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XXXVII.

ENIGMA.

A seaport of Kent.

An inland sea of Asia.

A river in North America.

A river in Wales.

A free city of Germany.

A country in Africa.

XXXVIII.

ENIGMA.

OUR SPHINX.

X XIX. BATTLE-AXE.

XXXIII.
NORWAY.

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ANSWERS RECEIVED.

How to make an Eolian Harp.-Let a box be made of thin deal, of a length exactly answering to the window it is intended to be placed, four or five inches in depth, and five or six in width. Glue on it, at the extremities of the top. two pieces of beach, about an inch square, and of length equal to the width of the box, which are to hold the pegs. Into one of these bridges fix as many pegs, such as are used in a pianoforte, though not so large, as there are to be strings; and into the other fasten as many small brass pins, to which attach one end of the strings. Then string the instrument with small catgut, or first fiddle-strings, fixing one end of them, and twisting the other round the opposite peg. These strings, which should not be drawn tight, must be tuned in unison. To procure a proper passage for the wind, a thin board, supported by four pegs, is placed over the strings, at about three inches distance from the sounding-board. The instrument must be exposed to the wind, at a window partly open; and to increase the force of the current of air, either the door of the room, or an opposite window should be opened. When the wind blows, the strings begin to sound in unison; but as the force of the current increases, the sound changes into a pleasing admixture of all the notes of the diatonic scale, ascending and descending, and these often unite in most delightful harmonic combinations.— Knight's Cyclopædia of Industry.

H. SEYMOUR ATKINSON.

Answers also from D. W. Meeking, Tullaghgarly, Dane Smith, Errard, Brighton, Neil J. A. Calman.

What was the Origin of the Star Chamber?— The Court of the Star Chamber, so called, because the roof was originally painted with stars; or more probably because the contracts and obligations of the Jews, before their banishment under Edward I., which were called Stars, from a corruption of the Hebrew word sheltar, a covenant, were kept in chests in the king's exchequer. JOHN F. E. DOVASTON.

Origin of a Baker's Dozen.-Baker's dozen, fourteen, that number of rolls being allowed to purchasers of a dozen.-Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

JOHN F. E. DOVASTON.

Why is the paper called foolscap so called, and what is the origin of it ?-Why the paper is called "foolscap " is this, when Charles I. found his revenues short, he granted certain privileges, amounting to monopolies; and among these was the manufacture of paper, the exclusive right of which was sold to certain parties, who grew rich, and enriched the government at

the expense of those who were obliged to use paper. At this time all English paper bore in water marks the Royal Arms. The Parliament under Cromwell made jests of this law in every conceivable manner; and among other indignities to the memory of Charles, it was ordered that the Royal Arms be removed from the paper, and the foolscap and bells be substituted. These were also removed when the Rump Parliament was prorogued; but paper of the size of the Parliament journals still bears the name of foolscap. At what date was Lord Byron born, how old was he when he died, and when did he die ?-Lord George Gordon Byron was born in London 1788; died at Missolonghi, in Greece, 1824, aged 36 years.

JOHN F. E. DOVASTON.

A Short History of the County, Language, and People of Cornwall-Various conjectures have been formed relating to the name of this county, some deriving it from the British word Corn, signifying a horn, alluding to the two promontories, called the Land's-End and the Lizard-Point, and the Saxon word Wcale, or Gaul, a name by which they distinguished the inhabitants of this county from their resemblance in language, manners, and customs, to the Gauls on the continent. Cornwall is the first part of the island of Britain mentioned by any ancient authors; and by some it is supposed that the name Britannia, or Prythania, was given to the western county by the Phoenicians or Syrians, who carried on an extensive trade with the natives long before the arrival of Julius Cæsar, as appears from a number ofmonuments still extant in many parts of the county. The surrounding body of water renders the air extremely moist. The seasons are more equal than in most parts of England, being generally free from intense heat or piercing cold. Frosts seldom continue long; and the snow scarcely ever continues on the ground longer than two or three days. The chief objects of consideration in the history of Cornwall are its numerous mines, which have supplied thousands of its inhabitants with employment for many centuries, and in remote periods, constituted by their produce, the chief staple of British commerce. The principle produce of the Cornish mines is tin, copper, and some lead. The Phoenicians were the first who traded with the tin from Cornwall. Strabo reports, that they were so strenuous in their endeavours to conceal from the nations the place whence they obtained it, that the master of a Phoenician vessel, supposing himself pursued by Romans, for the purpose of discovery, ran upon a shoal, and suffered shipwreck rather than permit the tract to be made known. The Cornish language is a dialect of that which, till the Saxons came in, was common to all Britain, and more anciently spoken in Ireland and Gaul; but the inhabitants of this island, being driven into Wales and Cornwall, and from there to Brittany in France, the same language, for want of intercourse, became differently pronounced, spoken, and written; and in different degrees mixed with other languages, insomuch, that now the inhabitants of Cornwall and Wales do not understand each other. The names of many of the ancient towns, castles, rivers, and mountains, manors, seats, and families, are derived from the Cornish tongue, but the language itself is no longer remembered. The inhabitants are of a middle stature, healthy, strong and active, and their way of life enables them to bear watching, cold and wet, much better than where they do not live so hardy; the miners in particular generally live to a great age.

