The Queer, the Quaint and the Quizzical Part 10

A fine of 1_d._ for any bed unmade, fire unlit, or candle-box uncleaned, after eight.

A fine of 4_d._ for a man detected teaching the children obscene words.

A fine of 1_d._ for any man waiting without a trencher, or who is absent at a meal.

For any one breaking any of the butler's gla.s.s, 12_d._

A fine of 2_d._ for any one who has not laid the table for dinner by half-past ten, or the supper by six.

A fine of 4_d._ for any one absent without leave.

For any man striking another, a fine of 1_d._

For any follower visiting the cook, 1_d._

A fine of 1_d._ for any man appearing in a foul shirt, untied shoes, or torn doublet.

A fine of 1_d._ for any stranger's room left for four hours after he has dressed.

A fine of 1_d._ if the hall be not cleansed by eight in winter and seven in summer.

The porter to be fined 1_d._ if the court-gate be not shut during meals.

A fine of 3_d._ if the stairs be not cleaned every Friday after dinner.

All these fines were deducted by the steward at the quarterly payment of wages.

_Hindoo Oaths._

The Hindoos regard the Ganges as a sacred river. It is a common practice in British Courts to "swear" Hindoo witnesses upon the waters of the Ganges, just as Christians are sworn upon the Bible.

_Sat.u.r.day a Fatal Day to the Royal Family of England._

Sat.u.r.day has been a fatal day to the royal family of England during the last hundred and sixty years, as is shown by the following list:-

William III. died Sat.u.r.day, March 18th, 1702.

Queen Anne died Sat.u.r.day, August 1st, 1714.

George I. died Sat.u.r.day, June 10th, 1727.

George II. died Sat.u.r.day, October 25th, 1760.

George III. died Sat.u.r.day, January 29th, 1820.

George IV. died Sat.u.r.day, June 26th, 1830.

d.u.c.h.ess of Kent died Sat.u.r.day, March 16th, 1861.

Prince Albert died Sat.u.r.day, December 14th, 1861.

Princess Alice died Sat.u.r.day, December 14th, 1878.

_Edicts Against Fiddlers._

An idea may be formed of the strictness with which all popular amus.e.m.e.nts were prohibited when the Puritans had the ascendency, from the fact that in 1656-7 Oliver Cromwell prohibited all persons called fiddlers or minstrels from playing, fiddling or making music in any inn, ale-house or tavern, etc. If they proffered themselves, or offered to make music, they were adjudged to be rogues and vagabonds, and were to be proceeded against as such.

_John O'Gaunt's Will._

Perhaps the shortest deed of land by a will in the world is the following:-

"I, John of Gaunt, Do give and do grant To John of Burgoyne And the heirs of his loin, Both Sutton and Potton Until the world's rotten."

It is by this tenure, it is said, that the estates of Sutton and Potton, in the county of Bedford, England, are now held by the house of Burgoyne.

_Eccentric Will._

Mr. Tuke, of Wath, near Rotherham, England, who died in 1810, bequeathed one penny to every child that attended his funeral (there came from six to seven hundred); 1_s._ to every poor woman in Wath; 10_s._ 6_d._ to the ringers to ring one peal of grand bobs, which was to strike off while they were putting him into the grave. To his natural daughter, 4 4_s._ per annum. To his old and faithful servant, Joseph Pitt, 21 per annum. To an old woman who had for eleven years tucked him up in bed, 1 1_s._ only. Forty dozen penny loaves to be thrown from the church leads at twelve o'clock on Christmas day forever. Two handsome bra.s.s chandeliers for the church, and 20 for a set of new chimes.

_Curious Custom at Strasbourg._

At Strasbourg they exhibit a large French horn, the history of which is as follows:-

About four hundred years ago the Jews formed a conspiracy to betray the city, and with this identical horn they intended to give the enemy notice when to attack. The plot, however, was discovered; many of the Jews were burnt alive; the rest were plundered of their money and effects, and banished the town. This horn is sounded twice every night from the battlements of the steeple in grat.i.tude for the deliverance.

The Jews deny the facts of this story, excepting the murdering and pillaging of their countrymen. They say the whole story is fabricated to furnish a pretext for the robberies and murders, and a.s.sert that the steeple of Strasbourg, as has been said of the monument of London,

"Like a tall bully lifts the head and lies."

_Tooth-Picks._

In the fourteenth century it was the fashion to carry tooth-picks of silver suspended round the neck by a chain.

_Phantom Menageries._

"The Magick of Kirami, King of Persia, and of Harpocration," printed in the year 1685, contains the following:-

"The hyena is a four-footed animal, savage and ambiguous; for this creature is born female, and, after a year, turns male, and then, for the next year, turns female again, and brings forth and gives suck; and the gall of this animal, being sweet, has efficacy for a miracle; and a great miracle is made of it; and this is the composition: Take the eyes of the fish glaucus, and the right eye of the said hyena, and all that is liquid of the said hyena; dissolve all together, and pot it up in a gla.s.s vessel, covering it well. If, therefore, you will show a great miracle, when you have set a light, mix the fat of any creeping thing, or four-footed beast you please, with a little of the foresaid composition; if you anoint the wick of the lamp or candle, they will think it is the beast of which it is the fat, whether of a lion, bull, serpent, or any other creature. If you put a little of the confection upon burning coals, in the middle of the house, the beast will appear whose fat you mixed with it. And you may do the same with birds. And if you mix a little sea-water with the composition, and sprinkle among the guests, they will all fly, thinking that the sea is in the midst of them."

_Curious Law._