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Python for Unix and Linux System
Administration
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Python for Unix and LinuxTomcat
System ™

Administration
The Definitive Guide

NoahBrittain
Jason Gift and Jeremy
and Ian F.M. Jones
Darwin

Beijing • Cambridge • Farnham • Köln • Sebastopol • Taipei • Tokyo

Python for Unix and Linux System Administration
by Noah Gift and Jeremy M. Jones

Copyright © 2008 Noah Gift and Jeremy M. Jones. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.

Published by O’Reilly Media, Inc., 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472.

O’Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. Online editions
are also available for most titles (http://safari.oreilly.com). For more information, contact our corporate/
institutional sales department: (800) 998-9938 or [email protected].

Editor: Julie Steele Cover Designer: Karen Montgomery

Production Editor: Loranah Dimant Interior Designer: David Futato
Production Services: nSight, Inc. Illustrator: Robert Romano

Printing History:
August 2008: First Edition.

Nutshell Handbook, the Nutshell Handbook logo, and the O’Reilly logo are registered trademarks of
O’Reilly Media, Inc. Python for Unix and Linux System Administration, the image of a boa constrictor,
and related trade dress are trademarks of O’Reilly Media, Inc.
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as
trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and O’Reilly Media, Inc. was aware of a
trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps.

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and authors assume
no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information con-
tained herein.

ISBN: 978-0-596-51582-9

[M]

1218651032
 I dedicate this book to Dr. Joseph E. Bogen,
my mom, and my wife, Leah—three people who
have loved me and believed in me when it counted
the most.
—Noah
I dedicate this book to my wife, Debra, and my
children, Zane and Justus. You encouraged me,
bore with me with great patience, and gave me
many smiles along the journey of writing this
book. This book is as much yours as it is mine.
—Jeremy
 Table of Contents

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Why Python? 1
Motivation 6
The Basics 8
Executing Statements in Python 8
Using Functions in Python 12
Reusing Code with the Import Statement 16

2. IPython . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Installing IPython 22
Basic Concepts 23
Help with Magic Functions 30
Unix Shell 34
Information Gathering 51
Automation and Shortcuts 64
Summary 69

3. Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Python Built-ins and Modules 71
Log Parsing 110
ElementTree 116
Summary 120

4. Documentation and Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Automated Information Gathering 123
Manual Information Gathering 126
Information Formatting 135

vii
 Information Distribution 141
Summary 145

5. Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Network Clients 147
Remote Procedure Call Facilities 158
SSH 164
Twisted 167
Scapy 173
Creating Scripts with Scapy 175

6. Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Introduction 177
Using the OS Module to Interact with Data 178
Copying, Moving, Renaming, and Deleting Data 179
Working with Paths, Directories, and Files 181
Comparing Data 185
Merging Data 187
Pattern Matching Files and Directories 193
Wrapping Up rsync 195
Metadata: Data About Data 197
Archiving, Compressing, Imaging, and Restoring 199
Using tarfile Module to Create TAR Archives 199
Using a tarfile Module to Examine the Contents of TAR Files 201

7. SNMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Introduction 205
Brief Introduction to SNMP 205
IPython and Net-SNMP 208
Discovering a Data Center 211
Retrieving Multiple-Values with Net-SNMP 214
Creating Hybrid SNMP Tools 220
Extending Net-SNMP 222
SNMP Device Control 224
Enterprise SNMP Integration with Zenoss 225

8. OS Soup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Introduction 227
Cross-Platform Unix Programming in Python 228
PyInotify 238
OS X 240
Red Hat Linux Systems Administration 245
Ubuntu Administration 245

viii | Table of Contents

 Solaris Systems Administration 245
Virtualization 246
Cloud Computing 247
Using Zenoss to Manage Windows Servers from Linux 253

9. Package Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Introduction 257
Setuptools and Python Eggs 258
Using easy_install 258
easy_install Advanced Features 261
Creating Eggs 266
Entry Points and Console Scripts 270
Registering a Package with the Python Package Index 271
Distutils 273
Buildout 275
Using Buildout 276
Developing with Buildout 279
virtualenv 279
EPM Package Manager 283

10. Processes and Concurrency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Introduction 289
Subprocess 289
Using Supervisor to Manage Processes 298
Using Screen to Manage Processes 300
Threads in Python 301
Processes 313
Processing Module 313
Scheduling Python Processes 316
daemonizer 318
Summary 321

11. Building GUIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

GUI Building Theory 323
Building a Simple PyGTK App 324
Building an Apache Log Viewer Using PyGTK 326
Building an Apache Log Viewer Using Curses 330
Web Applications 334
Django 335
Conclusion 354

12. Data Persistence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Simple Serialization 357

Table of Contents | ix
 Relational Serialization 376
Summary 385

13. Command Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

Introduction 387
Basic Standard Input Usage 388
Introduction to Optparse 389
Simple Optparse Usage Patterns 390
Unix Mashups: Integrating Shell Commands into Python Command-Line Tools
397
Integrating Configuration Files 402
Summary 404

14. Pragmatic Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

Managing DNS with Python 405
Using LDAP with OpenLDAP, Active Directory, and More with Python 406
Apache Log Reporting 408
FTP Mirror 415

Appendix: Callbacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

x | Table of Contents
 Foreword

I was excited to preview this book on using Python for system administration. I
remembered how I felt when I discovered Python after many years of programming in
other languages: it was like a breath of spring air and the warmth of the sun after a long
winter indoors. Code was suddenly easy and fun to write again, and I finished programs
much more quickly than before.
As a system administrator, most of my own Python use is for system and network
management tasks. I already knew how useful a good book focusing on system ad-
ministration with Python would be. I am happy to say that this is that book. Overall,
Noah and Jeremy have created an interesting, intelligent work on Python that is planted
firmly in the system administration sphere. I found the book both very useful and en-
joyable to read.
The two opening chapters are a great introduction to Python for system administrators
(and others) who are new to Python. I consider myself an intermediate Python pro-
grammer, and I learned a lot from the book. I suspect even Python wizards will come
across a few new tricks in here. I can especially recommend the chapters on networking
and managing network services, SNMP, and management of heterogeneous systems as
particularly useful and well focused on nontrivial, real-world tasks that system admin-
istrators face every day.
—Æleen Frisch, July 2008

xi
 Preface

Conventions Used in This Book

The following typographical conventions are used in this book:
Italic
Indicates new terms, URLs, email addresses, filenames, and file extensions.
Constant width
Used for program listings, in text to refer to program elements, such as variable or
function names, databases, data types, environment variables, statements, utilities,
keywords, utilities, and modules.
Constant width bold
Shows commands or other text that should be typed literally by the user.
Constant width italic
Shows text that should be replaced with user-supplied values or by values deter-
mined by context.

This icon signifies a tip, suggestion, or general note.

This icon indicates a warning or caution.

Using Code Examples

This book is here to help you get your job done. In general, you may use the code that
is included in this book in your programs and documentation. You do not need to
contact us for permission unless you’re reproducing a significant portion of the code.
For example, writing a program that uses several chunks of code from this book does
not require permission; selling or distributing a CD-ROM of examples from O’Reilly

xiii
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example code does not require permission; incorporating a significant amount of ex-
ample code from this book into your product’s documentation does require permission.
We appreciate, but do not require, attribution. An attribution usually includes the title,
author, publisher, and ISBN, for example: “Python for Unix and Linux System Admin-
istration by Noah Gift and Jeremy M. Jones. Copyright 2008 Noah Gift and Jeremy M.
Jones, 978-0-596-51582-9.”
If you feel your use of code examples falls outside fair use or the permission given above,
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xiv | Preface
Acknowledgments
Noah’s Acknowledgments
As I sit writing an acknowledgment for this book, I have to first mention Dr. Joseph E.
Bogen, because he made the single largest impact on me, at a time that it mattered the
most. I met Dr. Bogen while I was working at Caltech, and he opened my eyes to another
world giving me advice on life, psychology, neuroscience, math, the scientific study of
consciousness, and much more. He was the smartest person I ever met, and was some-
one I loved. I am going to write a book about this experience someday, and I am sad-
dened that he won’t be there to read it, his death was a big loss.
I want to thank my wife, Leah, who has been one of the best things to happen to me,
ever. Without your love and support, I never could have written this book. You have
the patience of a saint. I am looking forward to going where this journey takes us, and
I love you. I also want to thank my son, Liam, who is one and a half, for being patient
with me while I wrote this book. I had to cut many of our guitar, piano, and pushup
lessons short, so I owe you payback times two, little goat.
To my mom, I love you, and thank you for encouraging me throughout life.
Of course, I want to thank Jeremy M. Jones, my coauthor, for agreeing to write this
book with me. I think we were a great team with different, but complementary styles,
and we wrote a great book. You have taught me a lot about Python, and have been a
good partner and friend. Thanks!
Titus Brown, whom I suppose I have to call Dr. Brown now, was the person that got
me interested in Python to begin with, when I met him at Caltech. He is another ex-
ample of how one person can make a difference, and I am glad to consider him an “old”
friend, the kind money can’t buy. He kept asking me, “Why don’t you use Python?”
And then one day I did. If it wasn’t for Titus, I would certainly have continued down
the Java and Perl path. You can read his blog here: http://ivory.idyll.org/blog.
Shannon Behrens has a heart of solid gold, a mind as sharp as a razor, and a knowledge
of Python that is truly scary. I first met Shannon through Titus, ironic again, but he and
I became quick friends. Shannon is the real deal in every sense of the word, and has
taught me a tremendous amount about Python, in fact, staggering would be a better
word. His help with Python, and editing this book has been incredible, and I owe him
tremendously. I shudder to think of what it would have looked like without him. I can’t
ever imagine a company being foolish enough to let him get away, and I look forward
to helping him with his first book. Finally, he is just an incredible technical reviewer.
You can read his blog here: http://jjinux.blogspot.com/.
Doug Hellmann was our other star technical reviewer and was exceptionally productive
and helpful. Jeremy and I are extremely fortunate to get someone of his caliber to review
the book. He went above and beyond his call of duty, and is truly a force of efficiency

