Smyrna times., 1857-05-20
Gboitt S kttt bes
Gu riuus Facts from History.

That principle of the Quakers which forbids
them TO take aa ath was first legally recog-
sued ia 1902, when the British Parliament
[Feh 49, passed act accepting their atfrma-
tlsa iRslead Of an Oath.
Au old writer says that agriculture was in-
vented by TriPtnleRy, about 1000 before Christ.
siacrubias says ii was taught the aborigines by
Saturn. BuG agriculture undoubtedly had its
origin when Adam was driven from Eden, aud
the ground vas cursed. The first mention Of
agriculture is found in the writings of Moses,
who says that Cain was tiller of the ground"
The Athenians pretended that it was among
them That the art of sowing corn began, though
the Cretans, S.cilians and Egyptians, the last
with the most probability, lay claim to the
hunor.
In OIden times a curious trial was sometimes
adopted to test the guilt of accused persOns.-
II was called the trial of cOrsaed. A lot of
bread consecrated with form of exorcism, was
given to the supposed criminal, who was to eat
it. partaking of the sacrament at the same
time, aud praying that it might destroy him if
England ia 1852, afterwards dJured all connec-
ton with the death OF the Kings mother. He
appealed TO his cOrsned, which stuck in his
throat and killed him. Hence the phrazes 'Pll
take my sacrament upon it )" "may this morsel
be my last which are still in use in Eng land;
aud the phrase, al should think it would stick
in your tn hroat "--sometmes applied to one who
is telling a lie. Another ordeal was that by
fire aud water, asd was in use among the an
cient Greeks, aud in England. 1t was abolish
ell by Henry ILL.,, in 1861. That by fire, was
con6ued to the upper class of people; that by
water to the lower The ordeal was sometimes
allowed to be performed by deputy, and hence
the expression, "gong through fire and water
to serve another" The custom of throwing
woman suspected Of being witches into horse
pond, in the belief that they would sink if they
were not witches, aud swim if they were, was
probably relic of this barbarlsm.
Paganism was finally overthrown in the Ro-
man emp re by Theodosius the Younger, about
the year 800, although Constantine ordered al
the Pagan temples to be destroyed as early al
33I.
The art Of painting is said to have been o
the highest ap.iquity in Egypt. 1t was first in
troduced at Rome from Hetruria 29l B. c.
The first excellent pictures were brought from
Corinlh to Rome lac B.C. Painting in oil wal
invented at Bruges by Van Eick in l4lO. Th'
earliest picture of this kind Of which any know
ledge has been transmitted to US, was an Eco
Homo 10 I455. The earliest mention of th'
art in England is in 1923. about which tim
Henry VIII. patronizsd Holbein, and invite
Titan to his court The FIRST practising artis
of celebrity in the United States was Joh
) Watson (born in Scotland in 1850 who com
menced painting portraits in New Jersey i
Ills. Copley, the celebrated painter, was Dor
in Boston, in lT3s, and resided about the perio
of the revolution in Beacon street He aftei
wards removed to England. where his son b
came Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Chancellor of Grel
Britain.
The earliest German emigrants to the Unite
States settled in Pennsylvania. Seven tho,
sand families of Palatines, protestant sec
were driven from the banks of the Rhine
the French. and sought refuge in England
They were Hospitality received and were e.
eamped on Blackheath and Cambrrwell col