The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-10

the stone heads remain to tell the story
of the plague at Rotterdam.
The famous London Stone Is OF inter-
est to the antiquarian from its having
been the central miliarium. or milestone
in London (similar to that in the Forum
at ancient Romeo. from which the Brit
ish highways radiated, and from which
the distances on them were reckOned. The
stone is now inserted in the outer wall
Of the Church of st. Swithin. In Cannon
Street. The top of it is seen through an
oval opening covered with a grille. 1t is
a block of Kentish Rug Dowcr Green
sInd). encased in a frame of Bath stone
, The London stone appears TO nave beeh
as much of a palladium in London as
the Coronation stone was In Scotland
Shakespeare refers to it in Henry ~,
Act ~. Jack Cade, striking it with ms
STAFF, excIaims: Now is Mortimer lord
of this city, Dryden alludeS to the stone
in his fablesDf the Cock and the Fox.
Nor must the Barney Stone be forgot
ten. The ruins of the famous old fortress.
Blarney Castle, are visited ny thousahdS
of tourists every year who undergo the
perilous feat of kissing the Barney
Stone 1t is supposed, in the language
of Prout to be endowed with the prop
erty of communicating to the hi'ppy
tongue that comes in contact with It's
polished surface the gift of gentle, lnslnu-
ating speech. with soft talk in all It's
qualifications whether employed in VOWS
and promises as light as air, such as lead
CAPTIVE the female heart, or elaborate
rnystifcations of a grosSer grain, Such as
may do for the House Of Commons all
summed up and characterized by the nlys-
FERROUS term Blarney. An attempt mas
heer made to prove that the stone was
originally brought to Ireland by a Phoe-
nician colony. and that the inhabitants
of Tyre and Carthage uong ITS custo-
dians) made use of its powers, giving rise
to the familiar reference to 'Punlca NOES
Tvriosuue bilnGues. 1t is further at
tempted to prove that some Carthagenian
adVenturers carried the stone away TO
nv ct gftpTWaru
driven into Cork HarbOr, hid their treas
ure away in the laurel copse known as
the groves Of Barney. whence IT was
taken out and inserted in the walls OF
RIarnev Castle. II has been well remark
ed that the stone at the Chicago ENppsl-
ton Durporting to be the real Barney
Stone was merely shamrock.
The celebrated Moabite Stone was only
discovered in 1868 on the site of the an
cient capital of Moab. Portions of IT are
now preserved in the Louvre In Paris
Good impressions have been made OF ITS
inscription lin ancient Phoenician). and
it is valuable as the oldest specimen of
alpha bette writing now known to scholars
Ii contains every letter of the ancient
alphabet but one. 1t gives an account of
the revolt of the King of Moab against
Jehoram. King of Israel, $50 B. c. Mesha
King of Moab. set up this pillar in his
native city of Dillon. His inscription is
a curious counterpart OF the scriptural
narrative in II Kings. third chapter.
at came to pass when Ahab was dead
that the King of Moab rebelled against
the King Of Israel" etc.
One of the most important discoveries
of the present century, from an historical
point Of view, is the key to Egyptian
hieroglyphics, known as the Rosetta
Stone" now in the British Museum For
1.4O0 years the hieroglyph was dead Ian
guace and the history of Egypt except
that contained in Genesis. was a sealed
book In August of 1893 the key was acct
dentally found. 1t was discovered by the
French EXplora ton Company, under Ma
poleon, while making an excavation for a
fort at Rosetta, in Lower Egypt, and
hence is called the Rosetta Stone, What
enables this stone to be used as a key to
the Egyptian hieroglyphics is the fact that
it contains an inscription written in three
different uages-hieroSlyphic, denote
and Greek.
The so-caIled Sunday Stone" in the OK
ford CEngland) Museum is a large tablet
taken from a colliery drain, and is re-
calendar of Sundays and holidays. The
stone is composed of carbonate of lime
When the miners were at work the water
running through the drain left a deposit
colored black by coal dust, but when they
were not at work the water ran down
clear and left a white deposit. In time
these black and white layers made a stone
of considerable thickness. which consti-
tutes an extraordinary kind Of calendar.
Each day OF work has left a black
streak which is followed by a white
streak left during the night. Wide white
streaks mark the Sundays and other holi-
days. and from this circumstance the
stone is called The Sunday Stone