Part 44
Of travelling expenses in the thirteenth century, a roll is in existence, and is too interesting to be passed over. It contains a steward's accompts of the daily expenses of a person of rank in the reign of Edward I, on a journey from Oxford to Canterbury, and during his sojourn in London, about the year 1289; while the record throws much light upon the mode of our ancestors' living, at a period concerning which we have very few similar memorials. One day's expenses are as follow: "In bread, sixpence. Two gallons of wine, a gift of hospitality from the rector of Berton. Item in bread, sixpence. Two gallons of wine, a gift of hospitality from the rector of Mistern. Beer, sixpence. Herrings, threepence. Stockfish, fourpence. Porpoise and fish, fourpence. Perch and roach, seven-pence. Large eels, seven-pence. Vegetables, threepence farthing. Figs and raisins, twopence. Fuel, five-pence. A bed for two nights, twopence. Hay for seven horses, seven-pence. A bushel of oats, twenty-pence. Apples, a halfpenny. Sum, six shillings and eight-pence halfpenny." The most expensive day in the roll is on a Sunday, "in expenses of my lord at Westminster, when he held a breakfast there for knights, clerks, and squires. Bread, two shillings. Beer, twelve-pence. Wine, three shillings and eight-pence. Half a salmon, for the standard, with the chine, three shillings and eight-pence. A fresh conger eel, three shillings. Three fat pikes, five fat eels, and twenty-seven fat roaches, twelve shillings and fourpence. Half a hundred lamprorns, twelve-pence. Oysters, threepence. Vegetables, twopence. The hire of a boy to prepare the breakfast, one penny. Fare to Westminster, one penny. A basket, one penny farthing. On the same day at the inn: bread, five-pence farthing. Beer from the store. Two gallons of beer for the boys, twopence. Fish from the store. Candles, a halfpenny. Fuel, a halfpenny. Hay bought, five-pence three farthings. Straw, sixpence. Two bushels of oats, eight-pence. Two pair of shoes for my lord, twelve-pence. Sum, thirty shillings and threepence farthing."
DUNS IN THE MAHRATTA COUNTRY.
The Mahratta mode of recovering debts is curious. When the creditor cannot get his money, and begins to see the debt as rather desperate, he sits _dhurna_ upon his debtor; that is, he squats down at the door of the tent, and becomes, in a certain mysterious degree, the master of it. No one goes in or out without his approbation. He neither eats himself, nor suffers his debtor to eat; and this famishing contest is carried on till the debt is paid, or till the creditor begins to _feel_ that want of food is a greater punishment than the want of money. This curious mode of enforcing a demand is in universal practice among the Mahrattas; Scindiah himself, the chieftain, not being exempt from it. The man who sits the _dhurna_, goes to the house, or tent, of him whom he wishes to bring to terms, and remains there till the affair is settled; during which time, the one under restraint is confined to his apartment, and not suffered to communicate with any persons but those whom the other may approve of. The laws by which the _dhurna_ is regulated are as well defined and understood as those of any other custom whatever. When it is meant to be very strict, the claimant carries a number of his followers, who surround the tent, sometimes even the bed of his adversary, and deprive him altogether of food; in which case, however, etiquette prescribes the same abstinence to himself: the strongest stomach, of course, carries the day. A custom of this kind was once so prevalent in the province and city of Benares, that Brahmins were _trained_ to remain a long time without food. They were then sent to the door of some rich individual, where they made a vow to remain without eating, till they should obtain a certain sum of money. To preserve the life of a Brahmin is so absolutely a duty, that the money was generally paid; but never till a good struggle had taken place, to ascertain whether the man was staunch or not; for money is the life and soul of all Hindoos.
VAUXHALL.
