a strong iron bar was
passed through the irons connected with the head and arms, and those
in which the legs were placed. "The culprit would then," as one of the
"Beefeaters" who attends on visitors makes a point of observing, "be
doubled up into very small compass, and made exceedingly uncomfortable."
The Bilboes need little explanation, being only a strong rod of iron,
with a nob at one end, on which are two moveable hoops, for the purpose
of holding the legs; these being fixed, and a heavy iron padlock put on
the proper part--the wearer was said to be in a _Bilboe_. Instruments
of this description were much used on board of ship for the purpose of
securing prisoners of war.
The Iron Collar is a persuader of a formidable description, for it
weighs upwards of 14 lbs., and is so made that it can be fixed on the
neck and then locked. Such a necklace would, we think, be sufficiently
inconvenient; but it is rendered still more uncomfortable by sundry
prickles of iron knowingly placed.
The Thumb-screw, also preserved in the Tower, is a characteristic
example of a species of torture at one time much resorted to. The
engraved example has been constructed so as to press both thumbs;
nevertheless, it is a convenient little instrument, which might be
easily carried about in the pocket. We have met with varieties of the
thumb-screw in several collections--some for the accommodation of one
thumb only. In the Museum of the Royal Antiquarian Society of Scotland
there are some thumb-screws which are said to have been used upon the
Covenanters.
[Illustration: 1. The Executioner's Axe. 2. The Block on which Lords
Balmerino, Lovat, &c., were beheaded. 3. The Scavenger's Daughter. 4.
Spanish Bilboes. 5. Massive Iron Collar for the Neck. 6. Thumb-Screw.]
Times have changed for the better since the "Scavenger's Daughter," and
the other matters represented, were amongst the mildest of the methods
used for the purposes of punishment and intimidation. The stocks,
the public whipping-posts, boilings, and burnings in Smithfield and
elsewhere, the exhibition of dead men's heads over gateways, the boot,
the rack, the pillory, the practice of making men eat their own books
in Cheapside, drawing on hurdles to the place of execution, and then
hanging, drawing, and quartering, chopping off hands and ears, and
other revolting punishments, have gone out of use, and it is gratifying
to know that we are all the better for it.
A BEAU BRUMMELL OF THE 17TH CENTURY.
[Illustration: [++] Picture of an English Anticke.]
This very curious representation of a first-rate exquisite is copied
from a very rare broadside, printed in 1646, and styled _The Picture
of an English Anticke, with a List of his ridiculous Habits and apish
Gestures_. The engraving is a well-executed copperplate, and the
description beneath is a brief recapitulation of his costume: from
which we learn that he wears a tall hat, with a bunch of riband on
one side, and a feather on the other; his face spotted with patches;
two love-locks, one on each side of his head, which hang upon his
bosom, and are tied at the ends with silk riband in bows. His beard on
the upper lip encompassing his mouth; his band or collar edged with
lace, and tied with band-strings, secured by a ring; a tight vest,
partly open and short in the skirts, between which and his breeches
his shirt protruded. His cloak was carried over his arm. His breeches
were ornamented by "many dozen of points at the knees, and above them,
on either side, were two great bunches of riband of several colours."
His legs were incased in "boot-hose tops, tied about the middle of the
calf, as long as a pair of shirt-sleeves, double at the ends like a
ruff-band; the tops of his boots very large, fringed with lace, and
turned down as low as his spurres, which gingled like the bells of a
morrice-dancer as he walked;" the "feet of his boots were two inches
too long." In his right hand he carried a stick, which he "played with"
as he "straddled" along the streets "singing."
PRAYING FOR REVENGE.
In North Wales, when a person supposes himself highly injured, it is
not uncommon for him to go to some church dedicated to a celebrated
saint, as Llan Elian in Anglesea, and Clynog in Carnarvonshire, and
there to offer his enemy. He kneels down on his bare knees in the
church, and offering a piece of money to the saint, calls down curses
and misfortunes upon the offender and his family for generations to
come; in the most firm belief that the imprecations will be fulfilled.
Sometimes they repair to a sacred well instead of a church.
A FEMALE SAMPSON: FROM A HANDBILL.
September 4th, 1818, was shown at Bartholomew Fair, "The strongest
woman in Europe, the celebrated French Female Hercules, Madame
Gobert, who will lift with her teeth a table five feet long and
three feet wide, with several persons seated upon it; also carry
thirty-six weights, fifty-six pounds each, equal to 2,016 lbs., and
will disengage herself from them without any assistance; will carry
a barrel containing 340 bottles; also an anvil 400 lbs. weight, on
which they will forge with four hammers at the time she supports it
on her stomach; she will also lift with her hair the same anvil,
swing it from the ground, and suspend it in that position to the
astonishment of every beholder; will take up a chair by the hind stave
with her teeth, and throw it over her head, ten feet from her body.
