which turn upon the unexpected discovery of talismans, enchanted figures, or wonderful pieces of mechanism and art, that had been buried for ages in huge caverns or vaults, will be found current among the common people of Spain, under the title of Cujentos De Viejas, and are most undoubtedly derived from their former intimacy with the magic and science of the Moors of Grenada. Warton has given us a specimen of these opened, the fat and gross vapours, engendered by the corruption of dead bodies, kindled as the flambeau approached them, to the great astonishment of the spectators, who frequently cried out a miracle! This sudden inflammation, although very natural, has given room to believe, that these flames proceeded from perpetual lamps, which some have thought were placed in the tombs of the ancients, and which they said were extinguished at the moment that these tombs opened, and were penetrated by the exterior air. "Carlencas observes on this subject, that the accounts of the perpetual lamps which ancient writers give, has occasioned several ingenious men to search after their composition. Licetus, who possessed more erudition than love of truth, has given two receipts for making this eternal fire, and which consist of certain minerals variously prepared; this opinion is in vogue amongst those who are pleased with the wonderful, or who only examine things superficially. More credible writers maintain, that it is possible to make lamps perpetually burning, and an oil at once inflammable and inconsumeable; but (which solves this strange problem) Boyle, assisted by several experiments which he had made on the air-pump, has found that these lights, which some tell us they have seen in opening tombs, may have proceeded from the collision of new air. This reasonable observation conciliates all, and does not compel us to deny the accounts. oriental wonders from the RELATION DU VOYAGE D'ESPAGNE, by Madamoiselle Danois. "Within the ancient castle of Toledo, they say, there was a vast cavern, whose entrance was strongly barricaded. It was universally believed, that if any person entered this cavern, the most fatal disasters would happen to the Spaniards. Thus it remained closely shut up and unentered for many ages. At length King Roderigo, having less credulity, but more courage and curiosity than his ancestors, commanded this formidable recess to be opened. At entering, he began to suspect the traditions of the people to be true: a terri "I am obliged to a man of letters, for favouring me with the fol lowing observations, which throw a clearer light on the present topic. The story of the lamp of Rosicrusius, even if it ever had the slightest foundation, only owes its origin to the spirit of party, which at the time would have persuaded the world, that Rosicrusius had, at least, discovered something; but there is nothing certain in this pretty invention. "The reason adduced by Marville is satisfactory for his day; and for the opening of sepulchres with flambeaux. But it was reserved for the modern discoveries made in natural philosophy, as well as those in chemistry, to prove that air was not only necessary for a medium to the existence of the flame, which indeed the air-pump had already shewn; but also as a constituent part of the inflammation, and without which a body, otherwise very inflammable in all its parts, cannot however burn but in its superficies, which alone is in contact with the ambient air." ཏཱ D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature, vol. ii. p. 483. ble tempest arose, and all the elements seemed united to embarrass him. Nevertheless, he ventured forwards into the cave, where he discerned by the light of his torches certain figures or statues of men, whose habiliments and arms were strange and uncouth. One of them had a sword of shining brass, on which was written in Arabic characters, that the time approached when the Spanish nation should be destroyed; and that it would not be long before the warriors, whose images were placed there, should arrive in Spain.* However erroneous or vicious we may esteem the conduct of Budgell, it is with pleasure that we can mention his contributions to the Spectator and Guardian, as displaying both the cheerfulness and gaiety of an innocent mind, and the best and soundest precepts of morality and religion. At the time of their composition, indeed, he was more directly under the influence and direction of his accomplished relation than at any subsequent period of his life, and he then possessed the laudable ambition of doing all that might render him worthy of his affection and support. His four Letters on Education,+ de * Warton's Hist. of English Poetry, vol. i. Dissert. i. scriptive of the advantages and disadvantages of private and public tuition, exhibit many very shrewd and sensible remarks on the propriety of adapting instruction to the abilities and destined occupation of the pupil. His essays, likewise, on Modesty and Assurance;* on Friendship; † on the best mode of Attaining and Securing Happiness, and on Infidelity and Atheism,§ are compositions alike elegant and useful; and we have only to lament that he should, in the latter part of his life, have deviated so widely from the maxims that he had himself endeavoured to inculcate, and which he had the invaluable opportunity of seeing exemplified in the person and conduct of his justly-admired friend and counsellor, Mr. Addison.|| * Spectator, No. 373. Ibid. No. 385. No. 570 of the Spectator has been ascribed to Budgell by Dr. Bisset. It contains the description of an ingenious but very eccentric man, named Daintry or Dentry, and who, for several years, kept the Queen's-arms, near the end of the Little-Piazza in Coventgarden. He was celebrated for whistling on the edge of a knife, or with a pair of tobacco-pipes, and could convert a frying-pan or a gridiron into a very respectable musical instrument. The death of this singular performer was thus announced in the London Magazine, for April, 1738. "Near Fishmonger's Hall, the celebrated Mr. John Dentry, better 2. JOHN HUGHES was born in the town of Marlborough, on January 29, 1677, the offspring of a citizen of London, and of Ann Burgess, daughter of Isaac Burgess, Esq. of Wiltshire. As he possessed a very weak and tender constitution, his education at a private academy was probably better calculated to bring forward his abilities than a public school. He was fortunate, likewise, in being placed under the tuition of Mr. Thomas Rowe, a dissenting minister; a man of considerable taste and learning, and who had at this time under his care the celebrated Dr. Watts, and Mr. Samuel Say, both men of singular piety and great talents. At this seminary Hughes made a rapid progress in the acquisition of classical learning, and early shewed a decided partiality for the sister arts of poetry and music; an inclination which, known by the appellation of Signior Denterino, which, by way of honour, he assumed, and put upon his sign. He kept a public-house, not only at the time of his death, but when the Spectators were writing; and from the odd talents he was possessed of, and his whimsical ways of entertaining his customers, furnished a subject for one of those excellent papers. Among many other surprising endowments, the Signior had that of whistling by the help of a knife to so great a perfection, that he became as famous for that, as most of the Italian Signiors have been for singing, who excel likewise in that way by the help of a knife." |