Part 37

Jeremiah Atkins, of the Scar, near Bromyard, Herefordshire, died in 1796, aged 102. He had been a soldier through all the earlier periods of his manhood, and had seen much service; was present at the taking of Martinico, and at the Havannah; and, on one occasion, being taken prisoner by the Indians of North America, was very near being scalped, as he was only rescued at the moment they were about to perform the operation. He was likewise at the taking of Crown Point, in America, and in the battle of Fontenoy with the Duke of Cumberland, whom he also accompanied in his resistance to the advance of the Scotch rebels, being in several of the skirmishes and battles fought on that occasion. He afterwards went again to America, and took part in the storming of Quebec, when Wolfe was killed. The last battle in which he was engaged was that of Tournay, in Flanders. This extraordinary man retained the full use of all his natural faculties, save hearing, to the very close of his life.

POPULAR FALLACY OF THE VIRTUES OF A SEVENTH SON.

It is believed that a seventh son can cure diseases, but that a seventh son of a seventh son, and no female child born between, can cure the king's evil. Such a favoured individual is really looked on with veneration. An artist visiting Axminster in 1828, noticing the indulgence granted to one urchin in preference to others, and seeing something particular in this child, addressed his mother as follows:--"This little man appears to be a favourite: I presume he is your little Benjamin." "He's a seventh son, sir," said the mother. Affecting an air of surprise, I expressed myself at the instant as being one very anxious to know what a _seventh_ son could do? The mother, a very civil woman, told me that "she did think, to cure all diseases, should be the seventh son of a seventh son; but _many folk do come to touch my son_." In April, 1826, a respectable looking woman was engaged in collecting a penny from each of thirty young women, unmarried; the money to be laid out in purchasing a silver ring, to cure her son of epileptic fits. The money was to be freely given, without any consideration, or else the charm would have been destroyed. The young women gave their pence, because it would have been a _pity_ for the lad to continue afflicted _if_ the charm would cure him.

SELF-NOURISHMENT.

That animals may sometimes be kept alive for a long time solely on nourishment supplied from their own bodies, is evident from the fact that after a great fall of earth on one occasion from the cliff at Dover, which buried a whole family, a hog was found alive five months and nine days after it had thus been buried! It weighed about seven score when the accident happened, and had wasted to about thirty pounds, but was likely to do well.

CHINESE METHOD OF FISHING.

There is nothing more extraordinary in the history of the different nations of the world than the ingenuity of the Chinese. They are the most handy people on the face of the earth, and the lower orders are just as clever as the higher. A proof of this may be seen at a fishing village which is contiguous to the town of Victoria, in Hong Kong. It remains in much the same state as that in which it existed prior to the British occupation of the island. Old worn-out boats, and torn mat-sails, bamboos and dried rushes,--these are the principal materials employed in the construction of their domiciles. The fishing boats are most ingeniously built. Each of these has a long projecting bamboo, which is rigged out from the stem in the form of a bowsprit, only working on a pivot. From the extremity of this outrigger, a strong rope communicates with a balance-board, that exactly poises the bamboo outrigger, when the net is immersed in water, and the fisherman has only to walk up and down this plank to raise the net and let it drop again in the water. But opposite to the island, and on many of the little insular rocks which constitute the "ten thousand isles," of which the emperor of China, amongst his vast pretensions to titles, lays claim to be lord, fishing is conducted on a larger scale, though worked upon the same principles. Huge poles are driven into the ground where the water is comparatively shallow, and leading ropes, which pass over a block-wheel inserted in the tops of these poles, communicate at one end with large circular nets, (constructed somewhat in the shape of a funnel, the upper rim being attached to floats, whilst from the centre are pendant weights,) the other end being fastened on shore to a balance plank, which the weight of one man suffices to work.

MOSQUE OF OMAR.

