standard of Mahomet, making a grand procession through the city; all
Christians, upon this occasion, were forbid to appear in the streets or
at their windows. But the wife and daughter of the Imperial minister,
being excited by curiosity, placed themselves at a secret window to
observe the procession; which was no sooner discovered by the Turks,
than they attacked the ambassador's house, and endeavoured to force an
entrance. But the servants of the minister opposing them, well-armed,
a dreadful fray ensued, in which no less than one hundred persons lost
their lives, and the ambassador's lady was very severely treated.
Some of the rioters dragged her down into the court-yard, and made
preparations to strangle her; when a party of Janissaries, who were
despatched to her assistance by an aga in the neighbourhood, happily
came and preserved her. Upon complaint being made of this outrage, by
her husband, to the grand vizier, that minister expressed great sorrow
for the insult that had been offered, and assured him he should have
all the reparation it was possible to procure. A few hours after the
vizier sent the Imperial minister a rich present of jewels for his
lady, _and a bag, which was found to contain the heads of the three
principal rioters_.
HAIR TURNED GREY BY FRIGHT.
There is an interesting anecdote of a boy, in one of the rudest parts
of the County of Clare, in Ireland, who, in order to destroy some
eaglets, lodged in a hole one hundred feet from the summit of a rock,
which rose four hundred feet perpendicular from the sea, caused himself
to be suspended by a rope, with a scimitar in his hand for his defence,
should he meet with an attack from the old ones; which precaution was
found necessary; for no sooner had his companions lowered him to the
nest, than one of the old eagles made at him with great fury, at which
he struck, but, unfortunately missing his aim, nearly cut through the
rope that supported him. Describing his horrible situation to his
comrades, they cautiously and safely drew him up; when it was found
that his hair, which a quarter of an hour before was a dark auburn, was
changed to grey.
MEMORABLE SNOW-STORM.
The following characteristic account is taken _literatim_ from the
parish register of the village of Youlgrave in Derbyshire:--"This year
1614-5 Jan. 16 began the greatest snow which ever fell uppon the earth,
within man's memorye. It cover'd the earth five quarters deep uppon the
playne. And for heapes or drifts of snow, they were very deep, so that
passengers, both horse and foot, passed over yates hedges and walles.
It fell at ten severall tymes, and the last was the greatest, to the
greate admiration and fear of all the land, for it came from the foure
p{ts} of the world, so that all c'ntryes were full, yea, the south
p'te as well as these mountaynes. It continued by daily encreasing
until the 12{th} day of March, (without the sight of any earth, eyther
uppon hilles or valleys) uppon w{ch} daye, being the Lordes day, it
began to decrease; and so by little and little consumed and wasted
away, till the eight and twentyth day of May, for then all the heapes
or drifts of snow were consumed, except one uppon Kinder-Scout, w{ch}
lay till Witson week."
ROADS IN 1780.
A squire from the neighbourhood of Glastonbury, journeying to Sarum in
his carriage, about 1780, took care that his footman was provided with
a good axe to lop off any branches of trees that might obstruct the
progress of the vehicle.
WONDERFUL PEDESTRIAN FEAT.
Captain Cochrane, who set out from St. Petersburg in May, 1820, to walk
through the interior of Russia to the east of Asia, with a view of
ascertaining the fact of a north-east cape, travelled at the rate of
_forty-three miles a day for one hundred and twenty-three successive
days_. He afterwards walked upwards of four hundred miles without
meeting a human being. Wherever he went he seems to have accommodated
himself to the habits of the people, however rude and disgusting.
With the Kalmucks, he ate horse-flesh, elks, and wolves; and with
the Tchutski he found as little difficulty in pasturing upon bears,
rein-deer, and _raw frozen fish_, the latter of which he considered a
great delicacy.
BOOK-SHAPED WATCH.
[Illustration [++] Book-Shaped Watch.]
