ancient times, presents at present the same appearances as those which
were described by Spallanzani, in 1788. It is constantly filled with
lava in a state of fusion, which alternately rises and falls in the
cavity. Having ascended to ten or twelve yards below the summit of the
walls, this boiling fluid is covered with large bubbles, which burst
with noise, letting enormous quantities of gas escape from them, and
projecting on all sides scoriaceous matter. After these explosions, it
again subsides, but only to rise again and produce like effects--these
alternations being repeated regularly at intervals of some minutes.
In craters where the lava is less fluid than in that of Stromboli, new
cones are sometimes formed in the midst of the Crater, which first
rise in the form of a dome, and then burst out so as to form a small
active volcano in the middle of the crater of the great one. This
phenomenon is often presented within the crater of Vesuvius, and was
more particularly witnessed in 1829.
LOAF SUGAR.
In 1553 a sugar-loaf was presented to Mr. Waldron, of Bovey House,
which weighed 7 lbs., at 1s. 1d. per lb. (7s. 7d.)
The late Lord Rolle married the last of that branch of the Waldron
family. The house remains about ten miles west of Lyme. The sugar-loaf
was charged at a high rate, considering the greater value of money
in Queen Mary's reign. This article began to be highly prized. The
sugar-cane, which had been grown from the year 1148 in Sicily, had
been imported into Madeira A.D. 1419. About the year 1503 the art
of refining sugar, before called "blanch powdre," was discovered by
a Venetian; before which the juice, when selected instead of honey
for sweetening, was used as it came from the cane. Only twenty-seven
years from this date, in 1526, it was imported from St. Lucar in Spain
by Bristol merchants. Let not the present of the Mayor of Lyme be
considered as a cheap article produced in abundance in the islands of
the West Indies. The sugar-cane was not imported thither into Barbadoes
from the Brazils till the year 1641. How surprising the result of
official inquiries in the year 1853 into the consumption of sugar! It
amounted to 7,523,187 cwts., or 30 lbs. each individual of the United
Kingdom.
SUSPENSION BRIDGES AT FREYBOURG.
There are two suspension bridges in Freybourg; one remarkable for its
great length, the other for its extreme beauty. The latter connects
the top of two mountains, swinging over a frightful gulf that makes
one dizzy to look down into. There are no buttresses or masonwork in
sight at a little distance; shafts are sunk in the solid rock of the
mountains, down which the wires that sustain it are dropped. There
it stretches, a mere black line, nearly three hundred feet in the
heavens, from summit to summit. It looks like a spider's web flung
across a chasm; its delicate tracery showing clear and distinct against
the sky. While you are looking at the fairy creation suspended in
mid-heaven, almost expecting the next breeze will waft it away, you
see a heavy waggon driven on it; you shrink back with horror at the
rashness that could trust so frail a structure at that dizzy height;
but the air-hung cobweb sustains the pressure, and the vehicle passes
in safety. Indeed, weight steadies it; while the wind, as it sweeps
down the gulf, makes it swing under you. The large suspension bridge
is supported on four cables of iron wire, each one composed of one
thousand and fifty-six wires. As the Menai bridge of Wales is often
said to be longer than this, I give the dimensions of both as I find
them in Mr. Murray:--Freybourg: length, nine hundred and five feet;
height, one hundred and seventy-four feet; breadth, twenty eight feet.
Menai: length, five hundred and eighty feet; height, one hundred and
thirty feet; breadth, twenty-five feet. A span of nine hundred and five
feet, without any intermediate pier, seems impossible at first, and one
needs the testimony of his own eyes before he can fully believe it.
WONDERFUL CLOCK.
Towards the end of the last century, a clock was constructed by a
Genevan mechanic named Droz, capable of performing a variety of
surprising movements, which were effected by the figures of a negro,
a shepherd, and a dog. When the clock struck, the shepherd played six
tunes on his flute, and the dog approached and fawned upon him. This
clock was exhibited to the King of Spain, who was highly delighted with
the ingenuity of the artist. The king, at the request of Droz, took an
apple from the shepherd's basket, when the dog started up and barked
so loud that the king's dog, which was in the same room, began to bark
also. We are moreover informed that the negro, on being asked what hour
it was, answered the question in French, so that he could be understood
by those present.
MANDRIN THE SMUGGLER, 1757.