Preface | xv
to reckon with. He was also a great source of motivation while we worked together at
Racemi. You can read his blog here: http://blog.doughellmann.com/.
Thanks to Scott Leerseen for reviewing our book and giving us good advice along the
way. I also especially enjoyed our code review battles. Just remember, I am always right.
Thanks to Alfredo Deza for the work on making an Ubuntu virtual machine for the
book, your expertise was greatly appreciated.
A very large thanks to Liza Daly, for providing good feedback on some really early, and
rough, parts of our book. This was tremendously helpful.
Special thanks to Jeff Rush for his advice and reference material on Buildout, Eggs, and
Virtualenv.
Thanks to Aaron Hillegass who has given me some great advice and help along the way,
and who has a great training company, Big Nerd Ranch. He is a special person, who I
am lucky to have met. Thanks to Mark Lutz, who I had the pleasure of taking a Python
training course from, and who has written some great books on Python.
Thanks to the people in the Python community in Atlanta, and the members of PyAtl:
http://pyatl.org; you have all taught me a great deal. Rick Copeland, Rick Thomas,
Brandon Rhodes, Derek Richardson, Jonathan La Cour, a.k.a Mr. Metaclass, Drew
Smathers, Cary Hull, Bernard Matthews, Michael Langford, and many more I have
forgotten to mention. Brandon and Rick Copeland in particular have been very helpful
and are awesome Python programmers. You can read Brandon’s blog at http://rhodes
mill.org/brandon/.
Thanks to Grig Gheorghiu for giving us expert sysadmin and testing advice and for
giving us a kick in the butt when we needed one.
Thanks to my former employer Racemi, and the CTO/Founder, Charles Watt. I learned
a lot from you and was glad you knew which competitive buttons to push. Just re-
member I will kick your butt at writing code, a 26-mile run, or a 200-mile bike ride any
day, just tell me where and when.
Thanks to Dr. Nanda Ganesan, who was a great mentor in graduate school at CSULA.
You taught me a lot about information technology and life and encouraged me to think
big.
Thanks to Dr. Cindy Heiss, who was my professor for my undergraduate degree in
nutritional science. You got me started on web development, encouraged me to believe
in myself, and ultimately made an impact on my life, thanks!
Thanks to Sheldon Blockburger, who let me try out for Division I decathlon as a walk-
on at Cal Poly SLO. Even though I didn’t make the team, you showed me how to be a
fierce competitor and warrior, and taught me the self-discipline to run 200-meter in-
tervals by myself. I believe weekly 200-meter interval workouts make me a better soft-
ware engineer.

xvi | Preface
There were many other people who helped tremendously along the way, including
Jennifer Davis, yet another friend from Caltech, who gave us some great feedback; some
of my friends and coworkers at Turner; Doug Wake, Wayne Blanchard, Sam Allgood,
Don Voravong; some of my friends and coworkers from Disney Feature animation,
including Sean Someroff, Greg Neagle, and Bobby Lea. Greg Neagle in particular taught
me a lot about OS X. Also, thanks to J.F. Panisset, who I met at Sony Imageworks, for
teaching me quite a bit about engineering in general. Although he is now a CTO, he is
another rare catch for any company.
I would like to thank a few others who made some important contributions: Mike
Wagner, Chris McDowell, and Shaun Smoot.
Thanks to Bruce J. Bell, who I worked with at Caltech. He taught me quite a bit about
Unix and programming over the years, and I owe him greatly for it. You can read his
material here: http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~bruce/.
Also thanks to Alberto Valez, my boss at Sony Imageworks, for being possibly the best
boss I ever had and giving me the chance to completely automate my job. Thanks to
film editor Ed Fuller, who helped with advice on the book, and was a good friend during
this process.
Thanks to many people in the Python community. First, thanks to Guido van Rossum
for writing a great language, for being a great leader, and for being patient with me
when I asked for advice on the book. There are so many rock stars in the Python com-
munity who crank out useful tools that I use everyday. They include Ian Bicking, Fer-
nando Perez and Villi Vainio, Mike Bayer, Gustavo Niemeyer, etc. Thanks! Thanks to
the great book by David Beazely, and his fantastic tutorial at PyCon 2008 on Genera-
tors. Thanks to other writers about Python and systems administration as well. You
can find links to their work here: http://wiki.python.org/moin/systems_administration.
Thanks also to the Repoze crew: Tres Seaver and Chris McDonough (http://repoze.org/
index.html).
Special thanks to the great tools, advice, and tolerance from Phillip J. Eby on the
setuptools section. Also, thanks to Jim Fulton who tolerated my questions about ZODB
and buildout, with a crazy schedule. Additional thanks to Martijn Fassen, who taught
me about ZODB and Grok. If you want to see the future of Python web development,
check out Grok: http://grok.zope.org/.
Thanks to Red Hat Magazine staff, Julie Bryce, Jessica Gerber, Bascha Harris, and Ruth
Suehle, for letting me try out ideas we used in this book in the form of articles. Also,
thanks to Mike McCrary at IBM Developerworks, for letting me write articles to try out
ideas we used in this book.
I want to thank the multitudes of people who told me at one point in my life that I
couldn’t do something. At almost every step, I have met discouraging people who told
me everything from I would never get into the college I wanted to to I would never learn
to program. Thank you for giving me the extra motivation to succeed at my dreams.

Preface | xvii
Humans can create their own reality if they truly believe in themselves, and I would
encourage everyone to give themselves a chance to do what they truly want to do.
Finally, thanks to O’Reilly and Tatiana Apandi, for believing in my original pitch for a
book on Python and Systems Administration. You took a chance and believed in me
and Jeremy, and I thank you for that. Although Tatiana left O’Reilly near the end of
our book to pursue her dreams, her impact was still felt. I also want to thank our new
editor Julie Steele, who has been supportive and helpful every step of the way. You have
really provided a sea of calm that I personally appreciated greatly. I look forward to
hearing great things in the future from Julie, and I’m excited to work with her again.

Jeremy’s Acknowledgments
After reading Noah’s list of thanks, it makes me feel both ungrateful, because I know
my list won’t be that long, and at a loss, because I think he covered nearly everyone
that I wanted to thank.
First, I must thank my God, through Whom I can do all things and without Whom, I
can do nothing.
First in an earthly sense, I thank my wife, Debra. You kept the children engaged with
other activities while I worked on the book. You enforced the so-often reapeated rule
“Don’t bother Daddy while he’s working on his book.” You encouraged me when I
needed it, and you also gave me a lot of space, which is what I needed most. Thank
you. I love you. I could not have written this book without you.
I also must thank my sweet children, Zane and Justus, for their patience through the
process of my writing this book. I missed out on a lot of trips to Stone Mountain with
you both. I still put one of you to bed most nights, but I missed out on staying in there
long enough to fall asleep with you, like I used to. I missed out on the last several weeks
of Kid’s Rock on Wednesday nights. I missed out on so much, but you bore it patiently.
So, thank you for your patience. And thank you for your excitement as you hear that
I’m almost done with the book. I love you both.
I want to thank my parents, Charles and Lynda Jones, for their support through the
course of my writing this book. But more than that, I want to thank them for being a
living example of a strong work ethic, of earning everything you have, of working hard
to better yourself, and of spending money wisely. Those are lessons I hope to pass on
to Zane and Justus.
Thank you to Noah Gift, my coauthor, for getting me into this mess. It has been hard,
harder than I thought and definitely one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life.
I think it says a lot about a person when you work on something like this with him and
at the end, you can still think of him as your friend. Thanks, Noah. This book would
not have begun if not for you.

xviii | Preface
I want to thank our team of reviewers. I think that Noah has already thanked all of you,
but I want to thank everyone that I can: Doug Hellman, Jennifer Davis, Shannon JJ
Behrens, Chris McDowell, Titus Brown, and Scott Leerseen. You guys were awesome.
There were times when I thought that I had something spot-on and you readjusted my
thinking. Or you just brought a completely different perspective to the book and helped
me see my work through a different set of eyes. (That was mostly you, Jennifer. If the
text processing chapter is useful for sysadmins, it’s mostly because of you.) Thank you
all.
I also want to thank our editors, Tatiana Apandi and Julie Steele. You guys handled
the hard stuff, freeing us up to work on the book. You both eased our burden along
the way. Thank you.
I’d also like to thank Fernando Perez and Ville Vainio for your amazing feedback. I
hope I’ve done IPython justice. And thank you for IPython. I feel like I couldn’t live
without it.
Thank you Duncan McGreggor, for helping me get the Twisted code in better shape.
Your comments were extemely helpful. And thank you for working on Twisted. It is
an amazing framework. I hope to use it more, real soon now.
I thank Bram Moolenaar and everyone who has ever worked on the Vim editor. Almost
every word and XML tag that I wrote flowed through capabilities Vim. I picked up a
few tricks along the way that I’ll incorporate into my daily editing habits. Vim made
me more productive. Thank you.
I also want to thank Linus Torvalds, the Debian folks, the Ubuntu folks, and anyone
else who has ever worked on Linux. Almost every word that I typed was done on Linux.
You made it incredibly simple to set up new environments and test different things.
Thank you.
Finally, but by no means least, I want to thank Guido van Rossum and everyone who
has ever done any work on Python. I have been benefitting from your work for a number
of years now. I was hired for my last two jobs because of Python. Python, the language,
and Python, the community, have been both a great joy for me since I started working
with it sometime around 2001–2002. Thank you. Python has been very good to me.

