The Queer, the Quaint and the Quizzical Part 4

In "Gleanings for the Curious" we find the following list of odd t.i.tles to books, most of which were published in the time of Cromwell:-

A Shot aimed at the Devil's Head-Quarters through the Tube of the Cannon of the Covenant.

Crumbs of Comfort for the Chickens of the Covenant.

Eggs of Charity, layed by the Chickens of the Covenant, and boiled with the Water of Divine Love. Take Ye and eat.

High-heeled Shoes for Dwarfs in Holiness.

Hooks and Eyes for Believers' Breeches.

Matches lighted by the Divine Fire.

Seven Sobs of a Sorrowful Soul for Sin; or, the Seven Penitential Psalms of the Princely Prophet David; whereunto are also added William Humius'

Handful of Honeysuckles, and Divers G.o.dly and Pithy Ditties, now newly augmented.

Spiritual Milk for Babes, drawn out of the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of both Testaments for their Souls' Nourishment: a catechism.

The Bank of Faith.

The Christian Sodality; or, Catholic Hive of Bees, sucking the Honey of the Churches' Prayer from the Blossoms of the Word of G.o.d, blowne out of the Epistles and Gospels of the Divine Service throughout the yeare.

Collected by the Puny Bee of all the Hive not worthy to be named otherwise than by these elements of his Name, F. P.

The Gun of Penitence.

The Innocent Love; or, the Holy Knight: a description of the ardors of a saint for the Virgin.

The Shop of the Spiritual Apothecary; or, a collection of pa.s.sages from the fathers.

The Sixpennyworth of Divine Spirit.

The Snuffers of Divine Love.

The Sound of the Trumpet: a work on the day of judgment.

The Spiritual Mustard Pot, to make the Soul Sneeze with Devotion.

The Three Daughters of Job: a treatise on patience, fort.i.tude and pain.

Tobacco battered, and the Pipes shattered about their Ears that idly idolize so loathsome a Vanity, by a Volley of holy shot thundered from Mount Helicon: a poem against the use of tobacco, by Joshua Sylvester.

A Fan to drive away Flies: a theological treatise on Purgatory.

A most Delectable Sweet Perfumed Nosegay for G.o.d's Saints to Smell at.

A Pair of Bellows to blow off the Dust cast upon John Fry.

A Proper Project to Startle Fools: Printed in a Land where Self's cry'd up and Zeal's cry'd down.

A Reaping-Hook, well tempered, for the Stubborn Ears of the coming Crop; or, Biscuit baked in the Oven of Charity, carefully conserved for the Chickens of the Church, the Sparrows of the Spirit, and the sweet Swallows of Salvation.

A Sigh of Sorrow for the Sinners of Zion, breathed out of a Hole in the Wall of an Earthly Vessel, known among Men by the Name of Samuel Fish (a Quaker who had been imprisoned).

_t.i.tle-Pages which Mislead._

The t.i.tle-page is not always a distinct intimation of what is to follow.

"The Diversions of Purley" is one of the toughest books in existence.

"Apes Urbanae" (Urban bees), by the great scholar, Leo Allatius, is not about bees, but is devoted to the great men who nourished during the Pontificate of Urban VIII., whose family carried bees on their coat-armorial. "Marmontel's Moral Tales" has been found to give disappointment to parents in search of the absolutely correct and improving; and Edgeworth's "Essay on Irish Bulls" has been counted money absolutely thrown away by eminent breeders. "MacEwen on the Types" is not a book for printers, but for theologians. Ruskin's treatise "On the Construction of Sheepfolds" treats about Popery and Protestantism.-_The Book Hunter._

_A Carmelite Friar's Poem._

In the seventeenth century a carmelite friar named Jean Louis Barthelemi, but who always called himself Pierre de St. Louis, composed (in twelve books) a poem ent.i.tled, "The Magdaleneide; or, Mary Magdalen at the Desert of the Sainte Beaume in Provence, a Spiritual and Christian Poem." Some idea of it may be obtained from a literally translated extract. Having treated at large of the Magdelen's irregular conduct in the early part of her life, and of her subsequent conversion, he says:-

"But G.o.d at length changed this coal into a ruby, this crow into a dove, this wolf into a sheep, this h.e.l.l into a heaven, this nothing into something, this thistle into a lily, this thorn into a rose, this impotence into power, this vice into virtue, this caldron into a mirror."

The poem cost him five years of close application, and he concludes it by egotistically saying: "If you desire grace and sweetness in verses, in mine will you find them."

_Striking Parallel Pa.s.sages between Shakspeare and the Bible._

_Oth.e.l.lo._-Rude am I in speech.-I. 3.

But though I be rude in speech.-2 Cor. xi. 6.

_Witches._-Show his eyes and grieve his heart.-iv. 1.

Consume thine eyes and grieve thine heart.-1 Sam. ii. 33.

_Macbeth._-Lighted fools the way to dusty death.-V. 5.

Thou hast brought me into the dust of death.-Ps. xxii.

_Oth.e.l.lo._-I took him by the throat, the circ.u.mcised dog, and smote him.-V. 2.

I smote him, I caught him by his beard and smote him, and slew him.-1 Sam. xvii. 35.

_Macbeth._-We will die with harness on our back.-V. 5.

Nicanor lay dead in his harness.-Maccabees xv. 28.

_Curious Play Bill._

The following remarkable theatrical announcement is worthy of preservation for its effusion of vanity and poverty, in the shape of an appeal to the inhabitants of a town in Suss.e.x:-

"At the old theatre in East Grimstead, on Sat.u.r.day, May 5th, 1758, will be represented (by particular desire, and for the benefit of Mrs. P.) the deep and affecting tragedy of Theodosius; or, the Force of Love, with magnificent dresses, scenery, &c.