1618, says: "The prince his birthday has been solemnized here by the few
marquises and lords which found themselves here; and (to supply the want
of lords) knights and squires were added to a consultation, wherein it
was resolved that such a number should meet at Gamiges, _and bring every
man his dish of meat_. It was left to their own choice what to bring;
some chose to be substantial, some curious, some extravagant. Sir George
Young's invention bore away the bell, and that was four huge brawny
pigs, piping hot, bitted and harnessed with ropes of sarsiges, all tied
to a monstrous bag-pudding."
_Skeletons at Feasts._
In old times the guests at an Egyptian feast, when they grew hilarious,
were called back to sober propriety by the exhibition of a little
skeleton, and the admonition to reflect upon the lesson it conveyed.
_Hair Cutting in Russia._
Among the lower classes in Russia, the barber, a primitive artist, claps
an earthen pot over the head and ears, and trims off whatever hair
protrudes from the pot.
_Antiquity of Tarring and Feathering._
Tarring and feathering, it seems, is an European invention. One of
Richard Cœur de Leon's ordinances for seamen was, "that if any man were
taken with theft and pickery, and thereof convicted, he should have his
head polled, and hot pitch poured upon his pate, and upon that the
feathers of some pillow or cushion shaken aloft, that he might thereby
be known as a thief, and at the next arrival of the ships to any land be
put forth of the company to seek his adventures without all hope of
return unto his fellows."—_Holinshed_.
_Grinning for a Wager._
In 1796, at Hendon, England, on Whit-Tuesday, a burlesque imitation of
the Olympic Games was held. One prize was a gold-laced hat, to be
grinned for by six candidates, who were placed on a platform with
horse-collars to exhibit through. Over their heads was printed in
capitals—
Detur Tetriori; or,
The ugliest grinner
Shall be the winner.
Each party grinned five minutes _solus_, and then all united in a grand
_chorus_ of distortion. The prize was carried off by a porter to a
_vinegar_ merchant, though he was accused by his competitors of foul
play for rinsing his mouth with _verjuice_.
_Eating for a Wager._
The hand-bill, of which the subjoined is a copy, was circulated by the
keeper of the public house at which the gluttony was to happen, as an
attraction for all the neighborhood to witness—
"_Bromley in Kent_, July 14th, 1726.—A strange eating worthy is to
perform a Tryal of Skill on St. James's Day, which is the day of our
_Fair_, for a wager of Five Guineas, viz: he is to eat four pounds of
bacon, a bushel of French beans, with two pounds of butter, a quartern
loaf, and to drink a gallon of strong beer."
_Curious Wagers._
Mr. Whalley, an Irish gentleman, for a wager of twenty thousand pounds,
set out on Monday, the 22d of September, 1788, to walk to Constantinople
and back in one year. Some years ago Sir Henry Liddel, a rich baronet,
laid a considerable wager that he would go to Lapland, bring home two
females of that country, and two reindeer, in a given time. He performed
the journey, and effected his purpose in every respect. The Lapland
women lived with him about a year, but, desiring to go back to their own
country, the baronet furnished them with the means.
_The Jumping Jack._
This toy is of quite antiquated parentage. In the tombs of ancient Egypt
figures have been found whose limbs were made movable, for the delight
of children, before Moses was born.
_Love-handkerchiefs._
At one time it was the custom in England to present love-handkerchiefs.
They were not more than three or four inches square, wrought with
embroidery, a tassel at each corner and a small button in the centre.
The finest of these favors were edged with narrow gold lace or twist,
and then, being folded up in four cross-folds, so that the middle might
be seen, they were worn by the accepted lovers in their hats or on the
breast. These tokens of love became at last so much in vogue that they
were sold ready-made in the shops in Elizabeth's time at from sixpence
to sixteen-pence apiece. Tokens were also given by the gentlemen, and
accepted by the ladies, as is indicated in an old comedy of the time—
"Given earrings we will wear,
Bracelets of our lover's hair;
Which they on our arms shall twist,
(With our names carved) on our wrists."
_Umbrellas._
Umbrellas are an older invention than some writers would have us
suppose. Even the usually entertained notion that Jonas Hanway
introduced the umbrella into England, in the year 1752, is proved to be
false by evidence that can be cited. Ben Jonson refers to it by name in
a comedy produced in 1616; and so do Beaumont and Fletcher in "Rule a
Wife and Have a Wife." Swift, in the "Tatler" of October 17th, 1710,
says, in "The City Shower"—
"The tucked-up seamstress walks with hasty strides,
While streams run down her oiled umbrella's sides."