The unique curiosity, of which the annexed is an accurate
representation, was one of the choicest rarities of the Bernal
collection, and is, therefore, highly appropriate to our pages. It once
belonged to, and was made for, Bogislaus XIV., Duke of Pomerania, in
the time of Gustavus Adolphus. On the dial-side there is an engraved
inscription of the Duke and his titles, with the date 1627, and the
engraving of his armorial bearings; on the back of the case there
are engraved two male portraits, buildings, &c.; the dial-plate is
of silver, chased in relief; the insides are chased with birds and
foliage. This watch has apparently two separate movements, and a large
bell; at the back, over the bell, the metal is ornamentally pierced
in a circle, with a dragon and other devices, and the sides are
pierced and engraved in scrolls. It bears the maker's name, "Dionistus
Hessichti."
THE RULING PASSION.
Mr. Henry Stribling, farmer, who died at Goodleigh, near Barnstaple,
August 1st, 1800, in the eightieth year of his age, was one of the
greatest fox-hunters in Devonshire, and had collected such a number
of foxes pads, all of which he had himself cut off when in at the
death, that they entirely covered his stable door and door-posts. At
his own particular request, a pad was placed in each of his hands
in his coffin, and he was attended to the grave by the huntsmen and
whippers-in of the packs with which he had hunted.
EDICTS AGAINST FIDDLERS.
An idea may be formed of the strictness with which all popular
amusements were prohibited when the Puritans had the ascendancy, from
the fact that in 1656-7 Oliver Cromwell prohibited all persons called
fiddlers or minstrels from playing, fiddling, or making music in any
inn, alehouse, or tavern, &c. If they proffered themselves or offered
to make music, they were to be adjudged to be rogues, vagabonds, and
sturdy vagabonds, and were to be proceeded against as such.
SCENE OF DESOLATION.
[Illustration [++] Pass of Keim-an-eigh.]
The pass of Keim-an-eigh is one of the numerous wonders of nature.
It is situated on the road from Macroom to Bantry, in the county of
Cork, and winds through a deep and narrow rocky defile, about two
English miles in length. Its name means, in Irish, "The Path of the
Deer." Perhaps, in no part of the kingdom, is there to be found a
place so utterly desolate and gloomy. A mountain has been divided by
some convulsion of nature, and the narrow pass is overhung on either
side, as seen in our engraving, by perpendicular cliffs clothed in wild
ivy and underwood, with, occasionally, a stunted yew-tree or arbutus
growing among them. At every step advance seems impossible--some huge
rock jutting out into the path, or sweeping round it, seeming to
conduct only to some barrier still more insurmountable; while from
all sides rush down the "wild fountains," and forming for themselves
a rugged channel, make their way onward, the first tributary to the
gentle and fruitful Lee. Nowhere has Nature assumed a more apalling
aspect, or manifested a more stern resolve to dwell in her own
loneliness and grandeur, undisturbed by any living thing; for even the
birds seem to shun a solitude so awful, and the hum of bee or chirp of
grasshopper is never heard within its precincts.
THE FIRST ENGLISH NUN.
Face, widow of Edwin, king of Northumberland, is said to have been the
first English nun; and the first nunnery in England appears to have
been at Barking, in Essex, which was founded by Erkenwald, Bishop of
London, wherein he placed a number of Benedictine or black nuns. The
most rigid nuns are those of St. Clara, of the order of St. Francis,
both of which individuals were born and lived in the same town: the
nuns are called poor Clares, and both they and the monks wear grey
clothes. Abbesses had formerly seats in parliament. In one, held in
694, says Spelman, they sat and deliberated, and several of them
subscribed the decrees made in it. They sat, says Ingulphus, in a
parliament held in 855. In the reigns of Henry III. and Edward I. four
of them were summoned to a national council, viz. those of Shaftesbury,
Barking, Winchester, and Wilton.
PRESENCE OF MIND--ESCAPE FROM A TIGER.
In 1812, a party of British naval and military officers were dining in
a jungle at some distance from Madras, when a ferocious tiger rushed in
among them, seized a young midshipman, and flung him across his back.
