Miscelianeous.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1580, 19 August 1882, Page 6

Miscelianeous.

A HIDEOUS MOCKERY. Two or three years ago, it was our fate to inspect officially certain vaults in an ancient church of much historical interest that was undergoing repairs. The object Mas to ascertain about who had been buried in three leaden coffins. They were doubtle&s great personages, but there was nothing to tell us who they were, and it was expected that we might find inscriptions of some kind, to throw light on the subject. The coffins, though they had been originally as strong as lead could make them, had been entombed from a century to a century and a half. - Their condition was lamentable. The lead was here and there broken into large fissures, through the forcible explosion of confined gasses, and it was not difficult to distinguish the contents. All had been embalmed according to the best rules of art. But the result showed how. miserable had been the effort to secure an imitation of immortality. The appearance of the bodies generally was that of ragged skeletons dipped in tar, black, horrible and repulsive ; the whole a painful satire on the so-called embalming system. One of the bodies was that of a nobleman of high rank. To think of a man in his social position, who had figured in gorgeous pageants, being condemned after death, by the over kind solicitude of relatives, to a fate too revolting for description. Had he been a parish pauper, he would have been buried in the earth, and his body would long since have mouldered into dust, while the exuberant gases would have been harmlessly wafted away in the gentle breezes that serve to give life to the vegetable world. Being a nobleman, he had been, by way of distinction, laid in a leaden coffin, and placed in a gloomy vault, liable to become a piteous spectacle to future generations. One of these leaden coffins more rent in pieces than the others, contained a form which was recognised by a medical gentleman present to be the remains of a young female, probably a young lady of quality in her day, admired for her beauty and splendour of her long yellow tresses. What a fate had been hers. On touching the head, a part of the scalp came off, along with a stream of hair that doubtless had at one time been the pride of the wearer. Melancholy sight ! And why had the body of this gentle creature with her flowing, tres&es been consigned to a condition that brought it under the gaze of a body of official investigators, more than a century after dissolution, instead of being decorously laid in the dust, there to sink into the undisturbed rest that had been beneficently distined by its Creator ? Let t'liose who maintain the practice of entombling in leaden coffins and vaults, answer the question.

A XOBLEMAN'S CAREER. The somewhat sudden, through none the less expected, death of the Earl of Lonsdale has called up a good many reminiscences of the short and gilded care in dissipation, vice and folly of every kind by which this wild young nobleman has made his name at once famous and infamous, even before (as since) he came into the Earldom and £168,000 a year some seven years ago. At the age of twenty-six he has died of wickedness and folly, just as did the Marquis of Hastings before him. While yet Viscount Lowther , at the age of seventeen he married in a drunken freak the servant maid of his tutor, who was a French girl, by the bye, nobody seems to know . At all events, when lie came into the title shortly after, he took care to discard her, and on coming of age he could, of course, legally annul the marriage. Which he did, and subsequently, in 1579, married Lady Gladys Herbert, a sister of Lord Pembroke, a beauty in her first season, whose tall, dark, stately style has gained for her the name of " gypsy." How this girl, then supposed to be in the first blush and bloom of maidenhood, could consent to sell herself to the titled scapegrace was a wonder to many of her friends. But the girl, though a beauty, was a penniless one, and, after a regular siege to get him by visits to friends' houses in the neighbourhood of Lowther Castle, and where she was purposely thrown in his society, he proposed, was accepted, settled £10,000 a year on her, gave her all the diamonds Hunt and Roskoll had on hand, previous to bestowing the family gems, and they were married. From the word go, almost their married life has been one of separate patli — why, no one seems to know. That both did whatthey liked is, however, certain, and both have been equally condemned. The fact is, she is said to have married the young Earl but for the purpose of securing a dower wherewith, upon her husband's death, she would be enabled to marry the man of her heart — a handsome young Captain in the Household Cavalry, who since (as before) her marriage has been her constant shadow. The next heir to the title was the Honorable Hugh Lowther (now Lord LoJisdale), who did not feel as chargrined at his brother's marriage as most younger sons do, and, in e ,fact, married a sister of the scapegrace Marquis of Huntly in thr face of it, his wifo doubtless sharing the belief that a life of dissipation is not conductive to paternity. However, this hope was shattered. Within the allotted time Lady Lonsdale gave birth to a daughter. The sex of the child was a fortunate thing, not alone for the heirs, but for its mpther ; for had it be a sou, it has been said that the Earl's brother, having more _ faith in the enervating effects of a wild life, would have immediately taken steps to question its legitimacy. But now the thing is over. The penniless brother is Earl, and the beauty free. We shall see how long it will be ere she dons the orange blossoms and myrtle again ; but this time sans the coronet. It is a question whether the new Earl will be a whit better than the last. The Lowther young men are a bad lot, and one can't hope for much from them. The next brother, the Hororable Charles, who is now the heir, was up before the Cotinty Court, or "County Courted," as the saying here is, the other day, being summoned to pay a bill for money lent him by a low public housekeeper, and ,for- the price and keep ' of a bulldog. The young man pleaded infancy, and the poor man had to whistle for his money. V

