The Queer, the Quaint and the Quizzical Part 31

_Mole-skin Eyebrows._

Some of the ladies of the Court of Louis XV., in connection with the patches, rouge and paint with which they disfigured their faces, were so whimsical as to wear eyebrows made out of mole-skin.

_Praying for Revenge._

In North Wales, when a person supposes himself highly injured, it is not uncommon for him to go to some church dedicated to a celebrated saint, as Llan Elian, in Anglesea, and Clynog, in Carnarvons.h.i.+re, and there to offer up his enemy. He kneels down on his bare knees, and offering a piece of money to the saint, calls down curses and misfortunes upon the offender and his family for generations to come, in the most firm belief that the imprecations will be fulfilled. Sometimes they repair to a sacred well instead of to a church.

_Selling Snails._

The sale of snails in the town of Tivoli, near Rome, is a source of much profit to the inhabitants of that district in rainy weather, when this curious edible is abundant in the olive groves. The flavor is p.r.o.nounced delicious, and when artistically cooked, the foreigner does not long decline this much despised crustacea. The cooked snail is said to restore tone to the coating of the stomach when badly injured by strong drink.

_Coral and Bells._

A superst.i.tious belief exists that the color of coral is affected by the state of health of the wearer, it becoming paler in disease. Paracelsus recommended it to be worn around the necks of infants as an admirable preservative against fits, charms and poison. "In addition to the supposed virtues of coral usually suspended around the necks of children, it may be remarked that silver bells are generally attached to it, which are regarded as mere accompaniments to amuse children by their jingle; but the fact is, they have a very different origin, having been designed to frighten away evil spirits."-_Dr. Paris._

_Bagging his Rival._

Two gentlemen, one a Spaniard, the other a German, asked of Maximilian II. the hand of his daughter, the fair Helene Scharfequinn, in marriage.

After a long delay, the emperor one day informed them that, esteeming them equally, and not being able to bestow a preference, he should leave it to the force and address of the claimants to decide the question. He did not mean, however, to risk the life of one or the other, or perhaps of both. He could not, therefore, permit them to encounter with offensive weapons, but had ordered a large bag to be produced. It was his decree that whichever succeeded in putting his rival into the bag should have the hand of his daughter. The singular encounter between the two gentlemen took place in the presence of the whole court. The contest lasted for more than an hour. At length the Spaniard yielded, and the German, Ehberhard, Baron de Talbert, having planted his rival in the bag, took it upon his back and gallantly laid it at the feet of his mistress, whom he espoused the next day. This incident is gravely vouched for by M. de St. Foix.

_Deepened d.a.m.nation._

In his "History of all the Heresies," Bernino records an instance of diabolical superst.i.tion. Pope Theodorus wrote the sentence of deposition against the Monothelite secretary Pyrrhus with ink in which had been mingled the blood from the sacramental cup, in order that the fulmination of the pope might possess the greater potency of d.a.m.nation.

_Ancient Bit of Waggery._

We find the following in a book printed in 1607, ent.i.tled, "Pleasant Conceits of old Hobson, the merry Londoner; full of Humourous Discourses and Merry Merriments:"-

"When the order of hanging out lanterne first of all was brought about, the bedell of the warde where Maister Hobson dwelt, in a darke evening, crieing up and down, 'Hang out your lanternes! Hang out your lanternes!'

using no other words, Maister Hobson tooke an emptie lanterne, and, according to the bedell's call, hung it out. This flout, by the lord mayor, was taken in ill part, and for the offence Hobson was sent to the Counter, but being released the next night following, thinking to amende his call, the bedell cryed out, with a loud voice, 'Hang out your lanternes and candle!' Maister Hobson hereupon hung out a lanterne and candle unlighted, as the bedell again commanded; whereupon he was sent again to the Counter; but the next night, the bedell being better advised, cryed 'Hang out your lanterne and candle-light!' which Maister Hobson at last did, to his great commendations, which cry of lanterne and candle-light is in right manner used to this day."

_A Walking Apothecary Shop._

Mr. Samuel Jessup, an opulent grazier, of pill-taking memory, died at Heckington, England, on the 17th of June, 1817. In twenty-one years the deceased took 226,934 pills, supplied by a respectable apothecary at Bottesford, which was at the rate of 10,806 pills a year, or twenty-nine pills each day; but as the patient began with a more moderate appet.i.te, and increased it as he proceeded, in the last five years he took the pills at the rate of seventy-eight a day, and in the year 1814 he swallowed not less than 51,590. Notwithstanding this, and the addition of 40,000 bottles of mixture and juleps and electuaries, extending altogether to fifty-five closely written columns of an apothecary's bill, the deceased lived to attain the age of sixty-five years.-_Hone._

_To Disappoint his Wife._

On the 20th of May, 1736, the body of Samuel Baldwin, Esq., was, in compliance with a request in his will, buried, _sans ceremonie_, in the sea at Lymington, Hants. His motive for this extraordinary mode and place of interment was to prevent his wife from "dancing over his grave," which she had frequently threatened to do in case she survived him.

