No. CXXXVI.
Let us proceed with the examination, before Justice Elisha Cook, on the
fourth of July, 1728.
"John Cutler, of Boston, Chirurgeon, examined upon oath, saith, that, last
evening, about seven, Dr. George Pemberton came to me, at Mrs. Mears's,
and informed, that an unhappy quarrel hapned betwene Mr. Henry Phillips
and Benja. Woodbridge, and it was to be feared Mr. Woodbridge was
desperately wounded. We went out. We soon mett Mr. Henry Phillips, who
told us he feared he had killed Mr. Woodbridge, or mortally wounded him;
that he left him at the bottom of the Common, and begged us to repaire
there and see if any relief might be given him. Doct. Pemberton and I
went, in compy with Mr. Henry Phillips, in search of said Woodbridge, but
could not find him, nor make any discovery of the affair. Mr. Phillips
left us. I bid him walk in Bromfield's lane. We went to Mr. Woodbridge's
lodgings, and severall other houses, but heard nothing of him. Upon our
return Mr. H. Phillips was at my house. I dresed his wound, which was
across his belly and his fingers. Mr. Phillips shew a great concern and
fear of having killed Mr. Woodbridge. I endeavored to appease him, and
hope better things; but he said, could he think he was alive, he should
think himself a happy man."
"Doct. George Pemberton, sworn, saith that last evening about seven or
eight o'clock Mr. Henry Phillips came to the Sun Tavern and informed me,
first desiring me to go out wch I did and went to my house, where said
Phillips shew me some wounds, and that he had wounded Mr. Benjamin
Woodbridge, and feared they would prove mortal--begged of me to repair to
the Comon. Accompanied with Dr. Cutler and said Phillips, in quest of said
Woodbridge, we went to the Powder house, and searched the ground there,
but could make no discovery. Mr. Phillips then left us, and walked towards
Mr. Bromfield's lane. Dr. Cutler and I went to Mr. Woodbridge's lodging,
and several other places, but could hear nothing of him. We returned and
found Henry Phillips, at Dr. Cutler's, who was very greatly concerned;
fearing he had killed Mr. Woodbridge. We dressed Mr. Phillips' wounds
which were small."
"Capt. John Winslow examined saith that last night being at Mr. Doring's
house, Mr. Gillam Phillips, about eleven in the evening, came to me and
told me he wanted my boat to carry off his brother Henry, who had wounded
or killed a man. I went, by appointment, to Mr. Vardy's where I soon mett
Gillam Phillips. I asked him where his brother was--who he had been
fiteing with. He made answer I should see him presently. Went down to
Colo. Estis Hatche's where Mr. Gillam Phillips was to meet me. I gott
there first, knocked at Mr. Hatche's door. No answer. From Mr. Hatche's
house Mr. Peter Faneuil and Henry Phillips came into Mr. Hatche's
yard--Mr. Gillam Phillips immediately after with Mr. Adam Tuck. I heard no
discourse about the man who was wounded. They concluded, and sent Mr.
Henry Phillips to Gibb's wharf. Then Gillam Phillips with me to the long
wharf. I took boat there, and went on board my ship, lying in the harbor.
Mr. Phillips (Gillam) being in the bote, I took four of the Ship's crew,
and rowed to Gibb's Wharf, where we mett with Mr. Henry Phillips, Peter
Faneuil, and Adam Tuck. I came on shore. Henry Phillips and Tuck entred
the boat. I understood by discourse with Gillam Phillips, they designed on
board his Majestys Ship-Sheerness, Captain James Conrad Comdr. This was
about twelve and one of the Clock."
"Adam Tuck of Boston farier, examined upon oath saith, that, about eleven
of the clock, last evening, being at Luke Vardy's I understood there had
bin a quarril betwene Henry Phillips and Benja. Woodbridge, and that
Phillips had killed or mortally wounded Woodbridge. Gillam Phillips Esq.
being there, I walked with him towards Colo. Hatches, where we came up
with Capt. Jno. Winslow, and Henry Phillips, and Peter Faneuil. We all
went to Gibb's wharf, when we, that is Mr. Gillam and Henry Phillips, with
the examinant went on board Capt. John Winslow's boat. We designed, as I
understood, to go on board his Majesie's ship Sheerness, in order to leave
Mr. Henry Phillips on board the man of War, who, as he told me, had, he
feared, wounded a man, that evening on the Comon, near the water side. The
person's name I understood was Woodbridge. Soon after our being on board
Lt. Pritchard caried us into his apartment, where Gillam Phillips related
to the Leut. the rancounter that hapned betwene his brother Henry and
Benja. Woodbridge. I took the intent of their going on board the man of
War was to conceale Mr. Henry Phillips. We stayed on board about an hour
and a half. We left Mr. Henry Phillips on board the Man of War and came up
to Boston."
"John Underwood, at present residing in Boston, mariner, belonging to the
Pink Molle, John Winslow Comdr. now lying in the harbour of Boston, being
examined upon oath, concerning the death or murther of Mr. Benjamin
Woodbridge, saith, that about twelve o'clock last night, his Captn John
Winslow, with another person, unknown to him came on board. The Captn
ordered the boat with four of our hands, I being one, to go to a Wharf at
the South end of the Town, where we went, and there the Capt. went on
Shore, and two other persons came into the Boat without the Captn. We put
of and by the discourse we were designed to go on board the Man of Whar,
but by reason of the fogg or thick weather we gott on shore at Dorchester
neck, went up to a house and stayed there about an hour and half, then
returned to our boat, took in the three persons affore-named, as I
suppose, with our crew, and went on board the Man of War, now lying
betwene the Castle & Specta Island. We all went on board with the men we
took in at the Wharf, stayed there for the space of an hour, and then came
up to Boston, leaving one of the three onley on board, and landed by
Oliver's Dock."
