The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1880-09-26
MIsCELLANEOUs.


ships, to which the English could op.
pose but eighty vessels, and these 50
small that four Of them only equaled in
tonnage the smallest of the galleons.
The Armada carried 5000 seamen and
10000 soldiers. The English fleet was
manned by 5000 sailors.
Nutmegs grow upon a tree from
twenty-five TO thirty feet high, which
bears a fruit resembling in form and
size the seckle pear. When ripe the
outer shell of this fruit breaks, reveal
ing an inner case of bright red, known
to commerce a mace. This in its turn
Is removed, and the nutmeg is found
inclosed in a third shell, harder than
either Of the others.
The parsees Of India are fire-worship-
ers, and reverence the san, moon and
stars. Upon the affairs Of their tenn
pies the priests keep Gre continually
burning, and declare that 1t has never
been extinguished. When engaged in
their duties these devotees wear masks
over the lower part Of their faces, lest
their breath should pollute the sacred
flame.
Although there are some very fine
ships in the Sultan's navy. the officers
are in many Instances lamentably igno-
rant of their profession. 1t is said that
a Turkish captain was n ordered to
take his ship to Malta. After an alb
sence Of about a month he reappeared
at Constantinople and reported that he
had searched carefully, and was con
WINGED that there was no such place rs
Malta in the Mediterranean.
In one OF his letters, Oliver Crom-
well, speaking Of the cost to him, per-
sonally, of his famous Ironsides, says:
1.-THE business hath had OF me in money
between 81, 100 and 81 Zoo, therefore
my private estate can do little to help
the public" The grim commander
took much pride in the efficiency and
discipline ofhis psalm-singing followers,
calling them "a lovely company and
declaring that 'not a man swears but
he pays his II pence"
Professor Graetz, the eminent Jewish
scholar, has written u series OF articles
on the origin Of the Shylock legend. the
first of which appears in the August
number OF the German Repository for
Juddic History aud Science. The first
trace OF it, says the author, is to be
found in Herbers' French versifcation
of "Dolopathos, or the Seven Wise Men
of Rome" made for one Of the kings
of France. There we find that q rich
vassal of a knight, M Of whose legs
had been cut of by the order Of his feu-
dial superior, offered the latter a loan
of 100 marks, on the condition that IL
this amount were not paid by a fixed
time the vassal should have the right of
cutting out piece of the knights flesh.
The knight having succeeded in his
purpose with the money, forgot altogeth-
er to pay it. The vassal, out of revenge,
insisted upon his right. The Judge,
who was zone else than the knights
bride in disguise, pronounced that the
flesh should be cut out, but no more
nor no less than stipulated, otherwise
the creditor would forfeit his life.
Herbers makes the remark that this is
an old story , which the monk Jehans
dc Haute-Selve translated into Latin.
The same story has passed into the
''Gesta Romanorum" in another form.
The first writer who introduced a jew
of Mestre as the creditor was Ser Clio
vonni Fiorentino, in his collection OF
tales entitled "Pecorone, =" composed in
1873. Shakespeare, says professor Ora
etz, has undoubtedly made use OF ''Pec-
oronc," rs is admitted by nearly all
Shakespeare scholars. Professor Delius
gives in his edition of the Merchant
of Venice" an English translation of
"Pecorone', which Shakespeare might
have known. The difference, however, |
that in "Pecorone'' the jew is Of Mes
tire, near Venice, and Shylock of Ven
ice is explained by Professor Graetz by
the supposition that Florentino avoided
giving offence to the Jews of Venice,
where very probably a rich community
existed in the fourteenth century,
while Shakespeare chose a famous
town instead of the obscure Mestre.
1t is curious enough that the Shylock
legend is also in Eastern literature, If
Malone may DO trusted. Whether the
origin of the legend is Eastern or
Western. opinions differ.