The Northern Guardian. — 1892-01-01 (Hartlepool, Cleveland, England)

SKA:4OS. <,t and meet Varied in the AN. . .1' FASHIONS and .11 ,, pt... `4TOCKTON STREET . I .. -----N 0 B S 0 N, ' 1 REOIHTERED In,. •,,t, hi. large :lad rAt .... I 4.ppliunvcs. - * I.' P or !I r I I b '4 I • ¶1 , I , , 1 1 . ' . / , , • 11 c , k , ) I i . ! t f, ! 'll i , , ' fl f' 71 1 i 4 t 4' 1 4 I , i 14 V , 4 ~i . , , • i . . . ,  An a.musing anecdote comes down to us concerning Augustus, Elector of Saxony, who, when his then host, the'Emperor Joseph I. of Germany, had been troubled by a nocturnal visitant in spectral form waning him against his guest, and Uneatenin,g him with eternal perdition if he continued to hold intercouree with him, because of the Elector's favouring the Protestants, Augustus took care .to be present the next night on the reapearance of the spectre, which he grappled with end flung bodily out of window in the form •of a gigantic monk. His son, the famous Maurice de Saxe, being one day seated at a table which was unprovided with corkscrews, took a large nail, and, twisting it into the shape of one, used it to draw the corks. After the battle of Fentenoy, when he was in London, a burly scavenger insulted him. He grasped the man with one hand, raised him, and threw hint headlong bite his mud cart. But the strongest man with an authentic record was the Englishman Thomas Tophazin born in the year 1710. The 8611 of a carpenter, he followed his father's trade until he was 24, when he went into the public line, and took the Red Lion, in the 'City Road, nearly opposite the Bethlehem Hospital, so as to be near the Cup thug in Moorlields, Ham the theatre of gymnastic anti athletic exhibitions. His height was about sft. 10in. ; his muscular power so prodigious that he was credited with the strength of twelve men ; bodies which he touched seemed to lose the power of gravitation. it is aeserted that tlue. hollows under the knees and his armpits were. idled up with sinews. At one of his earlier exhibitions he placed his feet against a post in .the ground, undertaking that three horses at once Should not move him ; but the horses jerked him aside, being improperly started, his thigh-bone was broken, and he had a slight limp for the rest of his life. Some of the feats he accomplished are these, vouched for by Dr. Hutton, of 'Birmingham, who saw 'Popham exhibit at Derby in 1741 :—Liftiug three hogsheads of water, weighing together,lB36lii. These were suspended by chains from a collar', and the lifting effected by merely exerting the umeeles of his neck and shoulders. Thi-s feat he first performed in honour of the taking of Portobello by Admiral Vernon. Rolling up a seven-pound pewter dish as one would a IheA of paper • breaking the bowl of a strong, • tobacco-pipe under his garter with the tendons of his ham by bending the knee also between his first and secon4 fingers sideways : lifting a six-foot table having a fifty-six:pound weight attached at the further extremity, by his teeth, and holding it there a considerable time horieontally ; bending a threeinch bar of iron across the back of his neck, bring•iug the ends to meet in front, and then straightening it again, the latter the much more 'difficult operation. Once, having a quarrel with a man he took a spit front the wall • over • the chimney piece, and wound it into the form of a cravat round his adversary's neck. Breaking a gin. rope; heaving his horse over a turnpike gate ; crushing in the sides of a quart pot held at arm's length, as one might an egg-shell; lifting 2cwt. with his little finger, and moving it gently about over his head. He raised Dr. Chambers, the Vicar of All Saints', Derby, a man weighing 27 stone, with one hand, front the floor. His head being laid on one chair and his feet on another, four men, weighing 14 stone each, sat .eipon his body, which he heaved at pleasure. •On one occasion, seeing a watchman in his box, asleep, he took up the box and contents, carried it censiderable distance, and deposited it on the other side of a cemetery wall, over which he lifted it, to 'the consternation of the watchman on awaking. 'Topham seems to have established a record, and it is doubtful if it has been beaten since. He was a quiet and peaceable man; but his moral strength was not equal to his physical, for, driven to desperser. tion by the evil temper and infidelity of his wife, he committed suicide; as with Samson and with Hercules, the strong succumbed to the weak. It would be unjust to exclude all mention of the other sex, although their forte resides rather in their weakness and their charms, than in feats in which great muscular strength is displayed. It is difficult to combine these qualities and to associate the possessor of the more agreeable attributes with the arena, the prize ring, and the battle field. Yet instances are not wanting, though rare, in which women have fought with a courage and determination equal to that of the bravest men, although their physical constitution prevents them from rivalling him, generally, in strength. Since such feats as they are capable of performing necessarily fall below the standard of male performance it will be enough to show that by training the more vigorous and robust damsels develop an amount of muscularity which enables them to bear arms and use them with as much power and valour as those of the opposite sex. Witness- the warrior Queens of old days—Zenobia, Artemisia, then our own Boadicea; other renowned women, as Joan of Arc and the Maid of Saragossa, all alike affronting danger fearlessly and glorious even in defeat. The A‘ Billy Taylors" of our army and navy records show that our countrywomen are not slow, when occasion serves, to demonstrate their capacity in this respect—"stalking with Minerva's step, where Mars would fear to tread,"  6.1. 1 24. 11  +.OO.  IF YOU WANT  Lemon Peel at ..„ „. 30 per lb. Splendid Currants at ... 31 „  Good Valuable Raisins at 34d „  Finest Plums (finest procurable) at 50 „  Grand Flour at  Sd per '4.  ROYAL EXCHANGE HOTEL,  TIP TOP  LOWER sußriEs STREET (Near the General Poet Office).  Wensleydak Chees-rat  &I per lb.  WrNES arid SPIRITS of the Finest Quality. CHAMPAGNES of the Leading Shippers only. GUINNESS'S and BASS'S norrLEn STOUT and