312 



TABLE-TALK AND VARIETIES. 



Autograph of Shakspere (sic), 

 oil a copy of Montaigne's Essays 

 translated by Florio, printed in 

 1603. Autograph of Milton, on a 

 copy of Aratus, printed at Paris, 

 1559. Autograph of Ben Jonson, 

 on presentation copy of his Valpone 

 to John Florio, 1607. Autograph 

 of Lord Bacon on a copy of the 

 works of Fnlgentius, 1526. Auto- 

 graph of Bentley, 1711. Autograph 

 of Martin Luther, 1542, in the first 

 volume of a copy of the German 

 Bible. The same copy was after- 

 wards in the possession of Melanc- 

 thon, who, in 1557, wrote a long 

 note, still preserved, on the fly- 

 leaf of the second volume. Hand- 

 writings and letters of Edward IV., 

 V., VI. ; Kichard III. (application 

 to the Duke of Glo'ster for the loan 

 of a hundred pounds), Richard II. 

 (document concerning the surrender 

 of Brest), Henry VII., Queen Anne 

 Boleyn, John Knox, Calvin, Eras- 

 mus, Ridley, Cranmer, Latimer, 

 (^ueen Mary, Bonner, Sir Thomas 

 More, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir 

 Isaac Newton, Cardinal Wolsey, 

 Galileo, Hampden, Sidney, Burgh- 

 ley, Tasso, Drake, Hawkins, Oliver 

 Cromwell (the Greek epsilon, be- 

 ing used for the letter e), Queen 

 Elizabeth (specimen of beautiful 

 writing when a Princess), Lady Jane 

 Grey, Addison, Liebnitz, Dryden, 

 Franklin, Charles I., II., James II., 

 Voltaire, George I., II./IIL, Wil- 

 liam III., Queen Anne, Pope, Sully, 

 Marlborough, Gustavus Adolphus, 

 Emperor Charles V., Henry IV. 

 of France, Francis I. of France, 

 Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia, 

 Frederick the Great of Prussia, 

 Napoleon Bonaparte, Catherine de 

 Medici, Mary Queen of Scots (part 

 of her will in her own hand-writ- 

 ing in French), Louis XIV. of 

 France, pen-and-ink sketch of Bat- 

 tle of Aboukir by Nelson, Conde, 

 Turenne, Washington, Wellington, 

 and Sir Walter Scott. 



THE FERULA OF THE ANCIENTS. 



M. Von Heldriech has presented 

 for the Museum at the Royal Gar- 

 dens at Kew, a portion, nearly four 

 feet long, and three inches in dia- 

 meter, of a stem of the Ferula of 

 the ancients (Ferula communis), and 

 of which it is remarked by Tourne- 

 fort that it preserves its old name 

 among the modern Greeks, who 

 call it Nartheca. It bears a stalk 

 five feet high, and three inches 

 thick. At every ten inches there 

 is a knot, and it is branched at each 

 knot. The bark is hard, two lines 

 thick: the hollow of the stem is 

 filled with a white medulla, which, 

 being well dried, takes fire like a 

 match. The fire holds for a long 

 time, slowly consuming the pith, 

 without injuring the bark, and the 

 stem is therefore much used for car- 

 rying fire from place to place. This 

 custom is of the highest antiquity, 

 and may explain a passage in He- 

 siod, where, speaking of the fire that 

 Prometheus stole from heaven, he 

 says that he brought it in a Ferula; 

 the fact being probably, that Pro- 

 metheus invented the steel that 

 strikes fire from flint, and used the 

 pith of a Ferula for a match, teach- 

 ing men how to preserve the fire of 

 these stalks. The stem is strong 

 enough to be leaned upon, but too 

 light to inflict, injury in striking ; 

 and therefore Bacchus, one of the 

 greatest legislators of antiquity, 

 commanded that men who drank 

 wine should carry staves of this 

 plant, with which they might, dur- 

 ing intoxication, smite each other, 

 and yet not break heads. The 

 priests of this deity supported them- 

 selves on sticks of Ferula when 

 walking. The plant is now chiefly 

 employed for making low stools ; but 

 very different were the uses to 

 which the ancients applied the Fe- 

 rula. Pliny and Strabo relate that 

 Alexander kept Homer's work in- 



