1S21.] 



Cornucopia. 



147 



was knighted, was Sir Walter Harvey, 

 in 1273; but since the reign of Richard 

 the second, 24 of 25 liave received tliat 

 royal civic distinction. William Wal- 

 worth, wlio killed Tyler, served in 

 1375 and 1381. And Sir Richard 

 Whittington, with whom the popular 

 legend is counoc(ed,wassherilf in 13Si), 

 and lord mayor in 1398, 1407, mid 

 1420. No less than 32 lord mayors 

 were ancestors of the present nobility, 

 and first of the several families. 



CORRUPTION OP NAMES. 



Charing Cross was so called in re- 

 ference fo the fond epithets bestowed 

 on the beloved queen of Edward I. so 

 that in lieu of Charing, we ought fo 

 read Chere Reijne, and of course the 

 cross gave the name to the spot. 



Blanch Apple Court in the city, has 

 long been called Blind Chapel Court ; 

 and a district near St. Catherine's, first 

 called Hammes and Guisiies, has long 

 borne the curious appellation of Hang- 

 man's Gains. 



ROYAL SENSIBILITY. 



Louis III. of France, took out his 

 watch when he guessed that the axe 

 was on the neck of his favourite Cinq 

 Mars, and said, ' My dear friend must 

 now make a sad figure.' 



OMENS AND FOitEWARNINGS. 



Causes of events can alone be fore- 

 warnings; if a man lift a stick to strike 

 me, it is ominous that I am in danger 

 of receiving a blow'; but no previous 

 circumstance not connected with tlie 

 cause, or not being a sufficient cause 

 can be ominous of any particular event. 

 Superstition connects incidents whicli 

 have no connection with the cause of 

 an event as a forewarning; but philo- 

 sophy and reason admit no forewarning 

 except it be an operative cause sufficient 

 to produce the result anticipated. Post 

 this truth over the fire-place of every 

 house, and it will soon cease to be 

 haunted by ominous signs, and super- 

 stitious and irrelevant forewarnings. 



PHYSICIANS IN SPAIN. 



In the present day the fee of a phy- 

 sician is, twopence from the tradesman, 

 tenpence from tlie man of fashion, and 

 nothing from the poor. Some noble 

 families agree with the physician by 

 the year, paying bini annually four- 

 score reals, tiiat is, sixteen shillings for 

 his attendance on them and their fami- 

 lies. 



BEQUEST OP A CRIMINAL. 



In the conf(^ssion of Edward 

 Clarke, of IJures Saint Mary's, exe- 

 cuted in Chelmsford, was the following 



curious article: "I, Edward Clarke, 

 now in a few hours expecting to die, Jo 

 sincerely wish, as my last request, that 

 three of my fingers be taken from my 

 hands, to be given to my three children 

 as a warning to them, as my fingers 

 were the cause of bringing myself to 

 the gallows, and my children to po- 

 verty; and I also request that Mr. E. 

 E. Collis and Mr. C. Brown, two bro- 

 ther prisoners, will be so kind as to see 

 it done, they knowing which fingers 

 they are, by their marking them, at my 

 request, with ink." This request was 

 complied with by tlie surgeon. 



ROYAL UTILITY. 



Charles of Spain attached so much 

 importance to his exploits as a sports- 

 man, that he kept in a diary a regular 

 account of the victims to his skill. A 

 short time bcfo'e his death he boasted 

 to a foreiiin ambassailor, that he had 

 killed with his own liand, 539 wolves 

 and 532.5 foxes, ' so that you see,' said 

 he, with a smile. ' my diversion has 

 not been useless to my country.' 



STONE-EATER. 



In 1760, was brought to Avignon, a 

 true lithophasjus, or stone eater. He 

 not only swallowed flints of an inch 

 and a half lontj, a full inch broad, and 

 half an incli thick ; but such stones as 

 he could reduce to powder, such as 

 marble, pebbles, &c.he made into paste, 

 which was to him a most agreeable and 

 wholesome food. 1 examined this man, 

 with all the attention I possibly could, 

 I found his gullet very large, his teeth 

 «xceedingl3' strong, his saliva very cor- 

 rosive, and his stomach lower tlian or- 

 dinary, wliich I imputed to the vast 

 number of flints he had swallowed, 

 being abor.t five and twenty, one day 

 with another. Upon interrogating his 

 keeper, he told me the following pai-- 

 ticulars: " This stone-eater," says he, 

 " was found three years ago in a nor- 

 thern luiinhabited island, by some of 

 the crew of a Dutch ship. Since I 

 have had him, I make him eat raw flesh 

 with his stones ; I could never get him 

 to swallow bread. He will drink 

 water, wine and brandy: which last 

 liquor gives him infinite pleasure. He 

 sleeps at least twelve hours in a day, 

 sitting on the ground with one knee 

 over tlie other, and his cliin resting on 

 his right knee. He smokes almost all 

 the time he is not ashjep, or is not eat- 

 ing. The flints he has swallowed he 

 voids somewhat corroded and dimi- 

 nished in weight, the rest of his excre- 

 ments resembles mortar. 



