The following is the bill of fare for the Court of Assistants of the
Worshipful the Company of Wax Chandlers, London, 1478:--Two loins of
veal, and two loins of mutton, 1s. 4d.; one loin of beef, 4d.; one dozen
of pigeons and one dozen of rabbits, 9d.; one pig and one capon, 1s.;
one goose and a hundred eggs, 1s. 1/2d.; one leg of mutton, 2-1/2d.; two
gallons of sack, 1s. 4d.; eight gallons of strong ale, 1s. 6d.--7s. 6d.
* * * * *
The fathers of the church considered the earth as a great ship,
surrounded by water, with the prow to the east and the stern to the
west. We still find in Cosmas, a monk of the fourteenth century, a sort
of geographical chart, in which, the earth has this figure. Even among
the ancients, though many of their geometricians had acknowledged the
sphericity of the globe, it was for a long time imagined that the earth
was a third longer than it was broad, and thence arose the terms of
_longitude_ and _latitude_. St. Athanasius expresses himself most warmly
against astronomers. "Let us stop the mouths of these barbarians," he
exclaims, "who, speaking without proof, dare assert that the heavens
also extend under the earth."
* * * * *
Augustus gave an admirable example how a person who sends a challenge
should be treated. When Marc Antony, after the battle of Actium, defied
him to single combat, his answer to the messenger who brought it was,
"Tell Marc Antony, if he be weary of life, there are other ways to end
it; I shall not take the trouble of becoming his executioner."
* * * * *
An Irish gentleman, whose lady had absconded from him, cautioned the
public against trusting her in these words:--"My wife has eloped from me
without rhyme or reason, and I desire no one will trust her on my
account, for I am not married to her."
* * * * *
The Duke of Biron heard the decree for his instant death pronounced by
the Revolutionary Tribunal, 1793, with unmoved tranquillity. On
returning to prison, his philosophy maintained that character of
Epicurean indifference which had accompanied his happier years; he
ordered some oysters and white wine. The executioner entered as he was
taking this last repast. "My friend," said the duke, "I will attend you;
but you must let me finish my oysters. You must require strength for the
business you have to perform: you shall drink a glass of wine with me."
He filled a glass for the executioner, another for the turnkey, and one
for himself, and went to the place of execution, where he met death with
the courage that distinguished almost all the victims of that fearful
period.
* * * * *
A Gascon boasted in every company that he was descended from so ancient
a family, that he was still paying at that very day the interest of a
sum which his ancestors had borrowed to pay their expenses when they
went to adore our Saviour at Bethlehem.
* * * * *
There is now living in Pontenovo, in Corsica, a shepherdess, who
successively refused the hand of Augereau, then a corporal, and of
Bernadotte, then a sergeant in that island. She little dreamt that she
was declining to be a marechale of France or the queen of Sweden!
* * * * *
_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near
Somerset-House,) and sold by all Newsmen and Booksellers._