Part 14
Misfortune’s sting, affliction’s throes, Detraction’s pois’nous breath; The world itself, and all its woes, Are swallow’d up in death.
❦
Ambergris is made of the honey which abounds in the long mountains on the coast of Ajan; which being melted by the sun, and flowing into the sea, is thus congealed by the cold water. Hence we often see flies enclosed in pieces of amber.
❦
_Quinquina, or Peruvian Bark_,
Is the bark of a tree found in the province of Quito, in America. The tree is of a moderate size; its leaves resemble those of a plum-tree, but have no medicinal power, nor has the wood. The gum which flows from the tree, and the seed which it produces, are equally efficacious in curing a fever with the bark itself. The Americans discovered the medicine in the year 1640. The properties of the bark were made known to the various parts of Europe by Cardinal de Lago and some other Jesuits, and thence has been called Jesuit’s Powder.
❦
_Critique on David’s Picture of the Deluge._
“A modern painter, certainly possessing very great talent, has attempted a picture of the Deluge. He has crowded into it a great many horrors, all very horrible; but the principal group will be sufficient.
“It consists of a family vainly endeavouring to escape from the surrounding destruction by climbing a rock in the foreground. The agonies of such a moment might have been expressed most touchingly, had the artist chosen to keep within the bounds of moderation: but no, he must out-Herod Herod; and consequently, he has contrived to make one of the most dreadful situations the human mind can conceive actually ludicrous. The principal figure is that of a man, who, like pious Æneas, carries his father on his back, certainly not in the most elegant or picturesque attitude possible, while with one hand he pulls his wife up after him rather unceremoniously. The wife, for her part, suffers considerable inconvenience from a young gentleman behind, who, having a mortal aversion to being drowned, has got his mother fast hold by the hair, by means of which he almost pulls her head off her shoulders. The whole family are certainly not very comfortably situated, and in fact the old gentleman who is riding on his son’s shoulders is the only one at all at his ease, and he appears to have a very good seat, and not to care much about it. Yet I have heard this picture lauded to the skies, both in France and England.”
THE END.
Chiswick: Printed by Charles Whittingham. 1846.
Transcribers’ Note
When one or more pieces were printed on the same page, the pieces were separated by a small decorative acorn. Here a similar symbol, ❦ has been used to separate the pieces.
The titles of many pieces were printed in the margin, next to the start of the piece. They are shown here as sidenotes.
Some short pieces are not mentioned in the Contents.
Footnotes have been numbered 1 to 18 and have been moved to the end of the piece they elucidate.
Variant spelling, unconventional punctuation (for example, some opening quotation marks are closed more than a paragraph or stanza later, and some are not closed at all) and inconsistant hyphenation are retained. The use of accents has not been altered. A few changes, however, have been made, they are:
Page xvi “Pausilppo” changed to “Pausilippo” in the Contents.
Page xii the entry in the Contents for “Charles X.” has been changed to “Charles V.”
Page 3 “Cardinal d’Estrée” changed to “Cardinal d’Estrées” in the heading.
Page 63 “Linksum kehrt eveh marsek” has been changed to “Linksum kehrt euch marsch”.
Page 119 “rocks” changed to “rooks” in “the rooks and the ravens came into the towns”.
Page 153, Machevelli's age in 1494 was printed as 29, instead of 24.