Her travelling caravan, (weighing two tons,) on its road from Harwich
to Leominster, owing to the neglect of the driver, and badness of the
road, sunk in the mud, nearly up to the box of the wheels; the two
horses being unable to extricate it she descended, and, with apparent
ease, disengaged the caravan from its situation, without any assistance
whatever."
TREES THAT GROW SHIRTS.
"We saw on the slope of the Cerra Dnida," says M. Humboldt, "shirt
trees, fifty feet high. The Indians cut off cylindrical pieces two feet
in diameter, from which they peel the red and fibrous bark, without
making any longitudinal incision. This bark affords them a sort of
garment which resembles a sack of a very coarse texture, and without
a seam. The upper opening serves for the head, and two lateral holes
are cut to admit the arms. The natives wear these shirts of Marina
in the rainy season; they have the form of the ponchos and manos of
cotton which are so common in New Grenada, at Quito, and in Peru. As in
this climate the riches and beneficence of nature are regarded as the
primary causes of the indolence of the inhabitants, the missionaries
do not fail to say in showing the shirts of Marina, 'in the forests of
Oroonoko, garments are found ready made upon the trees.'"
A FEMALE VENTRILOQUIST.
A female ventriloquist, named Barbara Jacobi, narrowly escaped being
burnt at the stake in 1685, at Haarlem, where she was an inmate of
the public Hospital. The curious daily resorted thither to hear her
hold & dialogue with an imaginary personage with whom she conversed
as if concealed behind the curtains of her bed. This individual, whom
she called Joachim, and to whom she addressed a thousand ludicrous
questions, which he answered in the same familiar strain, was for some
time supposed to be a confederate. But when the bystanders attempted to
search for him behind the curtains, his voice instantly reproached them
with their curiosity from the opposite corner of the room. As Barbara
Jacobi had contrived to make herself familiar with all the gossip of
the city of Haarlem, the revelations of the pretended familiar were
such as to cause considerable embarrassment to those who beset her with
impertinent questions.
CALMUC OPINION OF LIGHTNING.
The Calmucs hold the lightning to be the fire spit out of the mouth of
a dragon, ridden and scourged by evil Daemons, and the thunder they make
to be his roarings.
THE HEADING OF THE EXPIRING PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL.
Journalism has had its trials and difficulties in England as well as in
America; but we do not remember to have ever seen a more quaint last
Number, than the subjoined _facsimile_ exhibits:--
[Illustration:
The TIMES are
Dreadful
Dismal,
Doleful
Dolorous, and
Dollar-less.
An Emblem of the Effect
of the Stamp
Of the Fatal Stamp
Adieu Adieu to the LIBERTY OF THE PRESS
Thursday, October 31. 1765
NUMB. 1195
THE
PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL;
AND
WEEKLY ADVERTISER.
EXPIRING: In Hopes of a Resurrection to LIFE again.
I am sorry to be obliged to acquaint my Readers, that as The
STAMP-ACT, is fear'd to be obligatory upon us after the _First of
November_ ensuing, (the _fatal To-morrow_) the Publisher of this
Paper unable to bear the Burthen, has thought it expedient TO STOP
awhile, in order to deliberate, whether any Methods can be found to
elude the Chains forged for us, and escape the insupportable Slavery;
which it is hoped, from the last Representations now made against the
Act, may be effected. Mean while, I must earnestly Request every
Individual of my Subscribers, many of whom have been long behind Hand,
that they would immediately Discharge their respective Arrers, that I
may be able, not only to support myself during the Interval, but be
better prepared to proceed again with this Paper, whenever an opening
for that Purpose appears, which I hope will be soon.
WILLIAM BRADFORD.]
NOSTRUMS.
Unsuccessful gamesters used formerly to make a knot in their linen, of
late years they have contented themselves with changing their chair
as a remedy against ill-luck. As a security against cowardice, it was
once only necessary to wear a pin plucked from the winding sheet of a
corpse. To insure a prosperous accouchement to your wife, you had but
to tie her girdle to a bell and ring it three times. To get rid of
warts, you were to fold up in a rag as many peas as you had warts, and
throw them upon the high road; when the unlucky person who picked them
up became your substitute. In the present day, to cure a toothache, you
go to your dentist. In the olden time you would have solicited alms in
honour of St. Lawrence, and been relieved without cost or pain.
