Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-06-26
Curious Avcrsions.

The secretary of Francis |. used To
stop up his nostrils with bread if he
saw a dish of apples, to prevent an
otherwise inevitable bleeding of the
nose. A Polish king had an antipathy
to both the smell and sight of this
wholesomefruit, and a family of Aqui-
tame had a hereditary hatred Of it.
A Flemish damsel was sadly troubled
by an uncomfortable aversion to the
smell of bread. Cheese, mutton, musk
and ambergris have been so repugnant
to some nasal organs as to send their
owners into commissions.
Gretry, the composer, could not
bear the scent of the rose. neither
could Anne Of Austria. The mere
sight of the queen of flowers was too
much for Lady Heneage, bed chamber
woman to Queen Bess indeed, Ke-
nelm Digby records that her cheeks
became blistered when some one laid
a white rose upon it as she slept. Her
ladyship's antipathy was almost as
strong as that Of the dame who tainted
when her lover approached her wear
ing an artificial rose in his button
hole. A violet was a thing of horror
to the eyes of the Princess de Lam
belle, tansy was abOminable to an Earl
Of Barrymore, Scaliger grew pale be-
fore the water-cress, and a soldier who
would have scorned to turn his back
on a foe fed without shame from a
sprig of rue.
A poor Neapolitan was always seized
with a fit upon attempting to swallow
a morsel of flesh meat of any kind,
and nature thus condemned him to a
vegetarianism, a sorer intiiction than
that suffered by Guianerius, whose
heart palpitated violently if he in
1ulged in a pork dinner, or by the
lady who could not taste udder of
beet without her lips swelling to un-
comfortable dimensions. DIR. Prout
had a patient who declared honest
mutton was as bad as poison to him.
Thinking this was all fancy. the doe
tor administered the obnoxious meat
under various DISCUSSES, but every
experiment ended in a severe vomiting
fit.
Another unlucky individual always
had a fit of the govt a few hours after
eating fish, aud a Count d'Armstadt
never failed to go off in a faint if he
knowingly or unknowingly partook of
any dish containing the slightest modi.
cum of olive oil. A still worse pen
atty attached to lobster salad in the
Ease of a lady, for if she veBtqred to
taste it at a dancing party her neck,
before she returned to the ballroom,
would be covered with ugly blotches
and her peace of mind destroyed for
that evening,
According to Burton, a melancholy
Duke Of M~uscOvey fell instantly i'll if
he but looked upon a woman, and
another authority was seized with a
cold palsy under similar p~royocations.
WeiirichuF tolls Of a noblaman who
drew the line at old ladies', which did
not prevent him losing his life in con-
sequence Of his strange prejudice; for,
being called from the supper-table by
some mischievous friends to speak to
an old woman, he fell down directly
when he beheld her, and died then
and there. What an old woman did
for this old hater, an eclipse did for
Charles D'Escaro, Bishop Of Lsngres
1t was his iRGoRyagjepl custom to
faint at the commencement Of a lunar
eclipse, and remain insensible as long
as it lasted. When he was very old
and very infirm an eclipse took place.
The good bishop went off as usual
and never came to again. Old john
Langley, who settled in ireland il
1851, cherished an antipathy quite as
obstinatcly, but had no idea Of dyiuG
Of il. Ry his last Will aud testament
he ordered his corpse to be walked BY
fifty Irishmen. for each of whom twC
quarts Of aqua vitae we're to be pro
vided in the hope that, getting drunk
they would take to killiGs ehc another
aud do something toward l%essening thu
breed.