"Wm. Pavice of Boston, one of the Pink Molly's crew, examined upon oath,
saith as above declared by John Underwood."
"James Wood and John Brown, mariners, belonging to the Pink Molly, being
examined upon oath, declare as above. John Brown cannot say, or knows not
how many persons they took from the shore, at Gibb's wharf, but is
positive but two returned to Boston. They both say they cant be sure
whether the Capt. went in the boat from the ship to the shoar."
"Mr. Peter Faneuil examined saith, that, last evening, about twelve, he
was with Gillam Phillips, Henry Phillips and Adam Tuck at Gibb's wharf,
and understood by Gillam Phillips, that his brother Henry had killed or
mortally wounded Mr. Benja. Woodbridge this evening, that Henry Phillips
went into Capt'n Winslow's boat, with his brother and Adam Tuck with the
Boat's crew, where they went he knows not."
Such was the evidence, presented before the examining justice, on the
fourth of July, 1728, in relation to this painful, and extraordinary
occurrence.
I believe I have well nigh completed my operation, upon Peter Faneuil: but
before I throw aside my professional apron, let me cast about, and see, if
there are no small arteries which I have not taken up. I perceive there
are.
The late Rev. Dr. Gray, of Jamaica Plains, on page 8 of his half century
sermon, published in 1842, has the following passage--"_The third or
Jamaica Plain Parish, in Roxbury, had its origin in the piety of an
amiable female. I refer to Mrs. Susanna, wife of Benjamin Pemberton. She
was the daughter of Peter Faneuil, who, in 1740 erected and gave to the
Town of Boston the far-famed Hall, which still bears his name; and who
built also the dwelling house, now standing here, recently known, as late
Dr. John Warren's Country seat._"
Nothing could have been farther from the meaning of the amiable Mr. Gray,
than a design to cast a reproach, upon the unimpeachable pedigree of this
excellent lady. But Peter Faneuil was, unfortunately, never married. He
was a bachelor; and is styled "_Bachelour_," in the commission, from John,
Archbishop of Canterbury, to Judge Willard, to administer the oath to
Benjamin Faneuil, as administrator, on Peter's estate. Peter's estate was
divided, among his brother, Benjamin, and his four sisters, Anne
Davenport, Susanna Boutineau, Mary Phillips, and Mary Ann Jones. This fact
is established, by the original indenture of marriage settlement, now
before me, between John Jones and Mary Ann Faneuil, dated the very month
of Peter's decease. He had no daughter to inherit. Mrs. Susanna Pemberton
had not a drop of the Faneuil blood, in her veins. Her nearest
approximation consisted in the fact, that George Bethune, her own brother,
married, as I have already stated, Mary Faneuil, Peter's niece, and the
daughter of Benjamin. Benjamin occupied that cottage, before he removed to
Brighton. He had also a town residence, in rear of the Old Brick
Meeting-house, which stood where Joy's buildings now stand.
Thomas Kilby was the commercial agent of Peter Faneuil, at Canso, Nova
Scotia, in 1737, 8 and 9. He was a gentleman of education; graduated at
Harvard, in 1723, and died in 1740, and according to Pemberton, published
essays, in prose and verse. Not long ago, a gentleman inquired of me, if I
had ever heard, that Peter Faneuil had a wooden leg; and related the
following amusing story, which he received from his collateral ancestor,
John Page, who graduated at Harvard, in 1765, and died in 1825, aged 81.
Thomas Kilby was an unthrifty, and rather whimsical, gentleman. Being
without property and employment, he retired, either into Maine, or Nova
Scotia. There he made a will, for his amusement, having, in reality,
nothing to bequeath. He left liberal sums to a number of religious,
philanthropic, and literary institutions--his eyes, which were very good,
to a blind relative--his body to a surgeon of his acquaintance, "excepting
as hereinafter excepted"--his sins he bequeathed to a worthy clergyman, as
he appeared not to have any--and the choice of his legs to Peter Faneuil.
Upon inquiry of the oldest surviving relative of Peter, I found, that
nothing was known of the wooden leg.
A day or two after, a highly respectable and aged citizen, attracted by
the articles, in the Transcript, informed me, that his father, born in
1727, told him, that he had seen Peter Faneuil, in his garden, and that,
on one foot, he wore a very high-heeled shoe. This, probably, gave
occasion to the considerate bequest of Thomas Kilby.
The will, as my informant states, upon the authority of Mr. John Page,
coming to the knowledge of Peter, he was so much pleased with the humor of
it, that, probably, having a knowledge of the _testator_ before, he sent
for him, and made him his agent, at Canso.
Peter was a kind-hearted man. The gentleman who gave me the fact,
concerning the high-heeled shoe, informed me, upon his father's authority,
that old Andrew Faneuil--the same, who, in his will, prays God, for "_the
perfecting of his charities_"--put a poor, old, schoolmaster, named
Walker, into jail, for debt. Imprisonment then, for debt, was a serious
and lingering affair. Peter, in the flesh--not his angel--privately paid
the poor man's debt, and set the prisoner free.
No. CXXXVII.
Those words of Horace were the words of soberness and truth--_Oh
imitatores, vulgum pecus!_--I loathe imitators and imitations of all
sorts. How cheap must that man feel, who awakens _hesterno vitio_, from
yesterday's debauch, on _imitation_ gin or brandy! Let no reader of the
Transcript suppose, that I am so far behind the times, as to question the
respectability of being drunk, on the real, original Scheidam or Cogniac,
whether at funerals, weddings, or ordinations. But I consider _imitation_
gin or brandy, at a funeral, a point blank insult to the corpse.
