Читать книгу Ten Thousand Wonderful Things - Группа авторов - Страница 12

Of all the imperfect beings brought into the world, few can challenge, for mental and acquired endowments, any thing like a comparison to vie with this truly extraordinary little man. Matthew Buckinger was a native of Nuremberg, in Germany, where he was born, June 2, 1674, without hands, feet, legs, or thighs; in short, he was little more than the trunk of a man, saving two excrescences growing from the shoulder-blades, more resembling fins of a fish than arms of a man. He was the last of nine children, by one father and mother, viz. eight sons and one daughter; after arriving at the age of maturity, from the singularity of his case, and the extraordinary abilities he possessed, he attracted the notice and attention of all persons, of whatever rank in life, to whom he was occasionally introduced.

It does not appear, by any account extant, that his parents exhibited him at any time for the purposes of emolument, but that the whole of his time must have been employed in study and practice, to attain the wonderful perfection he arrived at in drawing, and his performance on various musical instruments; he played the flute, bagpipe, dulcimer, and trumpet, not in the manner of general amateurs, but in the style of a finished master. He likewise possessed great mechanical powers, and conceived the design of constructing machines to play on all sorts of musical instruments.

If Nature played the niggard in one respect with him she amply repaid the deficiency by endowments that those blessed with perfect limbs could seldom achieve. He greatly distinguished himself by beautiful writing, drawing coats of arms, sketches of portraits, history, landscapes, &c., most of which were executed in Indian ink, with a pen, emulating in perfection the finest and most finished engraving. He was well skilled in most games of chance, nor could the most experienced gamester or juggler obtain the least advantage at any tricks, or game, with cards or dice.

He used to perform before company, to whom he was exhibited, various tricks with cups and balls, corn, and living birds; and could play at skittles and ninepins with great dexterity; shave himself with perfect ease, and do many other things equally surprising in a person so deficient, and mutilated by Nature. His writings and sketches of figures, landscapes, &c., were by no means uncommon, though curious; it being customary, with most persons who went to see him, to purchase something or other of his performance; and as he was always employed in writing or drawing, he carried on a very successful trade, which, together with the money he obtained by exhibiting himself, enabled him to support himself and family in a very genteel manner. The late Mr. Herbert, of Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, editor of "Ames's History of Printing," had many curious specimens of Buckinger's writing and drawing, the most extraordinary of which was his own portrait, exquisitely done on vellum, in which he most ingeniously contrived to insert, in the flowing curls of the wig, the 27th, 121st, 128th, 140th, 149th, and the 150th Psalms, together with the Lord's Prayer, most beautifully and fairly written. Mr. Isaac Herbert, son of the former, while carrying on the business of a bookseller in Pall-Mall, caused this portrait to be engraved, for which he paid Mr. Harding fifty guineas.

Buckinger was married four times, and had eleven children, viz., one by his first wife, three by his second, six by his third, and one by his last. One of his wives was in the habit of treating him extremely ill, frequently beating and other ways insulting him, which, for a long time, he very patiently put up with; but once his anger was so much aroused, that he sprung upon her like a fury, got her down, and buffeted her with his stumps within an inch of her life; nor would he suffer her to arise until she promised amendment in future, which it seems she prudently adopted, through fear of another thrashing. Mr. Buckinger was but twenty-nine inches in height, and died in 1722.

WONDERFUL PROVISION OF NATURE.

The insects that frequent the waters, require predaceous animals to keep them within due limits, as well as those that inhabit the earth; and the water-spider (Argyroneta aquatica) is one of the most remarkable upon whom that office is devolved. To this end, her instinct instructs her to fabricate a kind of diving-bell in the bosom of that element. She usually selects still waters for this purpose. Her house is an oval cocoon, filled with air, and lined with silk, from which threads issue in every direction, and are fastened to the surrounding plants. In this cocoon, which is open below, she watches for her prey, and even appears to pass the winter, when she closes the opening. It is most commonly, yet not always, under water; but its inhabitant has filled it for her respiration, which enables her to live in it. She conveys the air to it in the following manner: she usually swims on her back, when her abdomen is enveloped in a bubble of air, and appears like a globe of quicksilver. With this she enters her cocoon, and displacing an equal mass of water, again ascends for a second lading, till she has sufficiently filled her house with it, so as to expel all water. How these little animals can envelope their abdomen with an air-bubble, and retain it till they enter their cells, is still one of Nature's mysteries that has not been explained. It is a wonderful provision, which enables an animal that breathes the atmospheric air, to fill her house with it under water, and by some secret art to clothe her body with air, as with a garment, which she can put off when it answers her purpose. This is a kind of attraction and repulsion that mocks all inquiries.

