Part 42
William the Conqueror permitted great numbers of Jews to come over from Rouen, and to settle in England in the last year of his reign. Their number soon increased, and they spread themselves throughout most of the cities and capital towns in England where they built synagogues. There were fifteen hundred at York about the year 1189. At Bury, in Suffolk, is a very complete remain of a Jewish synagogue of stone in the Norman style, large and magnificent. Hence it was that many of the learned English ecclesiastics of those times became acquainted with their books and their language. In the reign of William Rufus, the Jews were remarkably numerous at Oxford, and had acquired considerable property; and some of their Rabbis were permitted to open a school in the university, where they instructed not only their own people, but many Christian students in Hebrew literature, about the year 1094. Within 200 years after their admission or establishment by the Conqueror, they were banished from the kingdom. This circumstance was highly favourable to the circulation of their learning in England. The suddenness of their dismission obliged them for present subsistence, and other reasons, to sell their moveable goods of all kinds, among which were large quantities of all Rabbinical books. The monks in various parts availed themselves of the distribution of these treasures. At Huntingdon and Stamford there was a prodigious sale of their effects, containing immense stores of Hebrew manuscripts, which were immediately purchased by Gregory of Huntingdon, Prior of the abbey of Ramsey. Gregory speedily became an adept in the Hebrew, by means of these valuable acquisitions, which he bequeathed to his monastery about the year 1250. Other members of the same convent, in consequence of these advantages, are said to have been equal proficients in the same language, soon after the death of Prior Gregory, among whom were Robert Dodford, Librarian of Ramsey, and Laurence Holbech, who compiled a Hebrew Lexicon. At Oxford a great number of their books fell into the hands of Roger Bacon, or were bought by his brethren the Franciscan friars of that university.
GAME PRESERVES AT CHANTILLY.
The establishment at Chantilly, which formerly belonged to the great family of Conde, included 21 miles of park, and 48 miles of forest. The horses, when the family were at that place, were above 500. The dogs, 60 to 80 couple: the servants, above 500. The stables the finest and best in Europe. We shall now present to the sporting and un-sporting reader, for both will lift up their eyes, a list of game killed, year by year, through a series of thirty-two years--beginning with the year 1748, ending with the year 1779:--
_List of the Game._ 54,878 24,029 37,209 19,932 37,160 27,013 42,902 27,164 58,712 26,405 31,620 30,429 39,892 33,055 25,994 30,859 32,470 50,812 18,479 25,813 39,893 40,234 18,550 50,666 32,470 26,267 26,371 13,304 16,186 25,953 19,774 17,566
Now let us give (of birds and beasts) their bill of mortality; that is the numbers, in detail, of each specific description, registered as below, and detailed to have been killed at Chantilly, in the above-mentioned series of years. Hares, 77,750; rabbits, 587,470; partridges, 117,574; red ditto, 12,426; pheasants, 86,193; quails, 19,696; rattles (the male quail), 449; woodcocks, 2,164; snipes, 2,856; ducks, 1,353; wood-piquers, 317; lapwings, 720; becfique (small birds like our wheatear), 67; curlews, 32; oyes d'Egypte, 3; oyes sauvage, 14; bustards, 2; larks, 106; tudells, 2; fox, 1; crapeaux, 8; thrushes, 1,313; guynard, 4; stags, 1,712; hinds, 1,682; facons, 519; does, 1,921; young does, 135; roebucks, 4,669; young ditto, 810; wild boars, 1,942; marcassins (young boars), 818. A magnificent list of animal slaughter, carefully and systematically recorded as achievements.
BRITISH PEARLS.
The river Conway, in North Wales, was of considerable importance, even before the Roman invasion, for the pearl mussel (the _Mya Margaritifera_ of Linnaeus) and Suetonius acknowledged that one of his inducements for undertaking the subjugation of Wales was the pearl fishery carried forward in that river. According to Pliny, the mussels, called by the natives _Kregindilin_, were sought for with avidity by the Romans, and the pearls found within them were highly valued; in proof of which it is asserted that Julius Caesar dedicated a breastplate set with British pearls to Venus Genetrix, and placed it in her temple at Rome. A fine specimen from the Conway is said to have been presented to Catherine, consort of Charles II., by Sir Richard Wynne, of Gwydir; and it is further said that it has since contributed to adorn the regal crown of England. Lady Newborough possessed a good collection of the Conway pearls, which she purchased of those who were fortunate enough to find them, as there is no regular fishery at present. The late Sir Robert Vaughan had obtained a sufficient number to appear at Court with a button and loop to his hat, formed of these beautiful productions, about the year 1780.
FUNERAL ORATION OF FRANCIS THE FIRST.
