QUEER FACTS OF HISTORY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 112, 2 May 1908, Page 4

QUEER FACTS OF HISTORY

U ltU WAS mUITAMA At Lcliiinglun Castle, in Last Lothian, is a I'uii-lciigin porLiaiL, by Lcly, ol l-'iaucc- flicrc-a Meuart, Duchess «l uiiiiija, file most admired buaut.i of the Court of C'h.iile.s 11. ft is staled by liraminoiiL fnat the King caused lln> hid} lo i.e leprc.-.cliicd as tiro cinblemau-i-iil ligure - i»i il.uiiilu on the com ol wie realm. ine portiail represents a tall woman, w'u-li lac vumpuioiis fulness ol tcaUiro ana person wli:eh seems, periuijis lroni t.ie la-te ol the painters, lo cli.ir.u■ten-c I lie beauties ol this leign. She icam up.ni the b.ise ol a pil.ar, anil has an aspect of utmost sweetness. Her luxuriant hair falls upon her face, white sliuu.dcrs, and licr hall-scell bo., oin. She is niagiiiliivnily attired in purple, and a pioliise rol.e of green, lalliii" away iron'i her shoulders, tomes 10111111" In r limlis, and draws the purple garment iie.uer to her ligure. Such i- the reputed origin el 0111' "Hi itanni.i," but a ligure 1101 uiilik • iliai 011 our copper money is to lie ai noli in llie large brass timi- ot iladl i.ia ,nid Aiilouiniis l'ius. \ MM; oU |v> IKS TlilMi.NK To 'I ill-. XOlIYil WI.M). Long had Cu lavus \.i-i sought to muse in.. li-lfmv (oun;r.\ men, the Swedes, against flic infamous Danish i.viant (. iiiiMi.iu, whoa memory will always be linked wilh thai of I lie "Idood-i:-aln" of Stockholm. I'lit the bran: liustavus l.niiul )iis cow.i 1 illy and slow. An outlaw himself, in voice was roused ill the assembly in his favor, lie called upon the people to light, but tliev sat sudeii around him. Suddenly a cold wind rose from the north, and an old countryman cried, "Clod approves of the designs ot Vasa, for a north wiiid is always a happy presage." These simple words acted like magic. The men Hew to anus and prayed Uustavus to lead t-heiu ag-ainst the Danes.

In. a few days lie had collected an army large and brave enough to give battle to the formidable troops of ilu; King ul Denmark. Victory was theirs liom the first, and the capture of .Stockholm, iu loiU placed the crow n of Sweden upon \ asa's head.

w lllim;to.\ s olxluositv ju s A'AL'OLKO.N. |, 1' It is recorded that years after Water- j, 100, when the Iron Duke stood before „ the tomb of his great enemy at Les Jnvalides, lie said: "Napoleon never wa* „ a gentleman." | The great contrast betweeu the ' llO | soldiers was never better cxeniplilicd ] than by a strange little incident which , ociuircd at Waterloo. j The Kniperor had ridden so far to- , wards the British lines as to be within . range of the cauuon. The ollicci's in I. command of the batteries saw Bonaparte j -nrrouiided by his brilliant staff anil ;' trained the guns upon the group. It j i was just at this moment that the Duke I who had seen the limperor's approach i and observed the act of his gunners, ; galloped up to the battery and ordered I the guns to cease tiring. It was an act of generosity charaelcr--1 istic of Wellington, and it is sail lo ! think that had the positions been rcj versed the orders to the gunner-: woithl j have been didcrcnt. i WHAT KM j LAND OWES TO l'El'l'Kß | It is curious to remember that when 1 England's commercial greatness was a making, her most serious rival was : Holland. lJut the enterprising Dutch- | men ruined their chalices by their : greediness. There was a popular little ! couplet which ran: j In ma tiers of commerce, llie fault of the Duk-li Is giving too little and asking too . much. j The wiiol" course of English predominance might have been changed ii the j Dutch had not "asked too much." ! In the closing years of the sixlceiilh J century they had a trade monopoly with tile East Indies, and they "put up' I the price of pepper to such a point that j the English consumer "struck." A meeting of London men-hauls nude 'one December afternoon a decision, the 'importance of which to England eannol { ije exaggerated. It was nothing less J I than Ihe resolution to form a London j East India Company. The petition of I these merchants to good ljueeii lless was I granted in a Royal Charter of lucorpur- ■ I atioii. 1 '['lie company, founded at lirst to es- ' ! lablish direcl trade communication with ' ithc'Easf and lower the price of pepper, r i -oon took to itself larger purpose. ' in,.cts of merchant ships came and went 1 ! l-.'d ween England and India, and from • i the quarrel'about pepper_ tlw corpora--1 lion of merchants was destined, through ' ('live and its "Nabobs." to give England a vast Empire. " WHEN TOI'-Wllll'l'lNG WAS L'OAlj I'ULSOIIY. each .March sees the male youngsters of London, and even the. 1 girls, whipping tops everywhere and all day long. They know as little as doc-s T tlio city mere'littnt. who nearly falls over y the top, that once in England top-whip-ping wa b practically ordered by law. There was a huge top formerly pro- . vided iu every village to be wllipped in frosty weather, that the peasants might, be kept warm by the exercise, and out I, of mischief, while they could not work. 1 .Shakespeare, in "Twelfth Night." says, "Ills brains turn like a parish. „ top." Ben -Unison, in "New Inn, ~ writes, "He spins lik e a parish top," and Beaumont and Fletcher have "dances 4 like a town-top, and reels and hobbles." Evelyn, the diarist, speaking of the use , ot tiie willow-wood, says that it was ordered that "tltf great town-tops . should be made thereof."

HOW A l'Ol'E WAS BRIBED BY A JELLY. When, Thomas Lord Cromwell was a clerk in an English factory at Antwerp, two of his fellow-countrymen from Bos ton, Lincolnshire, asked liini liow tlicy sliould appear before the Pope "to gat the renewal of the greater and lesoer. pankiis" necessary fur the repair 01. Boston harbor. Cromwell arranged to go with them, and. he'aring that Pope ■Julius was fond of dainties, lie obtained .some exquisite jelly, prepared after the. English fashion, and set out for Rome. When admitted to audience, Cromwell offered the Holy Father the delicacy, saying, "King„ and Princes alone cat of this preserve in England." A cardinaltasted and recommended it to the Pope. The latter took some and iviis so enchanted with it that lie instanll.'., granted the pardons on condition that the reedi>e was given to liini. It was perhaps only natural that the young man who began, by thus synitally bribing a Pope with jars of eout'ec-. tionery, should Imve ended by snapping the bonds of rcvcrcnie and obedience, which bound England and the Papal See. WHEN BRITAIN t'nl.CllT FOlt AN EAU. Perhaps the mo-st extraordinary example ot Britain going to war for "110 reason ait- all" occurred ill the reign of. George 11. tine Robert Jenkins, an English inercluniit captain, trailing from Janmici, arriving in England in reported that his sloop had been lxiarded by tlhe-Spani-h coastguards, and that, thoug.'i no proof of smuggling had lieen found, he had been tortured and his car tornoil'. All E11.1411a.1Vl Hew into an uproar. "Jenkins' Ear" divided parties, uud. shook Walpole's Ministry itself. The House of Coninioiis sent lor Jenkins and lie was I old to bring his car willi him. The incident grew into a cri-i-. I hough Walpole did his liesl lo persuade people to keep I heir heads; but the p-> pular iudiguati'ou was so great tha'next year the <loverninent was compelled to declare war against Spain. ■