STOMACH BRUSH.

One of the Court Physicians, in the reign of Charles II., invented an instrument to cleanse the stomach, and wrote a pamphlet on it; and ridiculous as a chylopoietic-scrubbing-brush may appear, it afterwards got a place among surgical instruments, and is described as the Excutor Ventriculi, or cleanser of the stomach; but the moderns not having stomach for it, have transferred it to the wine merchant, who more appropriately applies it to the scouring the interior of bottles. Heister gives a minute description of it, and very gravely enters on the mode and manner of using it: the patient is to drink a draught of warm water, or spirit of wine, that the mucus and foulness of the stomach may be washed off thereby: then, the brush being moistened in some convenient liquor, is to be introduced into the œsophagus, and slowly protruded into the stomach, by twisting round its wire handle. When arrived in the stomach, it is to be drawn up and down, and through the œsophagus, like the sucker in a syringe, till it be at last wholly extracted. Some recommend plentiful drinking in the operation, to be continued till no more foulness is discharged. But though this contrivance is greatly extolled, and said to prolong life to a great age, especially if practiced once a week, month, or fortnight; yet, there are very few (probably, because tried by very few) instances of its happy effects.

POPULAR AMUSEMENTS IN 1743.

In Merrie England of the Olden Time, we find the following copy of a handbill announcing performances:—

By a company of English, French, and Germans, at Phillips's New Wells, near the London Spa, Clerkenwell, 20th August, 1743.

This evening, and during the Summer Season, will be performed several new exercises of Rope-dancing, Tumbling, Vaulting, Equilibres, Ladder-dancing, and Balancing, by Madame Kerman, Sampson Rogetzi, Monsieur German, and Monsieur Dominique; with a new Grand Dance, called Apollo and Daphne, by Mr. Phillips, Mrs. Lebrune, and others; singing by Mrs. Phillips and Mrs. Jackson; likewise the extraordinary performance of Herr Von Eeckenberg, who imitates the lark, thrush, blackbird, goldfinch, canary-bird, flageolet, and German flute; a Sailor's Dance by Mr. Phillips; and Monsieur Dominique flies through a hogshead, and forces both heads out. To which will be added The Harlot's Progress. Harlequin by Mr. Phillips; Miss Kitty by Mrs. Phillips. Also, an exact representation of the late glorious victory gained over the French by the English at the battle of Dettingen, with the taking of the White Household Standard by the Scots Greys, and blowing up the bridge, and destroying and drowning most part of the French army. To begin every evening at five o'clock. Every one will be admitted for a pint of wine, as usual.

DANCING ROOMS.

Dancing rooms were much frequented a century or so ago in London, which was then pretty well supplied with this means of recreation. We find that there were rare dancing doings at the original dancing room

	in the year
at the field-end of King-Street, Bloomsbury,	1742
Hickford's great room, Panton-Street, Haymarket,	1743
Mitre Tavern, Charing-Cross,	1743
Barber's Hall,	1745
Richmond Assembly,	1745
Lambeth Wells,	1747
Duke's long room, Paternoster Row,	1748
Large Assembly Room at the Two Green Lamps, near Exeter Change, (at the particular desire of Jubilee Dickey!)	1749
The large room next door to the Hand and Slippers, Long-lane, West Smithfield,	1750
Lambeth Wells, where a Penny Wedding, in the Scotch manner, was celebrated for the benefit of a young couple,	1752
Old Queen's Head, in Cock-lane, Lambeth,	1755

and at Mr. Bell's, at the sign of the Ship, in the Strand, where, in 1755, a Scotch Wedding was kept. The bride "to be dressed without any linen; all in ribbons, and green flowers, with Scotch masks. There will be three bagpipes; a band of Scotch music, &c. &c. To begin precisely at two o'clock. Admission, two shillings and sixpence."

ORIGIN OF THE USE OF TOBACCO.

