[Illustration: [++] Ancient Tripod.]
Tripods are, next to vases, the most ancient furniture in the world;
the imagination of the ancients invested them with fanciful forms,
and we meet with designs which, although very simple, show already
the power exercised by the re-productive faculties of the mind upon
the objects surrounding these ancient nations. Representations of
the kind were, however, exceedingly rare till the last forty years,
and it must be considered an especial piece of good fortune that the
excavations made in several parts of Etruria, have afforded more than
one example of this description. The specimen engraved was found in
the Gailassi Regulini tomb of Cervetri, in Etruria, and in it we see a
large vessel placed on the tripod, from the edge of which five lions'
heads start forth with hideous expression. These monsters lend to
the whole that fanciful aspect distinguishing objects of the archaic
period. When we imagine to ourselves this kettle boiling, and these
cruel animals wreathed and enveloped in smoke, we can understand how
the fancy of superstitious worshippers, who were wont to make use of
these implements in their religious ceremonies, may have found in
them an allusion to the spirits of the victims whose remains were
exposed to the destructive fire glowing underneath. To us, at least,
this representation may illustrate the terrific but grand passage of
Homer, where the bodies of the slaughtered sun bulls become once more
instinct with life, demanding vengeance with fearful cries: Odyssey,
Book xii, verse 395.
"The skins began to creep, and the flesh around the spits bellowed,
The roasted as well as the raw. And thus grew the voice of
the oxen."
The careful construction of the three-legged mechanism which lends
a firm support to this fire-stand, has been restored according to
the indication of some fragments found on the spot. It presents a
graceful aspect, and forms, in some respects, a remarkable contrast
to the heavy character of the vessel occupying so lofty a position,
as the proportions of the legs are exceedingly slender, and the feet
themselves, instead of being broad and shapeless, are all composed of a
great many fine articulations.
FONDNESS OF THE ROMANS FOR PEARLS.
Of all the articles of luxury and ostentation known to the Romans,
pearls seem to have been the most esteemed. They were worn on all parts
of the dress, and such was the diversity of their size, purity, and
value, that they were found to suit all classes, from those of moderate
to those of the most colossal fortune. The famous pearl ear-rings of
Cleopatra are said to have been worth about L160,000, and Julius Caesar
is said to have presented Servilia, the mother of Brutus, with a pearl
for which he had paid above L48,000; and though no reasonable doubt
can be ascertained in regard to the extreme exaggeration of these
and similar statements, the fact that the largest and finest pearls
brought immense prices is beyond all question. It has been said that
the wish to become master of the pearls with which it was supposed to
abound, was one of the motives which induced Julius Caesar to invade
Britain. But, though a good many were met with in various parts of the
country, they were of little or no value, being small and ill-coloured.
After pearls and diamonds, the emerald held the highest place in the
estimation of the Romans.
THE BLACK STONE AT MECCA.
Near the entrance of the Kaaba at Mecca, at the north-eastern corner,
is the famous Black Stone, called by the Moslems _Hajra el Assouad_,
or Heavenly Stone. It forms a part of the sharp angle of the building,
and is inserted four or five feet above the ground. The shape is an
irregular oval, about seven inches in diameter. Its colour is now a
deep reddish brown, approaching to black; and it is surrounded by a
border of nearly the same colour, resembling a cement of pitch and
gravel, and from two to three inches in breadth. Both the border
and the stone itself are encircled by a silver band, swelling to a
considerable breadth below, where it is studded with nails of the same
metal. The surface is undulated, and seems composed of about a dozen
smaller stones, of different sizes and shapes, but perfectly smooth,
and well joined with a small quantity of cement. It looks as if the
whole had been dashed into many pieces by a severe concussion, and then
re-united--an appearance that may perhaps be explained by the various
disasters to which it has been exposed. During the fire that occurred
in the time of Yezzid I. (A.D. 682), the violent heat split it into
three pieces; and when the fragments were replaced, it was necessary
to surround them with a rim of silver, which is said to have been
renewed by Haroun el Raschid. It was in two pieces when the Karmathians
carried it away, having been broken by a blow from a soldier during the
plunder of Mecca. Hakem, a mad sultan of Egypt, in the 11th century,
endeavoured, while on the pilgrimage, to destroy it with an iron club
which he had concealed under his clothes; but was prevented and slain
by the populace. Since that accident it remained unmolested until 1674,
when it was found one morning besmeared with dirt, so that every one
who kissed it returned with a sullied face. Though suspicion fell on
certain Persians, the authors of this sacrilegious joke were never
discovered. As for the quality of the stone, it does not seem to be
accurately determined. Burckhardt says it appeared to him like a
lava, containing several small extraneous particles of a whitish and
yellowish substance. Ali Bey calls it a fragment of volcanic basalt,
sprinkled with small-pointed coloured crystals, and varied with
red feldspar upon a dark black ground like coal, except one of its
protuberances, which is a little reddish. The millions of kisses and
touches impressed by the faithful have worn the surface uneven, and to
a considerable depth. This miraculous block all orthodox Mussulmans
believe to have been originally a transparent hyacinth, brought from
heaven to Abraham by the angel Gabriel; but its substance, as well
as its colour, have long been changed by coming in contact with the
impurities of the human race.
