Part 17

In this curious document, quoted by Warton (Hist. of Poet, iii., 177, edit. 1840) an archbishop is allowed to have two swans or two capons in a dish, a bishop one; an archbishop six blackbirds at once, a bishop five, a dean four, an archdeacon two. If a dean has four dishes in his first course, he is not afterwards to have custards or fritters. An Archbishop may have six snipes, an archdeacon two. Rabbits, larks, pheasants, and partridges, are allowed in these proportions. A canon residentiary is to have a swan only on a Sunday; a rector of sixteen marks, only three blackbirds in a week.

THE KING'S COCK CROWER.

A singular custom, of matchless absurdity, formerly existed in the English Court. During Lent, an ancient officer of the crown, styled the King's Cock Crower, crowed the hour each night within the precincts of the Palace. On the Ash Wednesday, after the accession of the house of Hanover, as the Prince of Wales (afterwards George II) sat down to supper, this officer abruptly entered the apartment, and in a sound resembling the shrill pipe of a cock, crowed past ten o'clock! The astonished prince, at first conceiving it to be a premeditated insult, rose to resent the affront, but upon the nature of the ceremony being explained to him, he was satisfied. Since that period, this silly custom has been discontinued.

CHINESE DELICACIES.

The Chinese eat, indiscriminately, almost every living creature which comes in their way; dogs, cats, hawks, owls, eagles and storks, are regular marketable commodities: in default of which a dish of rats, field-mice, or snakes, is not objected to. Cockroaches, and other insects and reptiles are used for food or for medicine. Their taste for dogs' flesh is quite a passion. Young pups--plump, succulent, and tender--fetch good prices at the market-stalls, where a supply is always to be found. A dish of puppies, prepared by a skilful cook, is esteemed as a dish fit for the gods. At every grand banquet it makes its appearance as a hash or stew. A young Englishman attached to our Canton factory, dining one day with a wealthy Hong merchant, was determined to satisfy his curiosity in Chinese gastronomy by tasting all or most of the numerous dishes which were successively handed round. One dish pleased him so well that he ate nearly all that was put before him. On returning homewards some of his companions asked him how he liked the dinner, and how such and such dishes; and then began to imitate the whining and barking of half a dozen puppies. The poor young man then understood, for the first time, that he had been eating dog, and was very angry, and very sick at the stomach. Other Europeans, however, have been known to declare that they succeeded in conquering a prejudice, and that a six weeks old pup, properly fattened upon rice, and dressed _a la Chinoise_, was really a _bonne bouche_.

A GREAT MARVEL SEEN IN SCOTLAND.

The following strange and almost incredible account is given by Lindsay, of Pitscottie:--"About this time (the beginning of the sixteenth century) there was a great marvel seen in Scotland. A bairn was born, reckoned to be a man-child, but from the waist up was two fair persons, with all members pertayning to two bodies; to wit, two heads, well-eyed, well-eared, and well-handed. The two bodies, the one's back was fast to the other's, but from the waist down they were but one personage; and it could not be known by the ingene of men from which of the bodies the legs, &c., proceeded. Notwithstanding the King's Majesty caused great care and diligence on the up-bringing of both bodies; caused nourish them, and learn them to sing and play on instruments of music. Who within short time became very ingenious and cunning in the art of music, whereby they could play and sing two parts, the one the treble, and the other the tenor, which was very dulce and melodious to hear; the common people (who treated them also) wondered that they could speak diverse and sundry languages, that is to say, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, English, and Irish. Their two bodies long continued to the age of twenty-eight years, and the one continued long before the other, which was dolorous and heavy to the other; for which, when many required of the other to be merry, he answered, "How can I be merry which have my true marrow as a dead carrion about my back, which was wont to sing and play with me: when I was sad he would give me comfort, and I would do the like to him. But now I have nothing but dolour of the having so heavy a burthen, dead, cold, and unsavoury, on my back, which taketh all earthly pleasure from me in this present life; therefore I pray to God Allmighty to deliver me out of this present life, that we may be laid and dissolved in the earth, wherefrom we came, &c."

Buchanan, who relates the same strange tale, avers that he received it from "many honest and credible persons, who saw the prodigy with their own eyes." He adds that the two bodies discovered different tastes and appetites; that they would frequently disagree and quarrel, and sometimes would consult each other, and concert measures for the good of both; that when any hurt was done to the lower parts, each upper body felt pain; but that when the injury was above the junction, then one body only was affected. This monster, he writes, lived twenty-eight years, but died wretchedly; one part expiring some days before the other, which, half-putrified, pined away by degrees.

THE KING OF KIPPEN.