"Maister John Nicot, Counsellor to the Kyng, beeyng Embassadour for the Kyng in Portugall, in the yeres of our Lorde, 1559, 60, 61, wente one daye to see the Prysons of the Kyng of Portugall, and a gentleman beeyng the keeper of the saide Prisons presented hym this hearbe, as a strange Plant brought from Florida; the same Maister Nicot, hauyng caused the saide hearbe to be set in his garden, where it grewe and multiplied marveillously, was vpon a tyme aduertised, by one of his Pages, that a young man, a kinne to that Page, made a saye of that hearbe bruised, both the herbe and the joice together upon an ulcer whiche he had vpon his cheeke nere vnto his nose, coming of a Noli me tangere whiche bega to take roote already at the gristles of the Nose, wherewith he founde hym self marveillously eased. Therefore the said Maister Nicot caused the sicke yong man to be brought before hym, causing the said herbe to be continued to the sore eight or tenne daies, this saide Noli me tangere, was vtterly extinguished and healed: and he had sent it, while this cure was a working to a certaine Physition of the Kyng of Portugall of the moste fame, for to see the further workyng and effect of the said Nicotiane, and sending for the same yong man at the end of tenne daies, the said Phisition seeyng the uisage of the said sicke yong man certified, that the saide Noli me tangere was utterly extinguished, as in deede he never felt it since. Within a while after, one of the Cookes of the said Embassadour hauyng almost cut off his Thombe, with a great choppyng knife, the steward of the house of the saide gentleman ranne to the saide Nicotiane, and dresssed him there with fyve or sixe times, and so in the ende thereof he was healed: from that time forwarde this hearbe began to bee famous throughout all Lisborne, where the court of the Kyng of Portugall was at that presente, and the vertue of this saide hearbe was preached, and the people beganne to name it the Ambassadour's hearbe! Wherefore there came certaine daies after, a gentleman of the country, Father to one of the Pages of the Ambassadour, who was troubled with an vlcer in his Legge, hauyng had the same two yeres, and demaunded of the saide Ambassadour for his hearbe, and vsing the same in suche order as is before written, at the ende of tenne or twelve daies he was healed. From that time fourth the fame of that hearbe encreased in such sorte, that manye came from all places to have that same herbe. Emong all others there was a woman that had her face covered with a Ringworme rooted, as though she had a Visour on her face, to whom the saide L: Ambassadour caused the herbe to be given her, and told how she should vse it, and at the ende of eight or tenne daies, this woman was thoroughleye healed, she came and shewed herself to the Ambassadour, shewing him of her healyng. After there came a captain to presente his sonne, sick of the Kinges euill to the saide L: Ambassadour, for to send him into France, vnto whom there was saye made of the saide hearbe, whiche in fewe daies did beginne to shewe greate signes of healing, and finally was altogether healed of the kinges euill. The L: Ambassadour seeing so great effectes proceeding of this hearbe, and hauing heard say that the Lady Montigny that was, dyed at Saint Germans, of an vlcer bredde in her breast, that did turn to a Noli me tangere, for which there could never be remedey bee founde, and likewise that the Countesse of Ruffe, had sought for all the famous Phisitions of that Realme, for to heale her face, unto whom they could give no remedy, he thought it good to communicate the same into Fraunce, and did send it to Kyng Fraunces the seconde; and to the Queen Mother, and to many other Lords of the Courte with the maner of governyng the same: and how to applie it vnto the said diseases, even as he had found it by experience; and chiefly to the lorde of Jarnac governour of Rogell, with whom the saide Lorde Ambassadour had great amitie for the service of the Kyng. The whiche Lorde of Jarnac, told one daye at the Queenes Table, that he had caused the saide Nicotiane to be distilled, and caused the water to be dronke, mingled with water Euphrasie, otherwise called eyebright, to one that was shorte breathed, and was therewith healed."—Joyfvll News ovt of the newe found worlde, &c., 1577.—Black Letter.

ANCIENT INSTRUMENTS OF PUNISHMENT AND TORTURE IN THE TOWER OF LONDON.

There are few things among the valuable collection of antiquities preserved in the Tower of London, which excite so much interest as the grim-looking objects forming the group figured in the accompanying engraving.

With the executioner's axe, that long list of unfortunates who have met their fate within the walls of the Tower, or on Tower Hill, since the time of Henry VIII., have been beheaded. Among them may be enumerated Queen Anne Boleyn, whom Henry first presented to his people as their Queen while standing with her on the Tower Stairs, after she had been conveyed thither from Greenwich with every possible pomp. Crowds of gilded barges, with gay banners waving at their sterns, then lined the stream. The noblest of the land were in the young Queen's train or were waiting to receive her. Loud rounds of cannon, and soft, merry strains, announced her arrival; and the burly King stepped forward to kiss her in the sight of the assembled multitude. On the same day, three short years afterwards, she was led forth to execution within the Tower walls. The good Sir Thomas More and the chivalrous Earl of Surrey, Lady Jane Grey and her young husband, the gallant Raleigh, and a host of others, also perished by that sad symbol of the executioner's office.

