PREFACE. THE writer presumes that the following work requires no apology; it claims a place in that class of publications, the value of which is indisputable, and on which the public has stamped its seal of approbation. The present volume, though complete in itself, may form a suitable companion to the writer's Book of Curiosities; it has been carefully compiled from standard books, and works of authority, and is also interspersed with choice extracts from the periodical and floating literature of the day. It is in truth a new compilation; though it is not improbable that some of the articles may be found among other collections; but on this point the author is incompetent to decide, having compiled for himself, without reference to the collections of others. The writer has throughout the work endeavoured to maintain an originality in his extracts; on this account he has passed over many things which are generally included in works of this nature. Le proof of these assertions, he need only refer the reader to the "Remarkable Biographies," where he will find that the characters introduced are not generally those that have been exhibited under the term Eccentric Biography, but are principally a new selection. The extracts in this volume are brought forward without any formality of disquisition, of which the writer did not see the necessity; but a sort of order is nevertheless observed in the arrangement of the whole, which, if it be not visibly marked, will be obvious to every judicious observer. The compiler trusts that the work will fully answer to its title; and that it will not only be esteemed a Compendium of Information, but also of Amusement, by readers of every description. Doncaster, May 18, 1827. ABARIS, the Hyperborean, 301 Abiponians, a tribe of American Indians, 83 Abjuration, an ancient English custom, 298 Acridophagi, or locust-eaters of Ethiopia, 159 Adam, legendary account of, 439- Adams, Jack, the astrologer, 361 Adamites, a sect of ancient heretics, 549 Adoration of the Hindoos, mode of, 139 Etna, a burning mountain of Sicily, 635 Agouti, an American animal, 736 Albinos, as described by the Portuguese,112 Aleppo, climate, religion, and customs of, 93 Algonquins, a nation of N. America, 163 All-hallow even, or nut-crack night, 252 799 Alps, a range of mountains, 624 Amazons, an account of the, 146 Amboyna, customs, religion, &c. in, 56 Americans, customs, dress, &c. of the, 76 America, probable manner of first people- Angoy, a kingdom of Africa, 167 Anossi, a province of Madagascar, 189 Ansarians, a people of Syria, 144 Animal magnetism, 685 Ants' eggs, 766 bills, methods of destroying, 768 Aormas, a high rock in India, 622 Arabians, manners and customs of the, 120 Arimanius, the evil god of the Persians, 535 Armenians, religion of the, 543 Ashantees, manners and customs of the, 18 Asyla of altars and temples, 236 Asphyxia, or suspended animation, 515 Astronomical machine, Dr. Long's, 570 Assassins, a sect of Mahometans, 554 Athenian girls, description of, 44 Atooi, one of the Sandwich islands, 66 Avalanches, masses of snow, 662 Avars, a tribe of Sarmatian origin, 202 Beds, 574 Calcutta, history of the capture of, 498 Behmen, Jacob, the Teutonic philosopher, Carthusians, 546 322 Bells, antiquity of, 253 - superstitious uses of, 256 niards, 69 Bissaons inhabitants of an African island, 163 Cainites, a sect of beretics, 568 Carmelites, a tribe of mendicant friars, 547 Caves in Scotland and America, 60 Britton, T. the musical small-coal man, 367 Brossier, Martha, the demoniac, 434 Browny, 791 Brine-springs, G55 Bricks, ancient, 726 Bridges, natural, pendent, &c. 721 Castles, history of ancient English, 709 Celibacy and marriage, laws respecting, 291 Charcoal, porousness and durability of, 591 customs peculiar to the, 10 tea drinking among the, 13 within doors in Germany, 263 Church bells, origin of, 254 Clemency, instances of, 467 Cleopatra's needle, and Pompey's pillar, 59% Commonwealth of Babina, in Poland, 501 Colebrook Dale, in Shropshire, 661 Buck bars, manners, customs, &c. of the. 28 Cock-crowing, 772 Bull-fighting, Roman, 218, Spanish, 219, Burying alive, a punishment, 296 Baxton, Jededial, 398 Bucephalus, the horse of Alexander, 447 Bachanites, a sect in Scotland, 568 Butter-tree (shen-tree) 778 Cantabrians, the enemies of the Romans, 76 California, inhabitants of, 195 Carbonari of Italy, 34 Cardinal, origin and office of, 246 Calas, John, 403 Crab, the land, 739 Cross, punishment by the, 244 - superstitious adoration of the, 555 396 Crowns, ancient, 571 Crow, power of reason in a, 772 Cricket, the field, domestic and mole, 754 Currents in Norway, 660 Customs at weddings, 280 Cuerenbent, Theodore van, 315 Dahomans, inhabitants of Africa, 186 1 Decoy for taking wild fowls, 725 Gladiators, an account of the, 205 Glass, astonishing properties of, 78 Golden fish, 762 Goldsmith, Oliver, 414 Going a Gooding on St. Thomas's day, 234 Gog and Magog, 801 Granicus, battle of the, 511 Diamonds, extraordinary size and value of, Gratitude, instances of, 514 614 Greenland, account of the natives of, 51 Guiana, South America, natives of, 176 -humanity and civility of the natives Guy, Thos. the founder of Guy's Hospital, 369 Gymnotus, an electrical animal, 746 Hagmena, a custom in Franconia, 233 Hand, 586, and Ambidexterity, 587 Hare, the mountain or alpine rabbit, 738 England, New, manners and character of Harpoon gun, 580 the citizens of, 160 Eonians, a fanatical sect, 555 - funeral ceremonies of the, 294 Exposing of children, 276 Hatching, artificial, 592 Hattemists, a Dutch sect, 565 Hawking, history of, 222 Hedgehog, 741 Heideggar, John James, 365 Hindoos, manners, customs, &c, of the, 135 Hippopotamus or river borse, 729 Hottentots, some account of the, 162 Howard, John, the philanthropist, 406 Huabeine, one of the Society Islands, 131 -in the East Indies, 226 Iceland, volcanoes and irruptions in, 650 Ichneumon wasp, or savage, 761 |