The opposite engraving represents the Great Mosque at Jerusalem. It is built on the exact site of Solomon's Temple, and takes its name from its original founder, the Caliph Omar. It is a Turkish edifice, and is devoted to the worship of Mahomet.

Titus having taken Jerusalem in the second year of Vespasian's reign, not one stone was left upon another of that Temple where Christ had done such glorious things, and the destruction of which he had predicted. When the Caliph Omar took Jerusalem, in 636 A.D., it appears that the site of the Temple, with the exception of a very small part, had been abandoned by the Christians. Said-Eben-Batrick, an Arabian historian, relates that the Caliph applied to the Patriarch Sophronius, and enquired of him what would be the most proper place at Jerusalem for building a mosque. Sophronius conducted him to the ruins of Solomon's Temple. Omar, delighted with the opportunity of erecting a mosque on so celebrated a spot, caused the ground to be cleared, and the earth to be removed from a large rock, where God is said to have conversed with Jacob. From that rock the new mosque took its name of Gameat-el-Sakhra, and became almost as sacred an object to the Mussulmans, as the mosques of Mecca and Medina. The Caliph El-Oulid contributed still more to the embellishment of El-Sakhra, and covered it with a dome of copper, gilt, taken from a church at Balbeck. In the sequel, the crusaders converted the Temple of Mahomet into a sanctuary of Christ; but when Saladin re-took Jerusalem, he restored this edifice to its original use.

The form is an octagon, either side being seventy feet in width; it is entered by four spacious doors, the walls are white below, intermingled with blue, adorned with pilasters, but above, it is faced with glazed tiles of various colours. The interior is described as paved with grey marble, the plain walls are covered with the same material in white. It contains many noble columns, in two tiers. The dome is painted, and gilt in arabesque, whence depend antique vessels of gold and silver; immediately beneath it stands a mass of limestone, reported to have fallen from heaven when the spirit of prophecy commenced. On this sat the destroying angel, during the slaughter caused by David's numbering the people. From this Mahomet ascended to heaven. Within the storied walls, moreover, are the scales for weighing the souls of men, the shield of Mahomet, and other relics, besides the entrance to the infernal regions; seventy thousand angels ever guard the precious stone.

Entrance to this hallowed edifice has been gained only by two or three Europeans; indeed, the Turks will not allow infidels to approach the sacred enclosure around it, which measures about sixteen hundred feet in length, by one thousand in width, and is adorned with fountains, orange, cypress, and other trees.

The mosque itself is esteemed the finest piece of Saracenic architecture in existence, far surpassing St. Sophia in beauty. Its view, combined with the distinguished monuments in the City of the Sultan, in Egypt, Greece, and Italy, strongly induces a belief in the accuracy of an able article in the _Quarterly Review_, in which the origin of the five predominant styles of architecture throughout the world, viz., the Byzantine, Chinese, Egyptian, Grecian, and Gothic are assigned respectively to the convex and concave curves, to the oblique, horizontal, and perpendicular lines.

A COUPLE OF ECCENTRICS.

Mr. Day, the eccentric founder of Fairlop fair, had a housekeeper, who had lived with him for thirty years, and was equally eccentric. She had two very strong attachments; one to her wedding-ring and garments, and the other to tea. When she died, Mr. Day would not permit her ring to be taken off; he said, "If that was attempted, she would come to life again;" and directed that she should be buried in her wedding-suit, and a pound of tea in each hand; and these directions were literally obeyed.

THE UNIVERSALITY OF TAXATION.