The trees seen above the houses at the foot of the Surrey side of Westminster Bridge are those of Vauxhall Gardens, the site of which will soon be covered with buildings. These grounds were once the glory of English pleasure-gardens, frequented by the highest in the land from the gay days of Charles II. to those of "the Regency," and were celebrated in musical history for talent of the highest kind here introduced. In the old orchestra, whose towering summit may be seen from the Thames, the greatest musical celebrities have sung. Handel, Dr. Arne, and Hook superintended its concerts; and Hogarth decorated its walls with paintings. It obtained its name from a very old mansion that once stood near it. This old manor-house of Fawkes Hall, as it existed in the reign of Charles I., is shown in our engraving; at that time it was described as a "fair dwelling-house, strongly built, of three stories high, and a pier staircase breaking out from it nineteen feet square." This staircase occupied one of the towers, in accordance with the ancient plan, and the house was a curious specimen of the old timber houses of the gentry in the sixteenth century.
It appears to have obtained its name from Foukes de Breut, who married the heiress of the manor, the Countess of Albemarle, sister to Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury; and it was granted by the name of the manor of Foukeshall, by Edward III. to his favourite Hugh le Despenser. In 1615 the records of the Duchy of Cornwall prove the premises known as Vauxhall Gardens to have been the leasehold property of Jane Vaux, widow of John Vaux, citizen and vintner of London, and a benefactor to the parish of Lambeth. It has always remained, with the manor of Kennington, as the property of the crown, and belongs to the Prince of Wales as part of his Duchy of Cornwall. Vauxhall Gardens closed for ever on July 25th, 1859, with an _al fresco fete_.
EGYPTIAN TOILET BOXES.
The ladies of ancient Egypt were very fond of having their apartments set off with a profusion of knick-knacks, and among other articles of that sort, they usually had several different kinds of toilet-boxes on their dressing-tables. The above engraving represents a group of them. They have been found in considerable numbers among the ruins of the palaces, and they form interesting objects among the Egyptian curiosities in many of our museums. They were made of wood, or of ivory, often inlaid, and always elaborately carved. Sometimes they partook of the nature of spoons, the containing part being shallow, at the end of a long solid handle; the handle was carved into the most fanciful forms--a grotesque human figure, a woman, a fox, or a fish--and the spoon part was generally covered with a lid, which turned on a pivot. In one of those in the engraving, the spoon takes the form of a fish, the cover being carved to resemble its scales, while another, also in the form of a fish, has two cavities, the one covered, the other permanently open. Sometimes the body of a goose formed the box, either trussed for the table, or in the posture of life, and other forms were devised from the fancy of the artist. Some of these shallow boxes are supposed to have been used for holding small quantities of ointments and cosmetics upon the toilet-table.
SPACIOUS KITCHEN.
One of the most spacious kitchens in England is that of Raby Castle, the magnificent seat of the Duke of Cleveland. It is a square of thirty feet, having three chimneys, one for the grate, a second for stoves, and the third, (now stopped up,) for the great cauldron. The roof is arched, with a small cupola in the centre: it has likewise five windows, from each of which steps descend, but only in one instance to the floor; and a gallery runs round the whole interior of the building. The ancient oven is said to have allowed a tall person to stand upright in it, its diameter being fifteen feet. It has since been converted into a wine cellar, the sides being divided into ten parts, and each holding a hogshead of wine in bottles. Vast as is this kitchen, it must have been but suitable to the hospitality of former ages: for, in one of the apartments of Raby Castle, seven hundred knights are stated to have been entertained at one time.
THE HAWTHORNDEN CAVES.
