THE Hiftorical Magazine; OR, CLASSICAL LIBRARY OF REMARILY OF TEXAS EVENTS, MEMOIRS, AND ANECDOTES. NUMBER XV. 36035 FRAGMENTS. T SINGULAR PUNISHMENTS. [Tranflated by the Editor.] HE known influence of ridicule over the minds of men has frequently urged legiflators to the adoption of punishments, which, to fuperficial obfervers, appear prepofterous and abfurd. was to walk three times round the The count de Buat, in his An- An Algerine, caught in the act tiquities of France, fays that the of thieving, has his right hand imancient inhabitants of that countrymediately cat off and tied round his condemned all who had been de- neck, after which he is placed on an graded, by undergoing a public pe- afs with his face to the tail, and led hance, to wander naked about the round the town. country, armed only with a fword. Among the Dacii, too, a man convicted of perjury, was ftripped and compelled to pafs the remainder of his days like a wild beaft; "Since he has forfeited the character of a man," faid they, "he ought no longer to wear cloaths." The ancient Poles fentenced a calumniator to walk on all-fours, and to bark, for a quarter of an hour, like a dog. Among the Franks, the punifh ment for ftealing a fporting-dog, A patern monarch having put one of his judges to death, for prevarication, caufed his fkin to be ftuffed with horfe-hair, and converted into a cufhion; and his fon, who fucceeded him in his office, was.compelled to fit on it whenever .he administered juftice. Boemus, in his Mores Gentium, remarks that in thofe Mahometan countries where the cuftoms and ceremonies prescribed by the Alcoran are gidly obferved, a criminal has a plank, embellished with fox's A 2 tails, tails, hung round his neck, and after parading the streets for fome time, is then difmiffed on paying a fine. The punishment of tarring and feathering, practifed by the rebels in America, is by no means a modern invention, as appears from the following law, made by, the English and French monarchs in the year 1189, immediately previous to their embarkation for Paleftine: "If any one ba convicted of theft, his trait: hall.be.cutoff; boiling pitch shaft be poured on his head, which fhall afterwards be covered with feathers; and in that condition he fhall be expofed at the first landing-place." ANECDOTES. [Tranfmitted by T. C. of Faversham,] I. ift monarch's eye. While fome ran to affitt Zigand, others, enraged at the flave, were going to cut him to pieces; but the generous cham bade them forbear. "We ought to judge of actions like thefe," faid he, "not by their effects, but by the intention of those who commit them. This man, by an unhappy accident, has deprived me of an eye; but he did it without malice, and his death. would not restore me to fight." III. WITH refpect to courage, the author of L'Apologie de beau Sexe, relates a ftory, which, if true, has feldom been equalled by man. A fervant girl of Lifle, remarkable for her fearless difpofition, laid a wager, that he would go into the charnelhoufe, at midnight, without a light, and bring from thence a dead man's fkull. Accordingly at the time ap pointed, fhe went; but the perfon with whom he had made the bet, intending to terrify her, had gone before, and hid himself in the place, When he heard her defcend and take up the fkull, he called out, in a hollow, difmal voice, "/ Leave me my head!" The girl, inftead of dif covering any fymptoms of horror or fright, very coolly laid it down, and faid, "Well, there it is, then!" and took up another; upon which the voice again repeated, "Leave me my head!" But the heroic girl, obferving it was the fame voice that had called before, anfwered, in her country dialect, "Nea, nea, friend, yo' connot ha' two yeads!" HUSSEIN, the fon of Ali, the fixth caliph of the Mufful men, was one day fcalded by a flave, who let a plate of hot foup fall as he was lifting it over his head. Huffein looked at the flave with a fixed and fteady eye, but without paffion; when the latter immediately fell at his master's feet, and repeated from the Alcoran, "Paradife prepared for thofe who preferve their temper, and fubdue their anger"-"I harbour no refentment," replied Huffein; "and who pardon thofe that have offended thein," repeated the flave. "Well, 1 pardon thec," faid Huffein. "But thofe are efpecially beloved of the Lord who are charitable, and do good," continued the flave, finish. ing the verfe he began with quoting. I give thee thy freedom," anfwered