The following couplet also occurs in a poem written by Gay in 1712—
"Housewives underneath th' umbrella's oily shed
Safe through the wet in clinking pattens tread."
It is probable that Hanway was the first _man_ seen carrying an umbrella
in London.
At Persepolis, in Persia, are some sculptures supposed to be as old as
the time of Alexander the Great, and on one of these is represented a
chief or king, over whose head some servants are holding an umbrella. At
Takht-i-Bostan are other sculptures, one of which is a king witnessing a
boar hunt attended by an umbrella-bearer. Recent discoveries at Nineveh
show that the umbrella was in use there, it being common to the
sculpturings, but always represented open. The same is to be seen upon
the celebrated Hamilton vases preserved in the British Museum. In many
Chinese drawings ladies are attended by servants holding umbrellas over
their heads.
Loubère, who went to Siam as envoy from the king of France, describes
the use of umbrellas as being governed by curious regulations. Those
umbrellas resembling ours are used principally by the officers of state;
while those several tiers in height, as if two or more umbrellas were
fixed on one stick, are reserved for the king alone. In Ava, a country
adjacent to Siam, the king designates himself, among other titles, as
"Lord of the Ebbing and Flowing Tide, King of the White Elephant, and
Lord of the Twenty-four Umbrellas." This last title, although ridiculous
to us, is supposed to relate to twenty-four states or provinces combined
under the rule of the king, the umbrella being especially a royal emblem
in Ava. The umbrella is also the distinguishing sign of sovereignty in
Morocco.
_Fashionable Disfigurement._
The custom of dotting the face with black patches, of different
patterns, was introduced into England and France from Arabia, and was at
its height during the reign of Charles I. The ladies, old and young,
covered their faces with black spots shaped like suns, moons, stars,
hearts, crosses and lozenges, and some even carried the mode to the
extravagant extent of shapening the patches to represent a carriage and
horses.
_Fine for Insulting a King._
The use of gold and silver was not unknown to the Welsh in 842, when
their laws were collected. The man who dared to insult the king of
Aberfraw was to pay (besides certain cows and a silver rod) a cup which
would hold as much wine as his majesty could swallow at a draught. It
was to be made of gold; its cover was to be as broad as the king's face,
and the whole as thick as a goose's egg or a ploughman's thumbnail.
_True-Lovers' Knots._
Among the ancient Northern nations a knot was the symbol of indissoluble
love, faith and friendship. Hence the ancient runic inscriptions are in
the form of a knot, and hence, among the Northern English and Scots,
who still retain, in a great measure, the language and manners of the
ancient Danes, that curious kind of knot exists which is a mutual
present between the lover and his mistress, and which, being considered
as the emblem of plighted fidelity, is therefore called "a true-love
knot." The name is not derived, however, as would be naturally supposed,
from the words "true" and "love," but is formed from the Danish verb
"trulofa," _fidem do_, I plight my troth or faith. In Davidson's
"Poetical Rhapsody," published in 1611, the following is the opening
verse of a poem entitled "The True-Love's Knot"—
"Love is the linke, the knot, the band of unity,
And all that love do love with their beloved to be;
Love only did decree
To change this kind in me."
_Hundred Families' Lock._
A common Chinese talisman is the "hundred families' lock," to procure
which a father goes round among his friends, and, having obtained from
an hundred different parties a few of the copper coins of the country,
he himself adds the balance to purchase an ornament or appendage
fashioned like a lock, which he hangs on his child's neck for the
purpose of figuratively locking him to life and causing the hundred
persons to be concerned in his attaining old age.
_The King's Cock-crower._
A singular custom of matchless absurdity formerly existed in the English
court. During Lent an ancient officer of the crown, called the King's
Cock-crower, crowed the hour each night within the precincts of the
palace. On Ash Wednesday, after the accession of the House of Hanover,
as the Prince of Wales (afterwards George II.) sat down to supper, this
officer abruptly entered the apartment, and in a sound resembling the
shrill pipe of a cock, crowed past ten o'clock. The astonished prince,
at first conceiving it to be a premeditated insult, rose to resent the
affront, but upon the nature of the ceremony being explained to him, he
was satisfied.
