CHEAP TRACTS No. 1.
A COLLECTION
OF
NOTABLE THINGS
WORTH KNOWING,
COMPRISING AN ACCOUNT OF REMARKABLE
OBJECTS, STRIKING INCIDENTS AND OC-
CURRENCES, PECULIAR CUSTOMS, &c.
DUNFERMLINE:
PRINTED AND SOLD BY JOHN MILLER.
1828.
Notable Things.
the pyramids of egypt.
The various travellers who have visited these wonderful remains of antiquity assert, that in magnitude they far surpass any thing the imagination can conceive; nor is the surprise of the beholder, on viewing the stupendous whole, any way diminished by the appearance of the component parts, which are on a corresponding scale, and occasion wonder that human efforts could have elevated the ponderous masses of solid stone of which they are composed to so great a height, and disposed them in a regular order, unassisted, as may naturally be supposed, at that early period, by powerful machinery. The French ⟨traveller⟩, Denon, and others have observed, that the ⟨sublime⟩ effect produced by the appearance of such immense objects is in some degree rendered less from not being placed near to others where their bulk might be estimated by comparison. This may doubtless be the case, for the eye judges by comparison, as is evident in almost every instance; and if it were possible to place St. Paul’s or the monument by the sides of the Pyramids, an opportunity would then be obtained of forming a correct idea of the astonishing size of those justly celebrated wonders of the world.
Those who have not been exposed to the dangers and inconveniences of a long journey, through sandy deserts infested with hordes of ferocious plundering Arabs, may, however, be able to form an idea (here at home) of the magnitude of these ancient structures, from the following measurement.———
Height, estimated about 650 feet; width of one of the sides, about 650; layers of stone which form it, about 200.
the colossus at rhodes.
murders within the tower of london.
In 1092 a violent tempest did great injury to the Tower; but it was repaired by William Rufus and his successor. The first added another collateral building on the fourth side, between it and the Thames, which was afterwards called St. Thomas’ Tower: beneath that was Traitor’s Gate, through which state prisoners were brought from the river: and, under another, properly enough called the Bloody; for, until these happier ages, there was little difference between confinement and the scaffold, or private assassination.
Here fell the meek usurper Henry VI. by the dagger of the profligate Gloucester. Here, full of horrors, died by the hand of hired ruffians, the unsteady Clarence. Here the sweet innocents, Edward V. and his brother, perished, victims to the ambition of their remorseless uncle. And the empoisoning of Sir Thomas Overby makes up the sum of the known murders, the reproaches of our ancient fortress. We have here a straight-room, or dungeon, called, from the misery which the unhappy occupier of this very confined place endures, the Little Ease. But this will appear a luxurious habitation when compared with the inventions of the age of Louis XI. of France; with his iron cages, in which persons of rank lay for whole years: or his oubliettes, dungeons made in the form of reversed cones, concealed with trap-doors, down which dropped the unhappy victims of the tyrant. Sometimes their sides were plain, sometimes set with knives or sharp-edged wheels: but, in either case, the devoted were certain to fall into the land where all things bore little resemblance to that which they left behind.
extraordinary punch bowl.
retribution.
It is pretty generally known that the Maiden, an instrument for beheading criminals, was introduced into Scotland by Earl Morton, and that he was the first person that suffered by it. M. Guillotine, a French Surgeon, who gave his name to an improvement of the Maiden, which became so dreadful an engine of vengeance during the French revolution, also suffered by his own invention. A more obscure person than either of these fell into his own snare. This was Deacon Brodie, who was executed about thirty years ago for robbing the Excise-office in Edinburgh. He was a man of good birth, and his manners more of the Macheath than any culprit that has appeared for the last half century. This gay Deacon of the Carpenters of Edinburgh invented the drop, by which all criminals now suffer in Britain, and, strange to say, he was the first man who was hanged on his own commodious gallows. His friends had some notion that the new invention might not do the business so effectually as the old leap from a ladder in the Grass-market, and they prevailed on himself to adopt some device of a silver tube inserted in the windpipe, for the purpose of still farther reducing the chances. The Deacon came forth very gaily with his silver tube, a well dressed peruke, and a very grand silk waistcoat, but alas! “Brodie’s drop” was too much for Brodie! The Deacon’s body resisted every effort that was made towards producing re-animation; and although a foolish story was circulated of his having revived, and became a leading member of Congress in the United States of America, yet it is certain that his own drop finished his life.
singular deliverance.