In the first emotion of terror, the other officers had all snatched
up their arms, and retired some paces from their assailant, who stood
lashing his sides with his tail, as if doubtful whether he should seize
more prey, or retire with that which he had already secured. They knew
that it is usual with the tiger, before he seizes his prey, to deprive
it of life, by a pat on the head, which generally breaks the skull;
but this is not his invariable practice. The little midshipman lay
motionless on the back of his enemy; but yet the officers, who were
uncertain whether he had received the mortal pat or not, were afraid
to fire, lest they should kill him together with the tiger. While in
this state of suspense, they perceived the hand of the youth gently
move over the side of the animal, and conceiving the motion to result
from the convulsive throbs of death, they were about to fire, when, to
their utter astonishment, the tiger dropped stone dead; and their young
friend sprung from the carcass, waving in triumph a bloody dirk drawn
from the heart, for which he had been feeling with the utmost coolness
and circumspection, when the motion of his hand had been taken for a
dying spasm.
COST OF ARTICLES IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
The following article is taken from Martin's _History of Thetford_.
It is copied from an original record in that borough, when John le
Forester was mayor, in the tenth year of Edward the Third, A.D. 1336.
It is so far curious, as it exhibits an authentic account of the value
of many articles at that time; being a bill, inserted in the town book,
of the expenses attending the sending two light-horsemen from Thetford
to the army, which was to march against the Scots that year.
L s. d.
To two men chosen to go into the army against Scotland 1 0 0
For cloth, and to the tailor for making it into
two _gowns_ 0 6 11
For two pair of gloves, and a stick or staff 0 0 2
For two horses 1 15 0-1/2
For shoeing these horses 0 0 4
For two pair of boots for the light-horsemen 0 2 8
Paid to a lad for going with the mayor to Lenn (Lynn),
to take care of the horses (the distance between
Thetford and Lynn is 53 miles) 0 0 3
To a boy for a letter at Lenn (viz., carrying
it thither) 0 0 3
Expenses for the horses of two light-horsemen for four
days before they departed 0 1 0
LAW AND ORDER IN THE STREETS OF LONDON IN 1733.
What an extraordinary state of things does the following extract from
the _Weekly Register_ of December 8th, 1733, disclose! The stages and
hackney-coaches actually made open war upon private carriages. "The
drivers," says the paragraph, "are commissioned by their masters to
annoy, sink, and destroy all the single and double horse-chaises they
can conveniently meet with, or overtake in their way, without regard
to the lives or limbs of the persons who travel in them. What havoc
these industrious sons of blood and wounds have made within twenty
miles of London in the compass of a summer's season, is best known by
the articles of accidents in the newspapers: the miserable shrieks of
women and children not being sufficient to deter the villains from
doing what they call their duty to their masters; for besides their
daily or weekly wages, they have an extraordinary stated allowance for
every chaise they can reverse, ditch, or bring by the road, as the term
or phrase is." Verily, we who live in the present day have reason to
rejoice that in _some_ things there is a decided improvement upon "the
good old times."
NEVER SLEEPING IN A BED.
Christopher Pivett, of the city of York, died 1796, aged 93. He was
a carver and gilder by trade; but during the early part of his life
served in the army, and was in the retinue of the Duke of Cumberland,
under whose command he took part in the battle of Fontenoy, as he did
at the battle of Dettingen under the Earl of Stair; he was likewise
at the siege of Carlisle, and the great fight of Culloden. His house,
after he had settled at York, being accidentally burnt down, he formed
the singular resolution of never again sleeping in a bed, lest he
should be burned to death whilst asleep, or not have time sufficient,
should such a misfortune again befall him, to remove his property; and
this resolution he rigidly acted upon during the last forty years of
his life. His practice was to repose upon the floor, or on two chairs,
or sitting in a chair, but always with his clothes on. During the
whole of this period he lived entirely alone, cooked his own victuals,
and seldom admitted any one into his habitation: nor would he ever
disclose to any the place of his birth, or to whom he was related. He
had many singularities, but possessed, politically as well as socially,
a laudable spirit of independence, which he boldly manifested on
several trying occasions. Among other uncommon articles which composed
the furniture of his dwelling, was a human skull, which he left strict
injunctions should be interred with him.
AMULET BROTCHE.