Mandrin was the son of a peasant in Dauphiny who dealt in cattle. His
first employment was buying and selling horses, by which he subsisted
several years. But having on some occasion committed a murder, he was
obliged to fly from justice, and in his absence was condemned by the
Parliament of Grenoble to be broken on the wheel. Being now a fugitive,
and destitute of employment, he learned to counterfeit money, and
by this fraud made considerable gain, till, being discovered, the
officers of the Mint at Lyons issued a warrant for apprehending him,
and he was again obliged to quit the country. While he was wandering
about from place to place, and hiding himself in caves and woods,
he became acquainted with a gang of smugglers, and associating with
them was, after some time, made their captain. As this gang was very
numerous, he was less cautious of being seen, and having at length
lost his sense of fear by habitual danger, he frequently entered towns
and cities, raised contributions on the king's officers by force, and
spread the same terror among others that others had brought upon him.
But in proportion as he became more formidable he was, in fact, less
secure; for the Government found it necessary to detach after him such
a force as he could not resist, and the Farmers-General offered 48,000
livres reward for taking him. After many times attacking his party in
a running fight, in which several were cut off, Mandrin, with eight of
his men, took shelter in a castle on the frontiers of Savoy. They were
closely pursued by several detachments, under the command of Colonel
de Moliere, who entered the King of Sardinia's territory after him,
without having first obtained leave. Moliere was immediately opposed by
a great number of peasants: whether they were instigated by Mandrin, or
whether they were jealous of their privilege, is not known; but all his
expostulations being fruitless, and being determined not to relinquish
his prey, for whom he hoped to receive so considerable a reward, he
forced his way against them, killing twelve and wounding many others.
Mandrin waited the issue of this contest in his castle, where he was
soon besieged by 150 men, who attacked the place with great vigour.
Mandrin and his partisans defended themselves like men who had nothing
to fear in a battle equal to being taken alive; and after several of
them were killed, and the castle gates burst open, they retreated,
fighting from chamber to chamber, and from story to story, till,
reaching the garret, and being able to proceed no further, they were at
last overpowered by numbers, having killed twenty of their adversaries,
and spent all their ammunition. Mandrin, with those that survived of
his little party, were carried prisoners to Valence in Dauphiny. * * *
Mandrin was examined every day from the 13th of May to the 25th,
in order to discover his accomplices. In the mean time several of
his associates were put to the torture to discover what they knew of
him, and were afterwards broken on the wheel, that death might give a
sanction to their testimony.
He himself was subjected to torture, but without eliciting anything
further than he had previously revealed. Throughout he steadfastly
refused to betray his comrades, and conducted himself with much dignity
and heroism. On the day of his execution he received absolution
from Father Gasperini, a Jesuit, who had administered to him the
consolations of religion during his confinement.
Before he was led out of the prison, his shoes and stockings were taken
from him; but, though barefooted, he walked along with great firmness
and a good grace. When he came to the cathedral to perform the _amende
honorable_, he asked forgiveness of the monks and priests for his want
of respect to their order, and was then conducted to the scaffold. He
mounted with great composure, and addressed himself in a short and
pathetic exhortation to the spectators, especially the young persons
of both sexes; he then sat down on the nave of the wheel, and loosened
the buttons of his shirt-sleeves himself. Then he entreated pardon of
the custom-house officers, whom he had so often and so grossly injured;
and turning to the penitents who surrounded the scaffold--with his
confessor and two other eminent persons of his order--he earnestly
recommended himself as the object of their prayer, and immediately
delivered himself up to the executioner. He received eight blows on
his arms and legs, and one on his stomach, and was intended to have
been left to expire of the wounds; but as the executioner was going
down from the scaffold, an order came to strangle him; the bishop
and all the considerable persons at Valence having interceded for
this mitigation of his punishment. Mandrin was twenty-nine years of
age, about five feet five inches high, well made, had a long visage,
blue eyes, and sandy chesnut hair; he had something rough in his
countenance, and a strong robust port; he was perpetually smoking
tobacco, with which he drank plentifully of any liquor that was at
hand, and ate till the last with a good appetite.
SUDDEN RECOVERY FROM MADNESS.
The following extraordinary account is taken from the _Gentleman's
Magazine_ of 1784:--"About six years since, a seafaring person was
taken into the Asylum for Maniacs at York; during the space of five
years and six months he never expressed any desire for sustenance,
and was fed in the manner of an infant. The servants undressed him at
night, and dressed him in the morning; he never spoke, and remained
with his body bent all day, and was regarded by all about him as an
animal nearly converted into a vegetable. About the middle of May,
1783, he suddenly astonished the people round him with saying, 'Good
morrow to you all.' He then thanked the servants for the care they had
taken of him, and appeared perfectly sane. A few days after, he wrote a
letter to his wife, in which he expressed himself with great propriety.
