250° 
SACRED DRAMAS. 
A Jewish peet, named Ezechiel, says 
Grotius, wrote in Greek the first sacred 
dramas. 
PARACHUTES. 
The inventor of parachutes was John 
Baptist Dante, of Perugia, who used to 
preke experiments onthe art of flying by 
the side of lake Thrasimene, and who 
many times succeeded in sailing from a 
rock through the air to a considerable 
distance. After falling many times into 
the water, he attempted, on the marri- 
age of count Bartolomeo Alviani, to 
exhibit his skill over land; and threw 
himself in a feathered garb, and with 
spreading wings, off the pinnacle of tie 
church. But alas! his parachute lost 
its balance; he fell on hard ground, and 
broke his thigh. It was some triumph 
of science not to die on the spot. Pity 
excited interest in his behalf. He was 
invited to Venice as professor cf mathe- 
matics, and died there at forty years of 
age. 
ACOLYTES. 
Were the acolytes in the temple of 
Jerusalem, called by the names ot angels; 
so that,-although the lads who othciated 
were changed, the same name remained 
to him who stood in the game place? 
How else can we account for such 
expressions, as that the Lord. sitteth 
between the cherubim; that Michael 
stands at his rjght hand, Gabriel at his 
left, Uriel before him, and Raphael 
behind him? (See Basnage Hestozre des 
Juifs, c.-ix.) And in the false gospel, 
De Nativitate Maria, the writer of 
which knew, and intended to observe, the 
costume of the place and time, the Vir- 
gin is said to have been educated in the 
temple, and to have known the several - 
angels by their faces. Virgo, que jam 
angelicos bene noverat vultus. 
LEMONS. 
Theophrastus, who studied under 
Plato and Aristotle, says of lemons ~ 
(Hist. Plant. iv. c. 4.) that they were 
“cultivated for their fragrance, not for 
their taste; that the peel was laid up 
with garments to preserve them froin 
moths; and that the juice was adminis- 
tered by physicians to cure a bad breath. 
Virgil in his'second Georgic, (v. 181.) 
describes agreeably the Jlemon-tiec. 
Extracts from the Portfolio of a Man of Letters. [April }, 
‘the Sicilians. 
@ 
liny mentions (lib. xii..c. 3.) the use of 
lemon-juice as an antidote; but says that 
the fruit, from its austere taste, was not 
eaten, y 
Plutarch, who flourished within a 
generation of Pliny, witnessed the mtro- 
duction of lemons at the Roman tables: 
Juba, king of Mauritania, was the first 
who. exhibited them at his dinners. 
(See Casaubon’s Animadversions om the: 
De:pnosophists of Atheneus, p. 103.) 
And Atheneus introduces Democritus, 
(Athen. |. c. p. 63.) as not wondering 
that old people made wry meuths at the \ 
taste of lemons; for, adds he, im my 
grandfather’s time, they were never set 
upon table. And to this day» the 
Chinese, who grow the fruit, do not 
apply it (Prevost, vol. vi. p. 455,) to 
culinary purposes. 
The great use of lemons began with - 
the introduction of sugar, which is said 
to have resulted from the conquest of 
Sicily by the Arabs in the ninth century. 
Sestini, in his letters from Sicily and 
¥urkey, (liv. ii. p.181), thinks, that the 
best.sorts of lemon, and the best sorts of 
sherbet, were derived from Florence by 
Probably Rome conti- 
nued, even in the dark ages, to be the 
chief seat of luxury andrefinement; and 
had domesticated the art of making 
lemonade, before either Messina or 
Florence. 7 
In Madagascar (Flaceurt, p. 42,) 
slices of lemon are broiled, and eaten with 
salt. 
‘Pomet ( Histoire generale des drogues, 
vol, i. p. 266,) gives the preference over 
all others to the lemons of Madeira. 
But, according to Ferrarius, there 
grows. at the Cape a sweet lemon, to 
which he gives the name Incomparabilis. 
EFFICACY OF A PUN. 
A member of parliament having 
brought in a bill that required an amend- 
ment, which was denied him by the | 
house, he frequently repeated “ that he — 
thirsted to mend his bill.” At length — 
another member arose and adressed the 
speaker, bumbly moving “that as the ~ 
honourable member who spoke last — 
thirsted so very much, he might be al-~ 
lowed to mend his draught.” This put — 
the house into good humour, and ‘his 
petition was granted. és 
ORIGINAL 