Preface | xix
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happened, sometimes, unavoidably, when they were enticed,
separately, into the kiddah.

Elephants in India are taught to reverence the various sovereigns

to whom they belong, when they appear in his presence. They are
then trained to warfare, and rushing upon the enemy, as if conscious
of their superior strength, beat down all before them. They have
even been known to brave the hottest fire of the enemy’s artillery.
Beauleu, in his “Voyage to the East Indies,” mentions that the king of
Achen places his whole strength in nine hundred elephants, which
are bred to tread fire under their feet, and to be unmoved at the
shot of cannon, and likewise to salute the king when they pass by
his apartments, by bending their knees, and raising their trunks
three times. This traveller adds, that they are influenced by
exemplary punishment; and gives an instance of the fact. The king
of Achen, he says, having ordered the embarkation of a hundred
elephants for the siege of Dehly, when they were brought to the
coast not one of them would enter the ship. The king being
acquainted with their behaviour, went in person to the shore, and
after expressing passion and rage at their disobedience, ordered one
of them to be cut asunder in the presence of the rest; on which they
all peaceably embarked, and were more than ordinary tractable
during the whole voyage.

White elephants are reverenced throughout the east, and the

Chinese pay them a certain kind of worship. The Burmese monarch
is called the “king of the white elephants,” and is regarded under
that title with more than the ordinary veneration which oriental
despotism exacts from its abject dependants.

The little island of Elephanta, opposite to the fort of Bombay,

derives its name from a sculptured figure in stone, of the natural
colour, and ordinary size, of the animal. It is elevated on a platform
of stone of the same colour, and on the back of this granite elephant
was a smaller one, apparently of the same stone, which had been
broken off. There is no history, nor any well grounded tradition,
relative to this statue. The island itself is distinguished for
extraordinary antiquities, particularly a magnificent temple hewn out
of the solid rock, adorned by the arts of sculpture and painting with
statues and pictures, probably of more remote age than the earliest
efforts of Greek or Roman genius. Many of these venerable
representations suffered irreparable injury, and vast numbers were
wholly destroyed, by the barbarian ravages of the Portuguese, who
formerly obtained possession of the place, and dragged field-pieces
to the demolition of these the most curious, and, possibly, the most
ancient monuments of oriental grandeur. Queen Catharine of
Portugal, who held the island in dower, was so sensible of the
importance of this spot, that she imagined it impossible that any
traveller on that side of India would return without exploring the
wonders of the “Cave of Elephanta.” The island is destitute of all
other interest.

That elephants are susceptible of the most tender attachment to

each other, is evinced by the following occurrence, which is recorded
in a French journal:—Two very young elephants, a male and a
female, were brought from the island of Ceylon to Holland. They had
been separated from each other in order to be conveyed from the
Hague to the Museum of Natural History, in Paris, where a spacious
stable had been constructed for them. This was divided into two
partitions, which communicated to each other by means of a trap-
door. Both of the divisions were surrounded with strong wooden
paling. The morning after their arrival they were brought into this
habitation: the male elephant was introduced first. With an air of
suspicion he examined the place, tried each of the beams by shaking
it with his trunk to see if it was fast. He endeavoured to turn round
the large screws which held them on the outside, but this he found
impracticable. When he came to the trap-door between the two
partitions, he discovered that it was secured only by a perpendicular
iron bolt, which he lifted up, pushed open the door, and went into
the other partition, where he ate his breakfast.
It was with great difficulty that these animals had been separated
in order to be conveyed singly to Paris, and having now not seen
each other for several months, the joy they expressed at meeting
again is not to be described. They immediately ran to each other,
uttered a cry of joy that shook the whole building, and blew the air
out of their trunks with such violence, that it seemed like the blast of
a smith’s bellows. The pleasure which the female experienced
seemed to be the most lively; she expressed it by moving her ears
with astonishing rapidity, and tenderly twining her trunk round the
body of the male. She laid it particularly to his ear, where she held it
for a considerable time motionless, and after having folded it again
round his whole body, she applied it to her own mouth. The male in
like manner folded his trunk round the body of the female; and the
pleasure which he felt at their meeting seemed to be of a more
sentimental cast, for he expressed it by shedding an abundance of
tears. Afterwards they had constantly one stable in common, and
the mutual attachment between them excited the admiration of
every beholder.

The following example shows that elephants are capable also of

forming attachments to animals of a different species.
An elephant which the Turkish emperor sent as a present to the
king of Naples, in the year 1740, displayed a particular attachment
towards a ram, that was confined, together with some other
animals, in his stable. He even permitted him to butt at him with his
horns, as these animals are wont to do. But if the ram abused the
liberty he gave him, the only punishment he inflicted upon him for it
was, that he took him up with his trunk, and threw him upon a
dung-heap, though if any of the other animals attempted to take
liberties with him, he dashed them with such violence against the
wall, that he killed them on the spot.

An elephant, rendered furious by the wounds he had received in

an engagement at Hambour, rushed into the plain uttering the most
hideous cries. A soldier, whose comrades made him sensible of his
danger by calling to him, was unable on account of his wounds, to
retreat with sufficient expedition out of the way of the enraged
animal. But the elephant, when he came to him, seemed to be
apprehensive lest he should trample him with his feet, raised him
with his trunk, and having laid him gently on one side, continued his
progress.

At Mahie, on the coast of Malabar, the owner of an elephant lent

him out for hire. His occupation consisted in drawing timber for
building out of a river, which he performed very dexterously with his
trunk, under the guidance of a boy. He then piled the beams upon
each other with such regularity, that no human being could have
done it better.

Elephants do not merely obey the commands of their keeper

while he is present, but they perform also in his absence the most
singular operations when they have previously been made
acquainted with the nature of them. I once saw, says M.
d’Obsonville, two elephants employed in demolishing a wall, in
obedience to the orders previously received from their cornacks, who
had encouraged them to undertake the task by a promise of fruit
and brandy. They united their powers, placed their trunks together,
which were defended by a covering of leather, and pushed with
them against the strongest part of the wall; repeated their efforts,
carefully watching at the same time the effect of the equilibrium,
which they followed till the whole was sufficiently loose, when they
exerted their whole strength in one more push, after which they
speedily retreated out of the reach of danger, and the whole wall fell
to the ground.

Bosmann relates, that in December, 1700, an elephant came at

six o’clock in the morning towards Fort Mina, on the Gold Coast, and
took his road along the river at the foot of Mount St. Jago. Some of
the negroes ran unarmed about him, which he permitted without
appearing to be in the least degree suspicious of them. But a Dutch
officer shot at him, and wounded him over his eye. The animal did
not alter his course, but pricking his ears, proceeded to the Dutch
garden, where he saw the director-general and other officers
belonging to the fort, sitting under the shade of some palm-trees.
He had torn down about a dozen of these trees with the greatest
facility, when upwards of an hundred bullets were discharged at him.
He bled over his whole body, but still kept his legs, and did not halt
in the least. A negro now, to plague the elephant, pulled him by the
tail, at which the animal, being provoked, seized him with his trunk,
threw him to the ground, and thrust his tusks twice through his
body. As soon as the negro was killed, he turned from him, and
suffered the other negroes to take away his body unmolested. He
now remained upwards of an hour longer in the garden, and seemed
to have directed his attention to the Dutchmen who were sitting at a
distance of fifteen or sixteen paces from him. As these had
expended their ammunition, and feared that the elephant might
attack them, they made their retreat. In the mean time the elephant
was come to another gate, and although the garden-wall consisted
of a double row of stones, he easily threw it down, and went out by
the breach. He then walked slowly to a rivulet, and washed off the
blood with which he was covered: after that he returned to the
palm-trees, and broke some boards that were placed there for the
purpose of building a vessel. The Dutchmen had in the mean time
procured a fresh supply of powder and ball, and their repeated shots
at length put the elephant out of condition to make further
resistance. They then with great difficulty cut off his trunk, upon
which the elephant, who till then had not uttered a sound, set up a
hideous roar, threw himself down under a tree, and expired.

Further particulars concerning Elephants generally.

