HEIGHT OF MOUNTAINS.
The perpendicular height of Snowdon is, by late admeasurements, 1,190 yards above the level of the sea. This makes it, according to Pennant, 240 yards higher than Cader Idris. Some state Whernside, in Yorkshire to be the highest mountain in South Britain, and more than 4,000 feet. Helvellyn is 3,324 feet, Ben Lomond 3,262. Mont Blanc rises 15,680 feet; the American Chimborazo is 20,909 feet, the highest ground ever trodden by man; and the mountains of Thibet above 25,000 feet, the highest at present known.
INTRODUCTION OF THE WEEPING WILLOW INTO ENGLAND.
The Salix Babylonica, that is the Willow of Babylon, or our English weeping Willow, is a native of the Levant, the coast of Persia, and other places in the East. The manner of its introduction into England is curious; the account is as follows: Pope, the celebrated poet, having received a present of Turkey figs, observed a twig of the basket, in which they were packed, putting out a shoot. The twig he planted in his garden: it soon became a fine tree, and from this stock, all our weeping Willows have descended. This species of Willow is generally planted by a still pool, to which it is a beautiful appropriate ornament; and when in misty weather, drops of water are seen distilling from the extremities of its branches, nothing can be more descriptive than the title it has obtained of the weeping Willow.
FINE FOR INSULTING A KING.
The use of gold and silver was not unknown to the Welsh in 842, when their laws were collected. The man who dared to insult the King of Aberfraw, was to pay (besides certain cows and a silver rod) a cup, which would hold as much wine as his majesty could swallow at a draught; its cover was to be as broad as the king's face; and the whole as thick as a goose's egg, or a ploughman's thumb-nail.
CARRONADES.
This species of great gun, so much used on board of ships, is generally accounted a modern invention, taking its name from the Carron foundry where they were made. In the patent office, however, will be found a notice dated September, 1727, to the following effect: "That his Majesty was pleased to grant to Henry Brown, Esquire, a patent for the sole use and benefit of his new invention of making cannon and great guns, both in iron and brass, which will be much shorter and lighter, and with less powder will carry farther than those of equal bore now in use, and which, it is said, will save great expense to the public."
EXTRAVAGANCE AT ELECTIONS.
On the death of Sir James Lowther, his son William stood for the shire of Cumberland, and entertained 3,650 gentlemen freeholders at a dinner, at which were consumed 768 gallons of wine, 1,454 gallons of ale, and 5,814 bottles of punch. Sir James appears to have been eccentric in some of his habits, for after his decease £30,000 in bank notes were discovered in a closet, and £10,000 in the sleeve of an old coat.