The block is said to be of less ancient date, but is known to have been used at the execution of three Scotch lords—the unfortunate adherents of the Pretender—a little more than a century ago. On the top part of the block, there are three distinct cuts, two of them very deep and parallel, and the other at an angle and less effective.

The horrible instrument of torture called the "Scavenger's Daughter," was, in the "good old days," used as a means of extorting confession. The head of the culprit was passed through the circular hole at the top, and the arms through those below. The whole of this part of the machine opens in somewhat the same manner as a pair of tongs, the upper part being fixed round the neck and arms, and the semicircular irons placed on the legs. The body was then bent, and a strong iron bar was passed through the irons connected with the head and arms, and those in which the legs were placed. "The culprit would then," as one of the "Beefeaters" who attends on visitors makes a point of observing, "be doubled up into very small compass, and made exceedingly uncomfortable."

The Bilboes need little explanation, being only a strong rod of iron, with a nob at one end, on which are two moveable hoops, for the purpose of holding the legs; these being fixed, and a heavy iron padlock put on the proper part—the wearer was said to be in a Bilboe. Instruments of this description were much used on board of ship for the purpose of securing prisoners of war.

The Iron Collar is a persuader of a formidable description, for it weighs upwards of 14 lbs., and is so made that it can be fixed on the neck and then locked. Such a necklace would, we think, be sufficiently inconvenient; but it is rendered still more uncomfortable by sundry prickles of iron knowingly placed.

The Thumb-screw, also preserved in the Tower, is a characteristic example of a species of torture at one time much resorted to. The engraved example has been constructed so as to press both thumbs; nevertheless, it is a convenient little instrument, which might be easily carried about in the pocket. We have met with varieties of the thumb-screw in several collections—some for the accommodation of one thumb only. In the Museum of the Royal Antiquarian Society of Scotland there are some thumb-screws which are said to have been used upon the Covenanters.

1. The Executioner's Axe. 2. The Block on which Lords Balmerino, Lovat, &c., were beheaded. 3. The Scavenger's Daughter. 4. Spanish Bilboes. 5. Massive Iron Collar for the Neck. 6. Thumb-Screw.

Times have changed for the better since the "Scavenger's Daughter," and the other matters represented, were amongst the mildest of the methods used for the purposes of punishment and intimidation. The stocks, the public whipping-posts, boilings, and burnings in Smithfield and elsewhere, the exhibition of dead men's heads over gateways, the boot, the rack, the pillory, the practice of making men eat their own books in Cheapside, drawing on hurdles to the place of execution, and then hanging, drawing, and quartering, chopping off hands and ears, and other revolting punishments, have gone out of use, and it is gratifying to know that we are all the better for it.

A BEAU BRUMMELL OF THE 17TH CENTURY.

This very curious representation of a first-rate exquisite is copied from a very rare broadside, printed in 1646, and styled The Picture of an English Anticke, with a List of his ridiculous Habits and apish Gestures. The engraving is a well-executed copperplate, and the description beneath is a brief recapitulation of his costume: from which we learn that he wears a tall hat, with a bunch of riband on one side, and a feather on the other; his face spotted with patches; two love-locks, one on each side of his head, which hang upon his bosom, and are tied at the ends with silk riband in bows. His beard on the upper lip encompassing his mouth; his band or collar edged with lace, and tied with band-strings, secured by a ring; a tight vest, partly open and short in the skirts, between which and his breeches his shirt protruded. His cloak was carried over his arm. His breeches were ornamented by "many dozen of points at the knees, and above them, on either side, were two great bunches of riband of several colours." His legs were incased in "boot-hose tops, tied about the middle of the calf, as long as a pair of shirt-sleeves, double at the ends like a ruff-band; the tops of his boots very large, fringed with lace, and turned down as low as his spurres, which gingled like the bells of a morrice-dancer as he walked;" the "feet of his boots were two inches too long." In his right hand he carried a stick, which he "played with" as he "straddled" along the streets "singing."

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 his enemy. He kneels down on his bare knees in the church, 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 a church.

A FEMALE SAMPSON: FROM A HANDBILL.