_Mourning Robes._
Under the empire male Romans wore black, and Roman women wore white
mourning. In Turkey, at the present day, it is violet; in China, white;
in Egypt, yellow; in Ethiopia, brown; in Europe and America, black; it
was white in Spain until the year 1498. The mourning worn by sovereigns
and their families is purple.
_Mole-skin Eyebrows._
Some of the ladies of the Court of Louis XV., in connection with the
patches, rouge and paint with which they disfigured their faces, were so
whimsical as to wear eyebrows made out of mole-skin.
_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 up his enemy. He kneels down on his bare knees, 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 to a church.
_Selling Snails._
The sale of snails in the town of Tivoli, near Rome, is a source of much
profit to the inhabitants of that district in rainy weather, when this
curious edible is abundant in the olive groves. The flavor is pronounced
delicious, and when artistically cooked, the foreigner does not long
decline this much despised crustacea. The cooked snail is said to
restore tone to the coating of the stomach when badly injured by strong
drink.
_Coral and Bells._
A superstitious belief exists that the color of coral is affected by the
state of health of the wearer, it becoming paler in disease. Paracelsus
recommended it to be worn around the necks of infants as an admirable
preservative against fits, charms and poison. "In addition to the
supposed virtues of coral usually suspended around the necks of
children, it may be remarked that silver bells are generally attached to
it, which are regarded as mere accompaniments to amuse children by their
jingle; but the fact is, they have a very different origin, having been
designed to frighten away evil spirits."—_Dr. Paris._
_Bagging his Rival._
Two gentlemen, one a Spaniard, the other a German, asked of Maximilian
II. the hand of his daughter, the fair Helene Scharfequinn, in marriage.
After a long delay, the emperor one day informed them that, esteeming
them equally, and not being able to bestow a preference, he should leave
it to the force and address of the claimants to decide the question. He
did not mean, however, to risk the life of one or the other, or perhaps
of both. He could not, therefore, permit them to encounter with
offensive weapons, but had ordered a large bag to be produced. It was
his decree that whichever succeeded in putting his rival into the bag
should have the hand of his daughter. The singular encounter between the
two gentlemen took place in the presence of the whole court. The contest
lasted for more than an hour. At length the Spaniard yielded, and the
German, Ehberhard, Baron de Talbert, having planted his rival in the
bag, took it upon his back and gallantly laid it at the feet of his
mistress, whom he espoused the next day. This incident is gravely
vouched for by M. de St. Foix.
_Deepened Damnation._
In his "History of all the Heresies," Bernino records an instance of
diabolical superstition. Pope Theodorus wrote the sentence of deposition
against the Monothelite secretary Pyrrhus with ink in which had been
mingled the blood from the sacramental cup, in order that the
fulmination of the pope might possess the greater potency of damnation.
_Ancient Bit of Waggery._
We find the following in a book printed in 1607, entitled, "Pleasant
Conceits of old Hobson, the merry Londoner; full of Humourous Discourses
and Merry Merriments:"—
"When the order of hanging out lanterne first of all was brought about,
the bedell of the warde where Maister Hobson dwelt, in a darke evening,
crieing up and down, 'Hang out your lanternes! Hang out your lanternes!'
using no other words, Maister Hobson tooke an emptie lanterne, and,
according to the bedell's call, hung it out. This flout, by the lord
mayor, was taken in ill part, and for the offence Hobson was sent to the
Counter, but being released the next night following, thinking to
amende his call, the bedell cryed out, with a loud voice, 'Hang out your
lanternes and candle!' Maister Hobson hereupon hung out a lanterne and
candle unlighted, as the bedell again commanded; whereupon he was sent
again to the Counter; but the next night, the bedell being better
advised, cryed 'Hang out your lanterne and candle-light!' which Maister
Hobson at last did, to his great commendations, which cry of lanterne
and candle-light is in right manner used to this day."