Everybody knows, that old oaks, old friendships, and old mocha must
grow--they cannot be made. My horse is frightened, nearly out of his
harness, almost every day of his life, by the hissing and jetting of the
steam, and the clatter of the machinery, as I pass a manufactory, or
grindery, of _imitation_ coffee. _Imitation_ coffee! What would my old
friend, Melli Melli, the Tunisian ambassador, with whom--long, long ago--I
have taken a cup of his own particular, once and again, at Chapotin's
Hotel, in Summer Street, say to such a thing as this!
This grindery is located, in an Irish neighborhood, and there used to be a
great number of Irish children thereabouts. The number has greatly
diminished of late. I know not why, but, as I passed, the other day, the
story that Dickens tells of the poor sausage-maker, whose broken buttons,
among the sausage meat, revealed his unlucky destiny, came forcibly to
mind. By the smell, I presume, there is a roastery, connected with the
establishment; and, now I think of it, the atmosphere, round about, is
filled with the odor of roast pig--a little overdone.
Good things, of all sorts, have stimulated the imitative powers of man,
from the diamond to the nutmeg. Even death--and death is a good thing to
him, whose armor of righteousness is on, _cap-a-pie_--death has been
occasionally imitated; and really, now and then, the thing has been very
cleverly done. I refer not to cases of catalepsy or trance, nor to cases
of total suspension of sensibility and voluntary motion, for a time, under
the agency of sulphuric ether, or chloroform.
In 1843, at the request of her Majesty's principal Secretary of State, for
the Home Department, Mr. Edwin Chadwick, Barrister at Law, made "_a report
on the results of a special inquiry into the practice of interment in
towns_." This report is very severe upon our fraternity; but, I must
confess, it is a most able and interesting performance, and full of
curious detail. The demands of the English undertaker, it appears, are so
oppressive upon the poor, that burial societies have been formed, upon the
mutual principle. It is asserted by Mr. Chadwick, that parents, under the
gripings of poverty, have actually poisoned their children, to obtain the
burial money. At the Chester assizes, several trials, for infanticide,
have occurred, on these grounds. "_That child will not live, it is in the
burial club_," is a cant and common phrase, among the Manchester paupers.
Some very clever impositions, have been practised, to obtain the burial
allowance. A man, living in Manchester, resolved to play corpse, for this
laudable object. His wife was privy to the plot, of course,--and gave
notice, in proper form, of her bereavement. The agent of the society made
the customary domiciliary visit. There the body lay--stiff and stark--and
a very straight and proper corpse it was--the jaw decently tied up. The
visitor, well convinced, and quite touched by the widow's anguish, was
turning on his heel to depart, when a slight motion of the dead man's
eyelid arrested his attention: he began to smell--not of the body, like
the bear in AEsop--but a rat. Upon feeling the pulse, he begged the chief
mourner to be comforted; there was strong ground for hope! More obstinate
than Rachel, she not only would not be comforted, but abused the visitor,
in good Gaelic, for questioning her veracity. Had she not laid out the
daar man, her own daar Tooly Mashee, with her own hands! and didn't she
know better than to be after laying him out, while the brith was in his
daar buddy! and would she be guilty of so cruel a thing to her own good
man! The doctor was called; and, after feeling the pulse, threw a bucket
of water, in the face of the defunct, which resulted in immediate
resurrection.
The most extraordinary case of imitation death on record, and which, under
the acknowledged rules of evidence, it is quite impossible to disbelieve,
is that of the East India Fakeer, who was buried alive at Lahore, in 1837,
and at the end of forty days, disinterred, and resuscitated. This tale is,
_prima facie_, highly improbable: let us examine the evidence. It is
introduced, in the last English edition of Sharon Turner's Sacred History
of the World, vol. iii., in a note upon Letter 25. The witness is Sir
Claude M. Wade, who, at the time of the Fakeer's burial, and disinterment,
was political resident, at Loodianah, and principal agent of the English
government, at the court of Runjeet Singh. The character of this witness
is entirely above suspicion; and the reader will observe, in his
testimony, anything but the marks and numbers of a credulous witness, or a
dealer in the marvellous. Mr. Wade addressed a letter to the editor of
Turner's History, from which the following extracts are made:--
"I was present, at the court of Runjeet Singh, at Lahore, in 1837, when
the Fakeer, mentioned by the Hon. Capt. Osborne, was buried alive, for six
weeks; and, though I arrived, a few hours after his interment, I had the
testimony of Runjeet Singh, himself, and others, the most credible
witnesses of his court, to the truth of the Fakeer having been so buried
before them; and from having been present myself, when he was disinterred,
and restored to a state of perfect vitality, in a position so close to
him, as to render any deception impossible, it is my firm belief that
there was no collusion, in producing the extraordinary fact, that I have
related."
Mr. Wade proceeds to give an account of the disinterment. "On the approach
of the appointed time, according to invitation, I accompanied Runjeet
Singh to the spot, where the Fakeer had been buried. It was a square
building, called, in the language of the country, _Barra Durree_, in the
midst of one of the gardens, adjoining the palace at Lahore, with an open
verandah all around, having an enclosed room in the centre. On arriving
there, Runjeet Singh, who was attended on the occasion, by the whole of
his court, dismounting from his elephant, asked me to join him, in
examining the building, to satisfy himself that it was closed, as he had
left it. We did so. There had been an open door, on each of the four sides
of the room, three of which were perfectly closed with brick and mortar.
The fourth had a strong door, also closed with mud, up to the padlock,
which was sealed with the private seal of Runjeet Singh, in his own
presence, when the Fakeer was interred. In fact, the exterior of the
building presented no aperture whatever, by which air could be admitted,
nor any communication held, by which food could possibly be conveyed to
the Fakeer; and I may also add, that the walls, closing the doorways, bore
no marks of having been recently disturbed or removed."