The following extract, from the _Edinburgh Review_, is not inappropriate to our pages, inasmuch as it is both a rare specimen of effective composition, and also serves to show us what the state of taxation was in England even within the last forty years.--Taxes upon every article which enters into the mouth, or covers the back, or is placed upon the feet--taxes upon every thing which it is pleasant to see, hear, feel, smell, or taste--taxes upon warmth, light, and locomotion--taxes on everything on earth, and the waters under the earth--on every thing that comes from abroad, or is grown at home--taxes on the raw material--taxes on every fresh value that is added to it by the industry of man--taxes on the sauce which pamper's man's appetite, and the drug that restores him to health--on the ermine which decorates the judge, and the rope which hangs the criminal--on the poor man's salt, and the rich man's spice--on the brass nails of the coffin, and the ribands of the bride at bed or board, _couchant_ or _levant_, we must pay;--the schoolboy whips his taxed top--the beardless youth manages his taxed horse, with a taxed bridle, on a taxed road:--and the dying Englishman, pouring his medicine, which has paid seven per cent., into a spoon that has paid fifteen per cent., flings himself back upon his chintz bed, which has paid twenty-two per cent.--makes his will on an eight-pound stamp, and expires in the arms of an apothecary, who has paid a license of an hundred pounds for the privilege of putting him to death. His whole property is then immediately taxed from two to ten per cent. Besides the probate, large fees are demanded for burying him in the chancel; his virtues are handed down to posterity on taxed markle; and he is then gathered to his fathers--to be taxed no more.

SHAM PROPHETS.

William Hackett, a fanatic of the sixteenth century, after a very ill life, turned prophet, and signified the desolation of England. He prophesied at York and at Lincoln; where, for his boldness, he was whipped publicly, and condemned to be banished. He had an extraordinary fluency of speech, and much assurance in his prayers; for he said, that if all England should pray for rain, and he should pray to the contrary, it should not rain. Hackett had two brother-prophets joined with him, Edward Coppinger, named the prophet of mercy, and Henry Arthington, the prophet of judgment. Coppinger, the merciful prophet, declared that Hackett was the sole monarch of Europe; and at length they proclaimed him, July 16, 1592. On the 28th of the same month, however, the monarch of the whole earth, who had also personated divinity, was hanged and quartered. Coppinger famished himself in prison, and Arthington was pardoned. Fitz Simon relates, that in a quarrel Hackett had at Oundle, "He threw down his adversary, and bit off his nose; and, instead of returning it to the surgeon, who pretended to set it on again, while the wound was fresh, ate it." Hackett, on the scaffold, made a blasphemous prayer, which is recorded by Fitz Simon and Camden, too horrid to be repeated. He hated Queen Elizabeth, and tried to deprive her of her crown; he confessed to the judges that he had stabbed the effigies of this princess to the heart, with an iron pin; and a little before he was hanged, being an accomplished swearer, he cursed her with all manner of imprecations.

HOOKING A BOY INSTEAD OF A FISH.

About five and thirty years ago, as Mr. George Moor was fishing in the river Tyne at Pipewellgate, Gateshead, he espied something in the water which seemed like a drowned dog, but the day being clear, and the sun shining, he thought he perceived a face, upon which he threw his line to it (which had but three hairs at the hook) and hooked a coat, by which he found it was a boy, but the hook loosing hold, he again cast his line and struck him in the temple and drew him to the shore, and in less than quarter of an hour he revived.

CHILDREN OF AGED PARENTS.

Margaret Krasiowna, of the village of Koninia, Poland, died 1763, aged 108. The following extraordinary circumstances are stated, by Eaton, as connected with the life of this woman:--"At the age of ninety-four she married her third husband, Gaspard Raycolt, of the village of Ciwouszin, then aged one hundred and five. During the fourteen years they lived together she brought him two boys and a girl; and, what is very remarkable, these three children, from their very birth, bore evident marks of the old age of their parents--their hair being grey, and a vacuity appearing in their gums, like that which is occasioned by the loss of teeth, though they never had any. They had not strength enough, even as they grew up, to chew solid food, but lived on bread and vegetables, they were of a proper size for their age, but their backs were bent, their complexions sallow, with all the other external symptoms of decrepitude. Though most of these particulars," he adds, "may appear fabulous, they are certified by the parish registers. The village of Ciwouszin is in the district of Stenzick, in the palatinate of Sendonier. Gaspard Raycolt, the father, died soon after, aged 119."