On the 28th of May following he was allowed to leave the hospital, and
return to his family; and has now the command of a ship in the Baltic
trade, and is in full enjoyment of perfect health, both in mind and
body. This very singular case is attested by Dr. Hunter, F.E.S., of
York, in a letter to Dr. Percival, of Manchester, and by the servants
now at the Asylum in York."
SUMMARY OF THE BIBLE.
The following table is published, as containing accurate particulars of
the English version of the Bible:--
_In the Old Testament._| _In the New Testament._| _Total._
Books, 39 | Books, 27 | Books, 66
Chapters, 929 | Chapters, 260 | Chapters, 1,189
Verses, 23,214 | Verses, 7,959 | Verses, 31,173
Words, 592,493 | Words, 181,253 | Words, 773,746
Letters, 2,728,100 | Letters, 838,380 | Letters, 3,566,480
The middle chapter and the shortest in the Bible is the hundred and
seventeenth Psalm; the middle verse is the eighth of the hundred and
eighteenth Psalm. The twenty-first verse of the seventh chapter of
Ezra, in the English version, has all the letters of the alphabet
in it. The nineteenth chapter of the second book of Kings and the
thirty-seventh chapter of Isaiah are alike.
THE LEPROSY.--LAZARS.--LAZAR-HOUSES.
That loathsome disorder, leprosy, was introduced into England in the
reign of Henry I., and was supposed to have been brought out of Egypt,
or perhaps the East, by means of the crusaders. To add to the horror,
it was contagious, which enhanced the charity of a provision for such
miserables, who were not only naturally shunned, but even chased by
royal edict, from the society of their fellow-creatures.
Lepers, or Lazars, were sick persons removed out of monasteries to
cells or hospitals, always built out of cities and towns. Their
usual maintainence was, from liberty allowed them to go upon every
market-day, to the market, where with a dish, called a _clap_ dish,
they would beg corn.
Their sickness and loathsome appearance giving great disgust, many
withheld their charity, upon which account they were afterwards
restrained from begging at large, but permitted to send the proctor
of the hospital, who came with his box one day in every month to the
churches, and other religious houses, at time of service; and there
received the voluntary charity of the congregations. This custom is
said to be the origin of the present practice of collecting briefs.
The leprosy was much more common formerly, in this part of the globe,
than at present. It is said, that there were in Europe fifteen thousand
hospitals founded for them. Perhaps near half the hospitals that were
in England were built for lepers.
Lepers were so numerous in the twelfth century, that by a decree of
the Lateran Council under pope Alexander III., A.D. 1179, they were
empowered to erect churches for themselves, and to have their own
ministers to officiate in them. This shows at once how infectious and
offensive their distemper was.
And on this account, "In England where a man was a leper, and was
dwelling in a town, and would come into the churches, or among his
neighbours when they were assembled, to talk to them to their annoyance
or disturbance, a writ lay De Leproso amovendo."--What follows is
remarkable. The writ is for those lepers "who appear to the sight
of all men, they are lepers, by their voice and their sores, the
putrefaction of their flesh, and by the smell of them."
And so late as the reign of Edward VI. multitudes of lepers seem to
have been in England; for in 1 Edw. 6. c. 3. in which directions are
given for carrying the poor to the places where they were born, &c. we
read the following clause: "Provided always, that all _leprous_ and
poor _bed-red_ creatures may, at their liberty, remain and continue in
such houses appointed for lepers, or bed-red people, as they now be in."
1184 to 1191.--The leprosy was at this period, and long after, a cruel
epidemic in our country, possibly brought by the crusaders from the
Holy Land, and spread here by filth and bad diet. It was supposed to
be infectious, and was shunned as the plague; so that, had it not been
for these pious institutions, multitudes must have perished under this
loathsome disorder.
Among other wild fancies of the age, it was imagined that the persons
afflicted with leprosy, a disease at that time (1327, Edward II.) very
common, probably from bad diet, had conspired with the Saracens to
poison all springs and fountains; and men being glad of any pretence
to get rid of those who were a burthen to them, many of those unhappy
people were burnt alive on the chimerical imputation.