"Runjeet Singh recognized the impression of the seal, as the one, which he
had affixed: and, as he was as skeptical, as any European could be, of the
successful result of such an enterprise, to guard, as far as possible,
against any collusion, he had placed two companies, from his own personal
escort, near the building, from which four sentries were furnished, and
relieved, every two hours, night and day, to guard the building from
intrusion. At the same time, he ordered one of the principal officers of
his court to visit the place occasionally, and report the result of his
inspection to him; while he himself, or his minister, kept the seal which
closed the hole of the padlock, and the latter received the reports of the
officers on guard, morning and evening."
"After our examination, and we had seated ourselves in the verandah,
opposite the door, some of Runjeet's people dug away the mud wall, and one
of his officers broke the seal, and opened the padlock."
"On the door being thrown open, nothing but a dark room was to be seen.
Runjeet Singh and myself then entered it, in company with the servant of
the Fakeer. A light was brought, and we descended about three feet below
the floor of the room, into a sort of cell, in which a wooden box, about
four feet long, by three broad, with a square sloping roof, containing the
Fakeer, was placed upright, the door of which had also a padlock and seal,
similar to that on the outside. On opening it, we saw"--
But I am reminded, by observing the point I have reached, upon my sheet of
paper, that it is time to pause. There are others, who have something to
say to the public, of more importance, about rum, sugar and molasses,
turtle soup and patent medicine, children, that are lost, and puppies,
that are found.
No. CXXXVIII.
Sir Claude M. Wade, the reader may remember, was proceeding thus--"On
opening it," (the box containing the Fakeer) "we saw a figure, enclosed in
a bag of white linen, drawn together, and fastened by a string over the
head; on the exposure of which a grand salute was fired, and the
surrounding multitude came crowding to the door to see the spectacle.
After they had gratified their curiosity, the Fakeer's servant, putting
his arms into the box, took the figure of his master out; and, closing the
door, placed it, with his back against the door, exactly as he had been
squatted, like a Hindoo idol, in the box itself. Runjeet Singh and I then
descended into the cell, which was so small, that we were only able to sit
on the ground in front, and so close to the body, as to touch it with our
hands and knees. The servant then began pouring warm water over the
figure, but, as my object was to watch if any fraudulent practice could be
detected, I proposed to Runjeet Singh, to tear open the bag, and have a
perfect view of the body, before any means of resuscitation were
attempted. I accordingly did so; and may here remark, that the bag, when
first seen by us, looked mildewed, as if it had been buried for some time.
The legs and arms of the body were shrivelled and stiff, the face full, as
in life, and the head reclining on the shoulder, like that of a corpse."
"I then called to the medical gentleman, who was attending me, to come
down and inspect the body, which he did, but could discover no pulsation,
in the heart, temples or the arms. There was however, a heat, about the
region of the brain, which no other part of the body exhibited. The
servant then commenced bathing him with hot water, and gradually relaxing
his arms and legs from the rigid state, in which they were contracted;
Runjeet Singh taking his right and left leg, to aid by friction in
restoring them to their proper action, during which time the servant
placed a hot wheaten cake, about an inch thick, on the top of the head--a
process, which he twice or thrice repeated. He then took out of his
nostrils and ears the wax and cotton plugs, with which they were stopped,
and after great exertion, opened his mouth, by inserting the point of a
knife between the teeth, and while holding his jaws open, with his left
hand, drew the tongue forward, with the forefinger of the right, in the
course of which the tongue flew back, several times, to its curved
position upwards, that in which it had originally been placed, so as to
close the gullet. He then rubbed his eyelids with ghee (clarified butter)
for some time, till he succeeded in opening them, when the eye appeared
quite motionless and glazed. After the cake had been applied for the third
time, to the top of the head, the body was convulsively heaved, the
nostrils became violently inflated, respiration ensued, and the limbs
began to assume a natural fulness. The servant then put some ghee on his
tongue, and made him swallow it. A few minutes afterwards, the eyeballs
became slowly dilated, recovered their natural color, and the Fakeer,
recognizing Runjeet Singh, sitting close by him, articulated, in a low
sepulchral tone, scarcely audible--'_Do you believe me now?_'"
"Runjeet Singh replied in the affirmative; and then began investing the
Fakeer with a pearl necklace, a superb pair of gold bracelets, shawls, and
pieces of silk and muslin, forming what is called a _khilet_, such as is
usually conferred, by the princes of India, on persons of distinction.
From the time of the box being opened to the recovery of the voice, not
more than half an hour could have elapsed; and, in another half an hour,
the Fakeer talked with himself and those about him freely, though feebly,
like a sick person, and we then left him, convinced that there had been no
fraud or collusion, in the exhibition, which we had witnessed."
The Hon. Captain Osborne, who was attached to the mission of Sir William
Macnaughten, in the following year, 1838, sought to persuade the Fakeer to
repeat the experiment, and to suffer the keys of the vault to remain in
Captain Osborne's custody. At this the Fakeer became alarmed, though he
afterwards consented, and, at the request of Runjeet Singh, he came to
Lahore for the purpose; but, as he expressed a strong apprehension, that
Captain Osborne intended to destroy him, and as Sir William Macnaughten
and his suite were about to depart, the matter was given up. This is
related by Captain Osborne, in his "Court and Camp of Runjeet Singh."
After avowing his entire belief in all the facts, set forth in the
previous narrative, Sir Claude M. Wade remarks--"I took some pains to
inquire into the mode, by which such a result was effected; and was
informed, that it rested on a doctrine of the Hindoo physiologists, that
heat constitutes the self existent principle of life; and, that, if the
functions are so far destroyed, as to leave that one, in perfect purity,
life could be sustained for considerable lengths of time, independently of
air, food, or any other means of sustenance. To produce such a state, the
patients are obliged to go through a severe preparation. How far such
means are calculated to produce such effects physiologists will be better
able to judge than I can pretend to do. I only state what I saw, and
heard, and think."