The elephant is not an enemy to any other animal. It is said that
the mouse is the only quadruped that is an enemy to him, and that
this little quadruped holds him in perpetual fear. He sleeps with the
end of his proboscis so close to the earth, that nothing but the air he
breathes can get between; for the mouse is affirmed to enter its
orifice, when he finds it possible, and, making his way to the
elephant’s vital parts in search of food or shelter, by that means
destroys the mighty tenement wherein his own littleness is
ensconced.
 The great dean of St. Paul’s, if he may be so called without
disparagement to Colet, has two noble stanzas on this subject on
“The Progress of the Soul.” They were read to the editor of the
Every-Day Book, by one of the kindest of human beings, himself a
poet, from his own copy of the book wherein the hand of a friend,
the greatest living poet, and perhaps the greatest mind of our
country hath penned, that “Donne’s rhythm was as inexplicable to
the many as blank verse, spite of his rhymes.—Not one in a
thousand of his readers have any notion how his lines are to be
read. To read Dryden, Pope, &c. you need only count syllables; but
to read Donne you must measure time, and discover the time of
each word by the sense and passion.” Having presumed on the
wonted indulgence of friendship, by this transcription from the
manuscript notes of a borrowed volume, for counsel and caution in
the present reader’s behalf, the verses are submitted to his regard.
Natures great master-piece, an Elephant,
The onely harmelesse great thing; the giant
Of beasts; who thought none had, to make him wise,
But to be just, and thankful, loth t’ offend
(Yet nature hath given him no knees to bend)
Himself he up-props, on himself relies,
And foe to none; suspects no enemies,
Still sleeping stood; vext not his fantasie
Black dreams, like an unbent bow carelessly
His sinewy Proboscis did remisly lie.
In which as in a gallery this mouse
Walk’d and survey’d the rooms of this vast house,
And to the brain, the soul’s bed chamber, went,
And gnaw’d the life cords there; Like a whole town
Clean undermin’d the slain beast tumbled down;
With him the murth’rer dies, whom envy sent
To kill, not scape; for onely he that meant
To die, did ever kill a man of better roome;
And thus he made his foe, his prey and tombe:
Who cares not to turn back, may any whither come.
Donne.
 The “elephant,” according to Randle Holme, is regarded, in
heraldry, as “the emblem of vigilance, nec jacet in somno; but, like a
faithful watchman, sleeps in a sentinel’s posture; it denoteth
strength, ingenuity, and ambition of people’s praise; it signifieth also
meekness and devotion.” He mentions an elephant argent on a
shield gules, that “this coat is born by the name of Elphinston.”
Describing that “they (the elephant) are a great and vast creature,”
he says, that “an elephant’s head erased gules,” on a shield argent,
“is borne, by the name of Brodric.” In explanation of this bearing,
Holme’s knowledge seems to have been more correct in heraldry
than in natural history, for he declares that “this should be termed a
she-elephant, or the head of a female elephant; by reason his tusks
or teeth stand upwards, and the male stands downwards; but this,”
says our lamenting herald, “is a thing in heraldry not observed.” He
positively affirms, that “it were sufficient distinction for a coat of
arms between families” (!) as much a distinction “as the bearing of a
ram and a ewe, or a lion with red claws, and another with yellow;
and much more (distinctive) than ermyne and ermynites, (they)
being both one, save (that) the last hath one hair of red on each
side of every one of the poulderings: a thing little regarded, makes a
great alteration in arms.” His discrepant distinctions between the
male and female are exceedingly amusing, and he is quite as
diverting with their trunks. He figures their “snowts inwards, or
snowts respected,” which, he says, is “a term used when things
(either quick or dead) are, as it were, regarding or looking one at
another.” Then he gives a bearing “Argent out of a coronet or; two
proboscides (or trunks) of two elephants reflected endorsed, gules,
each adorned with three trefoils, vert. This” says Holme, “is a very
great bearing amongst the Dutch, as their books of herauldry inform
me; for there is scores of those families, bear the elephant’s trunk
thus: some adorned with roses, leaves, pendants, crosses, or with
other varieties of things, each set at a certain distance from the
trunk by a footstalk. Now,” he goes on to say, with a hand most
carefully pointing to the important fact, thus—“☞Now, in the blazon
of such coates, you must first observe the reflection of the
proboscides, whether the snowts stand respected, or endorsed; and
then to tell the exact number of things, each one is endorsed
withall: for in some, they will have one thing apeece, others 2, 3, 4,
5, &c. Some, again, will have (with the sides, and others without the
sides, adorning,) such and such things set in the concave or hole of
the snowt.” He refers to precedents for these essential particulars,
and in a page, wherein he assigns “the left arm of a devil, or fiend
with a devil-like foot,” for “the coat of Spittachar,” he gives to “the
name of Oberstagh,” on a field argent, “the proboscide of an
elephant erected and couped, bowed or imbowed, or; maned, or
haired, to the middle, azure; and collared at the bottom with an
hawk’s bill fixed thereunto, gules; out of the snowte, a Dutch fane
pendant sable.” So likewise by taking, for your guide, his
descriptions under a “demy talbot, his feet converted, turned, or
metamorphosed into elephants’ snowts, with two flowers de lis
issuant, you shall have demy men, women, lions, and other
creatures born with several sorts of things in the places of hands
and feet.” We will not, however, travel on his “elephants’ snouts in
coat armour,” beyond a field or, with “the proboscide of an elephant,
erected, flexed and recurved gules, issuing out of a pierced place;
towards the basis thereof, a rose-sprig vertant et revertant, about
the trunk to the middle thereof proper.” According to Holme, this
elegant bearing may be claimed by any reader who has the
happiness to bear “the name of Van Snotflough.” Concerning,
however, “snowts bowed, and imbowed, erected and couped,”
Holme guardedly adds that “these things, though I from my author,
and from their similitude to an elephant’s trunk, have all along
termed them so, yet, in my judgment they would pass better for
horns, and I take them to be absolute horns.” Thus, “at one fell
swoop,” when destitute readers may be large with speculation raised
by our friend Holme, he disturbs their fond regards, and they who
contemplate glorious “atchievements” with the “proboscides of
elephants,” must either content themselves with “absolute horns,” or
gaze on empty “fields.”
 In several parts of India, elephants are employed to perform
upon criminals the office of an executioner. With their trunks they
break the limbs of the culprit, trample him to death, or impale him
upon their tusks, according as they are ordered by their master.
This use of elephants in the east, and their sagacity, is alluded to
by one of our poets:—
Borri records their strength of parts,
Extent of thought, and skill in arts;
How they perform the law’s decrees,
And save the state the hangman’s fees:
And how by travel understand
The language of another land.
Let those who question this report
To Pliny’s ancient page resort;
How learn’d was that sagacious breed,
Who now, like them, the Greek can read.
Gay.

The author of “The Chase” elegantly describes one of the devices

by which the elephant is caught in his own domains:—
 On distant Ethiopia’s sunburnt coasts,
The black inhabitants a pitfall frame,
With slender poles the wide capacious mouth,
And hurdles slight, they close; o’er these is spread
A floor of verdant turf, with all its flowers
Smiling delusive, and from strictest search
Concealing the deep grave that yawns below.
Then boughs of trees they cut, with tempting fruit
Of various kinds surcharg’d, the downy peach,
The clustering vine, and of bright golden rind
The fragrant orange. Soon as evening grey
Advances slow, besprinkling all around
With kind refreshing dews the thirsty globe,
The stately elephant from the close shade
With step majestic strides, eager to taste
The cooler breeze, that from the sea-beat shore
Delightful breathes, or in the limpid stream
To lave his panting sides; joyous he scents
The rich repast, unweeting of the death
That lurks within. And soon he sporting breaks
The brittle boughs, and greedily devours
The fruit delicious. Ah! too dearly bought;
The price is life. For now the treacherous turf
Trembling gives way; and the unwieldy beast
Self sinking, drops into the dark profound.
So when dilated vapours, struggling, heave
Th’ incumbent earth; if chance the cavern’d ground
Shrinking subside, and the thin surface yield,
Down sinks at once the ponderous dome, ingulph’d
With all its towers.
Somervile.
According to Bayle, the Romans called elephants Boves Lucas,
because, as it is reported, they saw them for the first time in
Lucania, during a great battle with Pyrrhus. The issue of the conflict
was extremely doubtful, for the ground on both sides was lost and
won seven times; but, at last, the Epirotes got the victory by means
of their elephants, whose smell frighted the Roman horses. In a
subsequent engagement they were fatal to Pyrrhus; they threw his
troops into disorder, and the Romans were victorious.
 Elephantiasis is a disease in man, deriving its name from the
elephant, who is also afflicted with a similar disorder. It is also called
the Arabian leprosy. Medical treatises describe its appearances,
mode of cure in the human being. As few readers possess elephants,
it will not be necessary to say more of it, than that it is cutaneous;
and that to prevent it in the elephant, the Indians apply oil to the
animal’s skin, which, to preserve its pliancy, they frequently bathe
with the unctuous fluid.
Some parts of the elephant’s skin, which are not callous, are
seized upon by flies, and they torture the animal exceedingly. His tail
is too short to reach any portion of his body, and his trunk alone is
insufficient to defend him from myriads of his petty enemies. In his
native forests he snaps branches from the trees, and with his trunk
brushes off his tormentors, and fans the air to prevent their settling
on him. In a confined state, he converts a truss of hay into a wisp
for the same purpose; and he often gathers up the dust with his
trunk and covers the sensible places.