In almost every country on the earth there are natural or artificial caves, which have supplied hiding-places, retreats for anchorites, and even permanent native dwellings. Such caves abound in Scotland, and especially along the coast, but in general their interest arises rather from the associations of popular traditions, than from any intrinsic peculiarity of character pertaining to them. Few such retreats are more remarkable, either for constructive art, or historic associations, than the well-known caves beneath the old tower of Hawthornden, near Edinburgh. They have been hewn, with great labour and ingenuity, in the rocky cliff which overhangs the river Esk. No tradition preserves the history or date of their execution, but concealment was evidently the chief design of the excavators. The original entrance is most ingeniously made in the shaft of a very deep draw-well, sunk in the court-yard of the castle, and from its manifest utility as the ordinary and indispensable appendage of the fortress, it most effectually conceals its adaptation as a means of ingress and communication with the rock chambers beneath. These are of various forms and sizes, and one in particular is pierced with a series of square recesses, somewhat resembling the columbaria of a Roman tomb, but assigned by popular tradition as the library of its later owner, Drummond, the Scottish poet. Whatever was the purpose for which these were thus laboriously cut, the example is not singular. A large cave in Roxburghshire, hewn out in the lofty cliff which overhangs the Teviot, has in its sides similar recesses, and from their supposed resemblance to the interior of a pigeon-house, the cavern has received the name of the _Doo-cave_. Authentic notices of the Hawthornden caves occur so early as the reign of David II., when a daring band of Scottish adventurers made good their head-quarters there, while Edward held the newly-fortified castle of Edinburgh, and the whole surrounding district. In the glen of the little river Ale, which falls into the Teviot at Ancrum, extensive groups of caves occur, all indicating, more or less, artificial adaptation as human dwellings; and in many other districts similar evidences may be seen of temporary or permanent habitation, at some remote period, in these rude recesses. Along the coast of Arran there are several caves of various dimensions, one of which, at Drumandruin, or Drumidoon, is noted in the older traditions of the island as the lodging of Fin M'Coul, the Fingal of Ossian, during his residence in Arran. Though low in the roof, it is sufficiently capacious for a hundred men to sit or lie in it. In this, as in other examples, we find evidences of artificial operations, proving its connexion with races long posterior to those with whose works we have chiefly to do in this section of archaeological inquiry. In the further end a large detached column of rock has a two-handed sword engraved on it, surmounted by a deer, and on the southern side of the cave a lunar figure is cut, similar in character to those frequently found on the sculptured pillars and crosses which abound in Scotland. It is now more frequently styled the king's cave, and described as the retreat of Robert the Bruce, while he lurked as a fugitive in the Western Isles; but, like many other traditions of the Bruce, this seems to be of very recent origin. Other caves in the same island are also of large dimensions, and variously associated with popular traditions, as, indeed, is generally the case where subterranean retreats of any considerable extent occur. Some are the supposed dwellings of old mythic chiefs, whose names still live in the traditional songs of the Gael. Others are the retreats which the primitive confessors of Scotland excavated or enlarged for their oratories or cells. Of the latter class are the caves of St. Molio, on the little island of Lamlash, or the Holy Isle, on the east coast of Arran; of St. Columba and St. Cormac, on the Argyleshire coast; of St. Ninian, in Wigtonshire; of St. Serf, at Dysart, on the Fifeshire coast; and the celebrated "ocean cave of St. Rule, in Saint Andrew's Bay." This last oratory consists of two chambers hewn out of the sandstone cliffs of that exposed coast. The inner apartment is a plain cell, entered from the supposed oratory of the Greek saint. The latter is nearly circular, measuring about ten feet in diameter, and has a stone altar hewn in the solid rock on its eastern side.
MONKISH PRAYERS.
The Monks used to pray heartily, or rather say their prayers no less than seven times in the twenty-four hours. We will give their names:--
1st.--Nocturnal, at cock-crowing, or two o'clock in the morning. 2nd.--Matins, at six o'clock in the morning. 3rd.--Tierce, at nine o'clock in the morning. 4th.--Sext, at twelve o'clock at noon. 5th.--None, at three o'clock in the afternoon. 6th.--Vespers, at six o'clock in the afternoon. 7th.--Compline, soon after seven.
Quarles has a neat epigram on the subject:--
For all our prayers th' Almighty does regard The judgment of the _balance_, not the _yard_; He loves not words, but matter; 'tis his pleasure To buy his wares by _weight_, and not by _measure_.
THE TRAP-DOOR SPIDER.
