Ten Thousand Wonderful Things: Comprising whatever is marvellous and rare, curious, eccentric and extraordinary in all ages and nations
History
Ten Thousand Wonderful Things: Comprising whatever is marvellous and rare, curious, eccentric and extraordinary in all ages and nations
Curiosities and wonders; Encyclopedias and dictionaries; Folklore
The result of his labours has justly been considered worthy of the
admiration of the world, for it is distinguished alike for its
strength, durability, and beauty of form. The base of the tower is
about twenty-six feet nine inches in diameter, and the masonry is so
formed as to be a part of the solid rock, to the height of thirteen
feet above the surface, where the diameter is diminished to nineteen
feet and a half. The tower then rises in a gradually diminishing curve
to the height of eighty-five feet, including the lantern, which is
twenty-four feet high. The upper extremity is finished by a cornice, a
balustrade being placed around the base of the lantern for use as well
as ornament.
The tower is furnished with a door and windows, and the whole edifice
outside bears the graceful outline of the trunk of a mighty tree,
combining lightness with elegance and strength. Mr. Smeaton commenced
his labours in 1756, and completed the building in four years. Before
commencing operations he took accurate drawings of the exterior of the
rock, and the stones, which were brought from the striking and romantic
district of Dartmoor, were all formed to fit into its crevices, and so
prepared as to be dovetailed together, and strung by oaken plugs. When
put into their places, and then firmly cemented, the whole seemed to
form, and does indeed constitute, a part of the solid rock.
SWEATING SICKNESS.
The Sweating Sickness first visited England Anno Dom. 1483, and
repeated its visitations 1485, 1506, 1517, 1528, and last of all, 1551.
This epidemic disease raged with such peculiar violence in England,
and had so quick a crisis, that it was distinguished by the name of
_Ephemera Britannica_. This singular fever seems to have been of the
most simple, though of the most acute kind, and notwithstanding princes
and nobles were its chief victims, the physicians of the day never
agreed upon the method of treating it.
The splendid French embassy, which arrived in England in 1550, found
the court-festivities damped by a visitation of that strange and
terrific malady.
"This pestilence, first brought into the island by the foreign
mercenaries who composed the army of the Earl of Richmond, afterwards
Henry VII., now made its appearance for the fourth and last time in
our annals. It seized principally, it is said, on males, on such as
were in the prime of their age, and rather on the higher than the
lower classes: within the space of twenty-four hours, the fate of the
sufferer was decided for life or death. Its ravages were prodigious;
two princes died of it; and the general consternation was augmented,
by a superstitious idea which went forth, that Englishmen alone were
the destined victims of this mysterious minister of fate, which tracked
their steps, with a malice and sagacity of an evil spirit, into every
distant country of the earth whither they might have wandered, whilst
it left unassailed all foreigners in their own."
AN AMERICAN ADVERTISEMENT.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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