The following anecdote is valuable, inasmuch as it gives us an idea of the manners which a King of Scotland could practice without offence to his subjects:--

King James V. was a very sociable, _debonnaire_ prince. Residing at Stirling in Buchanan of Arnpryor's time, carriers were very frequently passing along the common road with necessaries for the use of the king's family. One of these being near Arnpryor's house, and he having some extraordinary occasion, ordered him to leave his load at his house and he would pay him for it; which the carrier refused to do, telling him he was the king's carrier, and his load was for his majesty's use. To which Arnpryor seemed to have small regard, compelling the carrier, in the end, to leave his load; telling him, if King James was King of Scotland, he was king of Kippen, so that it was reasonable he should share with his neighbour king in some of these loads so frequently carried that road. The carrier representing this usage, and telling the story as Arnpryor spoke it, to some of the king's servants, it came at length to his majesty's ears, who, shortly thereafter, with a few attendants, came to visit his neighbour king, who was, in the meantime, at dinner. King James having sent a servant to demand access, was denied the same by a tall fellow with a battle-axe, who stood porter at the gate, telling him there could be no access till dinner was over. This answer not satisfying the king, he sent to demand access a second time; upon which he was desired by the porter to desist, otherwise he would find cause to repent his rudeness. His majesty finding this method would not do, desired the porter to tell his master that the good man of Ballangeich desired to speak with the King of Kippen. The porter telling Arnpryor so much, he, in all humble manner, came and received the king, and having entertained him with much sumptuousness and jollity, became so agreeable to King James, that he allowed him to take so much of any provision he found carrying that road as he had occasion for; and, seeing he made the first visit, desired Arnpryor in a few days to return him a second at Stirling, which he performed, and continued in very much favour with the king, always thereafter being termed King of Kippen while he lived.

AN ECCENTRIC TOURIST.

Sir Hildebrand Jacob, of Yewhall, in Oxfordshire, died at Malvern in 1790. He succeeded his grandfather, Sir John, 1740, his father, Hildebrand, having died in 1739. He was a very extraordinary character. As a general scholar, he was exceeded by few; in his knowledge of the Hebrew language he scarcely had an equal. In the earlier part of his life, one custom which he constantly followed was very remarkable. As soon as the roads became pretty good, and the fine weather began to set in, his man was ordered to pack-up a few things in a portmanteau, and with these his master and himself set off, without knowing whither they were going. When it drew towards evening, they enquired at the first village they saw, whether the great man in it was a lover of books, and had a fine library. If the answer was in the negative, they went on farther; if in the affirmative, Sir Hildebrand sent his compliments, that he was come to see him; and there he used to stay till time or curiosity induced him to move elsewhere. In this manner Sir Hildebrand had, very early, passed through the greatest part of England, without scarcely ever sleeping at an inn, unless where the town or village did not afford one person in it civilized enough to be glad to see a gentleman and a scholar.

HANGING A MAYOR.

On the right of the road leading towards Caergwrle, and about a mile from Mold, is an old structure, which presents a singular specimen of the style of domestic architecture during the ages of lawless violence in which it was erected: it consists of an ancient square tower of three stories, and appears to have been designed as a place of fortified habitation. During the wars between the houses of York and Lancaster, it was inhabited by Reinallt ab Gruffydd ab Bleddyn, who was constantly engaged in feuds with the citizens of Chester. In 1495, a considerable number of the latter came to Mold fair, and a fray arising between the hostile parties, great slaughter ensued on both sides; but Reinallt, who obtained the victory, took the mayor of Chester prisoner, and conveyed him to his mansion, where he hung him on the staple in his great hall. To avenge this affront, a party of two hundred men was despatched from Chester to seize Reinallt, who, retiring from his house into the adjoining woods, permitted a few of them to enter the building, when, rushing from his concealment, he blocked up the door, and, setting fire to the house, destroyed them in the flames; he then attacked the remainder, whom he pursued with great slaughter; and such as escaped the sword were drowned in attempting to regain their homes. The staple on which the mayor was hung still remains fixed on the ceiling of the lower apartment.

MATERNAL AFFECTION IN A DUMB WOMAN.

Mary, Countess of Orkney, was both deaf and dumb; she was married in the year 1753, by signs. Shortly after the birth of her first child, the nurse, with considerable astonishment, saw the mother cautiously approach the cradle in which the infant was sleeping, evidently full of some deep design. The Countess, having perfectly assured herself that the child really slept, raised an immense stone which she had concealed under her shawl, and, to the horror of the nurse, (who was an Irishwoman, and like all persons of the lower orders in her country, and indeed in most countries, was fully impressed with an idea of the peculiar cunning and malignity of "dumbies,") lifted it with an apparent intent to fling it down vehemently. Before the nurse could interpose, the Countess had flung the stone,--not, however, as the servant had apprehended, at the child, but on the floor, where, of course, it made a great noise. The child immediately awoke, and cried. The Countess, who had looked with maternal eagerness to the result of her experiment, fell on her knees in a transport of joy. She had discovered that her child possessed the sense which was wanting in herself. She exhibited on many other occasions similar proofs of intelligence, but none so interesting.