September 4th, 1818, was shown at Bartholomew Fair, "The strongest woman in Europe, the celebrated French Female Hercules, Madame Gobert, who will lift with her teeth a table five feet long and three feet wide, with several persons seated upon it; also carry thirty-six weights, fifty-six pounds each, equal to 2,016 lbs., and will disengage herself from them without any assistance; will carry a barrel containing 340 bottles; also an anvil 400 lbs. weight, on which they will forge with four hammers at the time she supports it on her stomach; she will also lift with her hair the same anvil, swing it from the ground, and suspend it in that position to the astonishment of every beholder; will take up a chair by the hind stave with her teeth, and throw it over her head, ten feet from her body. Her travelling caravan, (weighing two tons,) on its road from Harwich to Leominster, owing to the neglect of the driver, and badness of the road, sunk in the mud, nearly up to the box of the wheels; the two horses being unable to extricate it she descended, and, with apparent ease, disengaged the caravan from its situation, without any assistance whatever."

TREES THAT GROW SHIRTS.

"We saw on the slope of the Cerra Dnida," says M. Humboldt, "shirt trees, fifty feet high. The Indians cut off cylindrical pieces two feet in diameter, from which they peel the red and fibrous bark, without making any longitudinal incision. This bark affords them a sort of garment which resembles a sack of a very coarse texture, and without a seam. The upper opening serves for the head, and two lateral holes are cut to admit the arms. The natives wear these shirts of Marina in the rainy season; they have the form of the ponchos and manos of cotton which are so common in New Grenada, at Quito, and in Peru. As in this climate the riches and beneficence of nature are regarded as the primary causes of the indolence of the inhabitants, the missionaries do not fail to say in showing the shirts of Marina, 'in the forests of Oroonoko, garments are found ready made upon the trees.'"

A FEMALE VENTRILOQUIST.

A female ventriloquist, named Barbara Jacobi, narrowly escaped being burnt at the stake in 1685, at Haarlem, where she was an inmate of the public Hospital. The curious daily resorted thither to hear her hold & dialogue with an imaginary personage with whom she conversed as if concealed behind the curtains of her bed. This individual, whom she called Joachim, and to whom she addressed a thousand ludicrous questions, which he answered in the same familiar strain, was for some time supposed to be a confederate. But when the bystanders attempted to search for him behind the curtains, his voice instantly reproached them with their curiosity from the opposite corner of the room. As Barbara Jacobi had contrived to make herself familiar with all the gossip of the city of Haarlem, the revelations of the pretended familiar were such as to cause considerable embarrassment to those who beset her with impertinent questions.

CALMUC OPINION OF LIGHTNING.

The Calmucs hold the lightning to be the fire spit out of the mouth of a dragon, ridden and scourged by evil Dæmons, and the thunder they make to be his roarings.

THE HEADING OF THE EXPIRING PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL.

Journalism has had its trials and difficulties in England as well as in America; but we do not remember to have ever seen a more quaint last Number, than the subjoined facsimile exhibits:—

NOSTRUMS.

Unsuccessful gamesters used formerly to make a knot in their linen, of late years they have contented themselves with changing their chair as a remedy against ill-luck. As a security against cowardice, it was once only necessary to wear a pin plucked from the winding sheet of a corpse. To insure a prosperous accouchement to your wife, you had but to tie her girdle to a bell and ring it three times. To get rid of warts, you were to fold up in a rag as many peas as you had warts, and throw them upon the high road; when the unlucky person who picked them up became your substitute. In the present day, to cure a toothache, you go to your dentist. In the olden time you would have solicited alms in honour of St. Lawrence, and been relieved without cost or pain.

PRECOCIOUS CHILDREN.

Baillet mentions one hundred and sixty-three children endowed with extraordinary talents, among whom few arrived at an advanced age. The two sons of Quintilian, so vaunted by their father, did not reach their tenth year. Hermogenes, who, at the age of fifteen, taught rhetoric to Marcus Aurelius, who triumphed over the most celebrated rhetoricians of Greece, did not die, but at twenty-four, lost his faculties, and forgot all he had previously acquired. Pica di Mirandola died at thirty-two; Johannes Secundus at twenty-five; having at the age of fifteen composed admirable Greek and Latin verses, and become profoundly versed in jurisprudence and letters. Pascal, whose genius developed itself at ten years old, did not attain the third of a century.