The subjoined engraving represents an ancient Gaelic Brotche, which was
made in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and once belonged to a Highland
Chief, Maclean of Lochbuy in the Isle of Mull, being formed of silver
found on his estate. It is of circular form, scolloped, and surrounded
by small upright obelisks, each set with a pearl at top; in the centre
is a round crystalline ball, considered a magical gem; the top may be
taken off, showing a hollow, originally for reliques. On the reverse
side of the brotche are engraved the names of the three kings of
Cologne, with the word _consummation_. It was probably a consecrated
brotche, and worn not only for the purpose of fastening the dress, but
as an amulet.
[Illustration [++] Gaelic Brotche.]
THE GOLYNOS OAK.
This wonderful tree grew on the estate from which it takes its name,
about four miles from Newport, Monmouth. It was purchased by Thomas
Harrison, Esq., in the year 1810, for 100 guineas, and was felled and
converted by him the same year. Five men were twenty days stripping
and cutting it down; and a pair of sawyers were employed 138 days in
its conversion. The expense of stripping, felling, and sawing was L82.
The trunk of the tree was 9-1/2 feet in diameter, and no saw could
be found long enough to cut it down; two saws were therefore brazed
together. The rings in its butt being reckoned, it was discovered that
this tree had been improving upwards of 400 years! and, as many of its
lateral branches were dead, and some broken off, it is presumed it must
have stood a century after it had attained maturity. When standing
it overspread 452 square yards of ground, and produced 2,426 feet of
timber. When all its parts were brought to market they produced nearly
L600.
[Illustration [++] Golynos Oak.]
CARFAX CONDUIT.
[Illustration [++] Carfax Conduit.]
In the grounds at Nuneham Courtenay, near Oxford, belonging to Mr.
Harcourt, on one of the slopes that ascend directly from the river
Thames, stands the ancient and far-famed Carfax Conduit, which formerly
stood as a kind of central point to the four principal streets of
Oxford. Certain alterations requiring its removal, it was, with the
most perfect propriety, presented to the Earl Harcourt.
It was built in 1610, by Otho Nicholson--a liberal and enterprising
gentleman--in order to supply the city with pure water, brought from
a hill above North Hinksey; and although the conduit is removed, the
pipes still remain, and afford a partial supply that will be superseded
by the new City Waterworks. It is a square, decorated in accordance
with the taste of the time--mermaids holding combs and mirrors, and
dragons, antelopes, unicorns, being scattered about, while the Empress
Maude is introduced riding an ox over a ford, in allusion to the
name of the city. The letters O. N., the initials of the founder,
are conspicuous; while above the centres of the four arches are the
cardinal virtues--Justice, Temperance, Fortitude, and Prudence.
Carfax is from a Bishop of that name, who presided over the diocese of
Tours in France, and died in the year 399. He was canonized, and is the
tutelar saint of Carfax, or St. Martin's church, in the city of Oxford.
DESTRUCTION OF LIBRARIES IN THE TIME OF HENRY VIII., AT THE DISSOLUTION
OF THE MONASTERIES.
It is a circumstance well known, to every one at all conversant in
English history, that the suppression of the lesser monasteries by that
rapacious monarch Henry the Eighth took place in 1536. Bishop Fisher,
when the abolition was first proposed in the convocation, strenuously
opposed it, and told his brethren that this was fairly shewing the
king how he might come at the great monasteries. "And so my lords,"
continued he, "if you grant the king these smaller monasteries, you do
but make him a handle whereby he may cut down all the cedars within
your Lebanon." Fisher's fears were borne out by the subsequent act
of Henry, who, after quelling a civil commotion occasioned by the
suppression of the lesser monasteries, immediately abolished the
remainder, and in the whole suppressed six hundred and forty-five
monasteries, of which twenty-eight had abbots who enjoyed seats in
Parliament. Ninety colleges were demolished; two thousand three hundred
and seventy-four charities and free chapels, and one hundred and ten
hospitals. The havoc that was made among the libraries cannot be better
described than in the words of Bayle, Bishop of Ossory, in the preface
to Leland's "New Year's Gift to King Henry the Eighth."
