Mercuriosities

Two brave females took on the rescue of three men whose ships had been wrecked, despite the hardy seamen of the area warning that it could not be achieved in the dreadful weather conditions.

“Female Intrepidity – On the 22d. of October last, two vessels were wrecked off Fishguard, and three men were seen clinging to the rigging. Entreaties were in vain employed to induce the hardy seamen of that wild coast to attempt the rescue of the unfortunate men, all declaring that no boats could live in such a tremendous sea; but humanity induced two young females to enter upon a task which made the stout hearts of the seamen quail. Margaret Lewellyn lashed a rope round her body, and her noble example was followed by her sister Martha: they then dashed into the surf, which the spectators expected would throw them on the rocks lining that dangerous coast. After incredible exertions, they succeeded in conveying a rope to the wreck, and in bringing ashore the three sailors. All hopes had been abandoned of saving the wreck. The committee of Lloyd’s, having ascertained the accuracy of this statement, contributed 5l. towards the funds subscribed for the relief of these women : they are poor, and in very humble circumstances. The Royal Humane Society has also given 5l., besides honorary medals, to the two heroic females.”

The Stamford Mercury, 11th June, 1847.

Following our earlier post about the wonderful rat killer, Billy the dog, we found this in the newspaper some months later. It seems, even though Billy’s rat killing feats have been brought into question, he was still the fastest in the world! It doesn’t say, however, what happened to Billy’s owner, Mr. Dew. . .

“It has been generally understood, and bruited* about, that the dog Billy has killed one hundred full-grown rats in less than seven minutes! This is true; but in proportion as the wonder has increased, so will it subside, when the cognoscenti are informed, that by a skillful preparation of opium, these rats have been so deprived of their usual ferocious power of resistance, as to fall an easy prey to the efforts of the famous Billy. This fact we have from authority. The immense sums lost are referred to the Jockey Club. – Sunday Monitor.”

The Stamford Mercury, 9th January, 1824.

*rumoured.

The first transfusion to a human was in 1667, when a young man received blood from a lamb. They did not know, then of the different types of blood (that was discovered in 1900), of course, but this one seems to have been successful.

“The extraordinary operation of taking blood from the veins of a man, and injecting it into those of a woman, was lately performed by Dr. Blundell, lecturer on midwifery, at Guy’s Hospital, upon a poor woman aged 25 years. She was, to all appearance, dying from loss of blood, after a severe labout, when Dr. Blundell (seeing the imminent danger of the case) laid bare one of the veins of her left arm, taking care to prevent the blood flowing from the orifice. The husband of the woman, who was a robust man, was then called in, and two ounces of blood taken from his arm into a glass tumbler; this blood was then, by means of a syringe, slowly thrown into the vein of the woman , in the direction of the heart, and the same quantity immediately after repeated. In about ten minutes the woman rallied, and gradually recovered from the jaws of death. The syringe was of brass, and well tinned; to the mouth a pipe was fixed, of about two inches long, and the size of a crow’s quill, shaped like a pen at the end, but with a blunt point. All air was carefully expelled from the syringe when used.”

The Stamford Mercury, 7th October, 1825.

Could this be the first case of rhinoplasty? An horrific assault on a young man’s nose was happily repaired by a clever surgeon.

“On Saturday night last, a quarrel took place at the Vine Inn, Bilston, amongst a number of working men who were drinking there, when one of the party, of the name of Smith, succeeded in getting on the floor, a young man named Lowe, and in the most savage manner completely bit off his nose, the modern Crim-Tartar * immediately making his escape. The injured party, accompanied by some friends, went to the residence of the nearest surgeon,, where the denuded parts were dressed by his aassistant, evidently to the satisfaction of all parties. Lowe, however, on his returning home, began to reflect on the unpictureque effect which countenance bereft of the nasal appendage would produce, and he accordingly determined to have it remedied by any and every means possible. On a consultation with his friends, the idea occurred to them that all would be well if they could only restore to its original post of honour the missing remains of what was once considered by the owner to be a very respecable nose, although it was not stated whether the original nose was hooked or hatchet, or whether it belonged to the snub, the pug, or the turned-up family. Accordingly they returned to the scene of the action at the Vine, and after searching for nearly an hour, they at length discovered the object of their wishes lying in a dark corner of the room, begrimed with dirt. Having secured their prize, the party set off to a surgeon of the town, to whom they stated the case, and who very carefully united the parts together, and in a manner which completely restored the main element of facial beauty to its former shape and position, and a happy union of parts having ensued, the young man appears little the worse for his singular misfortune.”