JOHN F. E. DOVASTON. Discovery of Spencer Broughton's Gibbet.The remains of the gibbet-post of Spencer Broughton, who was hung in irons on Atter

cliffe Common, near Sheffield, Yorkshire, after being executed at York, for the robbery of the mail-coach, which travelled from Sheffield to Doncaster, was last week dug out of the ground. It is solid oak, perfectly black, and quite sound, though embedded in the ground since 1792. It consists of a massive frame-work, 9 ft. 4 in. long, and 1 ft. deep, firmly embedded in the ground. To support the gibbet-post, which passed through its centre, and was bolted to it, some 4 ft. 9 in. of this post is left, the remainder being cut off, when the gibbet was taken down, 37 years ago. The remains of the post is 18 in. square. This relic was discovered by a person named Holroyd, in making excavations for the cellars of some houses in Clifton-street, Attercliffe Common, near Sheffield, opposite the Yellow Lion Hotel. It was conveyed into the gardens of the above-named hotel, where it may now be seen, being the rightful property of Charles Pickering, Esq., of the above-named hotel, it being found on his ground. The jaw-bone of Spencer Broughton, with two teeth in it, was found in the Yellow Lion Hotel garden a few years ago, but that Mr. Pickering gave to a friend soon after being found. Hundreds of persons have paid the gibbet a visit.

JOHN WALKER, jun.

The best way to Paint Magic Lantern Slides.-Having procured glasses of the right dimensions, the next thing is to paint the objects upon them. Begin by tracing the outlines of the object with gold size, with a pen. Then work the paint, with equal quantities of spirits of turpentine and gum mastic, so as to make it as thick as treacle, and apply it lightly with a camel-hair brush. Bright and glaring colours should always be used in preference to dull and sickly colours, which do not show plain through the lens. The following colours can be used with advantagegamboge, lake, vermillion, light green, and ultramarine. Blacks, indigo, dark greens, and other colours of the same description, unless absolutely necessary, should be entirely discarded, and only transparent colours used. If it is desirable to blacken the plain glass round the outside of the object, the following may be used: Lamp black, worked into a thin paste with gold size.

Who was Jeffery Hudson?-Jeffery Hudson, a person remarkable for his diminutive stature, was born at Okeham, in Rutlandshire, 1619, and when seven years of age was not above 15 inches high, though his parents, who had several other children of the usual size, were tall and lusty. At that age, the Duke of Buckingham took him into his family, and to divert the Court, who, in a progress through Rutlandshire, were entertained at the Duke's seat at Burleigh on the hill, he was served up at table in a cold pie. Between the 7th and 30th years of his age, he did not advance many inches in stature; but it is remarkable that, soon after 30 he shot up to the height of three feet nine inches, which he never exceeded. He was given to Henrietta Maria, consort to king Charles I., probably at the time of his being served up in the pie; and that princess employed him in messages abroad. In the civil wars he was raised to the rank of Captain of Horse in the king's service, and afterwards accompanied the queen, his mistress, to France, from whence he was banished for killing a brother of Lord Croft's on horseback. He was afterwards taken at sea by a corsair, and was many years a slave in Barbary, but being redeemed he came to England, and in 1678 was committed to the gate-house in Westminster on suspicion of being concerned in Oates's plot; but after lying there a considerable time, he was at last discharged, and died in 1682, at 63 years of age. JOHN F. E. DOVASTON.

How to Play at Curling.-Curling is a game of great antiquity and popularity in the south and west of Scotland. It is a winter game, played on the ice. As the ice requires to be much thicker than for skating, it is usual to form ponds so shallow that the whole may be frozen, and capable of bearing any weight. The game is played by a party forming rival sides, each person being possessed of a circular hard stone of about nine inches diameter, flat and smooth on the under side, and on the upper having a handle fixed to the stone. Each player is likewise armed with a broom to sweep the ice, in order to accelerate the progress of the stone, and his feet are usually furnished with trampets, or crampets, which help to steady his aim. A large, long, open space of ice, from 30 to 40 yards in length and from 9 to 10 in breadth, called a rink, being cleared, and a mark, or tee, being made at each end, the contest takes place by each person hurling, or causing the stone to slide to the opposite end of the rink: a certain number brings the game to a close. The object of each side is, which will have the greatest number of stones nearest the tee, and all play from end to end alternately till this is ascertained. The game is very difficult: sometimes the best and oldest players are baffled by beginners, simply by their stones having taken a bias to one side or the other, and frequently after the best players have clustered their stones round the tee, one rapid shot from an antagonist will disperse the whole. Such is a meagre outline of the game of Curling. Grahame eulogizes the sport thus :-Now rival parishes and shrievedoms keep On upland locks the long expected tryst, To play the yearly borespiel. Aged men, Smit with the eagerness of youth, are there, While love of conquest lights their beamless eyes, New nerves their arms, and makes them young RICHARD C. BATEMAN.