Every one of the lazar-houses had a person, called a _fore-goer_, who
used to beg daily for them.
THE CONDOR IN PERU.
Dr. Pickering, of the United States Antarctic Expedition of 1839,
being in the vicinity of the Andes, attempted the ascent of one of the
summits; by noon he had reached a high elevation, and looking up, he
espied a huge condor soaring down the valley. He stopped to observe the
majestic bird as it sailed slowly along. To his surprise it took a turn
around him, then a second and a third, the last time drawing so near
that he began to apprehend that it meditated an attack. He describes
himself as being in the worst possible condition for a fight, his
strength being exhausted by climbing, and his right hand having been
lamed for some days from a hurt. The nature of the ground, too, was
anything but favourable for defence; but there was nothing left but to
prepare for a fight, and with this intent he took a seat and drew his
knife. At the instant, as if intimidated by the sight of the weapon,
the bird whirled off in another direction. Dr. Pickering confessed,
however humiliating the acknowledgment, that he was at the time very
well satisfied with the condor's determination to let him alone.
COST OF SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN'S CHURCHES.
The following is an account of what the undermentioned churches cost
building, the designs for which were furnished by Sir Christopher
Wren:--
L s. d.
St. Paul's 736,752 2 3-1/4
Allhallows the Great 5,641 9 9
---- Bread-street 3,348 7 2
---- Lombard-street 8,058 15 6
St. Alban's, Wood-street 3,165 0 8
St. Anne and Agnes 2,448 0 10
St. Andrew's, Wardrobe 7,060 16 11
---- Holborn 9,000 0 0
St. Antholin's 5,685 5 10-3/4
St. Austin's 3,145 3 10
St. Benet, Grailchurch 3,583 9 5-1/4
---- Paul's Wharf 3,328 18 10
---- Fink 4,129 16 10
St. Bride's 11,430 5 11
St. Bartholomew's 5,077 1 1
Christ Church 11,778 9 6
St. Clement, Eastcheap 4,365 3 4-1/2
---- Danes 8,786 17 0-1/2
St. Dionis Back Church 5,737 10 8
St. Edmund the King 5,207 11 0
St. George, Botolph-lane 4,509 4 10
St. James, Garlick-hill 5,357 12 10
---- Westminster 8,500 0 0
St. Lawrence, Jewry 11,872 1 9
St. Michael, Basinghall 2,822 17 1
---- Royal 7,455 7 9
St. Michael, Queenhithe 4,354 3 8
---- Wood-street 2,554 2 11
---- Crooked-lane 4,641 5 11
---- Cornhill 4,686 5 11
St. Martin, Ludgate 5,378 18 8
St. Matthew, Friday-str 2,301 8 2
St. Margaret Pattens 4,986 10 4
---- Lothbury 5,340 8 1
St. Mary, Abchurch 4,922 2 4-1/2
---- Magdalen 4,291 12 9-1/4
---- Somerset 6,579 18 1-1/4
---- at Hill 3,980 12 3
---- Aldermanbury 5,237 3 6
---- le Bow 8,071 18 1
---- le Steeple 7,388 8 7-3/4
St. Magnus, Lond. bridge 9,579 19 10
St. Mildred, Bread-street 3,705 13 6-1/4
---- Poultry 4,654 9 7-3/4
St. Nicholas Cole Abbey 5,042 6 11
St. Olav, Jewry 5,580 4 10
St. Peter's, Cornhill 5,647 8 2
St. Swithin, Canon-street 4,687 4 6
St. Stephen, Wallbrook 7,652 13 8
---- Coleman-str 4,020 16 6
St. Vedast, Foster-lane 1,853 15 6
EARLY CLOCKS.
The first clock which appeared in Europe, was probably that which
Eginhard (the secretary of Charlemagne), describes as sent to his royal
master by Abdalla, King of Persia. "A horologe of brass, wonderfully
constructed, for the course of the twelve hours, answered to the
hourglass, with as many little brazen balls, which drop down on a sort
of bells underneath, and sounded each other."--The Venetians had clocks
in 872, and sent a specimen of them that year to Constantinople.
SINGULAR SPECIMEN OF ORTHOGRAPHY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
The following letter was written by the Duchess of Norfolk to Cromwell,
Earl of Essex. It exhibits a curious instance of the monstrous
anomalies of our orthography in the infancy of our literature, when a
spelling book was yet a precious thing:--
"My ffary gode lord,--her I sand you in tokyn hoff the neweyer, a
glasse hoff Setyl set in Sellfer gyld, I pra you tak hit in wort. An hy
wer babel het showlde be bater. I woll hit war wort a m crone."
