Vicksburg weekly herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1868-1883, 1870-01-08

been; but below is an assertion
that be was really beastly, or, at
any rate, not merely human.
had LORD BYRON A TAIL?
When tho eccentric Lord Mon.
hoddo wrote his Essay on the
Origin and Progress oil Ian.
guage," in which he advanced that
the primitive man was an ape,
born with a tail. he little thought
that the most celebrated men OF
his time might have been adduced
as an instance lavoTing the truth
OF his theory. Poor MoubOddo,
he used 10 watch Mt the bedroom
door when a child was born in his
house and accused the nurse,
when she made her appearance, Of
docking the newborn Of its caudal
appcndage. He was somewhat
insane on the tai. theory, and Il al,
most broke his heart when he was
told by his friend Sir John Banks
that he cosld not find the cele.
brated islanders who wagged their
tails doglike according to a Dutch
skipper who had sailed in the Bay
Oi Bengal.
What would have been the phil
osopher's JOY had no been privil.
eyed 10 read the following:
"Lord Byron WAS, in a sense, a
devil. Incredible Us the thing may
seem TO the uoughtess, the
handsOmest man in England had
q small tail, a pair Of rudimentary
horns, and short, squad feet, ii.
vided forward from the instep in.
to two parts, instead Of being
furnished with toes. Before he
was born, his mother hal been
once greatly terrified by seeing,
when In a very delicate state Of
health, the celebrated picture Of
"Satan Spurne2," in the gallery ut
La IIaye, and tie result had been
the fashiOning Of her child to
some extent after the mOnstrous
form Of which the sight caused
her alarm, and Of which the con-
tinuous recollection could not be
alfaccd by any means known to
her physicians. At the time Of
her confinement, il was at first
suggested that the monstrosity
should not be suffered to live hut
the child's body, as a whole, was
so perfectly shaped, and his face
so wondrously beautiful, that the
suggestion was forth with put
aside, and England was not de-
prived of what was to become in
due time one Of itS choicest Orna.
ments, Puor Lady Byron never
recovered wholly from the shock
caused by her discovery Of what
her husband really was and part
~ through excess of Imagination,
partly in consequence Of bad oil.
vice from persons who shall b.
nameless, she felt it to be her duty
10 insist upon her husband subject.
ing himself to certain painful
operations. But this Lord Byron
obstinately refused to do. II,
urged, and with considerable force
that the peculiar manner in which
he wore his abundant curls effect.
ually hid from view the rudimen
tary horns, and that, as he never
appeared in public without his
boots and %trowsers, none would
ever suspect the existence of his
other defects, with the exception
Of his valet, in whom he placed
implicit confidence
at is not truoY A joke |! a ca.
narh !! a lie! are the various exclu.
nations. The author Of the story
solemnly asserts in his communi.
cation which was made to the
Madras Null that his father, a man
Of sterling veracity, had 1t from
one Of Lord Byron's most inti.
mate friends The tail i, not an
impossibility. ignoring old le'
gcnds concerning the wild men d
Central Africa, and the yarns Of
the ancient English chroniclCrs
ancnt the dorsal extensions Of the
Irish, tales have hccn known "a
hang IRON human spines ia these
our marvel. abhoring days, The
French medical journals report
that there was ''latcly brought IA
N. Gosselin, at the Hospital de Ia
Charlie, on infant I've weeks old,
bearing at the end ofthe trunk an
appendix i've centlmetres long,
q little thicker than a goose. quill
aud slightly tapering at the free
end. On examination, NJ. GOsse
lin found il 10 he soft, and appa.
ernuy not Il prolongation Of the
vertebral column" Several years
ago, too, the medical faculty OF
Edinburg, Scotland, were exer.
cised BY the fact that two children
having tails we're born to q half.
witted fellow named Henderson,
himself the possesor Of a three.
jointcd tail.
Ought not Mrs. Stowe to make
another visit to England for the
purpose Of investigating the sub
ject before she commits her book
10 print. The tail will sweep her
horrible theory into oblivion il il
be established. MADAM, you