This narrative certainly belongs to the very first part of the very first
book of very wonderful things. But this marvellous book is no longer a
closed volume. Millions of ingenious fingers have, for fifty years, been
busily employed, in breaking its mysterious seals, one after another.
Demonstration has trampled upon doubt, and the world is rapidly coming to
my shrewd old grandmother's conclusion, that nothing is so truly
wonderful, as that we wonder at all. There is nothing more difficult, than
to exonerate the mind from the weight of its present consciousness, and to
wonder by rule. We readily lose the recollection of our doubt and
derision, upon former occasions, when matters, apparently quite as absurd
and impossible, are presented for contemplation, _de novo_.
If putrefaction can be kept off, mere animal life, the vital principle,
may be preserved, for a prodigious length of time, in the lower ranks of
animal creation, while in a state of torpidity. Dr. Gillies relates, that
he bottled up some _cerastes_, a species of small snakes, and kept them
corked tight, with nothing in the bottle, but a little sand, for several
years; and, when the bottle was uncorked, they came forth, revived by the
air, and immediately acquired their original activity.
More than fifty years ago, having read Dr. Franklin's account of the
flies, which he discovered, drowned, in a bottle of old wine, and which he
restored to life, by exposure to the sun's rays; I bottled up a dozen
flies, in a small phial of Madeira--took them out, at the expiration of a
month--and placed them under a glass tumbler, in a sunny window. Within
half an hour, nine revived; got up; walked about, wiped their faces with
their fore legs; trimmed their wings, with their hinder ones; and began to
knock their heads, against the tumbler, to escape. After waiting a couple
of hours, to give the remaining three a fair chance, but to no purpose,
and expecting nothing from the humane society, for what I had already
accomplished, I returned the nine to their wine bath, in the phial. After
rather more than three months, I repeated the experiment of resuscitation.
After several hours, two gave evidence of revival, got upon their legs,
reeled against each other, and showed some symptoms of _mania a potu_. At
length they were fairly on their trotters. I lifted the tumbler; they took
the hint, and flew to the window glass. It was fly time. I watched one of
those, who had profited by the revival--he got four or five flies about
him, who really seemed to be listening to the account of his experience.
"Ants, bees, and wasps," says Sharon Turner, in his Sacred History, vol.
i. ch. 17, "especially the smallest of these, the ants, do things, and
exercise sensibilities, and combine for purposes, and achieve ends, that
bring them nearer to mankind, than any other class of animated nature."
Aye, I know, myself, some of our fellow-citizens, who make quite a stir,
in their little circles, petty politicians, who extort responses from
great men, and show them, _in confidence_, to all they meet--overgrown
boys, in bands and cassocks, who, for mere exercise, edit religious
newspapers, and scribble _treason_, under the name of _ethics_--who, in
respect to all the qualities, enumerated by Sharon Turner, are decidedly
inferior to pismires.
The hybernation of various animals furnishes analogous examples of the
matter, under consideration. A suspension of faculties and functions, for
a considerable time, followed by a periodical restoration of their use,
forms a part of the natural history of certain animals.
Those forty days--that wonderful quarantine of the Fakeer, in the tomb,
and his subsequent restoration, are marvels. I have presented the facts,
upon the evidence of Sir Claude M. Wade. Every reader will philosophize,
upon this interesting matter, for himself. If such experiments can be
made, for forty days, it is not easy to comprehend the necessity of such a
limit. If trustees were appointed, and gave bonds to keep the tomb
comfortable, and free from rats, and to knock up a corpse, at the time
appointed, forty years, or an hundred, might answer quite as well. What
visions are thus opened to the mind. An author might go to sleep, and wake
up in the midst of posterity, and find himself an entire stranger. Weary
partners might find a temporary respite, in the grave, and leave
directions, to be called, in season to attend the funeral. The heir
expectant of some tenacious ancestor might thus dispose of the drowsy and
unprofitable interval. The gentleman of _petite fortune_ might suffer it
to accumulate, in the hands of trustees, and wake up, after twenty or
thirty years, a man of affluence. Instead of making up a party for the
pyramids, half a dozen merry fellows might be buried together, with the
pleasant prospect of rising again in 1949. No use whatever being made of
the time thus relinquished, and the powers of life being husbanded in the
interim, years would pass uncounted, of course; and he, who was buried, at
twenty-one, would be just of age when he awoke. I should like, extremely,
to have the opinion of the Fakeer, upon these interesting points.
No. CXXXIX.
"And much more honest to be hir'd, and stand
With auctionary hammer in thy hand,
Provoking to give more, and knocking thrice,
For the old household stuff or picture's price."
DRYDEN.
Old customs, dead and buried, long ago, do certainly come round again,
like old comets; but, whether in their appointed seasons, or not, I cannot
tell. Whether old usages, and old chairs, and old teapots revolve in their
orbits, or not, I leave to the astronomers. It would be very pleasant to
be able to calculate the return of hoops, cocked hats, and cork rumpers,
buffets, pillions, links, pillories, and sedans.
I noticed the following paragraph, in the Evening Transcript, not long
ago, and it led me to turn over some heaps of old relics, in my
possession--
"A substitute for the everlasting 'going, going, gone,' was introduced at
a recent auction in New York. The auctioneer held up a sand-glass, through
which the sand occupied fourteen seconds in passing. If a person made a
bid, the glass was held up in view of all, and if no person advanced on
the bid before the sand passed through, the sale was made. This idea is a
novel one, though we believe it has long been practised in Europe."
It was formerly the custom in England, to sell goods, at auction, "by
inch of candle." An inch of candle was lighted, and the company proceeded
to bid, the last crier or bidder, before the candle went out, was declared
the purchaser. Samuel Pepys, who was Secretary of the Admiralty, in the
reigns of the two last Stuarts, repeatedly refers to the practice, in his
Diary. Thus, in Braybrook's edition, of 1848, he says, vol. i. page 151,
under date Nov. 6, 1660--"To our office, where we met all, for the sale of
two ships, by an inch of candle, (the first time that I saw any of this
kind,) where I observed how they do invite one another, and at last how
they all do cry; and we have much to do to tell who did cry last."