Three hunters were in pursuit of a Chamois on a glacier, which was so covered with snow that it was impossible to see the deep chasms into which, when melting, the water precipitated itself in torrents. The foremost of them was walking over one of these treacherous abysses, when the snow gave way, and the poor fellow disappeared. In spite of his fright, he fortunately retained sufficient presence of mind to throw out his arms and legs, when falling in such a manner as to remain suspended between two walls of ice, with a view of the torrents roaring as they fell into the horrid gulph beneath him. His comrades having lost sight of him, began to be apprehensive that he had met with some accident; and on making the signal, previously concerted among themselves, they knew that he was in danger, and required immediate assistance. They returned as speedily as possible to the nearest hamlet, (a good league distant) in quest of cords. Disappointed of finding any, they took a miserable bed quilt, cut it in strips, which they tied together, and flew to the spot where they had left their unfortunate companion, who had continued during all this time in his painful position. They let down the cord they had contrived to make, and which the poor fellow fastened round his body: but oh, horror! at the very moment they had pulled him up to the brink of the precipice, the rope broke, the wretched man fell a second time into the yawning gulph; and to add to his misfortune, broke his arm. His comrades, however, joined the rope, twisted it to make it stronger, and threw it again to their companion, who, notwithstanding the fracture of his arm, fastened it round him, and was at length extricated from his most perilous situation.
turkish manners, described by a lady.
From some of the windows I look across that harbour called the Golden Horn by the ancients, and from others can see the sea of Marmora, the islands therein, and a part of the Seraglio; from mine, I saw yesterday, the Sultan sitting on a silver sofa, while his boats, and many of the people who were to accompany him, were lining the banks of the garden. A magnificent sight, as they are of a light shape, gilt, and painted very beautifully. We had a large telescope, and saw the Ottoman splendour very distinctly. The sultan dyes his beard black, to give himself a young look, and he is known at a considerable distance by that, which contrasts singularly with his face, that is extremely livid and pale. The kiosk, which contained him and his silver sofa, was not very large, and like a hundred others to be seen on the canal. It is strange how words gain, in other countries, a signification different from the meaning they possess in their own. Serail or Seraglio, is generally understood as the ⟨habitation⟩, or rather the confinement for women; here it is the sultan’s residence; it cannot be called his palace, for the kiosks, gardens, courts, walls, stables, are so mixed, that it is many houses in many gardens.
The streets both of Pera and Constantinople are so narrow that few of them admit of a carriage; the windows of every story project over those under them, so that at the upper people may shake hands sometimes across the street. No Turk of any consequence makes a visit, if it is only four doors from his own, but on horseback; and, on my arrival here, I saw one who landed in a boat, and had a fine grey horse led by four men, that went a long way round, which he mounted gravely, to get off in a few minutes.
As to women, as many, if not more than meu, are to be seen in the streets, but they look like walking mummies. A large loose robe of green cloth covers them from the neck to the ground; over that is a large piece of muslin, which wraps the shoulders and the arms, and another which goes over the head and eyes. If I was to walk about the streets here, I would certainly wear the same dress, for the Turkish women call others names, when they meet them with ⟨their⟩ faces uncovered. When I go out I have the ambassador’s sedan chair, which is like mine in London, only gilt and varnished like a French eoach, and six Turks carry it, as they fancy it impossible that two or four men can carry one; two Janissaries walk before, with high fur caps on. The Ambassadors here have all Janissaries as guards allowed them by the Porte. It is well, I have but a little way to go in this pomp, fearing every moment the Turks should fling me down, they are so awkward; for the platform, where people land and embark from and to Pera, is not far from this house.
I saw a Turk the other day lying on cushions, striking slowly an iron which he was ⟨shaping⟩ into a horse-shoe, his pipe in his mouth all the time—nay, among the higher orders of Turks there is an invention which saves them the trouble of holding the pipe—two small wheels are fixed on each side of the bowl of the pipe, and thus the smoker has only to puff away, or let the pipe rest on his upper lip, while he moves his head as he pleases. Perhaps, it is lucky for Europe that the Turks are idle and ignorant—the immense power this empire might have, were it peopled by the industrious and ambitious, would make it mistress of the world. At present it only serves as a dead wall, to intercept the commerce and battles which other powers might create with another.