_A Walking Apothecary Shop._
Mr. Samuel Jessup, an opulent grazier, of pill-taking memory, died at
Heckington, England, on the 17th of June, 1817. In twenty-one years the
deceased took 226,934 pills, supplied by a respectable apothecary at
Bottesford, which was at the rate of 10,806 pills a year, or twenty-nine
pills each day; but as the patient began with a more moderate appetite,
and increased it as he proceeded, in the last five years he took the
pills at the rate of seventy-eight a day, and in the year 1814 he
swallowed not less than 51,590. Notwithstanding this, and the addition
of 40,000 bottles of mixture and juleps and electuaries, extending
altogether to fifty-five closely written columns of an apothecary's
bill, the deceased lived to attain the age of sixty-five years.—_Hone._
_To Disappoint his Wife._
On the 20th of May, 1736, the body of Samuel Baldwin, Esq., was, in
compliance with a request in his will, buried, _sans ceremonie_, in the
sea at Lymington, Hants. His motive for this extraordinary mode and
place of interment was to prevent his wife from "dancing over his
grave," which she had frequently threatened to do in case she survived
him.
_Boots an Object of Honor._
Among the Chinese no relics are more valuable than the boots which have
been worn by an upright magistrate. In Davis's interesting description
of the Empire of China we are informed that whenever a judge of unusual
integrity resigns his situation, the people congregate to do him honor.
If he leaves the city where he has resided, the crowd accompany him from
his residence to the gates, where his boots are drawn off with great
ceremony, to be preserved in the hall of justice. Their place is
immediately supplied by a new pair, which, in turn, are drawn off to
make room for others before he has worn them five minutes, it being
considered sufficient to consecrate them that he should have merely
drawn them on.
_St. Cuthbert's Beads._
These beads were made from the single joints of the articulated stems of
Encrinites. The central perforation permitted them to be strung. From
the fancied resemblance of this perforation to a cross, they were
formerly used as rosaries, and associated with the name of St.
Cuthbert—
"On a rock by Lindisfarm
St. Cuthbert sits and toils to frame
The sea-born beads that bear his name."
_Eating Animals that have Died a Natural Death._
The gypsies in Europe are very peculiar in their eating, and are,
perhaps, the only race who will eat animals that have died a natural
death. "Dead pig" is their favorite delicacy; and one of the most
typical and most amusing of the Rommany ballads which Borrow has
collected, celebrates the trick formerly so common among them of
poisoning a pig in order the next day to beg its carcass for food.
_Embalmed in Honey._
The ancients put dead bodies into honey to preserve them from
putrefaction. The body of Agesipolis, King of Sparta, who died in
Macedonia, was sent home in honey. The faithless Cleomenes caused the
head of Archonides to be put in honey, and had it always placed near him
when he was deliberating upon any affair of great importance, in order
to fulfil the oath he had made to undertake nothing without consulting
the head. The body of the Emperor Justin II. was embalmed in honey. The
wish of Democritus to be buried in honey is a confirmation of the
practice.
_Perfumed Butter._
We are told by Plutarch that a Spartan lady paid a visit to Berenice,
the wife of Dejotarus, and that the one smelled so much of sweet
ointment and the other of butter that neither of them could endure the
other. Was it customary, therefore, at that period, for the ladies to
perfume themselves with butter?
_Wine at Two Millions a Bottle._
Some years ago wine graced the table of the King of Wurtemburg, which
had been deposited in a cellar at Bremen two centuries and a half
before. One large case of the wine, containing five oxhoft of two
hundred and forty bottles, cost five hundred rix-dollars in 1624.
Including the expenses of keeping up the cellar, and of the
contributions, interest of the amount, and interest upon interest, an
oxhoft costs at the present time 555,657,640 rix-dollars, and
consequently a bottle is worth 2,723,812 rix-dollars. The fact
illustrates the operation of interest, if it does not show the cost of
the luxury.—_Bombaugh._
_Opal of Nonius._
The ancients valued opals very highly. The Roman senator, Nonius,
preferred exile to giving up an opal to Mark Antony. This opal was still
to be seen in the days of Pliny, who ascribed to it a value of more than
$500,000.
_Children's Day in Japan._
There is a children's day in Japan on the fifth day of the fifth month,
when a flag of gay colors is hung from every house where there are
children. The family and friends have a feast, and, among the articles
of food are long, narrow rice cakes, upon each of which a sweet-flavored
rush-leaf is fastened by straws. Where there are no children there may
be a family party, but no flag can be exhibited. On this day ornaments
made of paper, of five different colors, are bound into balls and hung
up in the house as a charm against sickness.