SEPULCHRAL VASE FROM PERU.

The vessel of which the annexed is an engraving, was taken from the tomb of one of the ancient inhabitants of Peru; the subjects of the Incas, or princes who ruled over that country before it was conquered by the Spaniards. Vases of this sort were probably placed in the sepulchres of the Peruvians to contain the ashes of the dead, or offerings to their disembodied spirits;--usages which are familiar to us through the frequent allusions to them which we meet with in the works of the poets of ancient Rome, and the discovery of urns and lachrymatories in Roman tombs which have been in our own and other cemeteries. The specimen which we have engraved is quadruple, but forms one vessel.

FIRST IRON CANNON.

The first cannon was cast in Sussex in 1535. In after years bonds were taken in L1,000 from the owners of the charcoal furnaces, that none should be sold till a license for the sale or issue of the ordnance had been procured. Fears were entertained that the enemy would purchase them.

PROLIFIC AUTHOR.

No one need despair, after the following instance, of shining in quantity, if not in quality:--"Hans Sacks was a Nuremberg shoemaker, born there in 1494; he was instructed, by the master-singers of those days, in the praiseworthy art of poetry; he, therefore, continued to make verses and shoes, and plays and pumps, boots and books, until the seventy-seventh year of his age; when he took an inventory of his poetical stock in trade, and found, according to his narrative, that his works filled thirty folio volumes, all written with his own hand; and consisted of four thousand two hundred mastership songs, two hundred and eight comedies, tragedies, and farces (some of which were extended to seven acts), one thousand seven hundred fables, tales, and miscellaneous poems, and seventy-three devotional, military, and love songs; making a sum total of six thousand and forty-eight pieces, great and small." Out of these, we are informed, he culled as many as filled three massy folios, which were published in the year 1558-61; and, another edition being called for, he increased this three volumes folio abridgement of his works, in the second, from his other works. None but Lope de Vega exceeded him in quantity of rhyme-making.

THE ART OF POTTERY IN CHINA.

The Chinese traditions carry back the practice of the potter's art to a very remote epoch. Father Entrecolles, a French missionary, resided in China at the beginning of the last century, and his letters published in Paris, in 1741, supply some curious and interesting information on this subject. Writing in 1712, he says that at that time ancient porcelain was very highly prized, and bore large prices. Articles were extant which were reputed to have belonged to the Emperors Yao and Chun, two of the most ancient mentioned in the Chinese annals. Yao reigned in 2357 and Chun in 2255 before Christ. Other authorities place the reign of Chun in 2600 before Christ. It appears from the researches of M. Stanislaus Julian that, from the time of the Emperor Hoang-ti, who reigned 2698 to 2599 before Christ, there had always existed a public officer bearing the title of the Intendant of Pottery, and that it was under the reign of Hoang-ti that the potter's art was invented by Kouen-ou. It is also certain that porcelain, or fine pottery, was common in China in the time of the Emperors Han, 163 B.C.

In digging the foundations of the palaces, erected by the dynasties of Han and Thang, from 163 B.C. to 903 A.D. great quantities of ancient vases were found which were of a pure whiteness, but exhibited little beauty of form or fabrication. It was only under the dynasty of Song, that is to say, from 960 to 1278 A.D., that Chinese porcelain began to attain a high degree of perfection.

Further evidence of the antiquity of the potter's art in China, as well as of the existence of intercommunication between that country and Egypt, is supplied by the discoveries of Rossellina, Wilkinson, and others, who found numerous vases of Chinese fabrication, and bearing Chinese inscriptions, in the tombs at Thebes. Professor Rossellini found a small vase of Chinese porcelain with a painting of a flower on one side, and on the other Chinese characters not differing much from those used at the present day. The tomb was of the time of the Pharaohs, a little later than the eighteenth dynasty.