"A greate nombre of them whyche purchased those superstychouse mansyons
(monesteries) reserved of those librarye bookes, some to serve theyr
jokes, some to scoure thyr candlestyckes, and some to rubbe theyr
bootes. Some they solde to the grossers and sope-sellers, and some
they sent over see to the book bynders, not in small nombre, but at
tymes whole shyppes full to the wonderynge of foren nacyons: yea ye
universytes of thys realme are not alle clere in this detestable fact,
but cursed is that bellye whych seketh to be fedde with suche ungodlye
gaynes, and so depelye shameth hys natural conterye. I knowe a merchant
manne whyche shall at thys tyme be namelesse, that boughte ye contentes
of two noble lybraryes for forty shyllinges pryce: a shame it is to be
spoken: Thys stuffe hath he occupyed in the stede of grey paper by the
space of more than these ten yeares and yet he hath store ynoughe for
as manye yeares to come. A prodygyouse example is thys to be abhorred
of all men whych love thyr nacyon as they shoulde do. The monkes kept
them undre dust, ye ydle headed prestes regarded them not, theyr latter
owners have most shamefully abused them, and ye covetouse merchantes
have solde them awaye into foren nacyons for moneye."
CURIOUS MENTAL AFFECTION.
Singular faculties have been developed during somnambulism in the
mental condition. Thus a case is related of a woman in the Edinburgh
infirmary who, during her paroxysm, not only mimicked the manner
of the attendant physicians, but repeated correctly some of their
prescriptions in Latin.
Dr. Dyce, of Aberdeen, describes the case of a girl, in which this
affection began with fits of somnolency, which came upon her suddenly
during the day, and from which she could at first be roused by shaking
or by being taken into the open air. During these attacks she was in
the habit of talking of things that seemed to pass before her like
a dream, and was not at the time sensible of anything that was said
to her. On one occasion she repeated the entire of the baptismal
service, and concluded with an extempore prayer. In her subsequent
paroxysms she began to understand what was said to her, and to answer
with a considerable degree of consistency, though these replies were
in a certain measure influenced by her hallucination. She also became
capable of following her usual employment during her paroxysm. At one
time she would lay out the table for breakfast, and repeatedly dress
herself and the children, her eyes remaining shut the whole time. The
remarkable circumstance was now discovered, that, during the paroxysm,
she had a distinct recollection of what had taken place in former
attacks, though she had not the slightest recollection of it during the
intervals. She was taken to church during the paroxysm, and attended
the service with apparent devotion, and at one time was so affected
by the sermon that she actually shed tears; yet in the interval she
had no recollection whatever of the circumstance, but in the following
paroxysm she gave a most distinct account of it, and actually repeated
the passage of the sermon that had so much affected her. This sort of
somnambulism, relating distinctly to two periods, has been called,
perhaps erroneously, a _state of double consciousness_.
This girl described the paroxysm as coming on with a dimness of sight
and a noise in the head. During the attack, her eyelids were generally
half shut, and frequently resembled those of a person labouring under
amaurosis, the pupil dilated and insensible. Her looks were dull and
vacant, and she often mistook the person who was speaking to her. The
paroxysms usually lasted an hour, but she often could be roused from
them. She then yawned and stretched herself like a person awakening
from sleep, and instantly recognised those about her. At one time, Dr.
Dyce affirms, she read distinctly a portion of a book presented to her,
and she would frequently sing pieces of music more correctly and with
better taste than when awake.
DECORATIVE DRINKING VESSEL.
[Illustration [++] German Decorative Vessel.]
The above represents a German decorative drinking vessel of the early
part of the seventeenth century. It is a stork bearing in its beak an
infant; in accordance with the old German nursery tale that the king
of the Storks is the bringer and protector of babies. It is of silver,
chased all over; the eyes are formed of rubies; and one wing takes off
that liquid may be placed in the body, and imbibed through the neck,
by a hole in the crown of the bird. It was probably a quaint fancy for
some German noble nursery.
EXAMPLES OF ANCIENT VASES.
The Vases which are grouped in the annexed engraving are highly
deserving of a place in our collection of curiosities, inasmuch as they
are truly unique and beautiful specimens of the degree of perfection
to which the art of glass-making had been carried at the period when
Rome was mistress of the world. They all belong to that period, and in
elegance of form and skill of workmanship they equal--we had almost
said, surpass, the most artistic productions of the present day.
[Illustration [++] Ancient Vases.]