THE PERILS OF INVENTORS.

The dangers which inventors have frequently to encounter are very great. Among many instances we may mention the following:--

Mr. Day perished in a diving bell, or diving boat of his own construction, at Plymouth, in June, 1774, in which he was to have continued for a wager, twelve hours, one hundred feet deep in water, and probably, perished from his not possessing all the hydrostatic knowledge that was necessary. Mr. Spalding was professionally ingenious in the art of constructing and managing the diving bell, he had practised the business many years with success. He went down, accompanied by one of his young men, twice to view the wreck of the Imperial East Indiaman, at Kish Bank, in Ireland; on descending the third time, in June, 1783, they remained about an hour under water, and had two barrels of air sent down to them, but on the signals from below not being repeated, after a certain time, they were drawn up by their assistants, and both found dead in the bell.

BRIBERY.

The triumphant exposure and punishments of corrupt bribe-takers on a grand scale belongs to the close of the seventeenth century. In 1695 Sir John Trevor, the Speaker of the House of Commons, was compelled to put the question himself that he should be expelled. A bill for securing the right application to poor orphans of freemen of London of funds belonging to them could not be carried without purchasing the support of influential members and of the Speaker himself, at a bribe for the latter of 1,000 guineas!

Sir Thomas Cook, the governor of the East India Company, paid L167,000 in one year for bribes to members of the House, of which Sir Basil Firebrace took for his share L40,000. Corruption was universal, therefore deemed venial.

LEGALISED GAMBLING.

The following statement shows the extent to which lotteries encouraged a spirit of gambling among the people, and we may hence appreciate the soundness of the policy which dictated their suppression:--

The _Post Boy_ of December 27, says:--"We are informed that the Parliamentary Lottery will be fixed in this manner:--150,000 tickets will be delivered out at 10_l._ each ticket, making in all the sum of 1,500,000_l._ sterling; the principal whereof is to be sunk, the Parliament allowing nine per cent. interest for the whole during the term of 32 years, which interest is to be divided as follows: 3,750 tickets will be prizes from 1,000_l._ to 5_l._ per annum during the said 32 years; all the other tickets will be blanks, so that there will be 39 of these to one prize, but then each blank ticket will be entitled to fourteen shillings a year for the term of 32 years, which is better than an annuity for life at ten per cent. over and above the chance of getting a prize." Such was the eagerness of the publick in subscribing to the above profitable scheme, that Mercers'-hall was literally crowded, and the Clerks were found incompetent to receive the influx of names. 600,000_l._ was subscribed January 21; and on the 28th of February, the sum of 1,500,000_l._ was completed.

ONE OF THE EFFECTS OF MANUFACTURES.

How greatly does the introduction of a manufacturing establishment into a town where none previously existed, alter its whole character and condition!

It is said that the burgh of Lanark was, till very recent times, so poor that the single butcher of the town, who also exercised the calling of a weaver, in order to fill up his spare time, would never venture upon the speculation of killing a sheep till every part of the animal was ordered beforehand. When he felt disposed to engage in such an enterprise, he usually prevailed upon the minister, the provost, and the town-council, to take shares; but when no person came forward to bespeak the fourth quarter, the sheep received a respite till better times should cast up. The bellman or _skellyman_, as he is there called, used often to go through the streets of Lanark with advertisements such as are embodied in the following popular rhyme:--

"Bell-ell-ell! There's a fat sheep to kill! A leg for the provost, Another for the priest, The bailies and deacons, They'll tak the neist; And if the fourth leg we connot sell, The sheep it maun leeve and gae back to the hill!"

PATES DE FOIES GRAS.

Strasbourg is the great market for _pates de foies gras_, made, as it is known, of the livers of geese. These poor creatures are shut up in coops, so narrow they cannot turn round in them, and then stuffed twice a day with Indian corn, to enlarge their livers, which have been known to swell till they reached the enormous weight of two pounds and a half. Garlick, steeped in water, is given them, to increase their appetites. This invention is worthy of the French nation, where cooks are great as nobles.

INSCRIPTION IN CONWAY CHURCH.

Here lyeth the body of Nicholas Hookes, of Conway, gentleman, (who was the forty-first child of his father, Wm. Hookes, Esq., by Alice, his wife,) the father of twenty-seven children, who died the 27th day of March, 1637.

DROPPING-WELLS.

If you journey through Yorkshire, be sure to stop opposite the ruins of Knaresborough Castle, because, on the south-west bank of the river Nidd, you will observe the petrifying spring of Knaresborough,--the celebrated dropping-well--where the peasants and the needy crowd to make their humble fortunes by afterwards retailing small sprigs of trees, such as the elder or ash, or pieces of the elegant geranium, the wild angelica, or the lovely violet, turned into "obdurate stone."