It is related by M. Navarette, that at Macassar, an elephant driver

had a cocoa nut given him, which, out of wantonness, he struck
twice against his elephant’s forehead to break, and that, the day
following, the animal saw some cocoa nuts exposed in the street for
sale, one of which he took up with his trunk, and beat it about the
driver’s head, till the man was completely dead. “This comes,” says
our author, “of jesting with elephants.”
A sentinel at the Menagerie in Paris, used often to desire the
visitors not to give the elephants any thing to eat. This admonition
was particularly disagreeable to the female elephant, and she took a
great dislike to the sentinel. She had several times endeavoured to
make him desist from interfering, by squirting water over his head,
but without effect. One day, when several persons came to see
these animals, one of them offered a piece of bread to the female,
which being perceived by the sentinel, just as he was opening his
mouth to repeat his usual admonition, the elephant stepped
opposite to him, and threw a large quantity of water into his face.
This excited the laughter of all the by-standers; but the sentinel
coolly wiped his face, placed himself a little on one side, and was as
usual very vigilant. Not long after he again found occasion to repeat
his former admonition to the spectators; but scarcely had he done it
when the elephant tore his musket out of his hand, wound her trunk
round it, trod upon it, and did not deliver it again to him till after she
had twisted it completely into the form of a screw.

A person resident in Ceylon, near a place where elephants were

daily led to water, often used to sit at the door of his house, and
occasionally to give to one of these animals some fig-leaves, a food
to which elephants are very partial. Once he took it into his head to
play the elephant a trick. He wrapped a stone round with fig-leaves,
and said to the cornack (the keeper of the elephants) “This time I
will give him a stone to eat, and see how it will agree with him.” The
cornack answered, “that the elephant would not be such a fool as to
swallow the stone.” The man, however, reached the stone to the
elephant, who taking it with his trunk applied it to his mouth, and
immediately let it fall to the ground. “You see,” said the cornack,
“that I was right.” Saying these words, he drove away his elephants,
and after having watered them, was conducting them again to their
stable. The man who had played the elephant the trick with the
stone was still sitting at his door, when, before he was aware, the
animal made at him, threw his trunk round him, and dashing him to
the ground trampled him immediately to death.

All Naples, says Sonnini, in one of his notes to Buffon’s “Natural

History,” has witnessed the docility and sagacity of an elephant that
belonged to the king. He afforded great assistance to the masons
that were at work upon the palace, by reaching them the water they
required, which he fetched in large copper vessels from a
neighbouring well. He had observed that these vessels were carried
to the brazier’s when they wanted any repair. Observing, therefore,
one day that the water ran out at the bottom of one of them, he
carried it of his own accord to the brazier, and having waited while it
was repairing, received it again from him, and returned to his work.
This elephant used to go about the streets of Naples without ever
injuring any one: he was fond of playing with children, whom he
took up with his trunk, placed them on his back, and set them down
again on the ground without their ever receiving the smallest hurt.

There is a remarkable instance of an elephant’s attachment to a

very young child. The animal was never happy but when it was near
him: the nurse used, therefore, very frequently to take the child in
its cradle, and place it between his feet, and this he became at
length so accustomed to, that he would never eat his food except
when it was present. When the child slept he used to drive off the
flies with his proboscis, and when it cried he would move the cradle
backward and forward, and thus again rock it to sleep.

Ælian relates that a man of rank in India, having very carefully

trained up a female elephant, used daily to ride upon her, and gave
her many proofs of his attachment to her. The king of the country,
who had heard of the extraordinary gentleness and capacity of this
animal, demanded her of her owner; but he, unwilling to part with
his favourite, fled with her to the mountains. By order of the king he
was pursued, and the soldiers that were sent after him having
overtaken him when he was at the top of a steep hill, he defended
himself by throwing stones at them, in which he was faithfully
assisted by the elephant, who had learnt to throw stones with great
dexterity. At length, however, the soldiers gained the summit of the
hill, and were about to seize the fugitive, when the elephant rushed
amongst them with the utmost fury, trampled some of them to
death, dashed others to the ground with her trunk, and put the rest
to flight. She then placed her master, who was wounded in the
contest, upon her back, and conveyed him to a place of security.
There are numerous well-attested anecdotes of similar instances of
the affection of elephants towards their owners.

If elephants meet with a sick or wounded animal of their own

species, they afford him all the assistance in their power. Should he
die, they bury him, and carefully cover his body with branches of
trees.
 During a war in the East Indies, an elephant, that had received a
flesh-wound from a cannon-ball, was conducted twice or thrice to
the hospital, where he stretched himself upon the ground to have
his wounds dressed. He afterwards always went thither by himself.
The surgeon employed such means as he thought would conduce to
his cure; he several times even cauterized the wound, and although
the animal expressed the pain which this operation occasioned him,
by the most piteous groaning, yet he never showed any other
sentiments towards the operator than those of gratitude and
affection. The surgeon was fortunate enough to completely cure
him.

There is a further anecdote of this animal’s gratitude. A soldier at

Pondicherry, who was accustomed, whenever he received a portion
that came to his share, to carry a certain quantity of it to an
elephant, having one day drank rather too freely, and finding himself
pursued by the guards, who were going to take him to prison, took
refuge under the elephant’s body and fell asleep. In vain did the
guard try to force him from this asylum: the elephant protected him
with his trunk. The next morning the soldier recovering from his
drunken fit, shuddered to find himself stretched under the belly of
this huge animal. The elephant, which, without doubt, perceived the
embarrassment of the poor fellow, caressed him with his trunk, in
order to dissipate his fears, and make him understand that he might
now depart in safety.

It should not be forgotten that the poet of “The Seasons” refers

to the sagacity of the elephant, his seclusion in his natural state, the
arts by which he is ensnared, the magnificence of his appearance in
oriental solemnities, and his use in warfare:—
 Peaceful, beneath primeval trees, that cast
Their ample shade o’er Niger’s yellow stream,
And where the Ganges rolls his sacred wave;
Or mid the central depth of blackening woods,
High rais’d in solemn theatre around,
Leans the huge elephant: wisest of brutes!
O truly wise! with gentle might endow’d,
Though powerful, not destructive! Here he sees
Revolving ages sweep the changeful earth,
And empires rise and fall; regardless he
Of what the never-resting race of men
Project: thrice happy! could he ’scape their guile,
Who mine, from cruel avarice, his steps;
Or with his towery grandeur swell their state,
The pride of kings! or else his strength pervert,
And bid him rage among the mortal fray,
Astonish’d at the madness of mankind.
Thomson.
On the 27th of September, 1763, captain Sampson presented an
elephant, brought by him from Bengal, to his majesty, at the queen’s
house. It was conducted from Rotherhithe that morning at two
o’clock, and two blacks and a seaman rode on his back. The animal
was about eight feet high.
The zebra, now well known from its being frequently brought into
this country, was at that time almost a “stranger in England.” One of
them having been given to her late majesty queen Charlotte,
obtained the name of the “queen’s ass,” and was honoured by a
residence in the tower, whither the elephant was also conveyed.
Their companionship occasioned some witticisms, of which there
remains this specimen.
 EPIGRAM
On the Elephant’s being placed in the
same table with the Zebra.
Ye critics so learn’d, whence comes it to pass
That the elephant wise should be plac’d by an ass?
This matter so strange I’ll unfold in a trice,
Some asses of state stand in need of advice
To screen them from justice, lest in an ill hour,
In the elephant’s stead they be sent to the tower.
On the occasion of captain Sampson’s present to the king,
several accounts of the elephant were written. One of them says,
that “the largest and finest elephants in the world are those in the
island of Ceylon; next to them, those of the continent of India; and
lastly, the elephant of Africa.” The Moors, who deal in these animals
throughout the Indies, have a fixed price for the ordinary sort,
according to their size. They measure from the nail of the fore foot
to the top of the shoulder, and for every cubit high they give after
the rate of 100l. of our money. An African elephant of the largest
size measures about nine cubits, or thirteen feet and a half in
height, and is worth about 900l., but of the breed of Ceylon, four
times that sum.”

Tavernier, in proof of the superiority of the elephant of Ceylon,

says, “One, I will tell you, hardly to be believed, but that which is a
certain truth, which is, that when any other king, or rajah, has one
of these elephants of Ceylon, if they bring them any other breed in
any other place whatever, so soon as the other elephants behold the
Ceylon elephants, by an instinct of nature, they do them reverence,
by laying their trunks upon the ground, and raising them up again.”

Though Cæsar does not mention the fact in his commentaries,

yet it is certain that he brought elephants with him to England, and
that they contributed to his conquest of our predecessors. Polyænus
in his “Stratagems,” says, “Cæsar in Britain attempted to pass a
great river, (supposed the Thames:) Casolaunus, (in Cæsar,
Cassivellaunus) king of the Britons, opposed his passage with a large
body of horse and chariots. Cæsar had in his company a vastly large
elephant, (μεγιστος ἑλεφας) a creature before that time unknown to
the Britons. This elephant he fenced with an iron coat of mail, built a
large turret on it, and putting up bowmen and slingers, ordered
them to pass first into the stream. The Britons were dismayed at the
sight of such an unknown and monstrous beast, (ἁοραλον κ’
ὑπεροφες θηριον) they fled, therefore, with their horses and
chariots, and the Romans passed the river without opposition,
terrifying their enemies by this single creature.”