Again, Ibid., vol. ii. page 29, Sept. 3, 1662--"After dinner, we met and
sold the Weymouth, Successe, and Fellowship hulkes, where pleasant to see
how backward men are at first to bid; and yet, when the candle is going
out, how they bawl, and dispute afterwards who bid the most first. And
here I observed one man cunninger than the rest, that was sure to bid the
last man, and carry it; and, inquiring the reason, he told me, that, just
as the flame goes out, the smoke descends, which is a thing I never
observed before, and, by that he do know the instant when to bid last."
Again, Ibid., vol. iv. page 4, Ap. 3, 1667, he refers to certain prize
goods, "bought lately at the candle."
Haydn says this species of auction, by inch of candle is derived from a
practice, in the Roman Catholic Church. Where there is an excommunication,
by inch of candle, and the sinner is allowed to come to repentance, while
yet the candle burns. The sinner is supposed, of course, to be
_going--going--gone_--unless he avails of the opportunity to bid, as it
were, for his salvation. This naturally reminds the reader of the
spiritual distich--
"For while the lamp holds out to burn,
The vilest sinner may return."
Where the bids are, from a maximum, downward, the term--_auction_--is
still commonly, though improperly employed, and in the very teeth of all
etymology. When I was a boy, the poor, in many of our country towns, were
disposed of, in this manner. The question was, who would take Daddy
Osgood, one of the town's poor, for the smallest weekly sum, to be paid by
the town. The old man was started, at four shillings, and bid down to a
minimum. There was yet a little work in his old bones; and I well remember
one of these auctions, in 1798, in the town of Billerica, at which Dr.
William Bowers bid off Daddy Osgood, for two and sixpence.
The Dutch have a method of selling fresh fish, which is somewhat analogous
to this, and very simple and ingenious. An account of it may be found, in
Dodsley's Annual Register, for 1760, vol. iii. page 170. The salesman is
called the Affslager. The fish are brought in, in the morning, and placed
on the ground, near the fish stalls of the retailers. At ten, precisely,
the Affslager rings his bell, which may be heard, for half a mile.
Retailers, and individual consumers collect, and the Affslager--the
auctioneer--puts up a lot, at a maximum price. No one offers a less sum,
but the mynheers stand round, sucking at their pipes, and puffing away,
and saying nothing. When the Affslager becomes satisfied, that nobody will
buy the lot, at the price named, he gradually lowers it, until one of the
mynheers takes his pipe from his mouth and cries "_mine!_" in High Dutch.
He is, of course, the purchaser; and the Affslager proceeds to the sale of
another lot.
It will be seen, from one of the citations from Pepys, that some of _the
auctions_ of his time were called _the candles_; precisely as the
auctions, at Rome, were called _hastae_; a spear or _hasta_, instead of a
flag, being the customary signal for the sale. The proper word, however,
was _auctio_, and the auctioneer was called _auctor_. Notice of the sale
was given, by the crier, _a praecone praedicari_, Plaut. Men., v. 9, 94, or,
by writing on tables. Such is the import of _tabulum proscripsit_, in
Cicero's letter to his brother Quintus, ii. 6.
In the year 1824, passing through the streets of Natchez, I saw a slave,
walking along, and ringing a bell, as he went; the bell very much
resembled our cowbells, in size and form. Upon a signal from a citizen,
the slave stopped ringing, and walked over to him, and stood before him,
till he had read the advertisement of a sale at auction, placarded on the
breast of the slave, who then went forward, ringing his bell, as before.
The Romans made their bids, by lifting the finger; and the auctioneer
added as many _sesterces_, as he thought amounted to a reasonable bid.
Cicero uses this expression in his fine oration against Verres, i
54--_digitum tollit Junius patruus--Junius, his paternal uncle, raised his
finger_, that is, he made a bid.
The employment of a spear, as the signal of an auction sale, is supposed
to have arisen from the fact, that the only articles, originally sold, in
this manner, were the spoils of war. Subsequently, the spear--_hasta_--came
to be universally used, to signify a _sale at auction_. The auction of
Pompey's goods, by Caesar, is repeatedly alluded to, by Cicero, with great
severity, as the _hasta Caesaris_. A passage may be found, in his treatise,
_De Officiis_, ii. 8, and another, in his eighth Philippic, sec.
3--"Invitus dico, sed dicendum est. Hasta Caesaris, Patres Conscripti,
multis improbis spem affert, et audaciam. Viderunt enim, ex mendicis fieri
repente divites: itaque hastam semper videre cupiunt ii, qui nostris bonis
imminent; quibus omnia pollicetur Antonius." I say it reluctantly, but it
must be said--Caesar's auction, Conscript Fathers, inflames the hopes and
the insolence of many bad men. For they see how immediately, the merest
beggars are converted into men of wealth. Therefore it is that those, who
are hankering after our goods and chattels, and to whom Antony has
promised all things, are ever longing to behold such another auction, as
that.
The auctioneer's bell, in use, at the Hague, in 1760, was introduced into
Boston, seventy-seven years ago, by Mr. Bicker, whose auction-room was
near the Market. Having given some offence to the public, he inserted the
following notice, in the Boston Gazette and Country Journal, Monday, April
18, 1774--"As the method, lately practised by the Subscriber, in having a
Person at his Door, to invite Gentlemen and others to his public
Sales--has given Dissatisfaction to some (Gentlemen Shopkeepers in
particular) to avoid giving Offence for the future, he shall desist from
that Practice, and pursue one (as follows) which he flatters himself
cannot fail giving universal Satisfaction, as he sincerely wishes so to
do. The Public are most earnestly requested to remember (_for their own
advantage_) that, for the future, Notice will be given, by sounding a
Bell, which he has purchased for that Purpose, which is erected over the
Auction Room Door, near the Market, Boston, where constant Attendance is
given both early and late, to receive the favors of all such who are
pleased to confer on their _Much obliged, Most Obedient, and very humble
Servant_, M. Bicker."
