The Caliph Haroun al Raschid is stated to have maintained an unbroken
friendship with his contemporary Charlemagne, throughout their mutual
reign. A variety of magnificent presents attested the esteem of the
caliph for his Christian friend. Among them were several objects,
which tend to show the advance which art had made, at this time in the
East. The first of these was a clock of gilded bronze, round which the
course of the twelve hours was displayed; while, at the end of each
hour, the number of brazen balls which were requisite to mark
the division of time, were thrown out from above, and falling
consecutively on a cymbal below, struck the hour required. In like
manner a number of horsemen issued forth from windows placed around
the dial; while a number of other clock-work miracles attested the
height which the mechanical arts had reached at the court of Haroun.
The carriage of such objects, as the above presents sent from Bagdad
to France, was, of course, attended with no small inconvenience;
and the neglected state of the science of navigation, rendered the
journeys of the ambassadors long and dangerous. Between three and
four years were generally consumed in a mission from one capital to
another; and, indeed, it happened more than once, that even after
arriving within the dominions of the Frankish monarchs, the envoys had
still to seek him over a tract nearly as extensive as that which they
had before crossed.
_Parliamentary Debates_.--Originally these debates were given in the
_Gentleman's Magazine_, under the fiction of "Debates in the Senate
of Liliput," and the speakers were disguised under feigned names.
Guthrie, for a time, composed these speeches from such hints as he
could bring away in his memory. Dr. Johnson first assisted in this
department, and then entirely filled it, and the public was highly
gratified with the eloquence displayed in these compositions. P.T.W.
_Steam Carriages_.--By the formation of rail-roads, a loss has
occurred in the revenue from stage coaches, to the amount of 8,384_l_.
_Electro-Magnetism_.--The largest electro-magnet is that constructed
by the American philosophers. It is of a horse-shoe form, and weighs
about 60 lbs.; around it are 26 coils of wire, the united lengths
of which are 800 feet. When excited by about five feet of galvanic
surface, it is said to have supported nearly two tons. We here see
that the exciting cause of magnetism is the action of the galvanic
battery; and a variety of other interesting experiments in
electro-magnetics, tend to the conclusion that the magnetic and
electric fluids are nearly allied.--_Imperial Magazine._
_Salary of the Chancellor, 700 years since_.--The salary of the
Chancellor, as fixed by Henry I., amounted to five shillings per diem,
and a livery of provisions.
_Dibdin_.--On the tombstone of Dibdin, the celebrated song composer,
in St. Martin's, by Pancras New Church, is the first verse of his _Tom
Bowling_:
"His form was of the manliest beauty,
His heart was kind and soft,
Faithful on earth he did his duty,
But now he's gone aloft."
_Studious Printer_.--Morel was an eminent French printer, who
sacrificed every thing to study. On being informed that his wife was
dying, he refused to quit his pen till he had finished what he was
about, and by that time news was brought him that she was dead; to
which he coolly replied, "I am sorry for it--she was a good woman." He
died in 1638, at the age of 78. P.T.W.
_A Painter's Retort, or Dangerous Re-touch_.--Antonio More, the
celebrated painter, was highly favoured by Philip of Spain, whose
familiarity with him placed his life in danger; for More ventured to
return a slap on the shoulder which the king in a playful moment gave
him, by rubbing some carmine on his majesty's hand. This behaviour was
accepted by the monarch as a jest, but it was hinted to More that
the holy tribunal might regard it as sacrilege, and he fled, to save
himself, into Flanders, where he was employed by the Duke of Alva.
P.T.W.
_Steam Power_.--Mr. Alexander Gordon states, that in various
departments of the revenue, the saving of expenditure by the
substitution of inanimate for animate power, would, in the Post Office
alone, amount to upwards of half a million; whilst, from the cheapness
of food which the substitution would produce, the navy and army
estimates would be most essentially reduced.
Steam may now be said to maintain the power which can engrave a seal,
and crush a mass of obdurate metal like wax before it; draw out,
without breaking, a thread as fine as gossamer, and lift a ship of
war like a bauble in the air; to embroider muslin, forge anchors, cut
steel into ribands, and impel itself against the opposition of the
very tempest.
Charlemagne was buried on the day of his death in the great church
which he had constructed at Aix-la-Chapelle. The Monk of Angouleme
declares that he was inhumed in his imperial robes, and that the
pilgrim's wallet which he wore on his journeys to Rome was also
consigned with his body to the tomb.
_Indian Hail Storms_.--Captain Skinner says, during one in which a
heavy shower of hail fell, the thermometer sunk nine degrees in fewer
minutes--from 75 to 66; it rose again as rapidly. Although it was more
than four o'clock in the afternoon when the hail fell, it was still on
the ground the following morning; a proof of the coldness of the night
air.
_Waterloo Child_.--A private of the 27th regiment, who was severely
wounded at the battle of Waterloo, was carried off the field by his
wife, then far advanced in pregnancy; she also was wounded by a shell,
and with her husband, remained a considerable time in one of the
hospitals at Antwerp, in a hopeless state. The man lost both his arms,
his wife was extremely lame, and here gave birth to a daughter, to
whom it is said the late Duke of York stood sponsor; her names being
Frederica M'Mullen Waterloo. A.H.K.--T.
_The Royal Academy_.--The receipts for admission to the Exhibition of
this year were £300. short of what they were last year. The sale of
pictures at the Gallery of the Society of British Artists has been
greater than in any preceding season.
* * * * *
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