This vase, with its Chinese inscription, is represented in Fig. 1, from an exact cast made by Mr. Francis Davis.

Another of the Chinese vases, found in the Theban tombs, is represented in Fig. 2. This is preserved in the Museum of the Louvre. The shape of the vase is that of a flat-sided flask. A side view is given in Fig. 3.

These flasks are very small. The engravings represent them of their proper dimensions. Mr. Wilkinson thinks it probable that they were brought to Egypt from India, the Egyptians having had commercial relations with that country at a very remote epoch, and that they came not as pieces of porcelain, but as vessels containing some articles of importation.

STRONG ATTACHMENT TO SMOKING.

The following is a curious case of extreme fondness for smoking in a very poor and very old man. In the year 1810, there died in Dartford workhouse, aged 106, one John Gibson. He had been an inmate of the house for ten years, and till within two months of his death used daily to perambulate the town. His faculties were entire to the last. He was so much attached to smoking, that he requested his pipe, together with his walking-stick, might be placed in his coffin, which request was complied with.

EXTRAORDINARY LETTER.

The following strange and curious epistle, we are assured, was sent to a surgeon of eminence by a malefactor who had been sentenced to death. It has a degree of character and quaintness about it which is rarely found in the letters of convicts. Whether or not the surgeon complied with his request we do not know.

"Sir,--Being informed that you are the only surgeon in this county, in the habit of dissecting dead bodies--being very poor, I am desirous of passing what remains to me of life, with as much comfort as my unhappy condition admits of. In all probability I shall be executed in the course of a month; having no friend to intercede for me, nor even to afford me a morsel of bread, to keep body and soul together till the fatal moment arrives, I beg you will favour me with a visit; I am desirous of disposing of my body, which is healthy and sound, for a moderate sum of money. It shall be delivered to you on demand, being persuaded that on the day of general resurrection, I shall as readily find it in your laboratory, as if it were deposited in a tomb. Your speedy answer will much oblige your obedient servant,

JAMES BROWN."

A MATTRESS FOR A BANK.

In the month of April, 1822, Mrs. Motley, broker, Bedford-street, North Shields, purchased an old mattress for 2s. from a shipowner, who was going to reside with his daughter; in arranging some papers a few days ago, he found a document in the hand-writing of his deceased wife, not intended for his perusal, but that of her son by a former husband, in which it was stated that property to a considerable amount was deposited in the said mattress. His daughter in consequence waited on Mrs. Motley, and offered her a few shillings to return it. Mrs. M. naturally supposed that this seeming generosity was not without a cause, but having sold it to a Mrs. Hill for 3s., for a small consideration she regained possession of the prize, but on entering her house the original proprietor and a constable were ready to receive her, and without ceremony cut open the mattress, when a purse, said to contain 100gs., two gloves filled with current silver coin, several valuable rings, trinkets, silver spoons, &c., were discovered. Mrs. Hill had considerably reduced the mattress to fit a small bedstead without finding the hidden treasure.

ARCHITECTURE FOR EARTHQUAKES.

Sumatra is one of the largest islands in the Indian Archipelago, and the houses of the inhabitants are deserving of notice, inasmuch as they furnish a correct and curious specimen of the style of building, which the frequent occurrence of earthquakes renders the safest in the countries where such visitations are common.

The frames of the houses are of wood, the under-plates resting on pillars six or eight feet high, which have a sort of capital, but no base, and are wider at top than at bottom. The people appear to have no idea of architecture as a science, though much ingenuity is often shown in working up their materials. The general appearance of their houses is accurately represented in the annexed plate. For the floorings they lay whole bamboos, four or five inches in diameter, close to each other, and fasten them at the ends to the timbers. Across these are laid laths of split bamboo, about an inch wide and of the length of the room, which are tied down with filaments of the rattan, and over these are usually spread mats of different kinds. This sort of flooring has an elasticity alarming to strangers when they first tread on it.