The cut which we here present to our readers is taken from the English edition of the Janua Linguarum of Comenius, and represents the forms of dining in England under the Protectorate. It will be best described by the text which accompanies it in the book, and in which each particular object is mentioned. "When a feast is made ready," we are told, "the table is covered with a carpet and a table-cloth by the waiters, who, besides, lay the trenchers, spoons, knives, with little forks, table napkins, bread, with a salt-cellar Messes are brought in platters, a pie in a plate. The guests being brought in by the host, wash their hands out of a laver or ewer, over a hand-basin, or bowl, and wipe them with a hand towel: they then sit at the table on chairs. The carver breaketh up the good cheer, and divideth it. Sauces are set amongst roste-meat in sawsers. The butler filleth strong wine out of a cruse, or wine-pot, or flagon, into cups or glasses, which stand on a cupboard, and he reacheth them to the master of the feast, who drinketh to his guests." It will be observed here that one salt-cellar is here placed in the middle of the table. This was the usual custom; and, as one long table had been substituted for the several tables formerly standing in the hall, the salt-cellar was considered to divide the table into distinct parts, guests of more distinction being placed above the salt, while the places below the salt were assigned to inferiors and dependents. This usage is often alluded to in the old dramatists. Thus, in Ben Jonson, it is said of a man who treats his inferiors with scorn, "he never drinks below the salt, i. e. he never exchanges civilities with those who sit at the lower end of the table." And in a contemporary writer, it is described as a mark of presumption in an inferior member of the household "to sit above the salt."
SAND-COLUMNS IN AFRICA.
Of this remarkable phenomenon, we extract the following interesting account from the Rev. N. Davis's "Evenings in my Tent";—
"The heat, during the last day or two, has been intense. The thermometer in my tent, during day and night, has been almost stationary at 100 degrees. My men have done, and still do, everything in their power to keep the tent cool, by erecting a high palm-branch fence around it, and by a constant immersion of the ground, but all this to very little effect. The wind, during this day, has been as hot as the flames issuing from a furnace; and the clouds of sand it raised, and carried along in its furious march, have been immense. In the distance could be seen numbers of sand columns; but these did not retain their form any considerable length of time. A contrary blast brought them in collision with each other; and these, blending their contents, raised a complete and dense barrier between us and the country beyond. I am no lover of danger; but, I must confess, I had an inward desire to see this phenomenon—one of the horrors of the desert—in greater perfection. I believe Bruce witnessed one of the most stupendous exhibitions of sand columns or sand spouts, caused by circular or whirl-winds, on record. In his journey through the desert of Senaar, his attention was attracted to a number of prodigious pillars of sand, at different distances, moving at times with great celerity, at others, stalking on with majestic slowness: at intervals, he thought they were coming in a very few minutes to overwhelm him and his companions. Again they would retreat, so as to be almost out of sight, their tops reaching to the very clouds. There the tops often separated, from the bodies; and these, once disjoined, dispersed in the air, and appeared no more. Sometimes they were broken near the middle, as if struck with a large cannon-shot. About noon, they began to advance with considerable swiftness upon them, the wind being very strong at north. Eleven of these awful visitors ranged alongside of them, at about the distance of three miles. The greatest diameter of the largest appeared to him, at that distance, as if it would measure ten feet. They retired from them, with a wind at south-east, leaving an impression upon the mind of our intrepid traveller to which he could give no name, though he candidly admits that one ingredient in it was fear, with a considerable deal of wonder and astonishment. He declares it was in vain to think of flying; the swiftest horse, or fastest sailing ship, could be of no use to carry them out of this danger,—and the full persuasion of this riveted him to the spot where he stood. Next day they were gratified by a similar display of moving pillars, in form and disposition like those already described, only they seemed to be more in number, and less in size. They came several times in a direction close upon them; that is, according to Mr. Bruce's computation, within two miles. They became, immediately after sunrise, like a thick wood, and almost darkened the sun, his rays, shining through them for near an hour, gave them an appearance of pillars of fire. At another time they were terrified by an army of these sand pillars, whose march was constantly south, a number of which seemed once to be coming directly upon them, and, though they were little nearer than two miles, a considerable quantity of sand fell around them. On the 21st of November, about eight in the morning, he had a view of the desert to the westward as before, and saw the sands had already begun to rise in immense twisted pillars, which darkened the heavens, and moved over the desert with more magnificence than ever. The sun shining through the pillars, which were thicker, and contained more sand apparently than any of the preceding ones, seemed to give those nearest them an appearance as if spotted with stars of gold. A little before twelve, the wind at north ceased, and a considerable quantity of fine sand rained upon them for an hour afterwards."