PARAGRAPH FROM THE "POSTMAN" IN 1697.
"Yesterday being the day of thanksgiving appointed by the
States-General for the peace, His Excellency, the Dutch ambassador,
made a very noble bonfire before his house in St. James's Square,
consisting of about 140 pitch barrels placed perpendicularly on seven
scaffolds, during which the trumpets sounded, and two hogsheads of wine
were kept continually running amongst the common people."
LORD MAYOR'S FEAST IN 1663.
Pepys gives a curious account of a Lord Mayor's dinner in 1663. It was
served in the Guildhall, at one o'clock in the day. A bill of fare
was placed with every salt-cellar, and at the end of each table was a
list of the persons proper there to be seated. Here is a mixture of
abundance and barbarism. "Many were the tables, but none in the hall,
but the Mayor's and the Lords' of the Privy Council, _that had napkins
or knives_, which was very strange. I sat at the merchant-stranger's
table, where ten good dishes to a mess, with plenty of wine of all
sorts; but it was very unpleasing that we had no napkins, nor change
of trenchers, and drank out of earthen pitchers and wooden dishes. The
dinner, it seems, is made by the Mayor and two Sheriffs for the time
being, and the whole is reckoned to come to L700 or L800 at most."
Pepys took his spoon and fork with him, as was the custom of those days
with guests invited to great entertainments. "Forks" came in with Tom
Coryat, in the reign of James I.; but they were not "familiar" till
after the Restoration. The "laying of napkins," as it was called, was
a profession of itself. Pepys mentions, the _day before_ one of his
dinner-parties, that he went home, and "there found one laying of my
napkins against to-morrow, in figures of all sorts, which is mighty
pretty, and, it seems, is his trade, and he gets much money by it."
THE CUPID OF THE HINDOOS.
Among the Hindoo deities _Camdeo_, or Manmadin differs but little from
the Cupid of the ancients. He is also called _Ununga_, or, without
body; and is the son of Vishnu and Lacshmi. Besides his bow and
arrows, he carries a banner, on which is delineated a fish: his bow
is a sugar-cane; the cord is formed of bees; the arrows are of all
sorts of flowers; one only is headed, but the point is covered with
a honeycomb--an allegory equally just and ingenious, and which so
correctly expresses the pleasures and the pangs produced at one and the
same time by the wounds of love. Manmadin is represented, as in the
annexed plate, riding on a parrot.
[Illustration: [++] Manmadin Riding on a Parrot.]
One day, when Vishnu, to deceive Sheeva, had assumed the figure of a
beautiful young female, Manmadin discharged an arrow, which pierced
the heart of the formidable deity, and inflamed it with love of the
nymph. The latter fled, and at the moment when Sheeva had overtaken
her, Vishnu resumed his proper form. Sheeva, enraged at the trick
played upon him, with one flash of his eyes burned and consumed the
imprudent Manmadin, who hence received the name of _Ununga_. He was
restored to life by a shower of nectar, which the gods in pity poured
upon him: but he remained without body and is the only Indian deity who
is accounted incorporeal. Camdeo is particularly worshipped by females
desirous of obtaining faithful lovers and good husbands.
OLD DIAL AND FOUNTAIN IN LEADENHALL-STREET.