Albeit there is no less bickering or dickering here now, than of yore, yet
Bicker and his bell have gone, long ago, to the "receptacle of things lost
upon earth." The very name is no more.
Haydn says, the first auction in Britain was about 1700, by Elisha Yale,
a Governor of Fort George, in the East Indies, of the goods he had brought
home with him. That Mr. Haydn must be mistaken is manifest, from the
citation from Pepys, who speaks of auctions, by inch of candle, as early
as 1660; and not then as a novelty, but the first of the kind that he had
witnessed.
Fosbroke says, in his Antiquities, page 412--"In the middle age, the goods
were cried and sold to the highest bidder, and the sound of a trumpet
added with a very loud noise. The use of the spear was retained, the
auctions being called _Subhastationes_; and the _Subhastator_, or
auctioneer, was sworn to sell the goods faithfully. In Nares, we have,
_sold at a pike or spear_, i. e. by public auction or outcry; and auctions
called _port sales_, because originally, perhaps, sales made in ports--the
crier stood under the spear, as in the Roman aera, and was, in the
thirteenth century, called _cursor_."
Of late, _mock auctions_, as they are termed, have become a very serious
evil, especially in the city of New York. In 1813 petitions, in regard to
these public impositions, were sent to the Lords of the Treasury, from
many of the principal cities of Great Britain. In 1818 a select committee
reported, very fully, upon this subject, to the British Parliament. This
committee, after long and critical investigation, reported, that great
frauds were constantly committed on the public, by _mock_ or fraudulent
_auctions_. The committee set forth several examples of this species of
knavery. Goods are sold, as the furniture of gentlemen, going abroad. For
this purpose, empty houses are hired for a few days, and filled with
comparatively worthless furniture. Articles of the most inferior
manufacture are made for the express purpose of being put into such sales,
as the property of individuals of known character and respectability. To
impose, more effectually, on the public, the names of the most respectable
auctioneers have been used, with the variation of a letter. This bears
some analogy to the legislative change of name, in this city, for the
purpose of facilitating the sale of inferior pianos. Respectable
auctioneers have been compelled, in self-defence, to appear at such mock
auctions, and disclaim all connection therewith. Great masses of cutlery
and plated ware of base manufacture, with London makers' names, and
advertised, as made in London, are constantly sold, at these auctions;
forcing the London makers to appear at the sales rooms, and expose the
fraud.
The committee say that no imposition is more common than the sale of
ordinary wine, in bottles, as the _bonne bouche_ of some respectable
Amphitryon deceased.
They farther state, that daring men are known to combine, attend real
sales, and by various means, drive respectable purchasers away, purchase
at their own price, and afterwards privately sell, under a form of public
sale, among themselves, at _Knock Out_ auctions, as they are called.
The committee recommended an entire revision of the auction laws--an
increase of the license--heavier penalties for violation--no sale, without
previous exposure of the goods for twenty-four hours, or printed
catalogue--name and address of the auctioneer to be published--severe
penalty, for using a fictitious name, &c.
The whole advertising system of mock auctions, like that, connected with
the kindred impostures of quackery and patent medicines, furnishes a vast
amount of curious and entertaining reading; and affords abundant scope,
for the exercise of a vicious ingenuity. I have heard of a horse, that
could not be compelled, by whip or spur, to cross a bridge, which lay in
the way to his owner's country residence--the horse was advertised to be
sold at auction for no fault but that his owner was _desirous of going out
of the city_.
No. CXL.
Few things are more difficult, than shaving a cold corpse, and making,
what the _artistes_ call _a good job of it_. I heard Robert New say so,
forty years ago, who kept his shop, at the north--easterly corner of
Scollay's buildings. He said the barber ought to be called, as soon, as
the breath was out of the body, and a little before, if it was a clear
case, and you wished the corpse "_to look wholesome_." I think he was
right. Pope's Narcissa said--
"One need not sure be ugly, though one's dead."
There is considerable mystery, in shaving a living corpse. I find it so;
and yet I have always shaved myself; for I have never been able to
overcome a strong, hereditary prejudice, against being taken by the nose.
My razor is very capricious; so, I suppose, is everybody's razor. There is
a deep and mystical philosophy, about the edge of a razor, which seems to
have baffled the most scientific; and is next of kin to witchcraft. A
tract, by Cotton Mather, upon this subject, would be invaluable. The
scholar will smile, at any comparison, between Pliny the elder and Cotton
Mather. So far, as respects the scope of knowledge, and power of
intellect, and inexhaustible treasures, displayed in Pliny's thirty-seven
books of Natural History, one might as well compare Hyperion to a mummy. I
allude to nothing but the _Magnalia_ or _Improbabilia_; and, upon this
point of comparison, Mather, witchcraft and all fairly fade out of sight,
before the marvels and fantastical stories of Pliny. In lib. xxviii. 23,
Pliny assigns a very strange cause, why _aciem in cultris tonsorum
hebetescere_--why the edge of a barber's razor is sometimes blunted. The
reader may look it up, if he will--it is better in a work, _sub sigillo
latinitatis_, than in an English journal.
I have often put my razor down, regretting, that my beard did not spread
over a larger area; so keenly and agreeably has the instrument performed
its work. It really seemed, that I might have shaved a sleeping mouse,
without disturbing his repose. After twelve hours, that very razor,
untouched the while, has come forth, no better than a pot-sherd. The very
reverse of all this has also befallen me. I once heard Revaillon, our old
French barber, say, that a razor could not be strapped with too light a
hand; and the English proverb was always in his mouth--"a good lather is
half the shave."