In 1791, a child was born at Lubeck, named Henri Heinekem, whose precocity was miraculous. At ten months of age, he spoke distinctly; at twelve, learnt the Pentateuch by rote, and at fourteen months, was perfectly acquainted with the Old and New Testaments. At two years of age, he was as familiar with Ancient History as the most erudite authors of antiquity. Sanson and Danville only could compete with him in geographical knowledge; Cicero would have thought him an "alter ego," on hearing him converse in Latin; and in modern languages he was equally proficient. This wonderful child was unfortunately carried off in his fourth year. According to a popular proverb—"the sword wore out the sheath."

EFFECT OF MUSIC ON A PIGEON.

Bingley gives a singular anecdote of the effect of music on a pigeon, as related by John Lockman, in some reflections concerning operas, prefixed to his musical drama of Rosalinda. He was staying at a friend's house, whose daughter was a fine performer on the harpsichord, and observed a pigeon, which, whenever the young lady played the song of "Speri-si," in Handel's opera of Admetus (and this only), would descend from an adjacent dove-house to the room-window where she sat, and listen to it apparently with the most pleasing emotions; and when the song was finished it always returned immediately to the dove-house.

POWER OF FASCINATION IN SNAKES.

Some animals are held in universal dread by others, and not the least terrible is the effect produced by the rattle-snake. Mr. Pennant says, that this snake will frequently lie at the bottom of a tree, on which a squirrel is seated. He fixes his eyes on the animal, and from that moment it cannot escape: it begins a doleful outcry, which is so well known that a passer by, on hearing it, immediately knows that a snake is present. The squirrel runs up the tree a little way, comes down again, then goes up and afterwards comes still lower. The snake continues at the bottom of the tree, with his eyes fixed on the squirrel, and his attention is so entirely taken up, that a person accidentally approaching may make a considerable noise, without so much as the snake's turning about. The squirrel comes lower, and at last leaps down to the snake, whose mouth is already distended for its reception. Le Vaillant confirms this fascinating terror, by a scene he witnessed. He saw on the branch of a tree a species of shrike trembling as if in convulsions, and at the distance of nearly four feet, on another branch, a large species of snake, that was lying with outstretched neck and fiery eyes, gazing steadily at the poor animal. The agony of the bird was so great that it was deprived of the power of moving away, and when one of the party killed the snake, it was found dead upon the spot—and that entirely from fear—for, on examination, it appeared not to have received the slightest wound. The same traveller adds, that a short time afterwards he observed a small mouse in similar agonizing convulsions, about two yards from a snake, whose eyes were intently fixed upon it; and on frightening away the reptile, and taking up the mouse, it expired in his hand.

SECOND SIGHT.

About the year 1725, the marvellous history of a Portuguese woman set the whole world of science into confusion, as will be found by referring to the "Mercure de France." This female was said to possess the gift of discovering treasures. Without any other aid than the keen penetration of her eyes, she was able to distinguish the different strata of earth, and pronounce unerringly upon the utmost distances at a single glance. Her eye penetrated through every substance, even the human body; and she could discern the mechanism, and circulation of all animal fluids, and detect latent diseases; although less skilful than the animal magnetisers, she did not affect to point out infallible remedies. Ladies could learn from her the sex of their forthcoming progeny.

The King of Portugal, greatly at a loss for water in his newly built palace, consulted her; and after a glance at the spot, she pointed out an abundant spring, upon which his Majesty rewarded her with a pension, the order of Christ, and a patent of nobility.

In the exercise of her miraculous powers, certain preliminaries were indispensable. She was obliged to observe a rigid fast; indigestion, or the most trifling derangement of the stomach, suspending the marvellous powers of her visual organs.

The men of science of the day were of course confounded by such prodigies. But instead of questioning the woman, they consulted the works of their predecessors; not forgetting the inevitable Aristotle. By dint of much research, they found a letter from Huygens asserting that there was a prisoner of war at Antwerp, who could see through stuffs of the thickest texture provided they were not red. The wonderful man was cited in confirmation of the wonderful woman, and vice versâ.

CHARACTER INDICATED BY THE EARS.

According to Aristotle, large ears are indicative of imbecility; while small ones announce madness. Ears which are flat, point out the rustic and brutal man. Those of the fairest promise, are firm and of middling size. Happy the man who boasts of square ears; a sure indication of sublimity of soul and purity of life. Such, according to Suetonius, were the ears of the Emperor Augustus.

GROANING BOARDS.