Huffein," and with it four hundred drachms of filver," II. In the year 1715, as Zigand, the great cham of the Calmucs, was hunting, it happened that a flave aukwardly fhot an arrow into the IV. A WEALTHY perfon afked the philofopher Sadi, in derifion, how it happened, that men of wit were fo frequently feen at the doors of the rich, and that the rich were never feen at the doors of men of wit." It is," replied Sadi, "be"It caufe men of wit know the value of riches; but rich men do not know the value of wit," IN INSTANCE OF GREAT BODILY STRENGTH. WHILE Louis XIV. was in Flanders, his coach, in croffing a very bad part of the road, funk fo deep in the mud, that all the horfes and oxen that could be with the devil, he immediately be Barfabas had a fifter equally ftrong yoked to it were not able to extricate it, as the nave of one of the wheels was entirely hid. One of the king's guards, named Barfabas, impatient at being an idle fpectator of this fcene, immediately difmounted from his horfe, lifted up the wheel, and giving a fignal to the coachman: to whip his horfes, foon difengaged the carriage. For this piece of fervice, Louis XIV. gave him a penfion, and he foon became major of Valen ciennes. After he had rifen to this rank, a Gafcon, who quarrelled with him, offered to fight him. "I agree!" faid Barfabas, holding out his hand; crowns, and breaking them all into "touch that." Upon which the two or three pieces, told him, that Gafcon stretched out his, but the his crowns were no better than her major fqueezed it fo hard, that he ropes, and defired him to give her broke fome of his fingers, and ren- fome others! The major, furprised, dered him entirely incapable of fight-defired to know her name, and hav ing. Another Gafcon, on a like ocing learned to what family the becafion, took advantage of this exam-longed, foon difcovered that the his fifter. ple; and, inftead of complying, when Barfabas defired him to hold out his hand, ran him through the body with his fword, faying, Thus I defend my felf against the treachery of a man like you!" The wound, however, did not prove mortal. a The major, one day, in a certain village, went to a farrier's fhop; and, having afked for fome horfefhoes, broke all thofe that were prefented to him, telling the blacksmith they were too brittle. The farrier then wished to make others; but Barfabas took up his anvil, and concealed it under his cloak, fo that, when the farrier had heated his iron, he was much furprifed not to find bis anvil, and his aftonifhment was greatly increased, when he perceived it under the major's cloak. Imagining, therefore, that he had to deal His fifter then took the was The dauphin, fon of Louis XIV. being defirous to fee fome proofs of this man's prodigious ftrength, he put himfelf below his hotfe, raifed him carried him up, ders upon his fhoulmore than fifty paces; and, afterwards flooping, placed him on the ground, with as much eafe as if he had weighed only twenty pounds. ANECDOTE OF THE PRINCE OF ORANGE, AR TERWARDS KING WILLIAM WHEN the duke of Monmouth made his expedition to England, he was countenanced in it by the prince of Orange, as he pretended that his defign of going was to bring about a republic in that kingdom. But when the prince of Orange understood that he aimed at the the crown, he was greatly alarmed, and fent an exprefs to his father-inlaw, king James, to acquaint him what number of forces he and Argyle had, and where they intended to land; and offered to come in perfon himself to head the army againft him. This intelligence put a fpeedy end to the rebellion, which might not have been fo foon quafhed, if the prince of Orange: had not perceived that he catched at the crown, which he longed fo much for himself. King James.is.blamed for cutting the duke of Mennjouth off: fo hality, and denying to hear what he had to fay to him before his death: but this was owing to the advice of the earl of Sunderland, and others of the king's council, who deceived the king in this matter, as they well knew that he would make difcoveries, which would defeat the revolution, which they were then meditating to effect, by putting the king upon meafures to alienate the affections of his people from him. When the prince of Orange was told by fome, who were ignorant of the grand fe cret between them, that the earl of Sunderland had turned Roman catholic, he, without furprise, merrily replied, "Let him turn any thing, rather than