The Turks in their conduct towards our sex are an example to all other nations; a Turk has his head cut off, his papers are examined, every thing in his house seized, but the wife is provided for; her jewls are left her.
The harem is sacred even to that rapacious power, which has seized the master’s life only because he was rich. It may be said, that in Turkey, likewise, women are perfectly safe from an idle, curious, impertinent public, and what is called the world can never disturb the ease and quiet of a Turkish wife. Her talents, her beauty, her happiness, or misery, are equally concealed from malicious observers. Of misery, unless a Turkish woman is beyond conception unreasonable, I cannot imagine her portion can be great; for the wife, whose wretched husband earns subsistence by carrying water, or burthens, sits at home bedecked with jewels, or goes out as her fancy directs, and the fruits of his labour are appropriated to her use. In great houses, the wives of the Turks, who compose the train of a Turkish husband, are destined to be subservient to the state of the first wife, and she treats them as she pleases.
heroism and affection.
A woman in Northampton county, in the United States, having observed a rattle-snake coiled on a log near the house, she took her husband’s rifle out to shoot it, but setting the gun at the end of the log, concluded to kill it with a stick, which she effected; when reaching for the rifle, and drawing it towards her, the lock struck a knot, the gun went off, and the ball entered her left side and came out near the shoulder. She did not fall, but took the rifle into the house and set it up; took her infant from the cradle, and bidding one of the elder children to press her hand on the wound, to check the effusion of blood, gave suck to the baby,—thus exemplifying the “ruling passion strong in death,”—the last thought of the mother was associated with the comfort of her little one. A few hours after the woman was found a corpse.
war and commerce.
It is estimated that more than a million of bushels of human and inhuman bones were imported last year from the continent of Europe to the port of Hull. The neighbourhood of Leipsic, Austerlitz, Waterloo, and all the places where, during the late bloody war, the principal battles were fought, have been swept alike of the bones of the hero and of the horse which he rode. Thus collected from every quarter, they have been shipped to the port of Hull, and thence forwarded to the Yorkshire bone-grinders, who have erected steam engines and powerful machinery, for the purpose of reducing them to granulary state. In this condition they are sent chiefly to Doncaster, one of the largest agricultural markets in that part of the country, and are sold to the farmers to manure their lands. The oily substance gradually involving as the bone calcines, makes a more substantial manure than almost any other substance, particularly human bones. It is now ascertained beyond a doubt, by actual experiments upon an eXtensive scale, that a dead soldier is a most valuable article of commerce; and, for aught known to the contrary, the good farmers of Yorkshire are, in a great measure, indebted to the bones of their children for their daily bread. It is certainly a singular fact, that Great Britain should have sent out such multitudes of soldiers to fight the battles of this country upon the continent of Europe, and should then import their bones as an ⟨article⟩ of commerce to fatten her soil!!
honesty.
fruits of industry.
Franklin, the greatest philosopher and statesman of America, was once a printer’s boy; Simpson, the Scotch mathematician, and author of many learned works, was at first a poor weaver; Herschel, one of the most eminent astronomers, rose from the low station of a fifer boy in the army. These examples show us the happy effects of assiduity and perseverance.
william penn, and the indians.
Voltaire says, that the treaty which William Penn made with the Indians in America is the only treaty between those people and the christians that was not ratified by an oath, and was never infringed. Mr. Penn endeavoured to settle his new colony upon the most equitable principles, and took great pains to conciliate the ⟨good⟩ will of the natives. He appointed commissioners to treat with them, and purchased from them the land of the province, acknowledging them to be the original proprietors. As the land was of little value to the natives, he obtained his purchase at a moderate rate; but by his equitable conduct, he gave them so high an opinion of him, and by his kind and humane behaviour so ingratiated himself in their favour, that the American Indians have ever since expressed a great veneration for his memory, and styled the governor of Pennsylvania, onias, which in their language signifies a pen. At the renewal of the treaties with Sir William Keith, the governor, in 1722, the Indians, as the highest compliment they could pay him, said, “We esteem and love you, as if you were William Penn himself.”
power of music.