Groaning boards were the wonder in London in 1682. An elm plank was exhibited to the king, which, being touched by a hot iron, invariably produced a sound resembling deep groans. At the Bowman Tavern, in Drury Lane, the mantel-piece did the same so well that it was supposed to be part of the same elm-tree; and the dresser at the Queen's Arm Tavern, St. Martin le Grand, was found to possess the same quality. Strange times when such things were deemed wonderful; even to meriting exhibition before the monarch.

ANCIENT PLOUGHING AND THRESHING.

The ancient plough was light, the draught comparatively easy; but then the very lightness required that the ploughman should lean upon it with his whole weight, or else it would glide over the soil without making a single furrow. "Unless," said Pliny, "the ploughman stoop forward, to press down the plough, as well as to conduct it, truly it will turn aside."

Oxen were anciently employed in threshing corn, and the same custom is still retained in Egypt and the east. This operation is effected by trampling upon the sheaves, and by dragging a clumsy machine, furnished with three rollers that turn on their axles. A wooden chair is attached to the machine, and on this a driver seats himself, urging his oxen backwards and forwards among the sheaves, which have previously been thrown into a heap of about eight feet wide and two in height. The grain thus beaten out, is collected in an open place, and shaken against the wind by an attendant, with a small shovel, or, as it is termed, a winnowing fan, which disperses the chaff and leaves the grain uninjured:—

"Thus, with autumnal harvests covered o'er,

And thick bestrewn, lies Ceres' sacred floor;

While round and round, with never-wearied pain,

The trampling steers beat out th' unnumber'd grain."

Homer.

Horace further tells us, that the threshing floor was mostly a smooth space, surrounded with mud walls, having a barn or garner on one side; occasionally an open field, outside the walls, was selected for this purpose, yet uniformly before the town or city gates. Such was the void place wherein the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, sat each of them on his throne, clothed in his robes, at the entering in of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets prophesied before them. In the marginal reading we are informed, that this void space was no other than a threshing floor; and truly the area was well adapted for such an assemblage, being equally suited to accommodate the two kings and their attendants, and to separate them from the populace.

OXEN THRESHING CORN.

Eastern ploughshares were of a lighter make than ours, and those who notice the shortness and substance of ancient weapons, among such as are preserved in museums, will understand how readily they might be applied to agricultural uses.

FROST FAIRS.

In 1788-9, the Thames was completely frozen over below London-bridge. Booths were erected on the ice; and puppet-shows, wild beasts, bear-baiting, turnabouts, pigs and sheep roasted, exhibited the various amusements of Bartholomew Fair multiplied and improved. From Putney-bridge down to Redriff was one continued scene of jollity during this seven weeks' saturnalia. The last frost fair was celebrated in the year 1814. The frost commenced on 27th December, 1813, and continued to the 5th February, 1814. There was a grand walk, or mall, from Blackfriars-bridge to London-bridge, that was appropriately named The City Road, and lined on each side with booths of all descriptions. Several printing-presses were erected, and at one of these an orange-coloured standard was hoisted, with "Orange Boven" printed in large characters. There were E O and Rouge et Noir tables, tee-totums, and skittles; concerts of rough music, viz. salt-boxes and rolling-pins, gridirons and tongs, horns, and marrow-bones and cleavers. The carousing booths were filled with merry parties, some dancing to the sound of the fiddle, others sitting round blazing fires smoking and drinking. A printer's devil bawled out to the spectators, "Now is your time, ladies and gentlemen,—now is your time to support the freedom of the press! Can the press enjoy greater liberty? Here you find it working in the middle of the Thames!"

MAGIC RAIN STONE.

The Indian magi, who are to invoke Yo He Wah, and mediate with the supreme holy fire that he may give seasonable rains, have a transparent stone of supposed great power in assisting to bring down the rain, when it is put in a basin of water, by a reputed divine virtue, impressed on one of the like sort, in time of old, which communicates it circularly. This stone would suffer a great decay, they assert, were it even seen by their own laity; but if by foreigners, it would be utterly despoiled of its divine communicative power.

THE BOMBARDIER BEETLE.

The bombardier beetle (Carabus crepitans) when touched produces a noise resembling the discharge of a musket in miniature, during which a blue smoke may be seen to proceed from its extremity. Rolander says that it can give twenty discharges successively. A bladder placed near its posterior extremity, is the arsenal that contains its store. This is its chief defence against its enemies; and the vapour or liquid that proceeds from it is of so pungent a nature, that if it happens to be discharged into the eyes, it makes them smart as though brandy had been thrown into them. The principal enemy of the bombardier is another insect of the same tribe, but three or four times its size. When pursued and fatigued it has recourse to this stratagem; it lies down in the path of its enemy, who advances with open mouth to seize it; but on the discharge of the artillery, this suddenly draws back, and remains for a while confused, during which the bombardier conceals itself in some neighbouring crevice, but if not lucky enough to find one, the other returns to the attack, takes the insect by the head, and bears it off.