There are few insects of such extraordinary habits as the Trap-door Spider, and the following account of it by Professor Jones is so interesting, that we are glad to extract it from his excellent work on insect Architecture:--
In the Ionian islands, and also in the West Indies [as well as in the south of France, and in Corsica], there are found certain spiders (_Cteniza_) commonly known as Trap-door Spiders, which make a cylindrical nest in the earth, and cover the entrance with a door of their own construction, framed of alternate layers of silk and earth, and fastened to the opening by a hinge of stout silk. These spiders also line their nests throughout with numerous layers of silken web to the thickness of stout cartridge paper, and finish it with the greatest care. This beautiful lining is yet further strengthened in particular parts, where the nest is likely to be exposed to danger. But the greatest amount of skill and care is bestowed upon the trap-door and its silken hinge. The door is about the eighth of an inch thick, rough on the outside, not much unlike an oyster-shell, which it also resembles in being thick and strong near the hinge, but thinner towards the circumference. The breadth of this hinge is various, but sometimes it is very considerable, as shown in the figure accompanying. It also possesses great elastic force, so that, on being opened, it closes again of itself. This is principally accomplished by a fold or doubling of the web, at each end of the hinge, which permits the door to be opened nearly to a right angle with the aperture, but no further, unless violence be used. The underside of the door is perfectly smooth and firm, being shaped so as to fit accurately, and yet to offer no resistance when pushed open by the insect.
As might be expected, there are varieties in the shape and size of these nests. Some specimens found in the island of Zante had the silken layers of the lid extended into a sort of handle, or lever, just above the hinge, on pressing which, in ever so slight a degree, the trap-door opened. From this it would appear, that the entrance to such a nest could be effected as easily by the enemies of the spider as by the spider itself; this, however, is not the case; for repeated observation has shown that the spider keeps guard at the entrance, and actually holds the door with her fore-feet and palpi, while the hind-feet are extended down the side of the nest, and the mandibles are thrust into the opposite side near the door. By this means the insects gets such power as to resist with considerable force the opening of the door. If it be asked how this is known, we are able to refer to the experiments of careful observers, who extracted a number of nests from the ground, and opening them at the lower end, looked up, and saw the spider so occupied. A section view of the nest will show that the curved form of the cover, and the shape of the side walls, must favour this method of keeping the door shut. In some cases, small hollows were formed round the interior edge of the lid, into which the spider thrust its feet when keeping guard. It is a curious fact, that when several of these spiders enclosed in their nests were kept as a matter of curiosity in a box of earth, and the doors frequently opened to examine their proceedings, one or two of them, as if wearied at these repeated interruptions, effectually closed their doors by weaving a piece of silken tapestry, which was spread over the interior of the opening, and rounded like the inside of a thimble. This was so strongly attached to the door and to the side walls, that no opening could be made without destroying the nest.
PRICES OF GREEK VASES.
In the ancient times of Rome the vases of Greek pottery bore a high value, and sold for enormous sums to connoisseurs, which has also been the case in modern times. Cleopatra spent daily, on the fragrant or flowery ware of Rhossus, a Syrian town, six minae. Of the actual prices paid for painted vases, no positive mention occurs in classical authorities, yet it is most probable that vases of the best class, the products of eminent painters, obtained considerable prices. Among the Greeks, works of merit were at all times handsomely remunerated, and it is probable that vases of excellence shared the general favour shown to the fine arts. For works of inferior merit only small sums were paid, as will be seen by referring to the chapter on inscriptions, which were incised on their feet, and which mentioned their contemporary value. In modern times little is known about the prices paid for these works of art till quite a recent period, when their fragile remains have realised considerable sums. In this country the collections of Mr. Townley, Sir W. Hamilton, Lord Elgin, and Mr. Payne Knight, all contained painted vases. A sum of L500 was paid in consideration of the Athenian vases in Lord Elgin's collection, which is by no means large when the extraordinary nature of these vases is considered, as they are the finest in the world of the