A French Officer, during his confinement in the Bastile, used to amuse himself with playing on the lute. He had long thus diverted his melancholy, when playing one day, he observed, to his great ⟨astonishment⟩, a number of mice issuing from their ⟨holes⟩, and even spiders creeping forth. He repeated the experiment with the same effect several times; and even found some entertainment in observing the attentive audience which he could assemble whenever he pleased. We have no reason to suppose this officer an Orpheus, yet it is certain that his lute captivated animals which might be supposed insensible to “the pleasure of sweet sounds.”
curious character.
The Rev. Mr Hagamore of Catshoge, Leicestershire, was a very singular character. He died the 1st of January, 1776, possessed of the following effects, viz. £700. per annum, and £1000 in money, which, as he died intestate, fell to a ticket-porter in London. He kept one servant of each sex, whom he locked up every night. His last employment of an evening was to go round his premises, let loose his dogs, and fire his gun. He lost his life as follows: Going one morning to let out his servants, the dogs fanned upon him suddenly, and threw him into a pond, where he was found dead. His servants heard his call for assistance, but being locked up, they could not lend him any. He had 30 gowns and cassocks, 100 pair of breeches, 100 pair of boots, 400 pair of shoes, 80 wigs, yet alway wore his own hair, 58 dogs, 80 waggons and carts, 80 ploughs, and used none, 50 saddles, and furniture of the stable, 30 wheel-barrows, so many walking-sticks, that a toyman in Leicester-fields offered £8 for them, 60 horses and mares, 200 pickaxes, 200 spades and shovels, 74 ladders, and 249 razors.
letter writing.
“Dear Brother Tom,
"This cums hopein to find you in good helth as it leaves me safe anchor’d here yesterday at 2 p. m. after a pleasant voyage tolerably short and few squalls—Dear Tom, hopes to find poor old Father Stout, and am quite out of pig-tail—Sights of pig-tail at Gravesend, but unfortunately not fit for a dog to chor—Dear Tom, Captain’s boy will bring you this and put pig-tail in his pocket when bort—Best in London at the black boy in 7 diles, where go, acks for the best pig tail—pound pig-tail will do and am short of shirts, Dear Tom, as for shirts only took two whereof one is quite worn out, tuther most, but dont forget the pig-tail, as I had not a quid to chor, never since Thursday—Dear Tom, as for shirts your size will do only longer—I like um long—get one at present, best at Tower hill, and cheap—but be particular to go to seven diles for the pig-tail at the black boy and Her Tom acts for Pound best pig-tail, and let it be good—Captain’s boy will put pig-tail in his pocket he likes pig-tail, so ty it up—Dear Tom, shall be up about Monday or thereabouts. Not so particular for the shirt, as the present can be washed but dont forget the pig-tail without fail, so am your loving brother.
“P. S.—Dont forget the pig-tail.”
dogs and cats.
M. Sonini, in his “Travels in Egypt,” informs us that dogs are, in that country, objects of peculiar abhorrence. They are never permitted to enter the dwelling of a Mahommedan; and, if one is found in a mosque, he is immediately put to death. In consequence of this excommunication from the society which this animal seems instinctively disposed to cultivate, the Egyptian dogs live for the most part in the ⟨open air⟩, feeding upon garbage and any other ⟨filth⟩ that chance throws in their way. Yet they ⟨are⟩ found to be faithful protectors of the property and even persons of the very men by whom they are thus despitefully treated; although, Sonini remarks, it is extremely curious to see the pains taken by a Mussulman, and a dog, when they happen to meet, to avoid coming in contact with each other. Notwithstanding this state of persecution, dogs are remarkably numerous in the town of Egypt. The species is a large one, about the size and make of our greyhound. As a proof of the Mahommedan prejudice against the useful animal, it is sufficient to state, that they regard the terms Christian and dog as synonimous— both, of course, in the most opprobrious sense. As a singular contrast to the foregoing, we may now notice the veneration in which cats have ever been held by the Egyptians, who, in ancient times, even worshipped them. And historians tell us, that Berbastis and Atribes, two towns in Egypt, the former a votary of cats and the latter of mice, contracted, on that account, so strong an antipathy to each other, that the inhabitants were never known to intermarry, although only a few miles asunder. In some parts of India, too, we are told, they have a similar reverence for Grimalkin, as the only crimes punished capitally there are the murder of a man and a cat.
miracle of the skull.
vessel dashed to pieces by a whale.