[Illustration: [++] Old Dial and Fountain.]
The above sketch is taken from an old work on astronomy and geography
by Joseph Moxon, and printed by him, and sold "at his Shop on
_Cornhill_, at the signe of _Atlas_, 1659." We cannot do better than
give Moxon's own words with reference to the dial:--"To make a dyal
upon a solid ball or globe, that shall show the hour of the day without
a gnomon. The equinoctial of this globe, or (which is all one) the
middle line must be divided into 24 equal parts, and marked with 1,
2, 3, 4, &c., and then beginning again with 1, 2, 3, &c. to 12. Then
if you elevate one of the poles so many degrees above an horizontal
line as the pole of the world is elevated above the horizon in your
habitation, and place one of the twelves directly to behold the north,
and the other to behold the south, when the sun shines on it, the globe
will be divided into two halfs, the one enlightened with the sunshine,
and the other shadowed; and where the enlightened half is parted from
the shadowed half, there you will find in the equinoctial the hour of
the day, and that on two places on the ball, because the equinoctial
is cut in two opposite points by the light of the sun. A dyal of this
sort was made by Mr. John Leak and set up on a composite columne at
Leadenhall Corner, in London, in the majoralty of Sir John Dethick,
knight. The figure whereof I have inserted because it is a pretty peece
of ingenuity, and may, perhaps, stand some lover of the art in stead
either for imitation or help of invention."
MAGNIFICENCE OF MADYN, THE CAPITAL OF PERSIA, WHEN INVADED BY THE
SARACENS, A.D. 626.
The invaders could not express their mingled sensations of surprise
and delight, while surveying in this splendid capital the miracles
of architecture and art, the gilded palaces, the strong and stately
porticoes, the abundance of victuals in the most exquisite variety and
profusion, which feasted their senses, and courted their observation
on every side. Every street added to their astonishment, every chamber
revealed a new treasure; and the greedy spoilers were enriched beyond
the measure of their hopes or their knowledge. To a people emerging
from barbarism, the various wonders which rose before them in all
directions, like the effect of magic, must have been a striking
spectacle. We may therefore believe them when they affirm, what is
not improbable, that the different articles of merchandise--the
rich and beautiful pieces of manufacture which fell a prey on this
occasion--were in such incalculable abundance, that the thirtieth part
of their estimate was more than the imagination could embrace. The gold
and silver, the various wardrobes and precious furniture, surpassed,
says Abul-feda, the calculation of fancy or numbers; and the historian
Elmacin ventured to compute these untold and almost infinite stores at
the value of 3,000,000,000 pieces of gold.
One article in this prodigious booty, before which all others seemed
to recede in comparison, was the superb and celebrated carpet of
silk and gold cloth, sixty cubits in length, and as many in breadth,
which decorated one of the apartments of the palace. It was wrought
into a paradise or garden, with jewels of the most curious and costly
species; the ruby, the emerald, the sapphire, the beryl, topaz, and
pearl, being arranged with such consummate skill, as to represent, in
beautiful mosaic, trees, fruits, and flowers, rivulets and fountains;
roses and shrubs of every description seemed to combine their fragrance
and their foliage to charm the sense of the beholders. This piece of
exquisite luxury and illusion, to which the Persians gave the name
of _Baharistan_ or the mansion of perpetual spring, was an invention
employed by their monarchs as an artificial substitute for that
loveliest of seasons. During the gloom of winter they were accustomed
to regale the nobles of their court on this magnificent embroidery,
where art had supplied the absence of nature, and wherein the guests
might trace a brilliant imitation of her faded beauties in the
variegated colours of the jewelled and pictured floor. In the hope that
the eyes of the Caliph might he delighted with this superb display of
wealth and workmanship, Saad persuaded the soldiers to relinquish their
claims. It was therefore added to the fifth of the spoil, which was
conveyed to Medina on the backs of camels. But Omar, with that rigid
impartiality from which he never deviated, ordered the gaudy trophy to
be cut up into small pieces, and distributed among the chief members
of the Mohammedan commonwealth. Such was the intrinsic value of the
materials, that the share of Ali alone, not larger than the palm of
a man's hand, was afterwards sold for 20,000 drachms (L458 6s. 8d.),
or, according to others, for as many dinars (L9,250). Out of this vast
store the Caliph granted pensions to every member of his court in
regular gradation, from the individuals of the Prophet's family to the
lowest of his companions, varying from L275 to L4 11s. per annum.