THE PILLORY FOR EATING FLESH IN LENT.

Even in this kingdom, so late as the Reformation, eating flesh in Lent was rewarded with the pillory. An instance of this occurs in the "Patriot King," the particulars of which, quoted in "Clavis Calendaria," are somewhat amusing. Thomas Freburn's wife, of Paternoster-row, London, having expressed a particular inclination for pig, one was procured, ready for the spit; but the butter-woman who provided it, squeamish as to the propriety of what she had done, carried a foot of it to the Dean of Canterbury. The Dean was at dinner, and one of his guests was Freburn's landlord, and Garter King at Arms, who sent to know if any of his family were ill, that he ate flesh in Lent. 'All well,' quoth Freburn, (perhaps too much of a Dissenter for the times,) 'only my wife longs for pig.' His landlord sends for the Bishop of London's apparitor, and orders him to take Freburn and his pig before Stocksly, the Bishop, who sent them both to Judge Cholmley; but he not being at home, they were again brought back to the Bishop, who committed them to the Compter. Next day, being Saturday, Freburn was carried before the Lord Mayor, who sentenced him to stand in the pillory on the Monday following, with one half of the pig on one shoulder, and the other half on the other. Through Cromwell's intercession, the poor man at last gained his liberty by a bond of twenty pounds for his appearance. The mischief-making pig was, by the order of the Bishop, buried in Finsbury-field, by the hand of his Lordship's apparitor; but Freburn was turned out of his house, and could not get another in four years. Hence we may infer his ruin.

HUGE CANNON AT THE SIEGE OF CONSTANTINOPLE.

In 1432, several kinds of artillery are mentioned, cannons, bombards, vulgaires, coulverins. The vulgaires were ordinary artillery. In the year 1460, James II. of Scotland was killed by the accidental bursting of a cannon. The artillery of the Turks, in the year 1453, surpassed whatever had yet appeared in the world. A stupendous piece of ordnance was made by them; its bore was twelve palms, and the stone bullet weighed about 600 lbs.; it was brought with great difficulty before Constantinople, and was flanked by two almost of equal magnitude: fourteen batteries were brought to bear against the place, mounting 130 guns; the great cannon could not be loaded and fired more than seven times in one day. Mines were adopted by the Turks, and counter-mines by the Christians. At this siege, which was in 1453, ancient and modern artillery were both used. Cannons, intermingled with machines for casting stones and darts, and the battering-ram was directed against the walls. The fate of Constantinople could no longer be averted: the diminutive garrison was exhausted by a double attack; the fortifications were dismantled on all sides by the Ottoman cannon; a spirit of discord impaired the Christian strength. After a siege of fifty-three days, Constantinople, which had defied the power of Chosroes, the Chagan, and the Caliphs, was subdued by the arms of Mahomet II.

A MAN IN A VAULT ELEVEN DAYS.

St. Benedict Fink.—"1673, April 23, was buried Mr Thomas Sharrow, Cloth-worker, late Churchwarden of this parish, killed by an accidental fall into a vault, in London Wall, Amen Corner, by Paternoster Row, and was supposed had lain there eleven days and nights before any one could tell where he was, Let all that read this take heed of drink."—Truly, a quaint warning!

BLIND GRANNY.

This miserable, wretched, drunken object, who was blind of one eye, used to annoy the passengers in the streets of London, while sober, with licking her blind eye with her tongue, which was of a most enormous length, and thickness; indeed, it was of such a prodigious size, that her mouth could not contain it, and she could never close her lips, or to use a common expression, keep her tongue within her teeth. This wonderful feat of washing her eye with her tongue was exhibited with a view of obtaining money from such as crowded around her, and no sooner had she obtained sufficient means, but she hastened to the first convenient liquor-shop, to indulge her propensity in copious libations, and when properly inspired, would rush into the streets with all the gestures of a frantic maniac, and roll and dance about, until she became a little sobered, which was sometimes accelerated by the salutary application of a pail of water, gratuitously bestowed upon her by persons whose doorway she had taken possession of, as shelter from the persecuting tormentings of boys and girls who generally followed her.

ANCIENT FEMALE COSTUME.