The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-08-29
 Maryels in siiniatafe.

I
 Bale. who filled legal post, He de-
 voted himself to the task of writing the
 Lords Prayer. the Creed. the Com
 mandments. two prayers. his name ana
 ofIice. and the date of the month. year and reign in such minute characters
 that the paper was enclosed In A ring
 which. at an audience. he solemniy presented to the virgin queen. She &C., eepted Y not being given to refuse presents Of any sort: but. with her usu- al thrlftness. tho only return she made to the ingenious donor was to wear the ring on her royal finger. which no doubt amply repaid him for his la | bor Some unknown ancient Is. now ever. said by Pliny 10 have far sur passed Peter Bale in this line, having written the Iliad in so small com pass as to be contained in nutshell. The pen and tho cherrystone may fairly be considered as the most gene ral factors in miniature marvels. Of the former one might instance many more examples. The curious thing Is that most of these were effected long before the ubiquitous steel pen, with quills. True 1t is that pen-mending, with the most exquisite skill, was a last-century indispensable of the tutor. and that quills range from swans to crows in fineness. Yet most moderSs find the quill only adapted for large and "splashy" writing. Probably using them for. minute multitudinous call graphy in lost art. The carving of cherrystones has been a favorite di-, version of many who possessed skill, patience and perseverance. Of men tai cherrystone carving there has been much. and probably the Rape of the Lock" will always remain as the most complete and admirable specimen. But the actual cherrystone has always been favorite object of art in this style.
 Among the contents of Don Saltero's museum in Queen 'Anne's days was a cherrystone with the heads of the Evangelists carved on it. Various for eign instances might be mentioned which excited general admiration.
 
 which divided, with the rumors of Charles Edwards last throw for the stake of a crown, the attention of the Londohers of 1745. The exhibition in, the Strand seems to the majority of them to have been as expressing as the news from the north-which can easily be credited when we remember Horace Walpole's rallusion to the easy going middle-class men, who were in all sincerity going to hire postchaise and travel as far. as possible along the great North road, to see "the High flanders pass on their march towards vicious half cherrystone indeed was ex- hibited at the New Exchange (not the Exeter Exchange, afterwards famous for poor "Chunee's"-the elephant as we'll known in the last as Jumbo" in the present centufy-fate.) Here was to be seen half cherrystone contain ing a wonderful collection in mipia- ture, and the ella boration of which must indeed have pointed5a moral for those inculcating the value Of time. It com- prised a. table and chairs, three hu- man figures, plates, dishes, spoons, a looking-glass and knives and forks. Be it remembered that not a whole but a half cherrystone contained all these items. r@
 Some quarter of a century later the Exeter Exchange rivalled this display in a most elaborate construction, which, it is said, required the space of twenty years for its completion. It showed country house, park, garden, temples and cascades, with over a hundred human figures moving at diff ferent building operations, while in the park were running deer and three car riages and horses. all in motion. The whole of these animate and inanimate figures were inclosed in space which was only four feet and half square. All the operations, of a builder were duly represented, none of the figures either on this or in. the pleasure-seek- ing part of the spectacle being more than two inches high. It is to be hoped that the reward reaped by the originator of this complicated chef doeuvre was solid one. This per- | formance may be classed with those 
 minute yet effective of which was a tiny carriage and six with moving hu- man figures as pages and running | horses. which, for the amusement of | Louis XIV. careered around table at certain points, the, pages opening the | doors and a lady in full dress emerg- | ing from the carriage.
 Of the simpler kind of reductio ad l minimum we may instance the nest of ivory balls. China originated the fash | ion; nowhere else has the thing been 1 done with such deHcacy of hand, ex- l cept possibly in Japan. One solid ivory | ball is first peeled, as 1t were, in orange fashion, leaving exquisite miniature carved work, through which the inner globe is seen; this is treated similarly, l and so on down to the tiny innermost ball, each of these being loose within the other. The skill and patience re- quired quite equal those needed for more ambitious performances, either mental or manual. Ball within ball suggests wheel within wheel, and
 tiniest watches have long been popular instances of the infinitely laborious lit- l tie. It is not worth while to illustrate
 the theme with these except to combat g. very widespread -idea that such
 achievements are entirely modern. But in the sixteenth century a watch
 was made and completed in the best time-keeping fashion which was no l bigger than A walnut. In Queen Eliz-