[Illustration: [++] The Petrifying Spring of Knaresborough.]

Every spring does not possess the petrifying properties of that of Knaresborough; but there are, doubtless, many dropping-wells distributed over the earth's crust; and some of these are well known to possess the property of petrifying various objects submitted to the action of their waters. For example: we have seen birds' nests, with the eggs, and delicate sprigs of moss surrounding them, and even the fibres of wool turned into stone, aye, and delicate flowers. Whence is this extraordinary power? From the soil over which the waters flow! The limpid streams absorb the silicious particles, and deposit them in the intimate structure of the materials submitted to the action of the waters; and thus we find the materials of which the earth's crust is composed, always undergoing a change.

Twenty gallons are poured forth every minute from the top of the Knaresborough cliff, and the beauty of the scene can only be appreciated by those who have stood upon the margin of those "stony waters" and beheld the crystal fluid descend from above with metallic fall.

CHINESE IVORY BALLS.

Nothing can afford a greater proof of the patience and perseverance, as well as of the taste of a Chinese handicraftsman, than one of these elegant baubles, each ball being exquisitely carved, and no two alike in pattern. Each of the balls rolls freely within that which encloses it, and is visible through apertures; so that however many there be, the beauties of each can be examined, and the number of the whole counted. Much time is spent upon the carving of these toys, for the cleverest artist will employ a whole month in the execution of each separate ball; consequently the labour of two years is not unfrequently bestowed on the production of a single toy, which is formed out of a solid globe of ivory, and has no junction in any part. The outside of this globe is first carved in some very open pattern, and is then carefully cut with a sharp, fine instrument, through the openings, till a complete coating is detached from the solid part inside, as the peel of an orange might be loosened with a scoop from the fruit, without being taken off. One hollow ball is thus formed, with a solid one inside of it. The surface of the inner ball is then carved through the interstices of the outer one, and when finished, is subjected to the same operation as the first; and thus a second hollow ball is produced, still with a solid one of smaller dimensions inside. This process is repeated again and again, the difficulties increasing as the work proceeds, till at length only a small ball, of the size of a marble, is left in the centre, which is also ornamented with figures cut upon it, and then the ingenious but useless bauble is complete. This process is said to be performed under water.

CREDULITY OF THE ANCIENTS.

The credulity of even the learned men in the early ages may be judged of by the following facts:--

Marcus Varro writeth, that there was a town in Spain undermined with rabbits; another likewise in Thessaly by moles or molewharps. In Africa the people were compelled by locusts to leave their habitations; and out of Gyaros, an island, one of the Cyclades, the islanders were forced by rats and mice to fly away; moreover in Italy the city of Amyclae was destroyed by serpents. In Ethiopia there is a great country lies waste and desert, by reason it was formerly dispeopled by scorpions; and if it be true that Theophrastus reporteth, the Treriens were chased away by certain worms called scolopendres. Annius writes, that an ancient city situate near the Volscian Lake, and called Contenebra, was in times past overthrown by pismires, and that the place is thereupon vulgarly called to this day, the Camp of Ants. In Media, saith Diodorus Siculus, there was such an infinite number of sparrows that eat up and devoured the seed which was cast into the ground, so that men were constrained to depart from their old habitations, and remove to other places.

CLOCK PRESENTED TO CHARLEMAGNE.

The French historians describe a clock sent to Charlemagne in the year 807, by the famous eastern caliph, Haroun al Raschid, which was evidently furnished with some kind of wheelwork, although the moving power appears to have been produced by the fall of water. This clock was a rather wonderful affair, and excited a great deal of attention at the French court. In the dial of it were twelve small doors forming the divisions for the hours, each door opened at the hour marked by the index, and let out small brass balls, which, falling on a bell, struck the hours--a great novelty at that time. The doors continued open until the hour of twelve, when twelve figures representing knights on horseback came out and paraded round the dial plate.

REMARKABLE EVENTS, INVENTIONS, &c.

Memnon, the Egyptian, invents the letters, in the year 1822, _before_ Christ.

The Alexandrian library, consisting of 400,000 valuable books, burnt by accident, B. C. 52.

Silk first brought from India, 274: the manufactory of it introduced into Europe by some monks, 551: first worn by the clergy in England, in 1534.

Glass invented in England by Benalt, a monk, A. C. 400.

The University of Cambridge founded A. C. 915.

Paper made of cotton rags was in use, 1000; that of linen rags in 1170: the manufactory introduced into England, at Dartford, 1588.

Musical notes invented, 1070.

Justices of the Peace first appointed in England in 1076.

Doomsday-book began to be compiled by order of William, from a survey of all the estates in England (and finished in 1086), 1080.

Glass windows began to be used in private houses in England in 1186.

Surnames now began to be used, first among the nobility, in 1200.