The Stamford Mercury, 18th June, 1847.

*Generally a fierce or harsh person.

The huge Roman structure at Castor was built around 250 CE. The term ‘Castor Praetorium’ was used by Edmund Artis in the 19th century, to indicate that it had an administrative funcion.

“British Archeological Assocation

The second of a series of conversaziones, given by Mr. Pettigrew to the members of the association, was held on Wednesday evening the 18th inst., in Saville-row, London, and was numerously attended. The exhibitions of works of ancient art, which crowded the tables and walls of the apartment, displayed the resources of the association, and the activity with which it is carrying out the objects for which it was instituted. Among these was an extraordinaty collection of Romano-British remains, recently discovered by Mr. E. T. Artis, F.S.A., in the neighbourhood of Castor, near Peterboro’. It consists chiefly of an extensive variety of fictile* vessels, taken from the debris of Roman potteries, which it appears extended along the banks of the Nene for at least 20 miles. These vases are thus proved to be of home manufacture, and the mode in which they were worked, glazed, ornamented, and baked, was detailed by Mr. Artis himself, in a pleasing and familiar way, to a large group of the company. The subjects upon the vases are mythological, hunting, arabesques, or composed of animals and fanciful ornaments. These, which often display much force and beauty, were, Mr. Artis stated, composed in an off-hand way by the maker, without a mould. Near one of the kilns was found a portion of a mould, which had been made by some native artist for pottery, intended to resemble the beautiful red kind, familiar to antiquaries by the term ‘Samian.’ At Castor (the Durobrivæ of the Romans) were also fabricated many of the plated and debased coins which are still discovered in such profusion throughout England. Mr. Artis exhibited the very moulds in which these coins were made, and in some of which were the coins themselves, which had never been removed. They were chiefly of the family of Severus, and his immediate successors.”

The Stamford Mercury, 27th June, 1845.

*made of clay or earth by a potter.

What was this landlady thinking of? Was whe more enamoured with the quality of the damask silk than her youngest child? Luckily, she was shamed by her neighbours into going to fetch the baby back. As it happened, the offspring had caused such a fuss, that its new owner had abandoned it!

“A few days ago, the wife of an innkeeper at Caistor, who is the mother of five children, actually sold the youngest of them, an infant about three months old, for a damask silk shawl, of the value of 20s., to a licensed hawker of drapery goods, &c. who accidentally called for freshment. The man took away the child, and hastened on his journey, apparently well please with the disgraceful contract! A few hours afterwards, the occurrence becoming generally known throughout the town, the neighbours were not sparing in uttering vehement and deserved reproaches for the conduct of the unnatural parent, which compelled her to attempt recovery of the hapless infant. For this purpose, accompanied by two female friends, she set out, and succeeded in finding the child at a house in Grassby, a village about three miles on the Brigg road, where the man had left it, the child having become excessively troublesome, from the want of its accustomed nourishment. The party returned safe home with the child, at one o’clock next morning.”

The Stamford Mercury, 30th August, 1822.

Billy the dog was quite a celebrity in his day. He carried out his feat of killing 100 rats in twelve minutes on more than one occasion. He must have had very alert senses, because he had only one eye, which was lost to a rat! This probably explains why he was so keen to kill rats. See an update of this story.

“_ On Tuesday night the 3d Inst., the Cockpit in Tufton-street, Westminster, exhibited an almost unparalleled scene, when the celebrated dog Billy, for a bet of 20 sovereigns, exhibited to a multitude, at least 2000, the chief part of whom were amateurs well known in the sporting cirlces. The match was, that this extraordinary dog would kill 100 rats in twelve minutes, and the bet was made by Mr. Dew, the proprietor; but bets to the amount of several hundreds were pending. The floor of the pit was whitened, and the whole of the rats at once let loose. Dew and Cheetham, eminent rat-killers, were the only persons admitted into the pit. The company were arranged in the gallery, and had a perfect view of the whole. The space which the dog had to exhibit in was 12 feet square. When let loose, he viewed them with an eager eye; but on time being announced and the signal being given, he went to work, and in seven minutes and a half they were all killed in heaps, amid loud cheers. The dog was decorated with fancy ribands, and 50l. was offered for him upon the spot. His master declined the offer, but offered to back him 50l. against any dog in England.”

The Stamford Mercury, 13th September, 1822.

