The Queer, the Quaint and the Quizzical: A Cabinet for the CuriousStauffer, Frank H.
History
The Queer, the Quaint and the Quizzical: A Cabinet for the Curious
Stauffer, Frank H.
Literary curiosa
Vandyck having drawn the king in three different faces, a profile,
three-quarters and a full face, the picture was sent to Rome for Bernini
to make a bust from it. Bernini was unaccountably dilatory in the work,
and upon this being complained of, he said that he had set about it
several times, but there was something so unfortunate in the features of
the face that he was shocked every time that he examined it, and forced
to leave off the work, observing, that if any stress was to be laid upon
physiognomy, he was sure the person whom the picture represented was
destined to a violent end. The bust was at last finished, and sent to
England. As soon as the ship that brought it arrived in the Thames, the
king, who was very impatient to see the bust, ordered it to be taken
immediately to Chelsea. It was accordingly carried thither, and placed
upon a table in the garden, whither the king went, with a train of
nobility, to inspect the work. As they were viewing it, a hawk flew over
their heads, with a partridge in his claws, which he had wounded to
death. Some of the partridge's blood fell upon the neck of the bust,
where it remained without being wiped off.
_Burn's Snuff-box._
Burns and Mr. Bacon, the latter an inn-keeper near Dumfries, were very
intimate, and, as a token of regard, the former gave to the latter his
snuff-box, which for many years had been his pocket companion. On Mr.
Bacon's death, in 1825, his effects were sold. The snuff-box was put up
for sale among the other things, and some one bid a shilling. There was
a general exclamation that it was not worth twopence. The auctioneer,
before knocking it down, opened the box. He saw engraved on the lid, and
read aloud, the following inscription:—
"ROBT. BURNS,
OFFICER
OF
THE EXCISE."
The value of the box suddenly rose. Shilling after shilling was added,
until it was finally knocked down for five pounds to a Mr. Munnell, of
Closburn.—_Hone._
_Statue of Memnon._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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