This name is sometimes applied to the works of Homer and Hesiod, as they put into writing the beliefs concerning the gods.
339. Who was the “Prince of Destruction”?
This name was conferred upon Tamerlane, or Timour (1335–1405), one of the most celebrated of Oriental conquerors, who overran Persia, Tartary, and Hindostan, his conquests extending from the Volga to the Persian Gulf, and from the Ganges to the Archipelago. He was prevented only by the want of shipping from crossing into Europe. He died just as he was making vast preparations for the invasion of China. No conquests were ever attended with greater cruelty, devastation, and waste of life.
340. What was the “Luz”?
This name was given by the old Jewish rabbins to an imaginary little bone which they believed to exist at the base of the spinal column, and to be incapable of destruction. To its ever-living power, fermented by a kind of dew from heaven, they ascribed the resurrection of the dead.
“Hadrian (whose bones may they be ground, and his name blotted out!) asked R. Joshua, Ben Hananiah, ‘How doth a man revive again in the world to come?’ He answered and said, ‘From luz, in the backbone.’ Saith he to him, ‘Demonstrate this to me.’ Then he took luz, a little bone out of the backbone, and put it in water, and it was not steeped; he put it in the fire, and it was not burned; he brought it to the mill, and that could not grind it; he laid it on the anvil, and knocked it with a hammer, but the anvil was cleft, and the hammer broken.” Lightfoot.
341. Who was the “Queen of Hearts”?
Elizabeth, the daughter of James I., and the unfortunate queen of Bohemia, was so engaging in her behavior, that she was so called in the Low Countries. When her fortunes were at the lowest ebb, she never departed from her dignity; and poverty and distress seemed to have no other effect upon her but to render her more an object of admiration than before.
342. Why is New Jersey sometimes called “Spain”?
New Jersey receives this sobriquet from the fact that Joseph Bonaparte, the eldest brother of Napoleon, and ex-king of Spain, once occupied the extensive grounds and mansion called Point Breeze, at Bordentown, in that State. Here he lived for some years under the title of Comte de Survilliers, endeared to the inhabitants by his liberality and gracious manners, and he was elected to many philanthropical and learned associations. An act was passed in 1817 by the Legislature of New Jersey to enable him, as an alien, to hold real estate.