The military part of the booty was divided into 60,000 shares, and
every horseman had 12,000 dinars (L5,550); hence, if the army consisted
of 60,000 cavalry, their united shares would amount to the incredible
sum of L333,000,000 sterling.
COURTSHIP OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.
The following extract from the life of the wife of the Conqueror,
is exceedingly curious, as characteristic of the manners of a
semi-civilized age and nation:--"After some years' delay, William
appears to have become desperate; and, if we may trust to the evidence
of the 'Chronicle of Ingerbe,' in the year 1047 way-laid Matilda in
the streets of Bruges, as she was returning from mass, seized her,
rolled her in the dirt, spoiled her rich array, and, not content with
these outrages, struck her repeatedly, and rode off at full speed.
This Teutonic method of courtship, according to our author, brought
the affair to a crisis; for Matilda, either convinced of the strength
of William's passion, by the violence of his behaviour, or afraid of
encountering a second beating, consented to become his wife. How he
ever presumed to enter her presence again, after such a series of
enormities, the chronicler sayeth not, and we are at a loss to imagine."
BRAMA, THE HINDOO DEITY.
_Brama_, _Birmah_, or _Brouma_, is one of the three persons of the
Indian Trinity, or rather the Supreme Being under the attribute of
_Creator_. Brama, the progenitor of all rational beings, sprung from a
golden egg, sparkling like a thousand suns, which was hatched by the
motion imparted to the waters by the Supreme Being. Brama separated
the heavens from the earth, and placed amid the subtle ether the eight
points of the universe and the receptacle of the waters. He had five
heads before Vairevert, one of Sheeva's sons, cut off one of them.
He is delineated floating on a leaf of the lotus, a plant revered in
India. The Bramins relate, that the fifteen worlds which compose the
universe were each produced by a part of Brama's body. At the moment
of our birth he imprints in our heads, in characters which cannot be
effaced, all that we shall do, and all that is to happen to us in life.
It is not in our power, nor in that of Brama himself, to prevent what
is written from being fulfilled.
[Illustration: [++] Brama.]
Brama, according to the vulgar mythology, takes but little notice of
human affairs. Identified with the sun, he is adored by the Bramins
in the _gayatri_, the most sacred passage of the _vedas_ (or sacred
books), which is itself ranked among the gods, and to which offerings
are made. One of the most important attributes of Brama is that of
father of legislators; for it was his ten sons who diffused laws and
the sciences over the world. He is considered as the original author of
the _vedas_, which are said to have issued from his four mouths; though
it was not till a later period, that is, about fourteen hundred years
before Christ, that they were collected and arranged by Vyasa, the
philosopher and poet. The laws which bear the name of Menu, the son of
Brama, and the works of the other _richeys_, or holy persons, were also
re-copied, or perhaps collected from tradition, long after the period
when they are said to have been published by the sons of Brama.
Brama, the father of the legislators of India, has a considerable
resemblance to the Jupiter of the Greek poets, the father of Minos,
whose celebrated laws were published in the very same century that
Vyasa collected the _vedas_. Jupiter was worshipped as the sun, by
the name of _Anxur_ or _Axur_, and Brama is identified with that
luminary. The most common form in which Brama is represented, is that
of a man with four heads and four hands; and it is remarkable that the
Lacedaemonians gave four heads to their Jupiter. Lastly, the title of
Father of Gods and Men is equally applicable to Brama and to Jupiter.
Brama is delineated, as in the engraving, holding in one hand a ring,
the emblem of immortality; in another, fire, to represent force; and
with the other two writing on _olles_, or palm-leaves, the emblem of
legislative power.
JAMES II. AND THE CHURCH OF DONORE.
[Illustration: [++] Church of Donore.]