In 1730, or 1731, some workmen digging the great sewer in Pall

Mall, “over against the King’s Arms tavern,” discovered at the depth
of twenty-eight feet, several bones of an elephant. The strata below
the surface were ten or twelve feet of artificial soil; below that four
or five feet of yellow sand, varying in colour till they came to the bed
wherein the bones were found, which consisted of exceedingly fine
sand similar to that dug on Hampstead heath.
About eighteen years previously, elephants’ bones were
discovered in digging in St. James’s-square; and about fourteen
years before that some were found in the same place. These various
animal remains in that neighbourhood lay at about the same depth.

In 1740, the remains of an elephant were discovered by some

labourers while digging a trench in the park of Frances Biddulph,
esq. at Benton, in Sussex. The bones did not lie close together as
those of a skeleton usually do. It was evident that the various
parallel strata of the earth had never been disturbed; it was
concluded that these animal deposits had remained there from the
period of the deluge, when it was presumed that they had been
conveyed and there, left, on the subsidence of the waters.

In 1756, the workmen of a gentleman, digging upon a high hill

near Mendip for ochre and ore, discovered, at the depth of 315 feet
from the surface, four teeth, not tusks, and two thighbones with part
of the head of an elephant. Remains of the same animal have been
at periods discovered at Mersey Island in Essex, at Harwich, at
Chartham near Canterbury, at Bowden Parva, in Norfolk, Suffolk,
Northamptonshire, and in various other parts of Great Britain and
Ireland. Elephant’s teeth were discovered at Islington, in digging a
gravel pit.

Shakspeare, in “Troilus and Cressida,” compares the slowness of

Ajax to that of the elephant; and in the same play he again
compares him to the same animal, and afterwards continues the
comparison.
There is reason to believe, that the elephant was adopted at that
period as the sign of a public inn. Antonio in “Twelfth Night” tells
Sebastian,—
“In the south suburbs at the Elephant
Is best to lodge: I will bespeak our diet,
While you beguile your time.”

NATURALISTS’ CALENDER.
Mean Temperature 39·65.

March 10.
Benjamin West.
A few anecdotes of this eminent painter, who died on the 10th of
March, 1820, are related in vol. i. p. 346. By the favour of a
gentleman who possesses letters from him, the reader is presented
with
Mr. West’s Autograph.

Another gentleman, an artist, has obligingly made a drawing

from the bust by Mr. Behnes, in sir John Leicester’s gallery, and
thrown in some touches from intimate acquaintance with Mr. West,
in his last illness, to convey an idea of his friend’s last looks.

Benjamin West, Esq.

The elegant volume descriptive of sir John Leicester’s gallery,
contains an outline of Mr. Behnes’ bust; the outline of that
delineation is preserved in the preceding sketch, because it is
familiar. Mr. Behnes conveys to us the apostolic simplicity of West’s
character, and the present engraving may be regarded as inviting the
admirers of the genius of the late president of the royal academy,
who have not seen the marble, to view it, in sir John Leicester’s
noble collection of works of British artists, which during a stated
season every year is liberally opened to public inspection.

In “The Examiner” of the 10th of March, 1816, there are some

lines, too beautiful in sentiment to be passed over on any day.
Providence.
From the Italian of Filicaia.
Just as a mother with sweet pious face
Yearns tow’rds her little children from her seat,
Gives one a kiss, another an embrace,
Takes this upon her knees, that on her feet:
And while from actions, looks, complaints, pretences,
She learns their feelings and their various will,
To this a look, to that a word dispenses,
And whether stern or smiling, loves them still:—
So Providence for us, high, infinite,
Makes our necessities its watchful task,
Hearkens to all our prayers, helps all our wants;
And ev’n if it denies what seems our right,
Either denies because ’twould have us ask,
Or seems but to deny, or in denying grants.

NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR.
Mean Temperature 38·90.

March 11.
Newark Custom,
FOUNDED ON A DREAM.

To the Editor of the Every-Day Book.

Newark, Feb. 1826.
A curious traditional story of a very extraordinary deliverance of
alderman Hercules Clay, and his family, by a dream, is at your
service.
 I am, &c.
Benjamin Johnson.
On March 11, every year, at Newark-upon-Trent, penny loaves are
given away to every one who chooses to appear at the town-hall,
and apply for them, in commemoration of the deliverance of
Hercules Clay, during the siege of Newark by the parliamentary
forces. This Hercules Clay, by will dated 11th of December, 1694,
gave to the mayor and aldermen one hundred pounds, to be placed
at interest by the vicar’s consent for his benefit, to preach a sermon
on the 11th day of March, annually, and another hundred pounds to
be secured and applied in like manner for the poor of the town of
Newark, which is distributed as above-mentioned. The occasion of
this bequest was singular. During the bombardment of the town of
Newark, by the parliament army under Oliver Cromwell, Clay (then a
tradesman residing in Newark market-place) dreamed three nights
successively, that his house was set fire to by the besiegers.
Impressed by the repetition of this warning, as he considered it, he
quitted his house, and in the course of a few hours after the
prediction was fulfilled.

Chronology.
1727. March 11. The equestrian statue of king George I., in
Grosvenor-square, was much defaced; the left leg torn off, the
sword and truncheon broken off, the neck hacked as if designed to
cut off the head, and a libel left at the place.[78]

NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR.
Mean Temperature 40·60.

[78] British Chronologist.

March 12.
1826. Fifth Sunday in Lent.
 Chronology.
On the 12th of March, 1808, died, at West Ham, in Essex, George
Gregory, D. D. vicar of that parish. He was descended from a
respectable family, originally from Scotland, a branch of which was
settled in Ireland. His father, who had been educated in Trinity-
college, Dublin, held, at the time of his son’s birth, the living of
Edernin, and a prebend in the cathedral of Ferns. Dr. Gregory was
born on April 14, 1754, but whether in Dublin or in Lancashire, of
which county his mother was a native, is uncertain. When twelve
years of age, at the death of his father, he was removed to
Liverpool, where his mother fixed her residence, desiring to place
him in commerce; but a taste for literature being his ruling
propensity, he studied in the university of Edinburgh, in 1776
entered into holy orders, and his first station in the church was in
the capacity of a curate at Liverpool. His attachments were chiefly
among the liberal and literary. In conjunction with Mr. Roscoe, and
other congenial spirits, Dr. Gregory had the merit of publicly
exposing the cruelty and injustice of the slave trade in the principal
seat of that traffic. In 1782, he removed to London, and obtained
the curacy of St. Giles’s, Cripplegate, which, on account of the
weight of its parochial duty, he left in three years, though by a
general invitation he was recalled as morning preacher in 1788; and
on the death of the vicar in 1802, a request was presented to the
dean and chapter of St. Paul’s, signed by every inhabitant, that he
might succeed to the vacancy. In the mean time he pursued with
indefatigable industry those literary occupations, which, in various
ways, have benefited the public. Dr. Gregory was a useful writer
who, without aiming, except rarely, at the reputation of original
composition, performed real services to letters, by employing a
practised style, an exercised judgment, and extensive information, in
works of compilation or abridgement, adapted to the use of that
numerous class who desire to obtain knowledge in a compendious
manner. His publications were successfully planned and ably
executed. He served at different times the curacy and lectureship of
St. Botolph, the lectureship of St. Luke’s, and a weekly lectureship of
St. Antholin’s, and was elected evening preacher at the Foundling
hospital, which the state of his health obliged him to resign. The
bishop of London presented him with a small prebend in the
cathedral of St. Paul’s, which he relinquished on receiving the rectory
of Stapleford, Herts. In 1804, he was presented by Lord Sidmouth
(then Mr. Addington) with the valuable living of West Ham, in Essex,
when he resigned every other clerical charge except that of
Cripplegate, to which parish he was attached by warm feelings of
gratitude.
At West Ham he passed four years, discharging with fidelity his
duties as a clergyman and a magistrate, and occupying his leisure
with literature. Life was endeared to him by domestic enjoyments in
the bosom of an amiable and affectionate family, and by the society
of many friends, whom he was much valued for his perpetual
readiness to serve and oblige, and the unaffected cheerfulness of his
conversation. Without any decided cause of illness, the powers of his
constitution suddenly and all together gave way; every vital function
was debilitated, and after a short confinement, he expired with the
calm resignation and animating hopes of a christian. Among his
numerous works are, “Essays, historical and moral,” a “Translation of
Lowth’s Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews,” a “Church
History,” from which he acquired celebrity with the inquiring, “The
Economy of Nature,” and a well-known “Dictionary of Arts and
Sciences.”[79]