ANTIQUITY OF INTOXICATING DRINKS.
It is a common belief that wine was the only inebriating liquor known to antiquity, but this is a mistake. Tacitus mentions the use of ale or beer as common among the Germans of his time. By the Egyptians, likewise, whose country was ill adapted to the cultivation of the grape, it was employed as a substitute for wine. Ale was common in the middle ages, and Mr. Park states that very good beer is made, by the usual process of brewing and malting, in the interior of Africa. The favourite drink of our Saxon ancestors was ale or mead. Those worshippers of Odin were so notoriously addicted to drunkenness, that it was regarded as honourable rather than otherwise; and the man who could withstand the greatest quantity was looked upon with admiration and respect: whence the drunken songs of the Scandinavian scalds: whence the glories of Valhalla, the fancied happiness of whose inhabitants consisted of quaffing draughts from the skulls of their enemies slain in battle. Even ardent spirit, which is generally supposed to be a modern discovery, probably existed from a very early period. It is said to have been first made by the Arabians in the middle ages, and in all likelihood may lay claim to a still remoter origin. The spirituous liquor called arrack has been manufactured in the island of Java, as well as in the continent of Hindostan, from time immemorial. Brandy was made in Sicily at the commencement of the fourteenth century. As to wine, it was so common in ancient times as to have a tutelar god appropriated to it; Bacchus and his companion Silenus are as household words in the mouths of all, and constituted most important features of the heathen mythology. We have all heard of the Falernian and Campanian wines, and of the wines of Cyprus and Shiraz. Indeed, there is reason to believe that the ancients were in no respect inferior to the moderns in the excellence of the vinous liquors, whatever they may have been in the variety. Wine was so common in the eastern nations that Mahomet, foreseeing the baleful effects of its propagation, forbade it to his followers, who, to compensate themselves, had recourse to opium. The Gothic or dark ages seem to have been those in which it was the least common; in proof of this it may be mentioned that, so late as 1298, it was vended as a cordial by the English apothecaries. At the present day it is little drunk, except by the upper classes, in those countries which do not naturally furnish the grape. In those that do, it is so cheap as to come within the reach of even the lowest.
RUINS OF CLONMACNOIS.
A few miles south of Athlone are the famous ruins of Clonmacnois, the school where, according to Dr. O'Connor, "the nobility of Connaught had their children educated, and which was therefore called Cluan-mac-nois, 'the secluded recess of the sons of nobles.'" It was also, in ancient times, a renowned cemetery of the Irish kings; and for many centuries it has continued a favourite burial-place, the popular belief enduring to this day, that all persons interred here pass immediately from earth to heaven. The abbey is said to have been founded by St. Kieran about the middle of the sixth century, and soon became "amazingly enriched," so that, writes Mr. Archdall, "its landed property was so great, and the number of cells and monasteries subjected to it so numerous, that almost half of Ireland was said to be within the bounds of Clonmacnois." The ruins retain marks of exceeding splendour. In the immediate vicinity there are two "Round Towers." The above engraving represents one of the many richly-carved stone crosses that are scattered in all directions among the ruins.