Thus _translated_:--
"My very good lord,--Here I send you, in token of the new year, a glass
of setyll set in silver gilt; I pray you take it in worth. An I were
able it should be better. I would it were worth a thousand crown."
DEATH OF THE EARL OF KILDARE.
In 1513, died the most powerful baron and active soldier of his age,
Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare. He had been, during thirty years, at
different times, chief governor of Ireland, and was too potent to
be set aside, otherwise his strong attachment to the house of York
would probably have been his ruin. The untameable spirit of the earl
sometimes involved him in trouble, from which he was extricated by a
lucky bluntness; as when once, when charged before Henry VIII. with
setting fire to the cathedral of Cashel, "I own it," said the earl,
"but I never would have done it had I not believed that the archbishop
was in it." The king laughed, and pardoned the ludicrous culprit. The
Bishop of Meath was his bitterest foe. He accused him to Henry of
divers misdeeds, and closed his accusation with "Thus, my liege, you
see that all Ireland cannot rule the earl." "Then," said the perverse
monarch, "the earl shall rule all Ireland," and instantly made him
lord-deputy. The English loved the earl because he was brave and
generous, and because his good humour equalled his valour. Once, when
he was in a furious paroxysm, a domestic who knew his temper, whispered
in his ear, "My lord, yonder fellow has betted me a fine horse, that
I dare not take a hair from your lordship's beard; I pray, my lord,
win me that wager." The earl's features relaxed, and he said to the
petitioner, "Take the hair, then, but if thou exceedest thy demand, my
fist shall meet thy head."
THE BRITANNIA TUBULAR BRIDGE.
This is one of the most remarkable structures in the world, the design
of the celebrated architect, Sir R. Stephenson. This bridge is on the
line of the Chester and Holyhead Railway, crossing the Menai Straits,
within sight of Telford's Chain Suspension Bridge. It is made of cast
iron of a tubular form, in the tube of which the railway passes. Four
of these span the Strait, and are supported by piles of masonry; that
on the Anglesea side is 143 feet 6 inches high, and from the front
to the end of the wing walls is 173 feet. These wing walls terminate
in pedestals, on which repose colossal lions of Egyptian character.
The Anglesea pier is 196 feet high, 55 feet wide, and 32 feet long.
In the middle of the Strait is the Britannia Rock, from which the
bridge derives its name; on this the Britannia pier is raised. It is
equi-distant from the Anglesea and Carnarvon piers, being 460 feet in
the clear from each, and sustains the four ends of the four long tubes,
which span the distance from shore to shore. There are two pairs of
short and two of long tubes, the lengths of these pairs being 250 feet
and 470 respectively. The Egyptian lions are 25 feet 6 inches long, 12
feet 6 inches high, 8 feet wide, and weigh 80 tons. Two thousand cubic
feet of stone were required for each lion. The total quantity of stone
in the bridge is 1,400,000 cubic feet. The weight of malleable iron in
the tubes is 10,000 tons; of cast iron, 1,400 tons. The whole length of
the entire bridge, measuring from the extreme front of the wing walls,
is 1,833 feet, and its greatest elevation at Britannia pier, 240 feet
above low-water-mark. The total cost of the structure is L601,865. This
wonderful structure was begun April 13, 1846, and completed July 25,
1850; opened for traffic Oct. 21, 1850.
[Illustration: [++] The Britannia Tubular Bridge.]
DAFFEY'S ELIXIR.
In the _Postboy_, Jan. 1, 1707-8, is the following curious
advertisement:--"Daffey's famous _Elixir Salutis_ by Catherine Daffey,
daughter of Mr. Thomas Daffy, late rector of Redmile, in the valley
of Belvoir, who imparted it to his kinsman, Mr. Anthony Daffy, who
published the same to the benefit of the community and his own great
advantage. The original receipt is now in my possession, left to me by
my father. My own brother, Mr. Daniel Daffy, apothecary in Nottingham,
made the Elixir from the said receipt, and sold it there during his
life. Those who know it, will believe what I declare; and those who do
not, may be convinced that I am no counterfeit, by the colour, taste,
smell, and operation of my Elixir. To be had at the Hand and Pen,
Maiden-Lane, Covent Garden."
JENNY'S WHIM.