turn out." RECENT ANECDOTE OF HIS PRESENT MAJESTY. AT the late unhappy period of the king's illnefs, when every word was weighed, when every look was fcanned, feveral of the attendants at Windfor were more than once thrown into aftonifhment at the remarks of their illuftrious fufferer. One afternoon colonel G was defired to play a game at draughts with the fovereign, by way of paffing away the time. His majefty, as at other intervals, un commonly lucid, kept his adverfary's WHIMSICAL EFFECTS OF THE PASSION OF FEAR. THE paffion of fear fometimes fhews itfelf upon the flightest occafion, and in perfons the moft unlikely to entertain fuch a guest. A French author relates a whimsical inftance of this kind. Charles Guftavus (the fucceffor of Chriftina of Sweden) was befieging Prague, when a boor of most extraordinary vifage defired admittance to his tent, and, being allowed entrance, offered, by way of amufing the king, to deyour a whole hog, weighing two hundred weight, in his prefence, The old general Konigfmarc, who stood by the king's fide, and who, foldier as he was, had not got rid of the prejudices of his childhood, hinted to his royal master, that the peafant ought to be burnt as a forcerer. "Sir," faid the fellow, ir ritated at the remark, majefty will but make that old gen tleman take off his fword and his fpurs, I will eat him before your face, before I begin the pig!" Ger neral Koningfmarc (who had, at the head of a body of Swedes, performed wonders against the Auftrians, and who was looked upon as one of the braveft men of the age) could not ftand this propofal, efpecially as it was accompanied by a moft hideous and preternatural expanfion of the frightful peafant's jaws. Without uttering a word, the veteran fuddenly turned round, ran out of the court, and thought himself not fafe until he had ar rived at his quarters, where he remained "if your taire vowed that the verfes were his own, and that he had but that moThat may ment finished them. be, "faid the king; "but I have juft feen an Englishman who has already fhewn them to me as his." Having made this remark, Frederick, he faid, "Be fo good as to let me fent for the Englishman, to whom hear the verfes you fhewed me this morning." The Englishman repeated them without omitting a fin vil!" exclaimed Voltaire in a rage. gle fyllable. "He must be the deThe king, after amuling himself for fome time with his fury, owned to him the trick, and finifhed by making the Englishman a prefent for the pleafure which he had afforded him. Before Voltaire avowed himself It has been remarked, that Frederick knew men well, and was an excellent judge of their merit; many instances, however, might be given in which he was deceived. the author of the Maid of Orleans Before general Laudohn entered into Frederick pretended that it was in the fervice of the emperor, he of fered himself to Frederick, and afked to ferve in his troops. "That man's phyfiognomy does not pleafe me, faid the king on feeing him; and he declined his offers, of which he had much reafon to repent. Whilft Voltaire was at Potzdam, an Englishman arrived, who told the king, that he could retain word for word a tolerably long difcourfe, after hearing it once read. Frederick put him to the teft, and the Englishman fucceeded. At this moment Voltaire is announced, who came to read a little copy of verfes, which he had juft finished, to the king. To amufe himself, Frederick hid the Englishman in an adjoining cabinet, recommending to him to get by heart what the poet was about to read. Voltaire enters, and recites his verfes. The king liftens to them coldly, and obferves, Up jurious to the firft wit in France to attribute to him fo infamous a rhapfody; but no fooner did Voltaire adopt it, than the king made Algarotti read it to him, and faid, "This is not the poem I have feen; this is charming! No perfon but Voltaire is capable of fuch a work." It was, however, the very fame; but fuch is the influence of names! In his youth, Frederick was not infenfible to the pleafures of love, but he liked to fly from beauty to beauty, and never attached himfelf to any particular female. He faid to fome perfon who was fpeaking to him of this ficklenefs, It is the women's fault, not mine. I have fought for one to fix me, who has more virtue than prudence. All those I have known, have coquetted with me for fix months for a loveletter, and in three days capitulated for all the reft. I fhall not change |