Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1857-05-22
From the Boston journal.
CURIOUS FACTS FROM HIS
TORY.


forbids them to take an oath was first
legally recognized in 1902, when the
British Parliament (Fed. 49, passed an
act accepting their affirmation instead of
an oath.
An old writer says that agriculture
was invented by Triptolemy, about 1000
before Christ. Macrobius says it was
Taught the abOrigines by Saturn. But
agriculture undoubtedly had IFS origin |
when Adam was driven from Eden, and
the ground was cursed. The first men
ton of agriculture is found in the writ
ings of Moses, who says that Cain g was
tiller of tee ground The Athenians
pretended that it was among them that
the art of sowing corn began, though the
Cretans, Sicilians and Egyptians, the
last with the most probability, lay claim
to the honor.
In olden times a curious trial was
sometimes adopted to test the guilt Of
accused persons. 1t was called the trial
of corsned A bit of bread consecrated
with form Of exorcism, was given TO
the supposed criminal, who was to eat ii,
partaking of the sacrament at the same
time, and praying that it might destroy
him if guilty. Goodwin, Earl of Kent,
who invaded England in 1852, afterwards
adiured all connection with the death Of
the Kings mother. He appealed to his
corsned, which stuck in his throat and
killed him. Hence the phrases. I'll
take my sacrament upon it : " may this
morsel be my last"-which are still in
use in England; and the prhase, &"
should think it would stick in your
, throat"-sometimes applied to one who
is telling a lie. Another ordeal was that
by fire and water, and was in use among
the ancient Greeks, and in England. II
was abolished by Henry Ill, in l261.-
That by fire, was confined TO the upper
class of people; that by water to the
lower. The ordeal was sometimes allow,
; ed to be performed by deputy, and hence
the expression, going through fire ant
y water to serve another" The custom 0
E throwing women suspected of beins
t witches into a horse pond, in the belle
S that they would sink if they were no
D witches, and swim if they were, was pro
e baby a relic of this barbarism.
It Paganism was finally overthrow il
e the Roman empire by Theodosius tn
< Younger, about the year $50, althoug
Ii Constantine ordered all the Pagan TEN
:. pies to be destroyed as early as 81.
IS The art of painting is said to hav
% been of the highest antiquity in Egyp
1t was first introduced at Rome froI
i Hetruria POI B. c. The first exceller
II pictures were brought from Corinth I
: Rome 146 B. c. Painting in oil Wa
'r invented at Bruges by Van Eick in AL
se The earliest picture of this kind of whic
X any knowledge has been transmitted {
Ut US, was an Ecce Homo in 1856. tt
OF earliest mention of the art in England
Id in 1923, about which time Henry VII
OF patronized Holbein, and invited Titis
1T to his court. The first practising art
IL of celebrity in the United States W
ID. John Watson (born in Scotland in 168.
IN who commenced painting portraits
he New Jersey in Ills. Copley, the eel
- brated painter, was born in Boston,
to 1873, and resided about the period
on the revolution in Beacon street.
nd afterwards removed to England, whe
lat his own son became Lord Lyndhur
Ire Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.
''e The earliest German emigrants to
United States settled in Pennsylvan
Ap- Seven thousand families Of Palatines
me protestant sect, where driven from I
ne banks of the Rhine by the French, a
er- sought refuge in England. They We
vi Hospitality received and were encamr
inc on Blackheath and CamberwelI comm,
Jus Aims were collected for them and Pal
ment granted large sum of money
's7 relieve their immediate necessities. F
-ne hundred families went under the prot
~" ton of the government to ireland, a
~ the rest were sent out to New York a
Hudson's Bay. But not being well
= ceived by the people there, they went
To Pennsylvania where they settled in Ia
Oe Being there greatly encouraged by
inc Quakers they invited over some tn
rus sands of German and Swiss Protestar
who soon made this colony more flo
heu ishing than any other.
Germany was covered in the days
N' Caesar with an immense forest, called
Hercinian Forest" 1t was sixty d:
eos journey in length, and nine DAYS
leo' breadth The Black forest was p
nth Z