Some persons suppose the razor to be an instrument, of comparatively
modern invention, and barbers to have sprung up, at farthest, within the
Christian era. It is written, in Isaiah vii. 20, "In the same day shall
the Lord shave with a razor, that is hired," &c. Ezekiel began to
prophecy, according to Calmet, 590 years before Christ: in the first verse
of ch. v. he says--"take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor,
and cause it to pass upon thy head and upon thy beard." To cause a razor
_to pass upon the beard_ seems to mean something very different from
_shaving_, in the common sense of that word. Doubtless, it does: the
_culter_ or _novacula_, that is, _the razor_, of the ancients, was
employed, for _shearing_ or _shortening_, as well as for _shaving_ the
beard. Barbers were first known, among the Romans A. U. C. 454, i. e. 298
years before Christ. Pliny says, vii. 59--Sequens gentium consensus in
tonsoribus fuit, sed Romanis tardior. In Italiam ex Sicilia venere post
Romam conditam anno quadringentessimo quinquagessimo quarto, adducente P.
Ticinio Mena, ut auctor est Varro: antea intonsi fuere. Primus omnium radi
quotidie instituit Africanus sequens: Divus Augustus cultris semper usus
est. Then barbers came into use, among the nations, but more slowly among
the Romans. In the year of the city 454, according to Varro, P. Ticinius
Mena introduced barbers into Italy from Sicily: until that time, men wore
their beards. The latter Africanus first set the example of being shaven
daily. Augustus constantly used razors. The passage of Varro, referred to
by Pliny, showing, that, before A. U. C. 454, men wore their beards,
states the fact to be established, by the long beards, on all the old male
statues. That _passing of the sharp knife or razor, upon the beard_,
spoken of, by Ezekiel, I take to be the latter of the two modes, employed
by the Romans--"vel strictim, hoc est, ad cutem usque; vel paulo longius a
cute, interposito pectine"--either close to the skin, or with a comb
interposed. That both modes were in use is clear from the lines of Plautus
in his play of the Captives, Act ii. sc. 2, v. 16--
Nunc senex est in tonstrina; nunc jam cultros adtinet;
Sed utrum strictimne adtonsurum dicam esse, an per pectinem,
Nescio.
Now the old man is in the barber's shop and under the razor; but whether
to be close shaved, or clipped with the comb, I know not.
Pliny, as we have seen, states, that the practice came from Sicily. There
it had been long in use. There is a curious reference to the custom in
Cicero's Tusculan Questions, v. 20. Speaking of the tyrant, Dionysius he
says--Quin etiam ne tonsori collum committeret, tondere suas filias
docuit. Ita sordido ancillarique artificio regiae virgines, ut tonstriculae
tondebant barbam et capillum patris. For, not liking to trust his throat
to a barber, he taught his daughters to shave him, and thus these royal
virgins, descending to this coarse, servile vocation, became little, she
barbers, and clipped their father's beard and hair.
There is a curious passage in Pliny which not only proves, that barbers'
shops were common in his time, but shows the very ancient employment of
cobweb, as a styptic. In lib. xxix. 36, he says--Fracto capiti aranei tela
ex oleo et aceto imposita, non nisi vulnere sanato, abscedit. Haec et
vulneribus tonstrinarum sanguinem sistit. Spiders' web, with oil and
vinegar, applied to a broken head, adheres, till the wound heals. This
also stops the bleeding from cuts, in barbers' shops.
Razors were sharpened, some two thousand years ago, very much as they are
at present. Pliny devotes sec. 47, lib. xxxvi. to hones and whetstones,
oil stones and water stones--quarta ratio--he says--est saliva hominis
proficientium in torstrinarum officinis--the fourth kind is such as are
used in the barbers' shops, and which the man softens with his saliva.
Most common, proverbial sayings are, doubtless, of great antiquity.
Chopping-blocks with a razor is a common illustration of the employment of
a subtle ingenuity, upon coarse and uninteresting topics. Thus Goldsmith,
in his Retaliation, says of Burke--
In short, 'twas his fate, unemploy'd, or in place, sir,
To eat mutton cold, and chop blocks with a razor.
The latter illustration is as old as Livy--_novacula cotem discindere_.
The Romans made a prodigious fuss, about their beards. The first crop,
called _prima barba_, and sometimes _lanugo_, was, according to Petronius,
consecrated to some god. Suetonius says, in his Life of Nero, 12--Gymnico
quod in septis edebat, inter buthysiae apparatum, barbam primam posuit,
conditamque in auream pyxidem, et pretiosissimis margaritis adornatam,
capitolio consecravit.--During the games, which he had given in the
enclosures, and in the very midst of the splendor of the sacrifice, for
the first time, he laid down his beard, and having placed it in a golden
box, adorned with precious stones, he made a sacred deposit thereof, in
the capitol.
After the custom of shaving had been introduced, by Mena, A. U. C. 454, it
went out, for a short time, in Rome, during the time of Adrian, who as
Spartianus relates, in his Life of that Emperor, having some ugly
excrescences on his chin, suffered his beard to grow to conceal them--of
course the courtiers followed the example of the emperor--the people, that
of the courtiers. The grave concealed those excrescences, more
effectually, A. D. 139, and the _navacula_ again came into use, among the
Romans: Marcus Antoninus, his successor, had no excrescences on his chin.
The day, upon which a young Roman was said _ponere barbam_, that is, to
shave for the first time, was accounted a holiday; and Juvenal says, iii.
187, he received presents from his friends.
Ovid, Trist. iv. 10, 67, dates his earliest literary exhibitions, before
the people, by his first or second shave, or clip--
Carmina quum primum populo juvenilia legi,
Barba resecta mihi bisve semelve fuit.