The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-11-16

mirabIe historE. The oldest bit of pal ace in Europs. that Of the west front oL the Burg in Vienna. IS of the time or Henry VIII. lThe Kremlin in Moscow the Doge's Pslaee in Venice, are or the fourteenth century. The seragfio m Stamboul vas built by Mohammed the Second. The oldest part of the Vatican was commenced by Borgia, whose name it bears. The old Louvre was begun in the reign of Henry VIII; the Tuileries in that of Elizabeth. In the time of our civh war, Versailles was yet swamp. The sixteenth century claims the Escu- riel; the eighteenth Sans Souci. Jeru- salem's Serail is a Turkish edifice; the palaces Of Athens. Cairo, Teheran, are all of modern date. So it is, too. with the prisons. With the sole exception of St. Angelo in Rome, all are of modern date os compared with that one from which Ralph Fiambard escaped in the year HOO, the date of the first Crusade.
 The crown jewels in the Tower are worth, it may be supposed, some three million pounds. Everything. of state regalia is there with one notable excep- tion. The Koh-i-Nor is represented by a crystal. Queen Alexandra wears the original, on great occasions. as part of her personal jewels. The tower has been the sovereign's strong room for the storing of treasure ever since tower dwelling monarchs were. The old jewel house itself was built simultaneously with the Royal Mint, when that estab- lishment was within the tower walls. The only attempt to steal the treasure is historic. It was the feat of that pie turesque villain, Colonel Blood. He had ingratiated himself with the depu- ty keeper of the jewels, had gone So far as to propose a match between his ward and the daughter of the official. All went smoothly. The bogus swain turned up to be inspected: with him three others and the colonel. They beat and gagged the old man, secured the crown, orb and scepter, and were just making of, when. by the strangest coincidence, the son Of the jewel keeper arrived fraom Flanders. ..
 The scene which followed would do credit to the dramatist. The colonel, disguised as a clergyman. had the lOIACCdISu bGlICollh lAao AaSSOShg and added his voice to the hue and cry. Stop the villain" he roared. He had reached his horse before the imposture was discovered. When they made for him he turned and fired in the face of the men nearest him. The pistol missed fire, and the crown was saved; but not uninjured. Trampled in the mud, it's jewels were all knocked out, and many of them lost. An apprentice found the great pearl, scavenger the biggest diamond. Well, it was a gall lant deed; it was to gain crown.' was all Blood had to say as they carried him prisoner to the dungeons. But no i'll, befeli him for this and other treason. He had played for high stakes before, had attempted to surprise Dublin Cas- tie and capture the Duke of Ormonde, and, that failing, had eoolly laid his plans to seize and hang him when he returned to London. The outcome of all was that, cohfessing to having plot ted to take his sovereign's life, he was granted a pension, and lived and died in the odor of sanctity at court.
 All this took place in the Martin Tow CT, which is haunted to this day, you are desired to believe. The ghost is that of Harry Percy, ninth earl of Northumberland, swho spent fourteen years of his life a prisoner there. The Wizard Earl, they called him. For His companions he had Raleigh, working on his mystic preparations which he hoped would produce an elixir of life; and Heriot, Allen, Torperley, his Magi, as they were known. This. little coterie discovered sun-spots before the alert eye of Calico had detected their exis- tence, and was the first to detect the satellites of Jupiter. When, at the end of his long Imprisonment, the earl re- turned to his home. he founded libra ry from which half the learning of fol- lowing years had it's inspiration. Only sundial, fixed by Heriot's own hands, remains to commemorate that remark able fellowship which did so much for the glory of English seienee.-st. James Gazette. .-..,.-