GREAT MOSQUE AT JERUSALEM.
The form is an octagon, either side being seventy feet in width; it is entered by four spacious doors, the walls are white below, intermingled with blue, adorned with pilasters, but above, it is faced with glazed tiles of various colours. The interior is described as paved with grey marble, the plain walls are covered with the same material in white. It contains many noble columns, in two tiers. The dome is painted, and gilt in arabesque, whence depend antique vessels of gold and silver; immediately beneath it stands a mass of limestone, reported to have fallen from heaven when the spirit of prophecy commenced. On this sat the destroying angel, during the slaughter caused by David's numbering the people. From this Mahomet ascended to heaven. Within the storied walls, moreover, are the scales for weighing the souls of men, the shield of Mahomet, and other relics, besides the entrance to the infernal regions; seventy thousand angels ever guard the precious stone.
Entrance to this hallowed edifice has been gained only by two or three Europeans; indeed, the Turks will not allow infidels to approach the sacred enclosure around it, which measures about sixteen hundred feet in length, by one thousand in width, and is adorned with fountains, orange, cypress, and other trees.
The mosque itself is esteemed the finest piece of Saracenic architecture in existence, far surpassing St. Sophia in beauty. Its view, combined with the distinguished monuments in the City of the Sultan, in Egypt, Greece, and Italy, strongly induces a belief in the accuracy of an able article in the Quarterly Review, in which the origin of the five predominant styles of architecture throughout the world, viz., the Byzantine, Chinese, Egyptian, Grecian, and Gothic are assigned respectively to the convex and concave curves, to the oblique, horizontal, and perpendicular lines.
A COUPLE OF ECCENTRICS.
Mr. Day, the eccentric founder of Fairlop fair, had a housekeeper, who had lived with him for thirty years, and was equally eccentric. She had two very strong attachments; one to her wedding-ring and garments, and the other to tea. When she died, Mr. Day would not permit her ring to be taken off; he said, "If that was attempted, she would come to life again;" and directed that she should be buried in her wedding-suit, and a pound of tea in each hand; and these directions were literally obeyed.
THE UNIVERSALITY OF TAXATION.
The following extract, from the Edinburgh Review, is not inappropriate to our pages, inasmuch as it is both a rare specimen of effective composition, and also serves to show us what the state of taxation was in England even within the last forty years.—Taxes upon every article which enters into the mouth, or covers the back, or is placed upon the feet—taxes upon every thing which it is pleasant to see, hear, feel, smell, or taste—taxes upon warmth, light, and locomotion—taxes on everything on earth, and the waters under the earth—on every thing that comes from abroad, or is grown at home—taxes on the raw material—taxes on every fresh value that is added to it by the industry of man—taxes on the sauce which pamper's man's appetite, and the drug that restores him to health—on the ermine which decorates the judge, and the rope which hangs the criminal—on the poor man's salt, and the rich man's spice—on the brass nails of the coffin, and the ribands of the bride at bed or board, couchant or levant, we must pay;—the schoolboy whips his taxed top—the beardless youth manages his taxed horse, with a taxed bridle, on a taxed road:—and the dying Englishman, pouring his medicine, which has paid seven per cent., into a spoon that has paid fifteen per cent., flings himself back upon his chintz bed, which has paid twenty-two per cent.—makes his will on an eight-pound stamp, and expires in the arms of an apothecary, who has paid a license of an hundred pounds for the privilege of putting him to death. His whole property is then immediately taxed from two to ten per cent. Besides the probate, large fees are demanded for burying him in the chancel; his virtues are handed down to posterity on taxed markle; and he is then gathered to his fathers—to be taxed no more.
SHAM PROPHETS.
William Hackett, a fanatic of the sixteenth century, after a very ill life, turned prophet, and signified the desolation of England. He prophesied at York and at Lincoln; where, for his boldness, he was whipped publicly, and condemned to be banished. He had an extraordinary fluency of speech, and much assurance in his prayers; for he said, that if all England should pray for rain, and he should pray to the contrary, it should not rain. Hackett had two brother-prophets joined with him, Edward Coppinger, named the prophet of mercy, and Henry Arthington, the prophet of judgment. Coppinger, the merciful prophet, declared that Hackett was the sole monarch of Europe; and at length they proclaimed him, July 16, 1592. On the 28th of the same month, however, the monarch of the whole earth, who had also personated divinity, was hanged and quartered. Coppinger famished himself in prison, and Arthington was pardoned. Fitz Simon relates, that in a quarrel Hackett had at Oundle, "He threw down his adversary, and bit off his nose; and, instead of returning it to the surgeon, who pretended to set it on again, while the wound was fresh, ate it." Hackett, on the scaffold, made a blasphemous prayer, which is recorded by Fitz Simon and Camden, too horrid to be repeated. He hated Queen Elizabeth, and tried to deprive her of her crown; he confessed to the judges that he had stabbed the effigies of this princess to the heart, with an iron pin; and a little before he was hanged, being an accomplished swearer, he cursed her with all manner of imprecations.