The Sun.
London, England, 1825-08-20 00:00:00

,ANECDOTES, &c.

MuslC OF THE Rocks.— There is a rock in South Ame-
rica, on the bank of the river Oronoko, called Piedra de Carl-
Ghana Vieja, near which, HUMBOLDT says, travellers have
heard from time to time, about sun-rise, subterraneous sounds,
similar to those of the organ. Humboldt was not himself for-
tunate enough to hear this mysterious music, but still he be-
lieves in its reality, and ascribes those sounds to the difference
of temperature in the subterraneous and external air, whiCh at
sun-rise is most distant from the highest degree of heat on the
preceding day. The cur,rent of air, which issues through the
crevices of the rock, produces, in his opinion, those sounds,
which are heard by apply4'g the ear to the stone in a lying po-
sition. May we not suppose (Humboldt adds) that the ancien
inhabitants of Egypt, during their frequent navigations up and
down the Nile, may have made the same observation about a
rock of ,Thebais, and that this " Music of the Rocks" led to the
fraud of the priests with the statue of Memnon ? When " the
rosy-fingered Aurora made her son, the glOrious Memnon,
sound,"-it was nothing but the yoke of a man concealed under
the pedestal of the statue. But the obServation of the natives
of the Oronoko seems to explain, in a natural way, what gave
birth to the ggyptian faith in a stone that issued sounds at
sun -rise.

THE WELCH tYCLOPS.—In a rock upon the 'Sea-side of
the Island of Barry, near the South-East point of Glamorgan-
shire, was heard out of a chink or cavity of the Cliff, a great
noise as it were of several smiths at work. At one moment the
blowing of numerous bellows—then the strokes of hammers
and sounds of anvils—the turning of grindstoneS—tfie hissing
of steel-gads—and the flames• of an immense furnace.—
(Sped. p. 10.5.)
Before T have done with Charles Townshend," says WAL-
POLE, in one of his letters, " I must tell you of one of his
admirable bon mots. Aliss Draycote,, the great fortune, is
grown very fat; he says her tonnage is equal to her ilound-
egf,Pl

-THE CELEBRATED BUBB DODDlNGTON.—Doddington
was very lethargic. Falling asleep one day, after dinner, with
Sir Richard Temple, Lord Cobham, and several others, one of
the party reproached him with his drowsiness. He denied hav-
ing been asleep, and to prove he had not, offered to repeat all
Lord Cobham had been saying. Cobham challenged him to
do so. Doddington repeated a story, and Lord Cobham owned
he had been telling it. 4. Well," said Doddington, 44 and yet
1 did not hear a word of it ; but I went to sleep because I knew
that about this time of day you would tell that stor."
The skeleton, it seems, was about to insure his life at one of
the public offices. He was told that they did not insure bones,
but if he was married they would insure his rib.
PAUL JONES.—From a life of this remarkable person lately
published in the United States, we extract the following account
.of his descent on the British: oast, near Whitehaven :—" About
the time that Jones visited %Vhitehaven, he went round. to the
Firth of Forth, and made his appearance off the harbour of
Kirkaldy, a noted small town on the borders of Fifeshire (called
by the Scotch ' Lang toun o' Kirkaldy,' owing to its length.)—
No other enemy, however formidable, could have created in
the minds of the inhabitants such consternation and alarm as
that which then 4pproached. Paul Jones was the dread of all
old and young, (and pamphlets of his depredations were as
common in every house as almanacks). Ile was looked upon
as a sea monster, that swallowed up all that caine in his power.
The people all flocked to the shore to watch his movements, ex-
pecting the worst consequences. There was an. old Presbyte-
rian minister in the place, a very pious and good old man, but
of a most singular and eccentric turn, especially in addressing
the Deity, to whonyhe would speak with as much familiarity
as he would to an old farmer, and seemingly without respect, ,
as will appear from the following. He was soon seen making
his way through the people with an old black oak artn-chair,
which he lugged down to low water-mark, (the tide flow-
ing), and sat down in it. Almost out of breath, and rather
in a passion, he then began to address the Deity, in the
following singular way :.--" Now deed Lord, dinna ye think
its a shame for ye to send this vile pireet to rub our folk o'
Kirkaldy ? for ye ken they're a' puir enough already, and hae
naething to spaire. They are a' gaily guid, and it wad be a
peety to serve them in sic in a wa. The wa the wun blows,
he'll be here in a jiffie, and wha kens what he may do; He's
none too guid for ony thing. Meickle's the mischief he has dune
already. Ony pecket gear they hae gathered thegither he will gang
wi' the heal o't; may burn their hooses, tak their very clues, and,
tirl them to the sark; and waes me! wha kens but the bluidy vil-
laiu might tak their lives: 'fhepuir weemen ere maist freightened
out o' their wuts, and the bairns skirling after them. I canna'
thol't! I canna' thol't! I hae been lang a faithfu' servant to
ye, Laird; but gin ye dinna turn the wun about, and blaw the
scoundrel out of our gate, I'll no stir a fit, but will juist sit here
until the time comes and drowns me. • . Sae tak your wuli o't."
It may be well to add, that the wind changed about the time of
the honest parson's supplication. .

