Literary Byways Part 13

9. "The prosperity of the Roxburghe Club, and in all cases the cause of Bibliomania all over the world."

10. "The Society of the Bibliophiles Francais."

By-the-way, in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, is a memorial to the first English printer, bearing the following inscription:--

"To the memory of William Caxton, Who first introduced into Great Britain The Art of Printing; And, who, A.D. 1477 or earlier, exercised that art in the Abbey of Westminster, This Tablet, In remembrance of one to whom the literature of this country is so largely indebted, was raised Anno Domini MDCCCXX By the Roxburghe Club.

Earl Spencer, K.G., President."

Professional sentiments are rather plentiful. The surgeon's toast is:--

"The man that bleeds for his country."

The schoolmaster's toasts are rather numerous, but not without point:--

"Addition to patriots, Subtraction to placemen, Multiplication to the friends of peace, Division to its enemies, Reduction to abuses, Rule of three to king, lords, and commons, Practice to reformation, Fellows.h.i.+p to Britons, Discount to the National Debt, Decimal fractions to the clergy."

Toasts of musicians are included:--

"May a crotchet in the head never bar the utterance of good notes."

A second sentiment is:--

"May the lovers of harmony never be in want of a note, and its enemies die in a common chord."

Tradesmen's toasts are very plentiful, and several include puns. Here is the hatter's sentiment:--

"When the rogue naps it, may the lesson be felt."

Respecting the baker is the following:--

"May we never be done so much as to make us crusty."

The glazier's toast is:--

"The praiseworthy glazier who takes pains to see his way through life."

A rather longer toast is that of the greengrocer:--

"May we spring up like vegetables, have turnip noses, reddish cheeks, and carroty hair--and may our hearts never be hard like those of cabbages, nor may we be rotten at the core."

The sentiment of the p.a.w.nbroker is:--

"When we lend our cash to a friend, may it be to his interest to pay the princ.i.p.al, and his principle to pay the interest."

The shoemaker's toast is:--

"May the cobbler's lapstones never fail him."

In another toast we have an allusion to shoes:--

"May the enemies of Great Britain always have long corns and short shoes."

Here we close this curious collection of toasts, feeling thankful that such a book is no longer required for the every-day use of the people. A great change for the better has come over the manners and customs of our countrymen. Turning over the pages of this publication has given us pleasure, and we trust the quotations culled from it may not fail to interest our readers.

Curious American Old-Time Gleanings.

"The only true history of a country," said Lord Macaulay, "is to be found in its newspapers." Sir George Cornewall Lewis expressed his conviction that the historian of the future will find all his materials in the _Times_. The American historian Mr. Bancroft seldom saw a newspaper without drawing from it materials for his works. The story-teller often obtains from the daily and weekly press suggestive notes. Charles Reade made excellent use of the romantic episodes recorded in the newspapers.

His sc.r.a.pbooks containing clippings from the papers were numerous and valuable, and amongst his most cherished treasures. Many modern men of letters might be mentioned who are alive to the importance of preserving facts drawn from the journals of the day.

Professor James Davie Butler, LL.D., a few years ago wrote an amusing and at the same time a valuable paper on Sc.r.a.p-books. He related how he had corrected, through seeing in an old Connecticut newspaper an advertis.e.m.e.nt, statements made by the leading historians of America. It was respecting the horse of General Stark, a hero in the American War, who broke Burgoyne's left wing. Headley says, "Stark's horse sank under him."

Everett states, "The General's horse was killed in the action." Irving writes, "The veteran had his horse shot under him." They were led to make the statement from a postscript of a letter the General wrote saying, "I lost my horse in the action." Here is the advertis.e.m.e.nt referred to:--

"TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD.--Stolen from me, the subscriber, in the time of action, the 16th of August last, a Brown Mare, five years old; had a star in her forehead. Also a doeskin seated saddle, blue housing trimmed with white, and a curbed bridle.--It is earnestly requested of all Committees of Safety, and others in authority, to exert themselves to recover the said Mare, so that the thief may be brought to justice and the Mare brought to me; and the person, whoever he be, shall receive the above reward for both; and for the Mare alone, one-half that sum. How scandalous, how disgraceful and ignominious, must it appear to all friendly and generous souls to have such sly, artful, designing villains enter into the field of action in order to pillage, pilfer, and plunder from their brethren when engaged in battle!

JOHN STARK, B.D.G.

Bennington, 11th Sept., 1777."

The foregoing may be regarded as a good proof of the value of historical facts gleaned from newspapers.

In recent years several interesting works have been compiled from old newspapers. Perhaps the most important is a set of volumes ent.i.tled "The Olden Times Series," prepared by Mr. Henry M. Brooks, a painstaking antiquary, and published in Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts. Not the least interesting of the volumes is one devoted to the _New England Sunday_. The opening page proves that neither the rich nor the poor were permitted to break the strict Sabbath regulations. In Connecticut, in 1789, General Was.h.i.+ngton was stopped by the officer representing the State authorities for riding on Sunday. The circ.u.mstances were reported in the columns of the _Columbian Centinel_ for December of that year. "The President," it is stated, "on his return to New York from his late tour through Connecticut, having missed his way on Sat.u.r.day, was obliged to ride a few miles on Sunday, in order to gain the town, at which he had previously proposed to attend divine service. Before he arrived, however, he was met by a Tythingman, who, commanding him to stop, demanded the occasion of his riding; and it was not until the President had informed him of every circ.u.mstance, and promised to go no farther than the town intended, that the Tythingman would permit him to proceed on his journey."

