THE QUEER, THE QUAINT
AND
THE QUIZZICAL
A CABINET FOR THE CURIOUS
"The company is mixed."—Byron
BY
FRANK H. STAUFFER
PHILADELPHIA:
DAVID McKAY, PUBLISHER,
610 SOUTH WASHINGTON SQUARE.
Copyright, 1882, by F. H. STAUFFER
Intiquities and blunders.
Omens dire, mystic fire,
Strange customs, cranks and freaks,
With philosophy in streaks.
Introduction.
And only serves for reason to the fool.—Rochester.
And sev'ral constellation stones.—Butler.
That touch'd the ruff that touch'd Queen Bess's chin.
—Wolcot's Peter Pindar.
Stretching away on the one hand into the deep gloom of barbaricignorance, and on the other hand into the full radiance of Christian intelligence,and, grounding itself strongly in the instinctive recognition by allmen of the intimate relations between the seen and the unseen, the empireof SUPERSTITION possesses all ages of human history and all stages ofhuman progress.—Nimno.
The grounds of fate in grounds of tea.—Churchill.
I have known the shooting of a star to spoil a night's rest; I have seena man in love grow pale upon the plucking of a merry-thought. There isnothing so inconsiderable which may not appear dreadful to an imaginationthat is filled with omens and prognostics.—Addison.
Books with Unpronounceable Names.
In the seventeenth century there was a book publishedentitled: "Crononhotonthologos, the most tragical tragedythat ever was tragedized by any company of tragedians."The first two lines of this effusion read—
Where left you Chrononhotonthologos?"
We might name another singular title of a work published in1661 by Robert Lovell, entitled: "Panzoologicomineralogia;a complete history of animals and minerals, contain'g thesumms of all authors, Galenical and Chymicall, with theanatomie of man, &c."—Salad for the Solitary.
Most Curious Book in the World.
The most singular bibliographic curiosity is that whichbelonged to the family of the Prince de Ligne, and is now inFrance. It is neither written nor printed. All of the lettersof the text are cut out of each folio upon the finest vellum;and, being interlaced with blue paper, it is read as easily asthe best print. The labor and patience bestowed upon itmust have been