PRECOCIOUS CHILDREN.
Baillet mentions one hundred and sixty-three children endowed with
extraordinary talents, among whom few arrived at an advanced age. The
two sons of Quintilian, so vaunted by their father, did not reach their
tenth year. Hermogenes, who, at the age of fifteen, taught rhetoric to
Marcus Aurelius, who triumphed over the most celebrated rhetoricians of
Greece, did not die, but at twenty-four, lost his faculties, and forgot
all he had previously acquired. Pica di Mirandola died at thirty-two;
Johannes Secundus at twenty-five; having at the age of fifteen composed
admirable Greek and Latin verses, and become profoundly versed in
jurisprudence and letters. Pascal, whose genius developed itself at ten
years old, did not attain the third of a century.
In 1791, a child was born at Lubeck, named Henri Heinekem, whose
precocity was miraculous. At ten months of age, he spoke distinctly;
at twelve, learnt the Pentateuch by rote, and at fourteen months, was
perfectly acquainted with the Old and New Testaments. At two years
of age, he was as familiar with Ancient History as the most erudite
authors of antiquity. Sanson and Danville only could compete with him
in geographical knowledge; Cicero would have thought him an "alter
ego," on hearing him converse in Latin; and in modern languages he was
equally proficient. This wonderful child was unfortunately carried off
in his fourth year. According to a popular proverb--"the sword wore out
the sheath."
EFFECT OF MUSIC ON A PIGEON.
Bingley gives a singular anecdote of the effect of music on a pigeon,
as related by John Lockman, in some reflections concerning operas,
prefixed to his musical drama of Rosalinda. He was staying at a
friend's house, whose daughter was a fine performer on the harpsichord,
and observed a pigeon, which, whenever the young lady played the song
of "Speri-si," in Handel's opera of Admetus (and this only), would
descend from an adjacent dove-house to the room-window where she sat,
and listen to it apparently with the most pleasing emotions; and when
the song was finished it always returned immediately to the dove-house.
POWER OF FASCINATION IN SNAKES.
Some animals are held in universal dread by others, and not the least
terrible is the effect produced by the rattle-snake. Mr. Pennant
says, that this snake will frequently lie at the bottom of a tree,
on which a squirrel is seated. He fixes his eyes on the animal, and
from that moment it cannot escape: it begins a doleful outcry, which
is so well known that a passer by, on hearing it, immediately knows
that a snake is present. The squirrel runs up the tree a little way,
comes down again, then goes up and afterwards comes still lower. The
snake continues at the bottom of the tree, with his eyes fixed on the
squirrel, and his attention is so entirely taken up, that a person
accidentally approaching may make a considerable noise, without so
much as the snake's turning about. The squirrel comes lower, and at
last leaps down to the snake, whose mouth is already distended for
its reception. Le Vaillant confirms this fascinating terror, by a
scene he witnessed. He saw on the branch of a tree a species of shrike
trembling as if in convulsions, and at the distance of nearly four
feet, on another branch, a large species of snake, that was lying with
outstretched neck and fiery eyes, gazing steadily at the poor animal.
The agony of the bird was so great that it was deprived of the power of
moving away, and when one of the party killed the snake, it was found
dead upon the spot--and that entirely from fear--for, on examination,
it appeared not to have received the slightest wound. The same
traveller adds, that a short time afterwards he observed a small mouse
in similar agonizing convulsions, about two yards from a snake, whose
eyes were intently fixed upon it; and on frightening away the reptile,
and taking up the mouse, it expired in his hand.
SECOND SIGHT.
About the year 1725, the marvellous history of a Portuguese woman
set the whole world of science into confusion, as will be found by
referring to the "Mercure de France." This female was said to possess
the gift of discovering treasures. Without any other aid than the keen
penetration of her eyes, she was able to distinguish the different
strata of earth, and pronounce unerringly upon the utmost distances at
a single glance. Her eye penetrated through every substance, even the
human body; and she could discern the mechanism, and circulation of
all animal fluids, and detect latent diseases; although less skilful
than the animal magnetisers, she did not affect to point out infallible
remedies. Ladies could learn from her the sex of their forthcoming
progeny.
The King of Portugal, greatly at a loss for water in his newly built
palace, consulted her; and after a glance at the spot, she pointed out
an abundant spring, upon which his Majesty rewarded her with a pension,
the order of Christ, and a patent of nobility.
In the exercise of her miraculous powers, certain preliminaries were
indispensable. She was obliged to observe a rigid fast; indigestion, or
the most trifling derangement of the stomach, suspending the marvellous
powers of her visual organs.