DIAMONDS.-The weight of diamonds is esti-
mated in carats, 150 of which are equal to one
ounce troy. The average price of rough
dia-
monds is about 21. per carat. According to this
scale, a wrought diamond, 3 carats,is worth 721.,
and 'one of 100 carats 80,0001. The largest dia-
mond probably ever heard of is one mentioned by
Tavernier, who saw it in the possession of the
Great Mogul. It was about as big as a hen's egg,
and weighed 900 carats in the rough. The largest
diamond ever brought to Europe is now in
the possession of the Sovereign of Russia. It
weighs 195 carats, and was long employed as the
eye of a Braminical idol. A French soldier dis-
covered the value of the gem ; and changed his
religion, worshipping at the altar of the god,
that be might deprive him of his splendid eye.
At length he succeeded .in substituting a piece
of glass for the diamond, and again became
a good Christian ! After passing through se-
veral hands, the Empress Catherine at length
fixed it in the possession of the Russian Crown,
giving for it 90,0001., and a perpetual annuity of
1000/. It is cut in the rose form, and is the size of
a, pigeon's egg. One of the most beautiful is the
Pitt diamond, which is a brilliant, and weighs
rather more than 136 carats ; It was brought from
India by a gentleman of the name of Pitt, and
purchased by the Duke of Orleans, who placed
it in the Crown of France where it still remains.
The celebrated Picot diamond is now in the pos-
session of Messrs. Rundell and Bridges.

HACKNEY COACIIMEN.-The refusal of hark-
ney coachmen to convey persons from the Thea-
tres to a distance, unless at exorbitant rates, is
well known. One of these gentry was deservedly
punished some time since by o trick worth re-
cording. A gentleman coming out of Covent-
garden, and seeing a coach unhired, desired
the driver to take him to Kennington-cross ; but
he refused, on the plea of a prior engage-
ment: " It is unlucky," replied the gentleman,
" as I have got a pound note for any good fellow
that will drive me home in quick time."—:-" A
pound note, did you say, your Honour? Mayhap
then your business is urgent ; in that case I will
tip you the long trot!" Before the Gentleman
proceeded, he wished it to be understood, that
having been out raking the previous night he was
intolerably drowsy, and as he was desirous not to
be disturbed in his nap, it was arranged that
Coachy was to pay turnpikes. Jarvis promised to
be punctual, and in jumped the wag : but no
sooner was the door shut on the one side, than
he sprung out of the window on the other. The
gentleman soon found another coach to take hiin
home, and hurrying the driver, they came up
with Coachy " trotting along the road," about
two-thirds, of the distance. The wag now con-
sidering he had received full satisfaction on be-
half of himself and the public, passed on, and
was just set down in time to see his one pound
friend stop, and to hear him, on discovering the
hoax, invoke the choicest blessings on his head.