The above engraving represents a fancy silver watch of the time of Queen Elizabeth. It is shaped like a duck; the feathers chased. The lower part opens, and the dial plate, which is also of silver, is encircled with a gilt ornamental design of floriated scrolls and angels' heads. The wheels work on small rubies. It has no maker's name. It is preserved in the original case of thin brass, covered with black leather, and ornamented with silver studs, as represented in the woodcut below. It forms one of the curiosities in the Museum of Lord Londesborough.
HORSES FEEDING ONE ANOTHER.
M. de Bossanelle, captain of cavalry in the regiment of Beauvilliers, relates in his "Military Observations," printed in Paris, 1760, "That, in the year 1757, an old horse of his company, that was very fine and full of mettle, had his teeth all on a sudden so worn down, that he could not chew his hay and corn; and that he was fed for two months, and would still have been so had he been kept, by two horses on each side of him, that ate in the same manger. These two horses drew hay from the rack, which they chewed, and afterwards threw before the old horse; that they did the same with the oats, which they ground very small, and also put before him. This (adds he) was observed and witnessed by a whole company of cavalry, officers and men."
CROSS OF MUIREDACH.
From the rude pillar-stone marked with the symbol of our faith, enclosed within a circle, the emblem of Eternity, the finely-proportioned and elaborately-sculptured crosses of a later period are derived. In the latter, the circle, instead of being simply cut on the face of the stone, is represented by a ring, binding, as it were, the shaft, arms, and upper portion of the cross together. There are two beautiful specimens of this style of cross at Monasterboice, near Drogheda, about thirty-five miles from Dublin. The smaller, more beautiful, and more perfect of these we here engrave. The figures and ornaments with which its various sides are enriched appear to have been executed with an unusual degree of artistic skill. It is now almost as perfect as it was when, nearly nine centuries ago, the artist, we may suppose, pronounced his work finished, and chiefs and abbots, bards, shanachies, warriors, and ecclesiastics, and, perhaps, many a rival sculptor, crowded round this very spot full of wonder and admiration for what they must have considered a truly glorious, and, perhaps, unequalled work. An inscription in Irish upon the lower part of the shaft, desires "A prayer for Muiredach, by whom was made this cross," and there is reason for assigning it to an abbot of that name who died in the year 924. Its total height is exactly fifteen feet, and it is six in breadth at the arms. The shaft, which at the base measures in breadth two feet six inches, and in thickness one foot nine inches, diminishes slightly in its ascent, and is divided upon its various sides by twisted bands into compartments, each of which contains either sculptured figures, or tracery of very intricate design, or animals, probably symbolical.