Jeffrey Hudson, the dwarf of King Charles, must also have been of a very diminutive stature, since we find that he was served up in a pie to the royal table, and jumped out when the crust was raised. It appears that introducing live pies in those days were not an uncommon frolic; hence there may be some truth in the old song of Four-and-twenty black-birds bak'd in a pye, When the pye was open'd the birds began to sing, Was not that a dainty dish to lay before a king? GIGANTIC RACES. While we dismiss as fabulous all ancient and modern accounts of dwarfish races, we must also treat with the same scepticism the relations of gigantic nations. Although individuals of incredible stature have been occasionally seen, the word giant must be considered not only comparative as regarding primary races, but in many instances allegorical. Thus the Hebrew word, _Nophel_ and _Giboor_ (_Nephilim_ and _Gibborim_ in the plural), did not signify giants, as commonly translated, but cruel and violent men. Athletic power and uncommon energies were naturally associated with the idea of supernatural stature, though intellectual accomplishments were not always included in the association: on the contrary, we find the ancient axiom _Homo longus rare sapiens_ frequently adduced. In temperate climates the height of the human race averages from four feet and a half to six feet, but occasional instances have been met with of men reaching eight and nine feet--nay, some authors go so far as ten and eighteen; but the latter assertions seem to refer to fossil bones attributed to man, but which evidently belonged to other animals. Buffon mentions gigantic human bones discovered at Lucerne, but which upon examination Blumenbach pronounced to be the remains of an elephant. Halicot, in his work called _Gigantosteologia_, describes bones found in a sepulchre in Dauphiny over which was a stone inscribed TEUTOBOCCHUS REX: this skeleton was twenty-five feet and a half high, and ten feet broad at the shoulder. Riolan, the celebrated anatomist, disputes the fact; and in his book entitled _Gigantomachia_ positively affirms that they also belonged to an elephant. It is worthy of remark, that in this controversy each party considered his opinion and decision of sufficient weight to need no illustration, and therefore neither of them thought it necessary to confirm his _dixit_ by drawings and engravings of the questionable remains. Such is the vanity of the learned! An infallible philosopher informs us that Adam's stature was one hundred and twenty-three feet nine inches; Eve's, one hundred and eighteen feet nine inches and three quarters; Noah's, twenty feet short of Adam's; Abraham's, twenty-eight feet; Moses', thirteen; and Hercules', ten. That the first races of man were of larger dimensions than those of our contemporaries, has ever been a general opinion. Thus Virgil in his Georgics: Grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa sepulchris.