The annexed engraving represents a celebrated locality. It is the ruin
of the little church on the hill at Donore, in the county of Meath,
the spot where James II. was stationed when he beheld the overthrow
of his army and the ruin of his cause at the battle of the Boyne,
Tuesday, July 1st, 1690. The Boyne is a very beautiful and picturesque
river; it winds through the fertile valleys of Meath, and from its
richly-wooded banks the hills rise gradually; there are no lofty
mountains in the immediate neighbourhood. The depth, in nearly all
parts, is considerable, and the current, consequently, not rapid; its
width, near the field of battle, varies little, and is seldom less
than fifty or sixty yards. James had the choice of ground, and it was
judiciously selected. On the south side of the river, in the county of
Meath, his army was posted with considerable skill: on the right was
Drogheda; in front were the fords of the Boyne, deep and dangerous,
and difficult to pass at all times; the banks were rugged, lined by a
morass, defended by some breastworks, with "huts and hedges convenient
for infantry;" and behind them was an acclivity stretching along the
whole of "the field." James fixed his own tent upon the summit of a
hill close to the little church of Donore, now a ruin; it commanded
an extensive view of the adjacent country, and the opposite or south
side of the river--the whole range, indeed, from Drogheda to Oldbridge
village--and looked directly down upon the valley, in which the battle
was to be fought, and the fords of the Boyne, where there could be no
doubt the troops of William would attempt a passage. From this spot,
James beheld his prospering rival mingling in the thick of the _melee_,
giving and taking blows; watched every turn of fortune, as it veered
towards or against him; saw his enemies pushing their way in triumph,
and his brave allies falling before the swords of foreigners--a safe
and inglorious spectator of a battle upon the issue of which his throne
depended. The preceeding night he had spent at Carntown Castle, from
whence he had marched, not as the leader, but as the overseer, of the
Irish army; having previously given unequivocal indications of his
prospects, his hopes, and his designs, by despatching a commissioner to
Waterford, "to prepare a ship for conveying him to France, in case of
any misfortune."
HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON.
When Babylon the Great was in the zenith of her glory, adjoining the
grand palace, and within the general enclosure, the Hanging Gardens
were constructed by the king to gratify his wife Amytis, who being a
native of Media (she was the daughter of Astyages, the king of Media),
desired to have some imitation of her native hills and forests.
"Within the walls was raised a lofty mound,
Where flowers and aromatic shrubs adorn'd
The pensile garden. For Nebassar's queen,
Fatigued with Babylonia's level plains,
Sigh'd for her Median home, where nature's hand
Had scooped the vale, and clothed the mountain's side
With many a verdant wood: nor long she pined
Till that uxorious monarch called on Art
To rival Nature's sweet variety.
Forthwith two hundred thousand slaves uprear'd
This hill--egregious work; rich fruits o'erhang
The sloping vales, and odorous shrubs entwine
Their undulating branches."
These gardens, as far as we learn from ancient accounts, contained
a square of above 400 feet on each side, and were carried up in the
manner of several large terraces, one above the other, till the height
equalled that of the walls of the city. The ascent from terrace to
terrace was by stairs ten feet wide. The whole pile was sustained
by vast arches, raised on other arches one above another, and was
defended and condensed by a wall, surrounding it on every side, of
twenty-two feet in thickness. On the top of the arches were first laid
large flat stones, sixteen feet long and four broad; over these was a
layer of weeds mixed and cemented with a large quantity of bitumen, on
which were two rows of bricks closely cemented together with the same
material. The whole was covered with thick sheets of lead, on which lay
the mould of the garden. And all this floorage was so contrived as to
keep the moisture of the mould from running away through the arches.
The earth laid thereon was so deep that large trees might take root
in it: and with such the terraces were covered, as well as with the
[...] plants and flowers proper to adorn an eastern pleasure-garden.
The trees planted there are represented to have been of various kinds.
Here grew the larch, that, curving, flings its arms like a falling
wave; and by it was seen the grey livery of the aspen; the mournful
solemnity of the cypress and stately grandeur of the cedar intermingled
with the elegant mimosa; besides the light and airy foliage of the
silk-tasselled acacia, with its vast clusters of beauteous lilac
flowers streaming in the wind and glittering in the sun; the umbrageous
foliage of the chesnut, and ever-varying verdure of the poplar; the
birch, with its feathered branches light as a lady's plumes--all
combined with the freshness of the running stream, over which the
willow waved its tresses.--
"And the jessamine faint, and the sweet tuberose,
The sweetest flower for scent that blows;
And all rare blossoms from every clime
Grew in that garden in perfect prime."