compofed, were infufficient to guard ways been filed during the life of above forty perfons with their horfes, to the house where the Mafter of Lovat refolved to hold them in durance. He therefore difpatched one of his company to mufter the infantry of the province, which is conitantly well armed and equipped, and animated with the most incredible zeal in the fervice of their chief.They affembled in crowds; and Lord Lovat himself foon arrived, together with almost every perfon who lived for fome miles round: fo that in lefs than fix hours Lord Lovat and his fon mustered between fix and feven hundred brave Frafers, completely armed, under the walls of Fanellan, which was the feat to which the Mafter caufed the two Lords and all their attendants to be conducted. Upon their arrival the Mafter of Lovat entreated his father to retire to one of his other eftates, at a confiderable distance from Fanellan, as well to avoid the fatigue incident to fo active a fcene, Lord Lovat being then fixty-eight years of age, as because the Mafter was unwilling that the capture of thefe noblemen fhould be imputed to his father, or that he fhould be involved in any of the difagreeable confequences that might follow fo fpirited an action. As two of the perfons moft actively concerned in the project of Lord Salton, were still with the Dowager Lady Lovat at the feat of Beaufort, the Mafter now difpatched a gentle man of his clan, with thirty of his followers, to bring them prifoners to Fanellan; at the fame time directing him to place a guard upon all the avenues of Beaufort house, to prevent the Dowager from fending to her father, in oppofition to Lord Lovat and his fon. Beaufort houfe was in reality the property of Lord Lovat, not only as a part of the Lovat eftate, but as being his appanage as younger fon of Hugh Lord Lovat his father. Accordingly he had al his nephew, The Laird of Beaufort, and had lived in the houfe till he became a widower, having afterwards bestowed it out of pure bounty upon his nephew, on account of the ruinous condition of the caftle of Lovat. Whether, however, the perfons that the Mafter bad fent to apprehend the confpirators, committed any infults upon the domeftics of the house, or upon their prisoners, the Dowager Lady Lovat exclaimed warmly that fhe was infulted and made a prifoner, as fhe faid, in her own houfe. Accordingly the made her complaint to the Marquis of Athol, her father, and ́ to her brother the Earl of Tullibardin, at that time one of the fecretaries of ftate for Scotland. During the whole tranfaction the Mafter of Lovat had remained at a distance from the Dowager, at the house where his prifoners were confined: and those persons who were fent to Beaufort, were guilty of no fort of disrespect to her perfon. In the mean time, out of this natural and temperate procedure, unaccompanied with either attempt or defign against the person of the Dowager, Lord Athol and his fon created that chimerical monster of a rape and violation, with which they blackened the character of the Mafter and his friends. It was impoffible indeed to do other than praise the action, by which he made himself master of the perfons of the lords, who had come with a defign of expelling him from his inheritance. Meanwhile the whole country knew, that the Mafter of Lovat, at the age of about twenty years, well educated, at the head of an ancient house, and of a brave and respectable clan, might have aspired to any match in the kingdom. Indeed, he ranked among his ancestors on the female fide three daughters of the royal houfe of Stuart, together with the daughters of the most ancient peers and first nobility of Scotland. He had had no reason, therefore, to commit the smallest violence upon a widow, who was old enough to be his mo`ther, dwarfish in her perfon, and deformed in her shape, and with no other fortune than a jointure of two hundred and fifty pounds a year, which itself was dependant upon his good pleasure as Mafter of Lovat. Add to this, that the whole north of Scotland was conscious that this pretended rape was a mere calumny, a ridiculous chimæra, invented by the Marquis of Athol for the ruin of the Mafter of Lovat. It is alfo notori. ous that the Dowager herself, fince IN the profecution was commenced a- ANECDOTES OF VARIOUS JUGGLERS, &c. 'N modern times, perfons who could walk over burning coals or redhot iron, or who could hold them in their hands and their teeth, have of ten excited wonder. In the end of the last century, an Englishman, named Richardson, who, as we are affured, could chew burning coals; pour melted lead upon his tongue; fwallow melted glass, &c. rendered himfelf very famous by these extraordinary feats. Laying afide the deception practifed on the fpectators, the whole of this fecret confifts in ren dering the fkin of the foles of the feet and hands fo callous and infenfible, that the nerves under them are fecured from all hurt, in the fame manner as by shoes and gloves. Such callofity will be produced if the fkin is continually compreffed, finged, pricked, or injured in any other manner. Thus do the fingers of the induf trious fempftrefs become horny by being frequently pricked; and the cafe is the fame with the hands of fire-workers, and the feet of thofe who walk bare-footed over fcorching fand. In the month of September, 1765, when I visited the copper-works at Aweftad, one of the workmen, for a little drink money, took fome of the melted copper in his hand, and after fhewing it to us, threw it against a wall. He then fqueezed the fingers of his horny hand clofe to each other; put it a few minutes under his armpit, to make it sweat, as he faid; and, taking it again out, drew it over a ladle filled with melted copper, fome of which he fkimmed off, and