Ten Thousand Wonderful Things / Comprising whatever is marvellous and rare, curious, eccentric and extraordinary in all ages and nations

by Unknown

The American advertisement, of which we here give a literal copy, is deserving of preservation on account of the quaintness of the inn-signs, the peculiarity of the spelling and diction, the "shifting" of the passengers which it announces, and the general idea it gives us of the way in which travelling was performed in America at the time when it was issued.

Philadelphia STAGE-WAGGON, and New-York STAGE BOAT performs their Stages twice a Week.

John Butler, with his waggon, sets out on Mondays from his House, at the Sign of the Death of the Fox, in Strawberry ally, and drives the same day to Trenton Ferry, when Francis Holman meets him, and proceeds on Tuesday to Brunswick, and the passengers and goods being shifted into the waggon of Isaac Fitzrandolph, he takes them to the New Blazing-Star to Jacob Fitzrandolph's the same day, where Rubin Fitzrandolph, with a boat well suted, will receive them, and take them to New-York that night. John Butler returning to Philadelphia on Tuesday with the passengers and goods delivered to him by Francis Holman, will again set out for Trenton Ferry on Thursday, and Francis Holman, &c. will carry his passengers and goods, with the same expedition as above to New-York.

Weekly Mercury.
March 8, 1759.

FÊTE OF THE FEDERATION. PARIS 1790.

The leading events of the great Revolution in France, may be fairly classed with the marvellous, and among our "Ten Thousand Wonderful Things" there will be found few more wonderful than the civic festival of the general federation of the National Guards of France, which took place on the 14th of July, 1790, and of which the above is a correct representation, taken from a view by Duplessis Bertaux. The proceedings of that memorable day had in them a mixture of religious celebration apparently singular among a people who had lately so much trampled on religion; but as this celebration was more pagan than Christian in its character, the singularity becomes less marked. On the preceding evening, a Hiérodrame was performed at the cathedral of Nôtre Dame—a kind of sacred drama, made up by M. Désaugiers of scraps from the Bible mixed with other matter, and set to music; it professed to tell the story of the taking of the Bastille, and to typify the sadness, trouble, confusion, joy, and alarm of the Parisians. Then succeeded a Te Deum, chanted in presence of some of the principal federal and municipal bodies. Early in the morning of the 14th, amid dense clouds and heavy rain, the National Guards from all the eighty-three departments of France, together with deputations from the state army and navy, began to assemble, and speedily formed an immense line from the Porte St. Antoine to the Porte St. Martin; whence they marched, with bands playing and colours flying, to the Champ de Mars, regaled and cheered by the Parisians on the route. On reaching the great square of the Tuileries, the procession was headed by the municipality of Paris and the members of the National Assembly, and followed by a body of gray-headed veterans. The procession traversed the Seine by one of the bridges, greeted by salvos of artillery drawn up on the quays, and entered the Champ de Mars under a triumphal arch almost hidden by flags and patriotic inscriptions. One o'clock had arrived before the various bodies forming the procession had taken their destined places in the enclosed parallelogram, surrounded by nearly 300,000 spectators on the raised terraces, most of whom were by this time drenched by the continuous rain. In the centre of the area was a lofty altar, half pagan, half Catholic in its adornments; and around this altar the provincial National Guards danced and sang in very excited fashion. The royal family appeared at three o'clock. In an immense gallery near the altar, the National Assembly were seated, with the king and the president on two chairs of state exactly equal in height and richness, and the queen and the rest of the court seated behind—a significant interpretation of the decree just announced. At the instant of the king taking his seat, the air was rent with cries of Vive le Roi! Vive la Nation! The banners were unfurled; 1,800 musicians burst forth with jubilant strains; cannon poured out continuous volleys; Talleyrand, as bishop of Autun, assisted by sixty chaplains of the Paris National Guards, performed mass at the altar; and the banners were blessed by sprinkling with holy-water. Then Lafayette, dismounting from his white charger, received from the hands of the king a written form of oath; he swore to this oath at the altar, and with his raised arm gave a signal for the countless host to do likewise—every one raising his right hand, and saying Je le jure! The king took the oath prescribed to him; and the queen held up the dauphin in her arms, as if to denote that he also, poor child, had sworn to defend the national liberties. At five o'clock the royal family retired, and the crowd began to leave the Champ de Mars. Twenty-five thousand federates or provincial deputies went to a royal château about a mile distant, where a dinner had been prepared for them by order of the municipality of Paris, with Lafayette as chairman of the banquet. At night all Paris was illuminated; and for three or four days the feastings, reviews, and celebrations were numerous, including a grand dance on the site of the demolished Bastille. On the 18th, Lafayette reviewed the provincial or federate National Guards, and on the 19th they were reviewed by the king. Paris was intoxicated for an entire week, each man displaying at once his delight and his vanity.

A MAN CARRIES HIS HOUSE ON HIS HEAD.

Simeon Ellerton, of Craike, Durham, died 1799, aged 104. This man, in his day, was a noted pedestrian, and before the establishment of regular "Posts," was frequently employed in walking commissions, from the northern counties to London and other places, which he executed with singular fidelity and despatch. He lived in a neat stone cottage of his own erecting; and what is remarkable, he had literally carried his house on his head; it being his constant practice to bring back with him from every journey which he undertook, some suitable stone, or other material for his purpose, and which, not unfrequently, he carried 40 or 50 miles on his head.