Curious Narrative.
To the Editor of the Every-Day Book.
Sir,
The interment of the late duchess of Rutland, at Bottesford, the
family burialplace, has had a more than usual number of persons to
visit its many sepulchral monuments. One of them to the memory of
Francis Manners, earl of Rutland, who lies buried here, is very
splendid. It represents him with his countess in a kneeling posture,
and two children who are supposed to have been bewitch’d to
death. The inscription to that effect I read, and procured a copy of
the particulars from an old book which is always read to visiters by
the sexton; and which, as to the execution of the alleged criminals
at Lincoln, on the 12th of March, 1618, I find to be correct, and send
it for your use.
I am, Sir, &c.
B. Johnson.
Newark, Feb. 22, 1826.
The only alteration in the transcript is a variation from inaccurate
spelling.
Extract
From the Church Book of Bottesford.
When the Right Hon. Sir Francis Manners succeeded his Brother
Roger in the Earldom of Rutland, and took possession of Belvoir
Castle, and of the Estates belonging to the Earldom, He took such
Honourable measures in the Courses of his Life, that He neither
displaced Tenants, discharged Servants, nor denied the access of the
poor; but, making Strangers welcome, did all the good offices of a
Noble Lord, by which he got the Love and good-will of the Country,
his Noble Countess being of the same disposition: So that Belvoir
Castle was a continual Place of Entertainment, Especially to
Neighbours, where Joan Flower and her Daughter were not only
relieved at the first, but Joan was also admitted Chairwoman and her
daughter Margarett as a Continual Dweller in the Castle, looking to
the Poultry abroad, and the washhouse at Home; and thus they
Continued till found guilty of some misdemeanor which was
discovered to the Lady. The first complaint against Joan Flower the
Mother was that she was a Monstrous malicious Woman, full of
Oaths, Curses, and irreligious Imprecations, and, as far as appeared,
a plain Atheist. As for Margarett, her Daughter, she was frequently
accused of going from the Castle, and carrying Provisions away in
unreasonable Quantities, and returning in such unseasonable Hours
that they could not but Conjecture at some mischief amongst them;
and that their extraordinary Expences tended both to rob the Lady
and served also to maintain some debauched and Idle Company
which frequented Joan Flower’s House. In some time the Countess
misliking her (Joan’s) Daughter Margarett, and discovering some
Indecencies in her Life, and the Neglect of her Business, discharged
her from lying any more in the Castle, yet gave her forty Shillings, a
Bolster, and a Mattress of wool, commanding her to go Home. But at
last these Wicked Women became so malicious and revengeful, that
the Earl’s Family were sensible of their wicked Dispositions; for, first,
his Eldest Son Henry Lord Ross was taken sick after a strange
Manner, and in a little time Died; and, after, Francis Lord Ross was
Severely tortured and tormented by them, with a Strange sickness,
which caused his Death. Also, and presently after, the Lady
Catherine was set upon by their Devilish Practices, and very
frequently in Danger of her Life, in strange and unusual Fits; and, as
they confessed, both the Earl and his Countess were so Bewitched
that they should have no more Children. In a little time after they
were Apprehended and carried to Lincoln Jail, after due Examination
before sufficient Justices and discreet Magistrates.
Joan Flower before her Conviction called for bread and butter,
and wished it might never go through her if she were guilty of the
Matter she was Accused of; and upon mumbling of it in her Mouth
she never spoke more, but fell down and Died, as she was carried to
Lincoln Jail, being extremely tormented both in Soul and Body, and
was Buried at Ancaster.
The Examination of Margarett Flower the 22nd of January, 1618.
She confessed that, about four years since, her Mother sent her
for the right Hand glove of Henry Lord Ross, and afterwards her
Mother bid her go again to the Castle of Belvoir, and bring down the
glove, or some other thing, of Henry Lord Ross’s; and when she
asked for what, her Mother answered to hurt My Lord Ross; upon
which she brought down a glove, and gave it to her Mother, who
stroked Rutterkin her cat (the Imp) with it, after it was dipped in hot
water, and, so, pricked it often after; which Henry Lord Ross fell sick,
and soon after Died. She further said that finding a glove, about two
or three years since of Francis Lord Ross’s, she gave it to her mother,
who put it into hot water, and afterwards took it out, and rubbed it
on Rutterkin (the Imp,) and bid him go upwards, and afterwards
buried it in the yard, and said “a mischief light on him but he will
mend again.” She further confessed that her Mother and her and her
sister agreed together to bewitch the Earl and his Lady, that they
might have no more children; and being asked the cause of this their
malice and ill-will, she said that, about four years since, the
Countess, taking a dislike to her, gave her forty shillings, a Bolster,
and a mattress, and bid her be at Home, and come no more to dwell
at the Castle; which she not only took ill, but grudged it in her heart
very much, swearing to be revenged upon her, on which her Mother
took wool out of the Mattress, and a pair of gloves which were given
her by Mr. Vovason, and put them into warm water, mingling them
with some blood, and stirring it together; then she took them out of
the water, and rubbed them on the belly of Rutterkin, saying, “the
Lord and the Lady would have Children but it would be long first.”
She further confessed that, by her Mother’s command, she brought
to her a piece of a handkerchief of the Lady Catherine, the Earl’s
Daughter, and her Mother put it into hot water, and then, taking it
out, rubbed it upon Rutterkin, bidding him “fly and go,” whereupon
Rutterkin whined and cryed “Mew,” upon which the said Rutterkin
had no more power of the Lady Catherine to hurt her.
Margarett Flower and Phillis Flower, the Daughters of Joan
Flower, were executed at Lincoln for Witchcraft, March 12, 1618.
Whoever reads this history should consider the ignorance and
dark superstition of those times; but certainly these women were
vile abandoned wretches to pretend to do such wicked things.
“Seek not unto them that have familiar spirits, nor wizards, nor
unto witches that peep and that mutter: should not a people seek
unto their God.” Isaiah xix.

This entry in the church book of Bottesford is certainly very

curious. Its being read at this time, to the visitors of the
monuments, must spread the “wonderful story” far and near among
the country people, and tend to the increase of the sexton’s
perquisites; but surely if that officer be allowed to disseminate the
tale, he ought to be furnished with a few sensible strictures which he
might be required to read at the same time. In all probability, the
greater number of visitants are attracted thither by the surprising
narrative, and there is at least one hand from whom might be
solicited such remarks as would tend to obviate undue impressions.
Instances are already recorded in this work of the dreadful influence
which superstitious notions produce on the illiterate.

NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR.
Mean Temperature 40·72.

[79] Dr. Aikin’s Athenæum.

March 13.
Chronology.
On the 13th of March, 1614, in the reign of king James I.,
Bartholomew Legat, an Arian, was burnt in Smithfield for that
heresy.
1722, March 13, there were bonfires, illuminations, ringing of
bells, and other demonstrations of joy, in the cities of London and
Westminster, upon the dissolution of the septennial parliament.[80]

NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR.
Mean Temperature 40·47.

[80] British Chronologist.

March 14.
Football.
To the Editor of the Every-Day Book.
 Sir,—Perhaps you are not aware that, during fine weather,
football is played every Sunday afternoon, in the fields, between
Oldfield’s dairy and Copenhagen-house, near Islington, by Irishmen.
It generally commences at three o’clock, and is continued till dusk.
The boundaries are fixed and the parties chosen. I believe, as is
usual in the sister kingdom, county-men play against other county-
men. Some fine specimens of wrestling are occasionally exhibited, in
order to delay the two men who are rivals in the pursuit of the ball;
meantime the parties’ friends have time to pursue the combat, and
the quick arrival of the ball to the goal is generally the consequence,
and a lusty shout is given by the victors.
When a boy, football was commonly played on a Sunday
morning, before church time, in a village in the west of England, and
the church-piece was the ground chosen for it.
I am, &c.
Islington. J. R. P.
Royal Bridal.
On the 14th of March, 1734, his serene highness the prince of
Orange was married at St. James’s, to the princess-royal.
At eleven o’clock at night, the royal family supped in public in the
great state ball-room.
About one, the bride and bridegroom retired, and afterwards sat
up in their bed-chamber, in rich undresses, to be seen by the
nobility, and other company at court.
On the following day there was a more splendid appearance of
persons of quality to pay their compliments to the royal pair than
was ever seen at this court; and in the evening there was a ball
equally magnificent, and the prince of Orange danced several
minuets.
A few days before the nuptials, the Irish peers resident in
London, not having received summonses to attend the royal
procession, met to consider their claims to be present, and
unanimously resolved that neither themselves nor the peeresses
would attend the wedding as spectators, and that they would not
send to the lord chamberlain’s office for their tickets.[81]
 The “Papeguay.”
To the Editor of the Every-Day Book.
Kennington, March 7, 1826.
Sir,—The following brief observations on the sport mentioned at
p. 289, may not be considered unacceptable; strange to say, it is not
mentioned by either Strutt or Fosbroke in their valuable works.
This sport obtained over the principal parts of Europe. The
celebrated composer, C. M. Von Weber, opens his opera of horrors,
“Der Freischütz,” with a scene of shooting for the popingay. This is a
proof that it is common in Germany, where the successful candidate
is elected a petty sovereign for the day. The necessity and use of
such a custom in a country formed for the chase, is obvious.
The author of the “Waverley” novels, in his excellent tale of “Old
Mortality,” introduces a scene of shooting for the popingay, as he
terms it. It was usual for the sheriff to call out the feudal array of
the county, annually, to what was called the wappen-schaws. The
author says, “The sheriff of the county of Lanark was holding the
wappen-schaw of a wild district, called the Upper Ward of
Clydesdale, on a traugh or level plain, near to a royal borough, the
name of which is in no way essential to my story, upon the morning
of the 5th of May, 1679, when our narrative commences. When the
musters had been made, and duly reported, the young men, as was
usual, were to mix in various parts, of which the chief was to shoot
at the popingay, an ancient game formerly practised with archery,
and then with firearms. This was the figure of a bird, decked with
party-coloured feathers, so as to resemble a popingay or parrot. It
was suspended to a pole, and served for a mark, at which the
competitors discharged their fusees and carbines in rotation, at the
distance of sixty or seventy paces. He whose ball brought down the
mark, held the proud title of captain of the popingay for the
remainder of the day, and was usually escorted in triumph to the
most reputable charge-house in the neighbourhood, where the
evening was closed with conviviality, conducted under his auspices.”
From the accuracy and research of the author, I am inclined to take
it for granted, that this sport was common in Scotland.
 A friend informs me it is common in Switzerland, and I have no
doubt obtained pretty generally over Europe. In conclusion, allow me
to remark that in my opinion the man on horseback, with the
popingay on the pole, is returning as victor from the sport; the pole
in the distance evidently had the honour of supporting the popingay,
until it was carried away by the aim of the marksman.
I am, sir, &c. T. A.