moved his hand backwards and forwards, very quickly, by way of oftentation. While I was viewing this performance, I remarked a smell like that of finged horn or leather, though his hand was not burnt. The workmen at the Swedish melting houfes fhewed the fame thing to fome travellers in the laft century; for Regnard faw it in 1681, at the copperworks in Lapland. It is highly probable that people who hold in their hands red-hot iron, or who walk upon it, as I faw done at Amfterdam, but at a distance, make their skin callous before, in the like manner. This may be accomplished by frequent moiftening it with fpirit of vitriol; according to fome, the juice. of certain plants will produce the fame fame effect; and we are affured by others, that the skin must be frequently rubbed, for a long time, with oil, by which means, indeed, leather alfo will become horny. ter. They covered their hands both before and after the proof; fealed and unfealed the covering; the former, as they pretended, to prevent the hands from being prepared any how by art; and the latter to fee if they were burnt. Of this art traces may be found alfo in the works of the ancients. A festival was held annually on Mount Some artificial preparation was Soracte, in Etruria, at which the therefore known, else no precautions Hirpi, who lived not far from Rome, would have been neceffary. It is jumped through burning coals; and highly probable that, during the three on this account, they were indulged first days, the preventative was applied with peculiar privileges by the Ro- to those perfons whom they wished man fenate. Women alío, we are to appear innocent; and that the told, were accustomed to walk over three days after the trial were requiburning coals at Castabala, in Cappa- fite to let the hands refume their nadocia, near the temple dedicated to tural ftate. The facred fealing fecurDiana. Servius remarks, from a ed them from the examination of work of Varro, now loft, that the prefumptuous unbelievers; for to Hirpi trufted not fo much to their determine whether the hands were own fanctity, as to the care which burnt,the three last days were certainthey had taken to prepare their feet ly not wanted. When the ordeal was for that operation. abolished, and this art rendered uselefs, the clergy no longer kept it a fecret. In the thirteenth century an account of it was published by Al. bertus Magnus, a Dominican monk. If his receipt be genuine, it feems to have confifted rather in covering the hands with a kind of pafte than in hardening them. The fap of the althea (marshmallow,) the flimy feeds of the flea-bane, which is still used for ftiffening by the hat-makers and filk weavers, together with the white of an egg, were employed to make the paste adhere, and by these means the hands were as fafe as if they had been fecured by gloves. The ufe of this juggling trick is very old, and may be traced back to a pagan origin. In the Antigone of Sophocles, the guards placed over the body of Polynices, which had been buried contrary to the orders of Creon, offered, in order to prove their innocence, to fubmit to any trial: We will,' faid they, take up red-hot iron in our hands, or walk through fire.' I am not acquainted with every thing that concerns the trial by ordeal, when perfons accufed were o bliged to prove their innocence by holding in their hands red-hot iron; but I am almost convinced that this alfo was a juggling trick of the popes, which they employed as might beft fuit their views. It is well known that this mode of exculpation was allowed only to weak perfons, who were unfit to wield arms, and particularly to monks and ecclefiaftics, to whom, for the fake of their fecurity, that by fingle combat was forbidden. -The trial itself took place in the church, entirely under the infpection of the clergy; mafs was celebrated at the fame time; the defendant and the iron were confecrated by being fprinkled with holy water; the cler. gy made the iron hot themfelves; and they used all thefe preparatives, as jugglers do many motions, only to divert the attention of the fpectators. It was neceflary that the accufed perfons fhould remain at least three days. and three nights under their immediate care, and continue as long af 6 The exibition of balls and cups, which is often mentioned in the works of the ancients, as the common art of of jugglers, is alfo of great antiquity, It confifts in conveying fpeedily, and with great dexterity, while the performer endeavours by various motions and cant phrafes, to divert the attention of the fimple spectators from obferving his movements too narrowly, feveral light balls, according to the pleasure of any perfon in company, under one or more cups; removing them fometimes from the whole, and conveying them again back in an imperceptible manner. In general, three leaden cups are used, and as many balls of cork; and to prevent all difcovery by their flipping from the thumbs of the juggler, or making a noife, as he must lay hold of them with much quickness, the table before which he fits is covered with a cloth. These small balls were by the ancients called calculi; and the cups acetabula, or paropfiles. Cafaubon has already quoted most of thofe paffages in ancient authors which relate to this fubject; and they have been repeated by Bulenger; but neither of these writers makes mention of the fulleft and cleareft defcription given in the letters of Alciphron. We have there an account of a countryman who came to town, and was conducted by a mer chant to the theatre, where he faw, with great aftonishment, the exhibition of cups and balls. "Such an animal, fays he, as the performer I would not with to have near me in the country; for, in his hands, my property would foon difappear." The art of