On the 19th of November, 1821, the Essex, a Russian Vessel, of 250 tons which was employed in the whale fishery was in lat. 47 deg. S. and long. 118 deg. W. from Greenwich, and consequently about 500 geographical miles to the west of the Patagonian coast, when it was surrounded by whales; and one of them of the largest size gave it so violent a blow with his tail, that the keel of the vessel was partly laid bare. The monster stopped some time near the ship, endeavouring to strike it again with his tail: not being able to succeed, he swam before the vessel to the distance of about half a werst, (one third of an English mile) then at once he swam back, and struck the prow with such violence, that notwithstanding the rapidity of her course, under full sail, the vessel receded, and this retrograde movement was almost as rapid as her advance forwards. The damage which was occasioned by this gigantic shock is not to be described. The waves broke into the ship through the cabin windows, all the persons who happened to be on deck, were thrown down, the vessel filled with water, was laid on the side, and did not right herself till the masts were cut away.
It was immediately evident that there were no hopes of saving her. The crew thinking only of their own safety, got into the two boats, in which they embarked some provisions which they had with great difficulty taken ont of the sinking vessel. A month after, this is on the 20th of December, these unfortunate people arrived at the Isle of Ducie, where they stopped eight days: but not finding any provisions there, they endeavoured to teach the continent of South America, leaving, however, three of their companions upon the island. A short time after this the two boats separated; and one of them, which had only three men in her, met sixty days after their shipwreck, an American vessel, which took them on board. It was not till ninety-six days after their departure from the island of Duice, that the other boat had the good fortune to meet with a vessel: but there were only two persons on board, the Captain and the cabin boy. Famine had reduced them to the horrible necessity of eating each other! Eight times they drew lots, and eight victims were sacrificed to the hunger of their surviving companious. The lot had been already drawn which condemned the boy to the same fate, when he and the Captain discovered the vessel which saved them. An English vessel, on her way to Port Jackson, in New Holland, touched at the Island of Ducie. A gun having been fired, the crew soon afterwards saw the three men who had been left there come out of the wood. A boat was sent to bring them on board the ship.
a remedy for drought.
A serious confabulation took place one fine forenoon, at a sea port not fifty miles from Tay bar, on the most efficient remedy for the drouthy consequences of sacrificing too freely to a certain tunbellied deity. "The most sovereign specific that has ever been invented," said a cockney traveller, "is a pretty stiffish glass of brandy and vater." To this an Edinburgh scribe gave the lie implied, by substituting ginger beer for the traveller's water. Some recommended brown soup—some mock turtle—others launched out in the praises of Barclay, Perkins, and Co.—while a few ventured to say some feeble things in favour of the produce of Edinburgh, Alloa, or Auchtertool. Saunders Duthie frae Aberdeen, listened with patience until Amen, when suddenly he exclaimed (like a being inspired), "Ye may crack o' yere brown soops an' yere bran'y, yere mock turtles an yere ginger beer, an yere porter an' yill tee, but de'il hae me gin ever I got ony thing for a scowdered stamack like a gude clyte o' caul cail."
waste of war.
indian punishment.
In one of the Bombay Journals for 1814, there is the following account of the punishment of a criminal at Baroda, by an elephant. The man was a slave, and two days before had murdered his master, brother to a native chieftain, named Ameer Sahib. About eleven o'clock the elephant was brought out, with only the driver on his back, surrounded by natives with bamboos in their hands. The criminal was placed three yards behind on the ground, his legs tied by three ropes, which were fastened to a ring on the right hind leg of the animal. At every step the elephant took, it jerked him forwards, and eight or ten steps must have dislocated every limb, for they were loose and broken when the elephant had proceeded five hundred yards. The man, though covered with mud, showed every sign of life, and seemed to be in the most excruciating torments. After having been tortured in this manner about an hour, he was taken to the outside of the town, when the elephant, which is instructed for such purposes, is backed, and puts his foot on the head of the criminal.
FINIS.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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