The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 17, No. 487, April 30, 1831

What an eccentricity of wickedness was it to appoint any place where a murderer should get shelter—a church too! but such were, and are (abroad) called sanctuaries. Lancaster Church was reserved by Henry VIII. as a sanctuary, after the abolition of that dangerous privilege in the rest of England.

CHINESE INGENUITY

In making toys, the Chinese are exceedingly expert: out of a solid ball of ivory, with a hole in it, not larger than half an inch in diameter, they will cut from nine to fifteen distinct hollow globes, one within another, all loose, and capable of being turned round in every direction, and each of them carved full of the same kind of open-work that appears on the fans; a very small sum of money is the price of one of these difficult trifles.

LOUIS XI. AND THE VIRGIN MARY

A fool of Louis XI. to whom he did not attend, as not thinking him capable of making observations, overheard him making this pleasant proposal to our lady of Cleri, at the great altar, when nobody else was in the church. “Ah! my dear lady, my little mistress, my best friend, my only comforter, I beg you to be my advocate, and to importune God to pardon me the death of my brother, whom I poisoned by the hands of that rascal, the Abbot of St. John. I confess this to you as to my good patroness and mistress; I know it is hard, but it will be the more glorious for you if you obtain it, and I know what present I will make you beside.” (See Brantome’s Life of Charles III.)

The fool repeated all, word for word, when the king was at dinner, before the whole court.

LOYAL BEQUEST

Col. Windham, who assisted Charles II. in his escape, is said to have told the king, that Sir Thomas, his father, in the year 1636, a few days before his death, called to him his five sons:—“My children,” said he, “we have hitherto seen serene and quiet times under our three last sovereigns; but I must now warn you to prepare for clouds and storms. Factions arise on every side, and threaten the tranquillity of your native country. But, whatever happen, do you faithfully honour and obey your prince, and adhere to the crown. I charge you never to forsake the crown, though it should hang upon a bush.”

SHETLAND ISLES

Here, on the shortest—day, the sun rises 17-1/2 min. past 9 o’clock, and sets 42 min. past 2 o’clock. The nights begin to be very short early in May, and from the middle of that month to the end of July, darkness is absolutely unknown—the sun scarcely quits the horizon, and his short absence is supplied by a bright twilight. Nothing can surpass the calm serenity of a fine summer night in the Shetland Isles.

A SAFE WAY TO OPEN STALE OYSTERS

There is an old proverb, viz. “The Mayor of Northampton opens oisters with his dagger.” The meaning of which is, to keep them at a sufficient distance from his nose. For this town being eighty miles from the sea, fish may well be presumed stale therein. “Yet I have heard (says Dr. Fuller,) that oisters put up with care, and carried in the cool, were weekly brought fresh and good to Althrop, the seat of the Lord Spencer, at equal distance; and it is no wonder, for I myself have eaten, in Warwickshire, above eighty miles from London, oisters sent from that city, fresh and good, and they must have, been carried some miles before they came there.”

    P.T.W.

Castellan, in his funeral sermon on the death of his patron, Francis I. modestly expressed his belief that the great prince was in paradise; this gave great offence to the Sorbonne, who complained of it to the court of France. Their remonstrance was coldly received, and Mendoze, who had been steward to Francis, told them, “that he knew the disposition of his old master better than they, that he never could bear to remain long in one place; and that if he had been in purgatory, he stopped there merely to take a little refreshment, and afterwards went on.”

    J.G.B.

It is not perhaps generally known that there is a peculiar right in the family of the Campbell’s (Duke of Argyle) that when they marry any of their daughters, their vassals are obliged to pay their portions, and are taxed for such, according to the number of their cattle.

This right has not, however, been acted on for a century past.

    G.K.

EXTRAORDINARY DISAPPEARANCE

Sir Thomas L—D sometimes, though rarely, lest his veracity should be doubted, mentions in society the following singular incident:—He once had upon his estate, rearing with great care and tenderness, a young nyl ghaut, an animal rare in England, and very elegant. One day it was taken from its stable, in order to be exhibited to some of Sir T.L.’s friends, when, escaping from its keeper, it leaped over the park palings, and was never beheld or heard of more. Horsemen were sent in search of it far and wide, and handsome rewards were, offered by advertisement for its recovery, but it had not, been seen by a single creature in the fields, or on the roads, or in the villages through which it must have passed; and of wood, and water there was not a sufficiency for some miles in the vicinity of – House, to conceal it, living or dead. So, after incessant, but fruitless efforts to obtain some intelligence respecting his beautiful and valuable favourite, Sir T.L. was at length obliged to desist in the prosecution of his inquiries altogether.—M.

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notes

1

The Life of John Locke, with Extracts from his Correspondence, Journals, and Commonplace Books. By Lord King. New Edition. 2 vols. 8vo. 1830.

2

Literally translated.

3

Donnerworte.

4

Engelmild.

5

James the First.

6

Travelling Sketches in Russia and Sweden. By Sir Robert Ker Porter, 4to.

7

Vide Mirror, vol. ii. p. 157, for the story of “The Rosewood Trunk.”

8

Vide Mirror, vol. v. p. 93, for the story of “Mary M’Cleod.”

9

Vide Mirror, vol. viii. p. 90, for the story of “The Lady of Edenmere”—by the author of this article.

10

Vide Mirror, vol. xii. p. 267, for the “Ghost Story”—by M.G. Lewis.

11

The “Giant’s Dance“—the British name of Stonehenge.