‘Quinhus flestrum’ – We have been unable to find an exact translation for this phrase, but it is similar to ‘Quinbus Flestrin’ – a name given to Lemuel Gulliver and meaning ‘The Great Man-Mountain’.

Little Waddington thought he could get away with selling a seditious and blasphemous book, because he could not be seen by the purchaser. The Magistrate thought differently!

“On Saturday that well-known character, Little Waddington, who has opened a shop for the sale of seditious and blasphemous works on Carlile’s plan by machinery, was arrested and carried before the Magistrates at Bow-street for the sale of some works of that description. He was ordered to find bail, himself in 100l. and two sureties of 50l. each, and to give 24 hours’ notice of the bail offered; and was committed until this should be done. He endeavoured to shield himself behind his contrivance of the book having been sold through a hole, so that the purchaser could not see the person who sold it to him ; and he pleaded that he himself was in the front of the Temple, and of course had nothing to do with the selling of the book. – The Magistrates held that this signified nothing – it was sufficient that his name was over the door of his shop, and he was present when the book was sold. – ‘Little Waddy’ was dumbfounded at this constuction of the matter – it was a complete explosion of his ‘new-inwented inwizzable publisher;’ and for some minutes he remained holding his peace, and ‘wrapped in dismal thinkings.’ until carried off to prison! It was but last week he placarded the town, announcing that he was about to bring out a periodical work, entitles ‘Waddington’s Frying-Pan,’ in which he promised to fry all the contemners* of Radicalism, and ‘serve them up so highly seasoned that they should stimulate the stomachs of his friends even to ecstasy!’ – Truly he is now himself in the frying-pan, and it is a hundred to one that he will tumble out of it into the fire.”

The Stamford Mercury, 10th May, 1822.

*Those held in contempt of court.

That is, a cake for Twelfth Night (which, this year, fell on Sunday, 5th January), The ‘first day of Christmas’ being Christmas Day. The ornaments referred to were very elaborate and presumably in this particular year an element of them contained something not very nice at all.

This could well have been arsenic poinsoning, because the green dyes used in those days contained that element. Or perhaps white arsenic (a white powder which was often used to control rodents) was used instead of flour

It seem the appearance was more important than the taste of the cake!

“Twelfth Cakes. – The ornaments which are generally used for twelfth-cakes have been nearly attended with fatal consequence in this town: several persons are suffering from partaking of this highly deleterious compound. Surely the parties preparing them should have some thought for the health of others. Of several persons poisoned, all are believed to be now out of danger, although some are suffering extremely from the effects.”

The Stamford Mercury, 6th February, 1846.

Mary Berry’s recipe for the cake can be found here. And it definitely does not contain anything nasty!

Seasonal tales of noblesse oblige, feasting and charity for the poor and the usual problems brought by icy weather.

“On the 23d inst. Lady Anne Noel gave to the poor and small tradespeople of North Luffenham, and to a few others where it was thought charity, two fat oxen (weighing 110 stone), and 220 quartern loaves of wheaten bread.

Lady Sophia Whichcote, of Glaston, gave a dinner of roast beef, plum pudding, and ale, as usual, on Christmas day, at the Horse Shoes Inn, to upwards of 70 poor people of that place: her Ladyship also distributed a large quantity of wearing apparel amongst them. The parishes of Thistleton, Ayston, and Wardley have been made happy with the annual Christmas donation of Mr. and Lady Mary Fludyer, consisting of a very bountiful supply of beef, bread, and money, to every poor family.”

The Stamford Mercury, 31st December, 1824.

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“Long Sutton. – The science of bell-ringing is at a very low ebb here. The bells when acted upon resemble more the cry of a pack of hounds suffering from a severe cold, than any thing else earthly. A frieind of our’s concluded that our bells must be either of lead or of timber. Certainly more dolorous notes never ushered in merry Christmas to poor sinners than fo the ding-ding notes of Sutton bells. We hope something may be done to mend their voices.”

The Stamford Mercury, 1st January, 1847.

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“The severity of late frost having ‘locked-up’ the navigation, the arrangements for bringing coals to Stamford via the railway have been impeded. As soon, however, as the river Nene is clear, a supply may be expected from Sutton Bridge; and the present exorbitant price (26s. to 29s. per ton) must be materially reduced. We have good authority for stating that a company is being formed who will carry on the trade with ample means and in a liberal spirit, it being the determination of the parties to sell this necessary of life at the lowest possible profit.”

The Stamford Mercury, 1st January, 1847.