oratory, because it deceives the auditors, is frequently compared to that of balls and cups. From the Latin word gabata, mentioned by Martial, together with paropfides, the French have made gobelets; and hence their common expreffions jouer des gobelets, and joueur des gobelets, which they use, when fpeaking of jugglers. In all ages of the world there have been men who excited great wonder by extraordinary ftrength. Inftances of this have been already collected but they do not belong to my prefent fubject. I can, however, prove that, above fifteen hundred years ago, there were people who, by applying a know. ledge of the mechanical powers to their bodies, performed feats which aftonished every ignorant fpectator; though it is certain that any found man, of common ftrength, could per form the fame by employing the like means. Of thefe one may fay, with Celfus-Neque Hercule fcientiam præcipuam habent hi, fed audaciam ufu ipso confirmatam. About the beginning of the prefent century fuch a strong man, or Sampfon, as he called himself, a native of Germany, travelled over almost all Europe; and his pretended art has been mentioned by fo many writers, that we may conclude it had not been often exhibited before ; and that it was then confidered as new. His name was John Charles von Eckeberg; he was born at Harzgerode, in Anhalt; and, at that time, was thirty-three years of age. When he fixed himfelf between a couple of pofts, on any level place, two or more horfes were not able to draw him from his pofition; he could break ropes afunder, and lift a man up on his knee, while he lay extended on the ground. But what excited the greatest aftonishment was, that he fuffered large ftones to be broke on his breaft with a hammer, or a smith to forge iron on an anvil placed above it, This laft feat was exhibited even in the third century, by Firmus, or Firmius, who, in the time of Aure lian, endeavoured to make himself emperor in Egypt. He was a native of Seleucia, in Syria; efpoused the cause of Zenobia, the celebrated Queen of Palmyra; and was at length executed publicly, by order of the Emperor Aurelian. It is of this Firmus, and not of another, who a cen tury tury after was overcome in Africa, by the father of the Emperor Theodofius, that Vopifcus fpeaks, where he relates that he could fuffer iron to be forged on an anvil placed on his breaft. For this purpofe he lay on his back; but he put himself in fuch a position, by refting with his feet and fhoulders against some support, that his whole body formed an arch; fo that he feemed rather to be fufpended than to lie at full length *. This art, which is explained and illuftrated by Defaguliers, and Profeffor Kuhn, of Dantzic, has now become fo common that it is often exhibited without occafioning much surprise. ON THE VARIOUS CLAUSES OF NOMINAL CHRISTIANS. From Wilberforce's Practical View of prevailing Systems of professed Chriftians. HE promotion of the glory of refponfibility feems attached to the God, and the poffeffion of his fa- poffeffion of high rank, or splendid vour, are no longer recognised as the abilities, or affluent fortunes, or other objects of our higher regard and means or inftruments of usefulness.moft ftrenuous endeavours; as furnish. The inftructive admonitions," give ing to us a vigorous, habitual, and "an account of thy stewardship," univerfal principle of action. We fet"occupy till I come;" are forgotup for ourselves, we are become our ten. Or if it be acknowledged by own mafters. The fenfe of conftant homage and continual service is irkfome and galling to us; and we re joice in being emancipated from it as from a state of base and servile villainage. Thus the very tenure and condition by which life and all its poffeffions are held, undergo a total change our faculties and powers are now our own: whatever we have is regarded rather as a property than as a truft; or if there ftill exift the remembrance of fome paramount claim, we are satisfied with an occafional acknowledgement of a nominal right; we pay our pepper-corn, and take our eftates to ourfelves in full and free enjoyment. Hence it is that fo little fenfe of fome men of larger views than ordinary, that a reference is to be had to fome principle fuperior to that of our own gratification, it is, at beft, to the good of fociety, or the welfare of our families; and even then the obligations refulting from these relations, are feldom enforced on us by any higher fanctions than those of family comfort, and of worldly intereft or eftimation. Befides, what multitudes of perfons are there, people without families, in private stations, or of a retired turn, to whom they are scarcely held to apply; and what multitudes of cafes to which it would be thought unneceffary fcrupulofity to extend them? Accordingly we find in fact, that the generality of mankind *Vopifcus, Vita Firmi: Incudem fuperpofitam pectori conftanter aliis tundentibus pertulit, cum ipfe reclivus ac refupnius et curvatus in manus penderet potius quam jaceret. The whole paffage will be better understood, when one fees the figure in Defaguliers, tab. xix. fig. 5. only that in manus occafions fome difficulty. I conjecture that Vopifcus wrote in arcum, as Virgil, Georg. ii. 448. fays: taxi curvantur in arcus. Defaguliers, p. 266, defcribes the pofition thus: The pretended Sampfon puts his fhoulders (not his head, as he used to give out) upon one chair, and his heels upon another (the chairs being made faft,) and fupports one or two men ftanding on his belly, raising them up and down as he breathes, making, with his back-. bone, thighs and legs, an arch whofe abutments are the chairs. Seneca, in his treatife De Ira, ii. 12, fays of these people- Didicerunt ingentia vixque humanis toferanda viribus onera portare.' |