_Boots an Object of Honor._

Among the Chinese no relics are more valuable than the boots which have been worn by an upright magistrate. In Davis's interesting description of the Empire of China we are informed that whenever a judge of unusual integrity resigns his situation, the people congregate to do him honor.

If he leaves the city where he has resided, the crowd accompany him from his residence to the gates, where his boots are drawn off with great ceremony, to be preserved in the hall of justice. Their place is immediately supplied by a new pair, which, in turn, are drawn off to make room for others before he has worn them five minutes, it being considered sufficient to consecrate them that he should have merely drawn them on.

_St. Cuthbert's Beads._

These beads were made from the single joints of the articulated stems of Encrinites. The central perforation permitted them to be strung. From the fancied resemblance of this perforation to a cross, they were formerly used as rosaries, and a.s.sociated with the name of St.

Cuthbert-

"On a rock by Lindisfarm St. Cuthbert sits and toils to frame The sea-born beads that bear his name."

_Eating Animals that have Died a Natural Death._

The gypsies in Europe are very peculiar in their eating, and are, perhaps, the only race who will eat animals that have died a natural death. "Dead pig" is their favorite delicacy; and one of the most typical and most amusing of the Rommany ballads which Borrow has collected, celebrates the trick formerly so common among them of poisoning a pig in order the next day to beg its carca.s.s for food.

_Embalmed in Honey._

The ancients put dead bodies into honey to preserve them from putrefaction. The body of Agesipolis, King of Sparta, who died in Macedonia, was sent home in honey. The faithless Cleomenes caused the head of Archonides to be put in honey, and had it always placed near him when he was deliberating upon any affair of great importance, in order to fulfil the oath he had made to undertake nothing without consulting the head. The body of the Emperor Justin II. was embalmed in honey. The wish of Democritus to be buried in honey is a confirmation of the practice.

_Perfumed b.u.t.ter._

We are told by Plutarch that a Spartan lady paid a visit to Berenice, the wife of Dejotarus, and that the one smelled so much of sweet ointment and the other of b.u.t.ter that neither of them could endure the other. Was it customary, therefore, at that period, for the ladies to perfume themselves with b.u.t.ter?

_Wine at Two Millions a Bottle._

Some years ago wine graced the table of the King of Wurtemburg, which had been deposited in a cellar at Bremen two centuries and a half before. One large case of the wine, containing five oxhoft of two hundred and forty bottles, cost five hundred rix-dollars in 1624.

Including the expenses of keeping up the cellar, and of the contributions, interest of the amount, and interest upon interest, an oxhoft costs at the present time 555,657,640 rix-dollars, and consequently a bottle is worth 2,723,812 rix-dollars. The fact ill.u.s.trates the operation of interest, if it does not show the cost of the luxury.-_Bombaugh._

_Opal of Nonius._

The ancients valued opals very highly. The Roman senator, Nonius, preferred exile to giving up an opal to Mark Antony. This opal was still to be seen in the days of Pliny, who ascribed to it a value of more than $500,000.

_Children's Day in j.a.pan._

There is a children's day in j.a.pan on the fifth day of the fifth month, when a flag of gay colors is hung from every house where there are children. The family and friends have a feast, and, among the articles of food are long, narrow rice cakes, upon each of which a sweet-flavored rush-leaf is fastened by straws. Where there are no children there may be a family party, but no flag can be exhibited. On this day ornaments made of paper, of five different colors, are bound into b.a.l.l.s and hung up in the house as a charm against sickness.

_c.o.c.k-Fighting among the Ancient Greeks._

aeschines reproaches Timarchus for spending the whole day in gaming and c.o.c.k-fighting. c.o.c.k-fights were represented by the Greeks on coins and cut stones. Mr. Pegge caused engravings to be made of two gems in the collection of Sir William Hamilton, on one of which is seen a c.o.c.k in the humble att.i.tude of defeat, with its head hanging down, and another in the att.i.tude of victory, with an ear of corn in its bill as the object of contest. On the other stone two c.o.c.ks are fighting, while a mouse carries away the ear of corn, for the possession of which they had quarreled-a caricature of law-suits, in which the greater part of the property in dispute falls to the lawyers. Two c.o.c.ks in the att.i.tude of fighting are represented also on a lamp found in Herculaneum.