The Queer, the Quaint and the Quizzical Part 34

_Origin of Long-toed Shoes._

Long-toed shoes were invented by Fulk, Count of Anjou, to hide an excrescence on one of his feet. These toes were so long as to be fastened to the knees with gold chains, and carved at the extreme point with the representation of a church-window, a bird or some fantastic device.

_A Good Tenant._

In the "Gentleman's Magazine" for September, 1775, Mr. Clayton, a wealthy farmer of Berks.h.i.+re, is related to have died at the extraordinary age of one hundred and fifteen years, during which time he rented the same farm for ninety years. An occupancy of so great duration, by one individual, is perhaps unequalled in the history of landlord and tenant.

_Three Borrowed Days._

There is an old proverb still used by the English and Scotch rustics, which represent March as borrowing three days from April. In the "Complaynt of Scotland" they are thus described-

"The first it shall be wind and weet; The next it shall be snaw and sleet; The third it shall be sic a freeze Shall gar the birds stick to the trees."

But it is disputed whether these "borrowed days" are the last three of March or the first three of April.

_Luncheon._

This word is said to have been originally _noon-shun_, a meal partaken of by laborers in the fields at _noon_, when they retire to the shade to _shun_ the noontide heat.

_Value of a Long Psalm._

In old times a culprit, when at the gallows, was allowed to select a Psalm, which was then sung, thereby lengthening the chances for the arrival of a reprieve. It is reported of one of the chaplains to the famous Montrose, that being condemned in Scotland to die for attending his master in some of his exploits, he selected the 119th Psalm. It was well for him that he did so, for they had sung it half through before the reprieve came. A shorter Psalm, and he would have been hung.

_Barbers' Basins._

Anciently, one of the utensils of the barber was a bra.s.s basin with a semi-circular gap in one side, to encompa.s.s a man's throat, by means of which, in applying the lather to the face, the clothes were not soiled.

It will be recollected that Don Quixote crazily a.s.sumed a barber's basin as a helmet.

_Strained Politeness._

On the 30th of April, 1745, the battle of Fontenoy was fought between the allied armies of England, Holland and Austria, under the command of the Duke of c.u.mberland, and the French army under Marshal Count De Saxe.

The battle was commenced with the formal politeness of a court minuet Captain Lord Charles Hay, of the English guards, advanced from the ranks with his hat off; at the same moment Lieutenant Count D'Auteroche, of the French guards, advanced also, uncovered, to meet him. Lord Charles bowed, and said: "Gentlemen of the French guards, fire!" The Count bowed to Lord Charles. "No, my lord," he answered, "we never fire first." They again bowed; each resumed his place in his own ranks, and after these testimonies of "high consideration," the b.l.o.o.d.y conflict commenced, ending with a loss of twelve thousand men on each side.

_Can a Clergyman Marry Himself?_

This question was officially decided in the affirmative in the Court of Queen's Bench, Dublin, on November 16th, 1855, in the case of Beamish vs. Beamish, where the point came into direct issue.

_Novel Way of Curing Vicious Horses._

Burckhardt tells us of the strange mode of curing a vicious horse. He has seen, he says, vicious horses in Egypt cured of the habit of biting by presenting to them, while in the act of doing so, a leg of mutton just taken from the fire. The pain which the horse feels in biting through the hot meat causes it to abandon the practice.

_Pope's Skull._

William Howitt says that, by one of those acts, which neither science nor curiosity can excuse, the skull of Pope is now in the private collection made by a phrenologist. On some occasion of alteration in the church, or burial of some one in the same spot, the coffin of Pope was disinterred and opened to see the state of the remains. By a bribe to the s.e.xton at the time, possession of the skull was obtained for a night, and another skull was returned instead of it, in the morning.

Fifty pounds were paid to manage and carry out the transaction. Be that as it may, the skull of Pope figures in a private museum.

_p.a.w.ning Bibles and Waterloo Medals._

Among a list comprising the articles found in a p.a.w.n-broker's establishment in Glasgow, in 1836, were one hundred and two Bibles and forty-eight Waterloo medals.

_A Drum made of Human Skin._

John Zisca, general of the insurgents who took up arms in 1419 against the Emperor Sigismund, to revenge the deaths of John Huss and Jerome of Prague, who had been cruelly burned at the stake for their religious tenets, defeated the emperor in several pitched battles. He gave orders that, after his death, they should make a drum out of his skin. The order was most religiously obeyed, and those very remains of the enthusiastic Zisca proved, for many years, fatal to the emperor, who, with difficulty, in the s.p.a.ce of sixteen years, recovered Bohemia, a.s.sisted by the forces of Germany. The insurgents were 40,000 in number, and well disciplined.

_Groaning Boards._

Groaning boards were the wonder in London in 1682. An elm plank was exhibited to the king, which, being touched by a hot iron, invariably produced a sound resembling deep groans. At the Bowman tavern, in Drury Lane, the mantelpiece gave forth like sounds, and was supposed to be part of the same elm tree. The dresser at the Queen's Arm Tavern, St.

Martin le Grand, was found to possess the same quality. Strange times, when such things were deemed wonderful-so much so as to merit exhibition before the monarch.

_Abyssinian Tradition._

A curious tradition exists among the Abyssinians concerning the origin of burial. They say that when Adam found the body of the murdered Abel he carried it about upon his shoulders for twenty days, not knowing how to dispose of it. The Almighty took pity on him and sent forth a crow with a dead young one on its back. The crow flew before Adam until it came to a tract of sandy ground, in which it dug a hole with its feet, and there buried its young one. When Adam saw this, he dug a grave in the sand and buried his dead boy in it.

_Cutting Timber by the Moon._

Columella, Cato, Vitruvius and Pliny all had their notions of the advantage of cutting timber at certain ages of the moon-a piece of mummery which was long preserved in the royal ordonnances of France to the conservators of the forests, who were directed to fell oaks only "in the wane of the moon" and "when the wind was in the north."

_An Artist Tradition._

There is a tradition that Poussin, the French painter, unable to depict the foam on a horse's mouth in a picture he was finis.h.i.+ng, angrily threw his sponge at the canvas, and thus accidentally produced the desired effect. It is a pity to spoil such an effective story, but it was told of Apelles, the Greek painter, nearly two thousand years before Poussin was born.

_Born of a Peri._

A Peri, according to the mythical lore of the East, is a being begotten by fallen spirits, which spends its life in all imaginable delights. It is immortal, but is forever excluded from the joys of Paradise. It takes an intermediate place between angels and demons, and is either male or female. One of the finest compliments to be paid to a Persian lady is to speak of her as _Perizadeh_-born of a Peri.

_A Regal Hunting Party._

The following is an account of the destruction of game in Bohemia, by a hunting party of which the Emperor Francis made one, in 1755. There were twenty-three persons in the party, three of whom were ladies, among the latter the Princess Charlotte of Lorraine. The chase lasted eighteen days, and during that time they killed 47,950 head of game. 19 stags, 77 roebucks, 10 foxes, 18,243 hares, 19,545 partridges, 9499 pheasants, 114 larks, 353 quails, 454 other birds. The emperor fired 9798 shots, and the princess 9010; in all there were 116,209 shots fired.

_Care of the Beard._