Pierre Duchatel, in a funeral oration on the death of Francis I., published 1547, took upon himself to affirm, that the soul of the king had gone _direct to Paradise_. This passing over of purgatory gave offence to the doctors of the Sorbonne, who sent a deputation to warn him of his error. The prelate being absent, one of his friends received them, and, in reply, gaily said--"Be not uneasy, gentlemen, every one knows that the late king, my master, never stopped long in any one place, however agreeable. Supposing, then, that he went to purgatory, be assured that his stay would be very short." This pleasantry disarmed the severity of the doctors, and the affair went no farther.
GRAVES OF THE STONE PERIOD.
Stone Chambers, which once formed places of interment, are frequently discovered within large barrows of earth raised by the hands of man. They are to be referred to the period of the Danish Invasion, which is generally termed among antiquaries the "Stone Period," because the use of metals was then in a great measure unknown; and while a few are to be found in Great Britain, there are many more of them in Denmark. These tombs, which are covered with earth, have most probably contained the remains of the powerful and the rich. They are almost all provided with long entrances, which lead from the exterior of the mound of earth to the east or south side of the chambers. The entrances, like the chambers, are formed of large stones, smooth on the side which is turned inwards, on which very large roof-stones are placed. The chambers, and even the entrances, which are from sixteen to twenty feet in length, are filled with trodden earth and pebbles, the object of which, doubtless, was to protect the repose of the dead in their graves, and the contents which are found in them consist of unburnt human skeletons (which were occasionally placed on a pavement of flat or round stones), together with implements and weapons, and tools of flint or bone, ornaments, pieces of amber, and urns of clay. In some cases smaller chambers have been discovered, annexed to one side of the passage which leads to the larger chamber, and one of these smaller chambers we have engraved as a specimen of the sort of tombs we are now describing.
The above sketch represents a chamber which was discovered in a barrow, situated near Paradis, in the parish of the Vale, in the island of Guernsey. On digging into the mound, a large flat stone was soon discovered; this formed the top, or cap-stone, of the tomb, and on removing it, the upper part of two human skulls were exposed to view. One was facing the north, the other the south, but both disposed in a line from east to west. The chamber was filled up with earth mixed with limpet-shells, and as it was gradually removed, while the examination was proceeding downwards into the interior, the bones of the extremities became exposed to view, and were seen to greater advantage. They were less decomposed than those of the upper part; and the teeth and jaws, which were well preserved, denoted that they were the skeletons of adults, and not of old men. The reason why the skeletons were found in this extraordinary position it is impossible to determine. Probably the persons who were thus interred were prisoners, slaves, or other subordinates, who were slain--perhaps buried alive--on occasion of the funeral of some great or renowned personage, who was placed in the larger chamber at the end of the passage; and this view of the case is considerably strengthened by the fact that the total absence of arms, weapons, or vases, in the smaller chamber, denotes that the quality of the persons within it was of less dignity or estimation.
WAR CHARIOT OF ANCIENT EGYPT.
This chariot, which is mentioned in various parts of Scripture, and more especially in the description of the pursuit of the Israelites by Pharaoh, and of his overthrow in the Red Sea, was a very light structure, consisting of a wooden framework strengthened and adorned with metal, and leather binding, answering to the descriptions which Homer has given of those engaged in the Trojan war.
The sides were partly, and the back wholly open; and it was so low that a man could easily step into it from behind; for there was no seat, the rider always standing in war or hunting, though when wearied he might occasionally sit on the sides, or squat, in eastern fashion, on his heels. The body of the car was not hung on the axle _in equilibrio_, but considerably forward, so that the weight was thrown more upon the horses. Its lightness, however, would prevent this from being very fatiguing to them, and this mode of placing it had the advantage of rendering the motion more easy to the driver. To contribute further to this end, the bottom or floor consisted of a network of interlaced thongs, the elasticity of which in some measure answered the purpose of modern springs.
The Egyptian chariots were invariably drawn by two horses abreast, which were richly caparisoned; it is, perhaps, to the extreme elegance and magnificence of their trappings, no less than to their own beauty, that allusion is made in the Song of Songs (1-9), where the royal bridegroom addresses his spouse thus: "I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots." The chariot of Egypt ordinarily carried two persons, one of whom acted as the warrior, the other as the charioteer. Occasionally we find three persons in a chariot, as when two princes of the blood, each bearing the royal sceptre, or flabellum, accompanying the king in a state procession, requiring a charioteer to manage the reins.
PEACOCKS.