The editor is obliged by the conjecture at the close of the

preceding letter, and concurs in thinking that he was himself
mistaken, in presuming that the French print from whence the
engraving was taken, represented the going out to the shooting. He
will be happy to be informed of any other misconception or
inaccuracy, because it will assist him in his endeavours to render the
work a faithful record of manners and customs. To that end he will
always cheerfully correct any error of opinion or statement.

NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR.
Mean Temperature 40·90.

[81] Gentleman’s Magazine.

March 15.
The Highgate Custom.
With much pleasure insertion is given to the following letter and
its accompanying song.
To the Editor of the Every-Day Book.
Seymour-street, Feb. 18, 1826.
Sir,—In illustration of the custom of “Swearing on the horns at
Highgate,” described at p. 79, in the Every-Day Book of the present
year, I enclose you a song, which was introduced in the pantomime
of Harlequin Teague, performed at the Haymarket theatre, in
August, 1742. If you think it worthy the columns of your valuable
work, it is at your service.
I am, &c.
Pasche.
 Song by the Landlord of the Horns
Silence! take notice, you are my son,
Full on your father look, sir;
This is an oath you may take as you run,
So lay your hand on the Hornbook, sir.
Hornaby, hornaby, Highgate and horns,
And money by hook or by crook, sir.
Hornaby, &c.
Spend not with cheaters, nor cozeners, your life,
Nor waste it on profligate beauty;
And when you are married, be kind to your wife,
And true to all petticoat duty.
Dutiful, beautiful, kind to your wife,
And true from the cap to the shoetie.
Dutiful, &c.
To drink to a man when a woman is near,
You never should hold to be right, sir;
Nor unless ’tis your taste, to drink small for strong beer,
Or eat brown bread when you can get white, sir.
Manniken, canniken, good meat and drink
Are pleasant at morn, noon, and night, sir
Manniken, &c.
To kiss with the maid when the mistress is kind,
A gentleman ought to be loth, sir:
But if the maid’s fairest, your oath does not bind,
Or you may, if you like it, kiss both, sir.
Kiss away, both you may, sweetly smack night and day,
If you like it—you’re bound by your oath, sir.
Kiss away, &c.
When you travel to Highgate, take this oath again,
And again, like a sound man, and true, sir,
And if you have with you some more merry men,
Be sure you make them take it too, sir.
Bless you, son, get you gone, frolic and fun,
Old England, and honest true blue, sir.
Bless you, &c.

NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR.
Mean Temperature 40· 8.
 March 16.
Cornish Sports,
AND THE
Origin of Piccadilly.
From several valuable communications, a letter is selected for
insertion this day, because it happens to be an open one, and
therefore free for pleasant intelligence on any subject connected
with the purpose of this publication. It is an advantage resulting
from the volume already before the public, that it acquaints its
readers with the kind of information desired to be conveyed, more
readily than the prospectus proposed to their consideration. If each
reader will only contribute something to the instruction and
amusement of the rest, the editor has no doubt that he will be able
to present a larger series of interesting notices and agreeable
illustrations, than any work he is at present acquainted with.
To the Editor of the Every-Day Book.
February 6, 1826.
Sir,—I send you the account of two more games, or in-doors
sports, in vogue among the country people in Cornwall. Of the latter,
Mr. D. Gilbert has made slight mention in the introduction to his
carols, second edition; but he states that these games, together with
carol-singing, may be considered as obsolete, which is by no means
the case: even yet in most of the western parishes, (and of these I
can speak from personal observation,) the carol-singers, not only
sing their “auntient chaunts” in the churches, but go about from
house to house in parties. I am told the practice is the same in many
other parts of the county, as it is also in various places throughout
the kingdom. I have added a slight notice respecting Piccadilly,
which (if worth inserting) may be new to some of your readers; but,
now for our Cornish sports: I state them as I found them, and they
are considered provincial.
First, then, the Tinkeler’s (tinker’s) shop.—In the middle of the
room is placed a large iron pot, filled with a mixture of soot and
water. One of the most humourous of the set is chosen for the
master of the shop, who takes a small mop in his left hand, and a
short stick in his right; his comrades each have a small stick in his
right hand; the master gives each a separate name, as Old Vulcan,
Save-all, Tear’em, All-my-men, Mend-all, &c. After these
preliminaries, all kneel down, encircling the iron vessel. The master
cries out, “Every one (that is, all together, or ‘one and all,’ as the
Cornish say,) and I;” all then hammer away with their sticks as fast
as they can, some of them with absurd grimaces. Suddenly the
master will, perhaps, cry out, “All-my-men and I;” upon this, all are
to cease working, except the individual called All-my-men; and if any
unfortunate delinquent fails, he is treated with a salute from the
mop well dipped in the black liquid: this never fails to afford great
entertainment to the spectators, and if the master is “well up to the
sport,” he contrives that none of his comrades shall escape
unmarked; for he changes rapidly from All-my-men and I, to Old
Vulcan and I, and so on, and sometimes names two or three
together, that little chance of escaping with a clean face is left.
The Corn-market.—Here, as before, an experienced reveller is
chosen to be the master, who has an assistant, called Spy-the-
market. Another character is Old Penglaze, who is dressed up in
some ridiculous way, with a blackened face, and a staff in his hand;
he, together with part of a horse’s hide girt round him, for the
hobby-horse, are placed towards the back of the market. The rest of
the players sit round the room, and have each some even price
affixed to them as names; for instance, Two-pence, Four-pence, Six-
pence, Twelve-pence, &c. The master then says “Spy-the-market,” to
which the man responds, “Spy-the-market;” the master repeats,
“Spy-the-market;” the man says, “Aye, sirrah.” The master then asks
the price of corn, to which Spy-the-market, may reply any price he
chooses, of those given to his comrades, for instance, “Twelve-
pence.” The master then says, “Twelve-pence,” when the man
hearing that price answers “Twelve-pence,” and a similar
conversation ensues, as with Spy-the-market before, and Twelve-
pence names his price, and so the game proceeds; but if, as
frequently happens, any of the prices forget their names, or any
other mistakes occur in the game, the offender is to be sealed, a
ceremony in which the principal amusement of the game consists; it
is done as follows,—the master goes to the person who has
forfeited, and takes up his foot, saying, “Here is my seal, where is
old Penglaze’s seal?” and then gives him a blow on the sole of the
foot. Old Penglaze then comes in on his horse, with his feet tripping
on the floor, saying, “Here I comes, neither riding nor a foot;” the
horse winces and capers, so that the old gentleman can scarcely
keep his seat. When he arrives at the market, he cries out, “What
work is there for me to do?” The master holds up the foot of the
culprit and says, “Here, Penglaze, is a fine shoeing match for you.”
Penglaze dismounts; “I think it’s a fine colt indeed.” He then begins
to work by pulling the shoe off the unfortunate colt, saying “My
reward is a full gallon of moonlight, besides all other customs for
shoeing in this market;” he then gives one or two hard blows on the
shoe-less foot, which make its proprietor tingle, and remounts his
horse, whose duty it is now to get very restive, and poor Penglaze is
so tossed up and down, that he has much difficulty to get to his old
place without a tumble. The play is resumed until Penglaze’s seal is
again required, and at the conclusion of the whole there is a set
dance.
Piccadilly.—The pickadil was the round hem, or the piece set
about the edge or skirt of a garment, whether at top or bottom; also
a kind of stiff collar, made in fashion of a band, that went about the
neck and round about the shoulders; hence the term “wooden
peccadilloes,” (meaning the pillory) in “Hudibras,” and see Nares’s
“Glossary,” and Blount’s “Glossographia.” At the time that ruffs, and
consequently pickadils, were much in fashion, there was a
celebrated ordinary near St. James’s, called Pickadilly, because, as
some say, it was the outmost, or skirt-house, situate at the hem of
the town; but it more probably took its name from one Higgins, a
tailor, who made a fortune by pickadils, and built this with a few
adjoining houses. The name has by a few been derived from a much
frequented shop for sale of these articles; this probably took its rise
from the circumstance of Higgins having built houses there, which,
however, were not for selling ruffs; and indeed, with the exception of
his buildings, the site of the present Piccadilly was at that time open
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