, . ' THE BARBADIAN GIRL. Interesting material for study on evolutional development may be found in the growth of 'a small girl tq^th'e dignity" of wearing \a, long "white"? df ekh; ' $o '"doubt eacK r 'successiveV t sfeep i^&'jbheni -of the samp importance iSS'to' "tMix fu^a'faWtirea sisters r pf J-"' CovpreH wi^h 1 ;:blsc the sc^tiesuaVoloeV'tfora: earmehtj or"sometimes- attiretMin ; nothine'but a pn|ire»|ib|^^|i|^»|^

roam into' the fields, secure a prize inthe shape of a huge sugar-cane, and enjoy thetnselves in gradually chewing up several feet of it. As they grow up their wearing apparel improves. It would be difficult to draw the line sharply at which the most pronounced .metamorphosis takes place. By the time they have arrived at an age of comparative usefulness, either at market or in the sugar-house, they have risen to the exalted position of wearing long dresses. While working or walking in the country a "reef" is taken in the dress below the waist. Huge earrings and bracelets begin to ornament the dusky skin and a tastefully draped turban of flashy color protects the head from the rays of a hot sun. The hair is plaited in short, stiff braids, and is ornamented with beads ,and ribbons ; a necklace, sometimes more than one, is added ; rings with precious glass stones adorn the fingers, and the young woman is ready for ati evening promenade. Her good figure and general ornamentation may attract the attention of some stalwart younc; boatmen, and a deepening of color in the dark brown cheeks betrays the blush which his londly expressed admiration has called Wrth.— American Naturalist. THE AVOKD " TEETOTAL." Many explanations have been given of the word " teetotal," but the following is the correct one : Among the early converts was Richard Turner, a hawker of fish, whose speech was fluent'and not refined. Richard would coin words to enpress his meaning when others failed. About twelve months after the abovementioned pledge was signed, and while the controversy with those who only abstained from ppirits was still warm, Richard delivered a fervid speech, in which he spoke against any half-mea-sures, and declared that " nothing but the te-te- total would do." Mr Livesey, who was present, at once exclaimed " That shall be the name !" The meeting cheered, and from that time the word "teetotal" was everywhere applied to entire as contrasted with partial abstinence. The author of the name was a staunch advocate of the cause for many years, and at his doath he was followed to the grave by hundreds of teetotalers, the streets being thronged by spectators. An inscription over his grave, in Preston Churchyard, says :—: — " Beneath this stone are deposited the remains of Richard Turner, author of the word Teetotal, as applied to abstinence from all intoxicating liquors, who departed this life the 27th day of October, 1846 ; aged 56 years." — Cassclft,. THE DYAKS. Tub semi-official character of Mr Book's journey perhaps assisted him in gaining an entree into the " best society" of the Dyaks, and he became intimatetly acquainted with Mobang himself, the gristly king of the cannibal head-hun-ters, whose personal appearance is so dreadful and his history so sanguinary that one shudders as he reads the minute description. The traveller wondered if this grim visage could ever laugh. After trying in vain in many ways to provoke a smile while he was making, a sketch, he finally handed the finished portrait to the grim chief to examine. The chief scrutinised it closely, then looked his guest for the first time full in the face, and " actually smiled a ghastly smile." The horrible customs of the head-hunt-ing Dyaks are not talked of frankly among themselves, and Mr Bock believes that head-hunting is dying out before the advanco of civilisation. The religious superstition that demands the bringing of human heads from some neighboring tribe whenever any chief is born or buried, and whenever a child is named, is still believed in and actud upon, as well as the eating of human flesh, in certain localities. Curiously enough, the minor morals of the cannibals are most exemplary. Thieving and conjugal infidelity are almost unknown, and the people are in general quite as hospitable and generous as the more civilised nations of Europe. The most important of the semi-inde-pendent states of Borneo is Coti, and the Sultan of Coti interested himself greatly in the mission of Mr Bock, lending him great assistance in the way of men, boats, and supplies, and joining in the expedition himeelf , at the same time furnishing his guest in his own person with much entertaining literary material. The Sultan has a passion for cockfighting-, and prides himself upon the valour of the royal poultry, which he arms for battle with his own hands, fastening upon each curved steel, blados three inches long and as sharp as a razor, and, rubbing the edges with lemon to make the wounds smart more. He has an income of £5000 per month, derived from a ten per cent, duty on exports and imports, and a monopoly in salt, opium, and coals. With this large income he keeps np royal state and gratifies his taste for gambling and for jewellery, which is another royal hobby. He has a curious mania for bric-a-brac, and his collection of watches, tea and coffee services in Bilver, old an now procelain and glass, some of it very valuable, would be appreciated by the curiosity hunters of Europe. He makes no use of these except to display them to visitors. But a more expensive taste is his passion for diamonds, of which he has an immense and 7ery valuable collection, mostly found in the mines of Borneo, and six or eight Chinese goldsmiths are constantly employed on his premises in making gold and silver bracelets, and jewellery studded with hundreds of diamonds. His Government is described as an absolute inonarohy or despotism, but he seems to have a disposition for improving and developing the resources of his country, and has done much to make his subjects prosperous and contented.