India, says Mr. Pennant, gave us peacocks, and we are assured by Knox, in his "History of Ceylon," that they are still found in the wild state, in vast flocks, in that island and in Java. So beautiful a bird could not be permitted to be a stranger in the more distant parts; for so early as the days of Solomon (1 Kings, x. 22) we find among the articles imported in his Tarshish navies, apes and peacocks. A monarch so conversant in all branches of natural history, would certainly not neglect furnishing his officers with instructions for collecting every curiosity in the country to which they made voyages, which gave him a knowledge that distinguished him from all the princes of his time. AElian relates that they were brought into Greece from some barbarous country, and that they were held in such high estimation that a male and female were valued at Athens at 1,000 _drachmae_, or L32 5s. 10d. Their next step might be to Samos, where they were preserved about the temple of Juno, being the birds sacred to that goddess; and Gellius, in his "_Noctes Atticae_" commends the excellency of the Samian peacocks. It is, therefore probable that they were brought there originally for the purposes of superstition, and afterwards cultivated for the uses of luxury. We are also told, when Alexander was in India, he found vast numbers of wild ones on the banks of the Hyarotis, and was so struck with their beauty as to appoint a severe punishment on any person that killed them.
Peacocks' crests, in ancient times, were among the ornaments of the kings of England. Ernald de Aclent (Acland) paid a fine to King John in a hundred and forty palfries, with sackbuts, _lorains_, gilt spurs, and peacocks' crests, such as would be for his credit.--Some of our regiments of cavalry bear on their helmets, at present, the figure of a peacock.
ROMAN THEATRE AT ORANGE.
One of the most striking Roman provincial theatres is that of Orange, in the south of France. Perhaps it owes its existence, or at all events its splendour, to the substratum of Grecian colonists that preceded the Romans in that country. Its auditorium is 340 ft. in diameter, but much ruined, in consequence of the princes of Orange having used this part as a bastion in some fortification they were constructing.
The stage is tolerably preserved. It shows well the increased extent and complication of arrangements required for the theatrical representations of the age in which it was constructed, being a considerable advance towards the more modern idea of a play, as distinguished from the stately semi-religious spectacle in which the Greeks delighted. The noblest part of the building is the great wall at the back, an immense mass of masonry, 340 ft. in extent, and 116 ft. in height, without a single opening above the basement, and no ornament except a range of blank arches, about midway between the basement and the top, and a few projecting corbels to receive the footings of the masts that supported the velarium. Nowhere does the architecture of the Romans shine so much as when their gigantic buildings are left to tell their own tale by the imposing grandeur of their masses. Whenever ornament is attempted, their bad taste comes out. The size of their edifices, and the solidity of their construction, were only surpassed by the Egyptians, and not always by them; and when, as here, their mass stands unadorned in all its native grandeur, criticism is disarmed, and the spectator stands awe-struck at its majesty, and turns away convinced that truly "there were giants in those days." This is not, it is true, the most intellectual way of obtaining architectural effect, but it is the easiest and the most certain to secure the desired result.
A PISCATORIAL DOG.
Mr. Jukes, in his "Excursions in and about Newfoundland," speaks of a dog which appeared to be of the pure breed, and which he thought to be more intelligent than the mixed race. This animal caught his own fish, for which purpose he sat on a projecting rock, beneath a fish stage, on which the fish were laid to dry, watching the water, the depth being from six to eight feet, and the bottom quite white with fish-bones. On throwing a piece of cod-fish into the water, three or four heavy, clumsy-looking fish, called in Newfoundland _sculpins_, would swim to catch it. The instant one turned his broadside towards him, he darted down, and seldom came up without the fish in his mouth. He regularly carried them as he caught them to a place a few yards off, where he deposited them, sometimes making a pile of fifty or sixty in the day. As he never attempted to eat them, he appeared to fish for his amusement.
PHENOMENA OF SOUND.
In the gardens of Les Rochas, once the well-known residence of Madame de Sevigne, is a remarkable echo, which illustrates finely the conducting and reverberating powers of a flat surface. The Chateau des Rochas is situated not far from the interesting and ancient town of Vitre. A broad gravel walk on a dead flat conducts through the garden to the house. In the centre of this, on a particular spot, the listener is placed at the distance of about ten or twelve yards from another person, who, similarly placed, addresses him in a low and, in the common acceptation of the term, inaudible whisper, when, "Lo! what myriads rise!" for immediately, from thousands and tens of thousands of invisible tongues, starting from the earth beneath, or as if every pebble was gifted with powers of speech, the sentence is repeated with a slight hissing sound, not unlike the whirling of small shot passing through the air. On removing from this spot, however trifling the distance, the intensity of the repetition is sensibly diminished, and within a few feet ceases to be heard. Under the idea that the ground was hollow beneath, the soil has been dug up to a considerable depth; but without discovering any clue to the solution of the mystery.
ANTIQUE WATCH.