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Who published the periodical called the "PubliIntelligencer," and in what year?-The "PubliIntelligencer was published by Sir Roger L'Estrange, in 1663, which he dropped on the publication of the first "London Gazette;" newspaper and pamphlets prohibited by royal proclamation in 1680. JOHN F. E. DOVASTON.

Who was the Founder of the Sect called Quakers? -George Fox was the founder of the sect called Quakers, but more properly Friends. He was born in Leicestershire, 1624; died, 1690; was a shoemaker by trade. JOHN F. E. DOVASTON.

Who was Galileo?-Galileo was born at Pisa, in Tuscany, February 15th, 1564; he was the son of a Florentine nobleman, who belonged to a family more ancient than opulent. Galileo was better known by his Christian name than his surname. He was intended by his father for the medical profession-a profession for which he had no desire to learn; he wrote an essay on the "Hydrostatic Balance" with such success, that he determined to throw off the trammels of an uncongenial pursuit. He pursued his mathematical studies with such unwearied diligence, that at the age of 24 he was appointed professor of mathematics at Pisa. About this period he turned his attention to the then very imperfectly comprehended laws of motion, and in opposition to all received systems, he propounded the novel theorem, that all falling bodies, great or small, descend with equal velocity. This theory of falling bodies was proved to be correct by several experiments, which were made from the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, greatly to the chagrin of the Aristolelians, whose enmity to Galileo now grew more decided. In consequence, in the year 1592, he deemed it prudent to resign his professorship. He then went to Padua for an engagement of six years, but he lectured with such success that he prolonged his

stay for sixteen or eighteen years. Cosmo III. invited him back to Pisa, and soon after called him to Florence, with the title of Principal Mathematician and Philosopher to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Galileo had heard of the invention of the telescope by Janson, and making one for himself, with some improvements, made some important discoveries, among which he found that the earth moved round on its own axis. The result of his discoveries was his decided conviction of the truth of the Copernican system; though the blind and furious bigotry of the monks charged him with heresy, being twice persecuted by the Inquisition, first in 1615, and again in 1633. On both occasions he was compelled to abjure the system of Copernicus; but it is said in the last instance, when he had repeated the abjuration, he stamped his foot on the earth, indignantly muttering, "Yet it moves!" In the following year, when he was 70 years old, and his health very infirm, a very heavy blow fell upon him by the death of his daughter Maria. Two years later he became blind: he bore this affliction with great patience. The latter years of his life were spent at his own country-house, near Florence, where he devoted himself to the perfecting of the telescope, and he died at the age of 78, in 1642, the year in which Newton was born.CHARLES WADDLE SHERRIFFS, 50, South Bridge, Edinburgh.

ANSWERS REQUIRED.

Where can I get a book on Photography, and the price? How to colour the Photographs? What was the real name of King William the Third, Prince of Orange? D. W. MEEKIN TULLAGHGARLEY. Where was the last "Missionary Ship" of the "London Missionary Society" built? How to make a Turning Lathe ? Which is the best practical book on Chess, and what is the price of it? P. P. A. A short history of William Wilberforce, the slave abolitionist. A. ANTILL.

TO CORRESPONDENTS. W. M. D.-We regret to say that the sample sketch, "Edmund Kean," is not up to our mark. Try again.

R. E. D.-You are right: it should have been a double-barrelled pistol,

ADJUDICATION ON PRIZE ESSAY.-JULY. We have received several essays describing A Visit to the Crystal Palace." Not any one of them is so complete as we had anticipated, The best is that written by Samuel Henry Hadgraft. His style is plain, and his description very systematic and accurate. To him, therefore, our prize is given. We append a list of the competitors, in order of merit :

Samuel Henry Hadgraft, aged 16 and 11 months, 6, Sussex-road, Southsea, Hants. A. Antill, aged 14, 70, Shepherdess-walk, Cityroad, London.

John William Parker, aged 16, Great Doverstreet, Southwark.

Phillip Smith, aged 16, Magnetic Telegraph Office, Swansea.

Henry Byron Reed, aged 12, Forest Hill. W. G. Y. Redfern, aged 124, Hampstead. David Main, aged 13, Mission School, Blackheath.

The next subject open for competition is"What have I done with my Holidays." It is a subject from which we expect great things. Essays must be sent in not later than September

1st.

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