The Buddhist temple of which we here give an engraving is the great Shoëmadoo Pagoda at Pegu. Among other things it is interesting as being one of the earliest attempts at that class of decoration, which consists in having at the base of the building a double range of small pagodas, a mode of ornamentation that subsequently became typical in Hindu architecture; their temples and spires being covered, and indeed composed of innumerable models of themselves, clustered together so as to make up a whole.
The building stands on two terraces, the lower one about 10 ft. high, and 1391 ft. square: the upper one, 20 ft. in height, is 684 ft. square; from the centre of it rises the pagoda, the diameter of whose base is 395 ft. The small pagodas are 27 ft. high, and 108 or 110 in number; while the great pagoda itself rises to the height of 331 ft. above its terrace, or 361 ft. above the country, thus reaching a height nearly equal to St. Paul's Cathedral; while the side of the upper terrace is only 83 ft. less than that of the great Pyramid.
Tradition ascribes its commencement to two merchants, who raised it to the height of 12 cubits at an age slightly subsequent to that of Buddha himself. Successive kings of Pegu added to this from time to time, till at last it assumed its present form, most probably about three or four centuries ago.
PEST HOUSE DURING THE PLAGUE IN TOTHILL FIELDS.
Tothill Fields, a locality between Pimlico and the Thames, was anciently the manor of Tothill, belonging to John Maunsel, chancellor, who in 1256, entertained here Henry III. and his court at a vast feast in tents and pavilions. Here were decided wagers of battle and appeals by combat. Necromancy, sorcery and witchcraft were punished here; and "royal solemnities and goodly jousts were held here." In Culpeper's time the fields were famous for parsley. In 1642 a battery and breastwork were erected here. Here also were built the "Five Houses," or "Seven Chimneys," as pest-houses for victims of the plague. One of these pest-houses is given in the above engraving, taken from an old print. In the plague time of 1665, the dead were buried "in the open Tuttle Fields." In Queen Anne's reign here was William Well's head garden on the site of Vincent-square. The Train Bands were drawn out here in 1651. In the last century the fields were a noted duel-ground, and here, in 1711, Sir Cholmeley Deering, M.P., was killed by the first shot of Mr. Richard Thornhill, who was tried for murder and acquitted, but found guilty of manslaughter and burnt in the hand.
THE THUGS.
The following account of these horribly extraordinary men is taken from Dr. Hooker's Himalayan Journals; writing at Mirzapore, he says:—"Here I had the pleasure of meeting Lieutenant Ward, one of the suppressors of Thuggee (Thuggee, in Hindostan, signifies a deceiver; fraud, not open force, being employed). This gentlemen kindly showed me the approvers, or king's evidence of his establishment, belonging to those three classes of human scourges, the Thug, Dakoit, and Poisoner. Of these the first was the Thug, a mild-looking man, who had been born and bred to the profession: he had committed many murders, saw no harm in them, and felt neither shame nor remorse. His organs of observation and destructiveness were large, and the cerebellum small. He explained to me how the gang waylay the unwary traveller, enter into conversation with him, and have him suddenly seized, when the superior throws his own girdle round the victim's neck and strangles him, pressing the knuckles against the spine. Taking off his own girdle, he passed it round my arm, and showed me the turn as coolly as a sailor once taught me the hangman's knot. The Thug is of any caste, and from any part of India. The profession have particular stations, which they generally select for murder, throwing the body of their victim into a well.