The above engraving represents a fancy silver watch of the time of Queen Elizabeth. It is shaped like a duck; the feathers chased. The lower part opens, and the dial plate, which is also of silver, is encircled with a gilt ornamental design of floriated scrolls and angels' heads. The wheels work on small rubies. It has no maker's name. It is preserved in the original case of thin brass, covered with black leather, and ornamented with silver studs, as represented in the woodcut below. It forms one of the curiosities in the Museum of Lord Londesborough.
HORSES FEEDING ONE ANOTHER.
M. de Bossanelle, captain of cavalry in the regiment of Beauvilliers, relates in his "Military Observations," printed in Paris, 1760, "That, in the year 1757, an old horse of his company, that was very fine and full of mettle, had his teeth all on a sudden so worn down, that he could not chew his hay and corn; and that he was fed for two months, and would still have been so had he been kept, by two horses on each side of him, that ate in the same manger. These two horses drew hay from the rack, which they chewed, and afterwards threw before the old horse; that they did the same with the oats, which they ground very small, and also put before him. This (adds he) was observed and witnessed by a whole company of cavalry, officers and men."
CROSS OF MUIREDACH.
From the rude pillar-stone marked with the symbol of our faith, enclosed within a circle, the emblem of Eternity, the finely-proportioned and elaborately-sculptured crosses of a later period are derived. In the latter, the circle, instead of being simply cut on the face of the stone, is represented by a ring, binding, as it were, the shaft, arms, and upper portion of the cross together. There are two beautiful specimens of this style of cross at Monasterboice, near Drogheda, about thirty-five miles from Dublin. The smaller, more beautiful, and more perfect of these we here engrave. The figures and ornaments with which its various sides are enriched appear to have been executed with an unusual degree of artistic skill. It is now almost as perfect as it was when, nearly nine centuries ago, the artist, we may suppose, pronounced his work finished, and chiefs and abbots, bards, shanachies, warriors, and ecclesiastics, and, perhaps, many a rival sculptor, crowded round this very spot full of wonder and admiration for what they must have considered a truly glorious, and, perhaps, unequalled work. An inscription in Irish upon the lower part of the shaft, desires "A prayer for Muiredach, by whom was made this cross," and there is reason for assigning it to an abbot of that name who died in the year 924. Its total height is exactly fifteen feet, and it is six in breadth at the arms. The shaft, which at the base measures in breadth two feet six inches, and in thickness one foot nine inches, diminishes slightly in its ascent, and is divided upon its various sides by twisted bands into compartments, each of which contains either sculptured figures, or tracery of very intricate design, or animals, probably symbolical.
CHINESE THERAPEUTICS.
In the treatment of disease, the Chinese, so fond of classification, divide the medicinal substances they employ into heating, cooling, refreshing, and temperate: their _materia medica_ is contained in the work called the _Pen-tsaocang-mou_ in fifty-two large volumes, with an atlas of plates; most of our medicines are known to them and prescribed; the mineral waters, with which their country abounds, are also much resorted to; and their emperor, Kang-Hi, has given an accurate account of several thermal springs. Fire is a great agent, and the _moxa_ recommended in almost every aliment, while acupuncture is in general use both in China and Japan; bathing and _champooing_ are also frequently recommended, and bloodletting is seldom resorted to.
China has also her animal magnetisers, practising the _Cong fou_, a mysterious manipulation taught by the bonzes, in which the adepts produce violent convulsions.
The Chinese divide their prescriptions into seven categories:
1. The great prescription.
2. The little prescription.
3. The slow prescription.
4. The prompt prescription.
5. The odd prescription.
6. The even prescription.
7. The double prescription.
Each of these receipts being applied to particular cases, and the ingredients that compose them being weighed with the most scrupulous accuracy.
Medicine was taught in the imperial colleges of Pekin; but in every district, a physician, who had studied six years, is appointed to instruct the candidate for the profession, who was afterwards allowed to practise, without any further studies or examination; and it is said, that, in general, the physician only receives his fee when the patient is cured. This assertion, however, is very doubtful, as the country abounds in quacks, who, under such restrictions as to remuneration, would scarcely earn a livelihood. Another singular, but economical practice prevails amongst them--a physician never pays a second visit to a patient unless he is sent for. Whatever may be the merits of Chinese practitioners both in medicine and surgery, or their mode of receiving remuneration, it appears that they are as much subject to animadversion as in other countries:--A missionary having observed to a Chinese, that their medical men had constantly recourse to fire in the shape of moxa, red-hot iron, and burning needles; he replied, "Alas! you Europeans are carved with steel, while we are martyrized with hot iron; and I fear that in neither country will the fashion subside, since the operators do not feel the anguish they inflict, and are equally paid to torment us or to cure us!"
MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS TO SIR FRANCIS KNOLLYS, FROM BOLTON, SEPT. 1ST, 1568: HER FIRST LETTER IN ENGLISH.
(MS. Cotton. Calig. C. I. fol. 161 b. _Orig._)