In the old days, little attempt was made to render the places of wors.h.i.+p attractive, or even to warm the rooms in which the preachers delivered their long sermons, although the people were obliged by law to attend the services unless they were sick. It was a serious matter not to be a "meeting-goer," it was, as Mr. Brooks says, to be ranged with thieves and other outlaws. Mr. Felt, the compiler of the _Annals of Salem_, has brought together some items of interest bearing on the introduction of stoves into the churches of the district. "For a long period," writes Mr.

Felt, "the people of our country did not consider that a comfortable degree of warmth while at public wors.h.i.+p contributed much to a profitable hearing of the gospel." He states that the first stove heard of in Ma.s.sachusetts for a meeting-house was put up by the first Congregation of Boston in 1773. Two stoves were placed in the Friends' Society meeting-house at Salem in 1793, and one in the North Church, Salem in 1809. "Not a few remember," writes Mr. Brooks, "the general knocking of feet on cold days and near the close of long sermons. On such occasions, the Rev. Dr. Hopkins used to say now and then: 'My hearers, have a little patience, and I will soon close.'"

One of Mr. Brook's volumes deals with _Strange and Curious Punishments_, and it gives particulars of many harsh and cruel laws. It appears, from an address delivered before the Ess.e.x Bar a.s.sociation in 1885, that the old-time punishments in America were much milder than the criminal laws of England at the time, and the number of capital offences was greatly reduced. Persons were frequently whipped. The following is an example drawn from the Ess.e.x County Court Records: "In 1643, Roger Scott, for repeated sleeping in meeting on the Lord's Day, and for striking the person who waked him, was, at Salem, sentenced to be severely whipped."

Whipping appears to have been a common means of punis.h.i.+ng offenders who transgressed the laws. In the month of January, 1761, we see it stated that four men for petty larceny were publicly whipped at the cart's tail through the streets of New York. We gather from another newspaper report that a man named Andrew Cayto received forty-nine stripes at the public whipping-post for house-robbery--namely, for robbing one house, thirty-nine stripes; and for robbing the other, ten stripes. It appears in some instances prisoners had, as part of their sentence, to sit on the gallows with ropes about their necks. We read: "At Ipswich, Ma.s.sachusetts, June 1763, one Francis Brown for stealing a large quant.i.ty of goods, was found guilty; and it being the second conviction, he was sentenced by the Court to sit on the gallows an hour with a rope round his neck, to be whipt thirty stripes, and pay treble damages." The man was a native of Lisbon, and described as a great thief. "We hear from Worcester," says the _Boston Chronicle_, November 20th, 1769, "that on the 8th instant one Lindsay stood in the pillory there one hour, after which he received thirty stripes at the public whipping-post, and was then branded on the hand; his crime was forgery." It appears that it was the custom to brand by means of hot iron the letter F on the palm of the right hand.

We find that at this period persons found guilty of pa.s.sing counterfeit dollars were sentenced to have their ears cropped.

To ill.u.s.trate his subject Mr. Brooks draws from Felt's _Annals of Salem_ not a few quaint items. It is stated that "in 1637, Dorothy Talby, for beating her husband, is ordered to be bound to and chained to a post." It is recorded that "in 1649 women were prosecuted in Salem for scolding,"

and probably in many cases whipped or ducked. The ducking-stool appears to have been frequently employed. Under date of May 15th 1672, we find it stated: "The General Court of Ma.s.sachusetts orders that scolds and railers shall be gagged or set in a ducking stool, and dipped over head and ears three times."

We find particulars of one Philip Ratclif for making "hard speeches against Salem Church, as well as the Government," sentenced to pay "forty pounds, to be whipped, to have his ears cropped, and to be banished." The date of this case is 1631. In the _Annals of Salem_, under date for May 3rd, 1669, it is recorded that "Thomas Maule is ordered to be whipped for saying that Mr. Higgenson preached lies, and that his instruction was 'the doctrine of devils.'"

The Quakers were very severely dealt with. At Salem, for making disturbances in the meeting-house, etc., Josiah Southwick, Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Buffum, and other Quakers, were whipped at the cart's tail through the town. After being banished, Southwick returned to Salem, and for this offence was whipped through the towns of Boxton, Roxbury, and Dedham.

In bygone times, hanging the remains of persons executed was general in England; in America it was an uncommon practice. Mr. Brooks, however, gives particulars of a few instances. At Newport, Rhode Island, on March 12th, 1715, a man named Mec.u.m, was executed for murder; and his body hung in chains on Miantonomy Hill, where the bodies of some Indians executed three years previously were then hanging. A negro hanged at Newport in 1769 was gibbetted on the same hill.

A few lighter pa.s.sages than those we have studied brighten up the records of American punishments, which were very severe. A prisoner in February, 1789, escaped through the jail chimney at Portsmouth, New Hamps.h.i.+re, and wrote on the wall as follows: "The reason of my going is because I have no fire to comfort myself with, and very little provision. So I am sure if I was to stay any longer I should perish to death. Look at that bed there!

Do you think it fit for any person to lie on?

"If you are well, I am well; Mend the chimney, and all's well!"