_Cock-Fighting among the Ancient Greeks._
Æschines reproaches Timarchus for spending the whole day in gaming and
cock-fighting. Cock-fights were represented by the Greeks on coins and
cut stones. Mr. Pegge caused engravings to be made of two gems in the
collection of Sir William Hamilton, on one of which is seen a cock in
the humble attitude of defeat, with its head hanging down, and another
in the attitude of victory, with an ear of corn in its bill as the
object of contest. On the other stone two cocks are fighting, while a
mouse carries away the ear of corn, for the possession of which they had
quarreled—a caricature of law-suits, in which the greater part of the
property in dispute falls to the lawyers. Two cocks in the attitude of
fighting are represented also on a lamp found in Herculaneum.
_Colors Most Frequently Hit in Battle._
It would appear, from numerous observations, that soldiers are hit
during battle according to the color of their dress in the following
order: Red is the most fatal color; Austrian gray is the least fatal.
The proportions are—red, twelve; rifle green, seven; brown, six;
Austrian bluish-gray, five.
_Immense Value Placed upon Gems by the Ancients._
The immense value placed by the ancients on their gems can be estimated
by the scabbard of Mithridates, valued at 400 talents, or £7,572; the
pearl given by Julius Cæsar to Servillia was worth £4,800; that
swallowed by Cleopatra valued at £5,000; and the pearls and emeralds
worn by Lollia Paulina, wife of Caligula, valued at £320,000.
_Candle Clock._
Alfred the Great noted the time by the gradual burning down of candles
colored in rings. He had six tapers made, each twelve inches long, and
each divided into twelve parts or inches. Three of these would burn for
one hour, and the six tapers, lighted one after the other, would burn
for twenty-four hours.
_Twins in Africa._
Among some of the tribes in Africa if two babies come to a family at the
same time they think it a dreadful thing. Nobody except the family can
go into the hut where they were born, nor even use any of the things in
it. The twins cannot play with other children, and the mother cannot
talk to anyone outside of the family. This is kept up for six years. If
the babies live to be six years old, the restrictions are removed, and
they are treated like other children.
_Right and Left Hand._
Dr. Zinchinelli, of Padua, in an essay on the "Reasons why People use
the Right Hand in preference to the Left," will not allow custom or
imitation to be the cause. He affirms that the left arm cannot be in
violent and continued motion without causing pain in the left side,
because there is the seat of the heart and of the arterial system; and
that, therefore, nature herself compels man to make use of the right
hand.
_Earliest Traders._
The earliest record we have of nations trading with each other occurs in
the Book of Genesis, when Joseph's brethren sold him to a caravan of
Ishmaelites who were carrying spices, balm and myrrh into Egypt. The
balm was from Gilead and the myrrh from Arabia. Thus commerce is of
great antiquity.
_The First Hermits._
The first hermit was Paul, of Thebes, in Egypt, who lived about the year
260; the second was Anthony, also of Egypt, who died in 345, at the age
of 105.
_The First Opera._
The first composer who tried his hand at setting an opera to music was
Francisco Bamirino, an Italian artist. The piece to which he affixed the
charms of a melodious accompaniment was "The Conversion of St. Paul,"
which was brought out at Rome in 1460.
_The First Artificial Limb._
The first artificial limb on record is the iron hand of the German
knight, Gotz Von Berlichingen, who flourished in the early part of the
sixteenth century (1513), and who was named _The Iron-Handed_. The hand
weighed three pounds, was so constructed as to grasp a sword or lance,
and was invented by a mechanic at Nuremberg. It is preserved at
Jaxthausen, near Heilbronn, and a duplicate of it is in the Castle of
Erbach, in the Odenwald.
_Kircher's Speaking-Trumpet._
"The Musurgia," printed in 1650, gives an account of a speaking-trumpet
invented by Kircher. From a convent situated on the top of a mountain,
he assembled twelve hundred persons to divine service, and read the
litany to them through the trumpet, at a distance of from two to five
Italian miles. Soon after a tube was made, according to Kircher's
directions, by which words, without elevating the voice, could be
understood from Ebersdorf to Neugeben.
_Fish Market at Scarborough._
The fish market is held on the sands by the sides of the boats, which,
at low water, are run upon wheels with a sail set, and are conducted by
the fishermen, who dispose of their cargoes in the following manner:
One of the female fishmongers inquires the price, and bids a groat; the
fishermen ask a sum in the opposite extreme; the one bids up, and the
other reduces the demand, till they meet at a reasonable point, when the
bidder suddenly exclaims: "Het!" The purchase is afterwards retailed
among the regular or occasional purchasers.
_Few Fish Found at Sea._