old primitive vases of Athens. L8,400 were paid for the vases of the Hamilton collection, one of the most remarkable of the time, and consisting of many beautiful specimens from southern Italy. The great discoveries of the Prince of Canino, in 1827, and the subsequent sale of numerous vases, gave them, however, a definite market value, to which the sale of the collection of Baron Durand, which consisted almost entirely of vases, affords some clue. His collection sold in 1836 for 313,160 francs, or about L12,524. The most valuable specimen in the collection was the vase representing the death of Croesus, which was purchased for the Louvre at the price of 6,600 francs, or L264. The vase with the subject of Arcesilaus brought 1,050 francs. Another magnificent vase, now in the Louvre, having the subject of the youthful Hercules strangling the serpents, was only secured for France after reaching the price of 6,000 francs, or L240: another, with the subject of Hercules, Dejanira, and Hyllus, was purchased for the sum of 3,550 francs, or L142. A _crater_, with the subject of Acamas and Demophoon bringing back AEthra, was obtained by M. Magnoncourt for 4,250 francs, or L170. A Bacchic amphora, of the maker Execias, of the archaic style, was bought by the British Museum for 3,600 francs, or L142 in round numbers. Enough has, however, been said to show the high price attained by the most remarkable of these works of art. The inferior vases of course realised much smaller sums, varying from a few francs to a few pounds; but high prices continued to be obtained, and the sale by the Prince of Canino in 1837, of some of his finest vases, contributed to enrich the museums of Europe, although, as many of the vases were bought in, it does not afford a good criterion as to price. An _oenochoe_, with Apollo and the Muses, and a _hydria_, with the same subject, were bought for 2,000 francs, or L80 each. A _cylix_, with a love scene, and another with Priam redeeming Hector's corpse, brought 6,600 francs, or L264. An amphora with the subject of Dionysius, and a cup with that of Hercules, sold for 8,000 francs, or L320 each. Another brought 7,000 francs, or L280. A vase with the subject of Theseus seizing Helen, another with the arming of Paris, and a third with Peleus and Thetis, sold for 6,000 francs, or L240. Nor can the value of the finest specimens of the art be considered to have deteriorated since. The late Mr. Steuart was offered 7,500 francs for a large _crater_, found in southern Italy, ornamented with the subject of Cadmus and the dragon; 3,000 francs, or L120, were paid by the British Museum for a fine _crater_ ornamented with the exploits of Achilles: 2,500 francs, or L100, for an amphora of Apulian style, with the subject of Pelops and OEnomaus at the altar of the Olympian Zeus. For another vase, with the subject of Musaeus, 3,000 francs, or L120 were paid, and 2,500 francs, or L100, for the Athenian prize vase, the celebrated Vas Burgonianum, exhumed by Mr. Burgon. At Mr. Beckford's sale, the late Duke of Hamilton gave L200 for a small vase, with the subject of the Indian Bacchus.
The passion for possessing fine vases has outstripped these prices at Naples; 2,400 ducats, or L500, was given for the vase with gilded figures discovered at Cumae. Still more incredible, half a century back, 8,000 ducats, L1,500, was paid to Vivenzio for the vase in the Museo Borbonico representing the last night of Troy; 6,000 ducats, or L1,000, for the one with a Dionysiac feast; and 4,000 ducats, or L800, for the vase with the grand battle of the Amazons, published by Shultz. But such sums will not be hereafter realised, not that taste is less, but that fine vases are more common. No sepulchre has been spared when detected, and no vase neglected when discovered; and vases have been exhumed with more activity than the most of precious relics.
OLD WALKING STICKS.
It would seem that at the present time the fashion of carrying walking-sticks has to a considerable extent "gone out." So great is the bustle in our city thoroughfares, that the use of a staff, except by those who are lame, is seldom adopted by business people. Professional men still affect the custom, however; and your City man, although he may repudiate the use of a walking-stick in town, straps a good sapling to his portmanteau whenever he has a chance of getting amongst the woods and green fields. About a century and a-half ago everybody carried a cane. Dr. Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, and a host of others, considered a good stick as necessary as a coat; and a collection of these staves would, if they could be had at the present day, be valuable, not only as relics, but also as an indication of the characters of the owners, perhaps.
In former times, a golden-mounted stick or staff was commonly used by both the male and female heads of families. Queen Elizabeth carried one of these towards the end of her life. They were then more frequently used, however, as a sign of authority than for any other purpose.