152 
by the adulteration of the foreign, as we 
learn from an act of parliament, the Englith 
were then defrauded annually to the amount 
of 20,000 pounds fterling. 
In Sweden, too, the ufe of hops was 
not known before the time of Guflavus 
the Firft. 
Inftead of hops, the antient Cimbri ufed 
the tamarifk, tamarix Germanica; and 
the ancient Swedes, the myrica gale; for 
which reafon there is in the ancient 
Swedifh laws a prohibition to gather that 
fpecies of tamarifk on another man’s 
ground. ‘This plant muft not be con- 
tounded with the /edum palufire, which 
fometimes is called by the fame name; 
and with which, and likewife with 
the Daphue mexereum, veratrum al- 
bum, and menifpernum eocculus, an in- 
toxicating quality and ftrong tafte, is by 
fraudulent brewers communicated to weak 
beer;—a practice worthy of execration ; 
and’ here, and in many other countries, 
forbidden under fevere punifhment. 
= 
THE GUILLOTINE. 
WueEn the celebrated: aftronomer La- 
lande was at Gotha, to attend the aftro- 
nomical congrefs held there in the year 
179%, the Duke of Saxe-Gotha (as it is 
relatedin the Fournal de Paris) fhewed him 
a German book intituled, ‘* Kixchen Ka- 
lender von [Church Calendar by] Ka/par 
Goldwurm, Frankfurt 1570, in which 
there is a reprefentation of a falling-axe 
for executing criminals; from which it 
would follow, that the Guillotize could not 
properly be called a French invention. 
Bat (J. F. Roru informs us in the 
Allgem. Litterar. Anzeig.) there exifts a 
ftill more ancient reprefentation of the 
Guillotine in another German book, viz. 
Biblia Veteris Teftamenti et Hifferie, crti- 
ficiofis picturis effigiata, (Bib. Hifi. Kunft. 
furgem.\ Pranc. apud Chr. Egenolphum.— 
On the back of the title.page fiands: 
Ordo lbrorum Teftamenti Veteris et Novi. 
The fecond leaf contains the dedication in 
Latin verfes, with the fuperf{cription : 
Wuftrifimo Principt Pomerania, Sc. D. 
oan Frederico.—Petrus Artopaeus §.D.. 
e— The theets are diftinguifhed by the let- 
ters A.— L.—-Over each of the figures is 
an explication of it in Latin, and under 
it in German, and the correfponding paf- 
fage in the bible referred to. At the end 
is the number of the year: M. D.LI.~ 
The fecond part has the following title: 
Novi Teftamenti Fefu Chrifti Hifforia eff- 
giata. Vana cum alits quibufdam iconibus. 
w-[Das new Teft. und Hifl: fiirgem.\— 
frauc. ap. Chr. Ez. Sheets marked with 
From the Port-Fulia of a Man of Letters. © 
[March 1, 
A—B b. printed in M. D. LI.—The third 
parthas likewife a peculiar title, Senforum 
et Martyrum Chrifti Icones quedam arti- 
ficiofifime, (Der Hei!. und Mariir. Gottes, 
&c.| Franc. ap. Chr. Eg.—On the re- 
verfe of the title page, an index to the $5 
reprefentations.—T he fheets marked with 
A—F. Over each of theie piétures, the 
fubje&t of it is indicated in Latin. The 
44th, for example, has the fuperfcription 
Exaudi, the 45th Terribilis, the 55th Dizi 
Tutelares, the 72d Patientia, the 734 Ten- 
tatio, the 74th Exequiae, the 81% Purga- 
torium, and the 85th and laft, even Infer- 
nus. At the end is again the year, 
M.D.LI. The copy which M. Rota 
examined is in $vo.; and the wooden cuts 
are beautifully dluminated. 
The Guillotine is in the third part, on 
the laft page of the fheet A. The fuper- 
{cription is: XIIIJ. [An error of the - 
prefs, inflead of XVI.] Maittheus de- 
collatur.—St. Matthew kneels ; his head, 
with the hair rugged and ereét, and a 
bufhy beard, lies upon a block between 
two thick boards; over his head hangs the 
rourderous axe; the executioner, dreffed in 
a ved doublet, and red trow/ers reaching 
down to the ancles, holds the rope with both 
hands, and is on the point of Jetting down 
the axe to fevere St. Matthew’s head from 
the body. Behind this Guillotine, and 
round about it, are a number of /foldiers 
who feaft their eyes with the bloody {pec- 
tacle. At fome diftance a czbJet is like- 
wife introduced. Tt is likewife worthy 
of remark, that the greateft number of 
the caps, which are fkaped after the Ori- 
ental tafhion, have been coloured red by 
the iluminer. In fine, one egg cannot be 
liker to the other, than this Cerman Guil- 
lot:xe is to the French, at leaft according to 
the pictures M. F. had fcen of the latter. 
To the above particulars may be added, 
that ina fhort Biography of the Apoftlos, 
which is prefixed to a copy of Lufts edi- 
tion of Luther's Tranflaiion’ of the Bible, 
printed in 1534, formerly belonging te 
Gotze’s collection of Bibles, and now in 
the city-brary of Hamburg, there is an 
accurate delineation of the Guillotine, called 
in that book a Roman falling-axe, with 
which St. Matthew had been decollated.— 
Of a latter date, but more generally . 
known, is the reprefentation of this fall- 
ing-axe in De Cat’s Dutch poem: Doodt- 
kifte woor de Levendige; Amfterdam 1658, 
fol. p. 39. Ina carving in wood, over a 
very ancient door of the fenate-houlé ef 
TLuneburg, we find a fimilar murderous 
machine ; probably reprefenting the mar- 
tyrdom of St, Matthew. 
QUACKERY 
