Prototypes. THE OLDEST PROVERB. IT appears from I Samuel xxiv. 13, that the oldest proverb on record, is, "Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked;" since David, in his time, declared it to be "a proverb of the ancients;" consequently older than any proverb of his son Solomon. SHAKSPEARE SAID IT FIRST. In one of Clough's letters he tells an amusing story of a Calvinistic old lady, who, on being asked about the Universalists, observed,—“Yes, they expect that everybody will be saved, but we look for better things." How like this is to the admirable confusion of Sir Andrew Aguecheek, who, in his letter of challenge, (Twelfth Night, iii. 4,) concludes thus:"Fare thee well, and God have mercy upon one of our souls! He may have mercy upon mine; but my hope is better!" CINDERELLA'S SLIPPER. A story somewhat similar to that of Cinderella has been handed down from the Greek. It is reported of Rhodopis,— a Thracian slave, who was purchased and manumitted by Charaxus of Mytilene, and afterward settled in Egypt, that one day, while she was in the bath, an eagle, having flown down, snatched one of her slippers from an attendant, and carried it to Memphis. Psammitichus, the king, at the time, was sitting on his tribunal, and while engaged in dispensing justice, the eagle, settling above his head, dropped the sandal into his bosom. Astonished by the singularity of the event, and struck by the diminutive size and elegant shape of the sandal, the king ordered search to be made for the owner throughout the land of Egypt. Having found her at Naucratis, she was presented to the king, who made her his queen. CURTAIN LECTURES. Jerrold, in his preface to the later editions of Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures, makes this curious statement: It has happened to the writer that two, or three, or ten, or twenty gentlewomen have asked him... What could have made you think of Mrs. Caudle? How could such a thing have entered any man's mind! There are subjects that seem like rain-drops to fall upon a man's head, the head itself having nothing to do with the matter... And this was, no doubt, the accidental cause of the literary sowing and expansion-unfolding like a night-flower-of MRS. CAUDLE... The writer, still dreaming and musing, and still following no distinct line of thought, there struck upon him, like notes of sudden household music, these words-CURTAIN LECTURES. Nevertheless, this phrase may be traced back more than two centuries, while the idea will be found in the Sixth Satire of Juvenal, who says:— Semper habet lites, alternaque jurgia lectus, In quo nupta jacet: minimum dormitur in illo, &c. Stapylton's translation of this passage was published in 1647: Debates, alternate brawlings, ever were I' th' marriage bed: there is no sleeping there. In the margin of the translation are the words Curtain Lectures. Dryden in his translation of the same passage (published 1693) introduces the phrase into the text: Besides, what endless brawls by wives are bred; And Addison, in the Tatler, describing a luckless wight undergoing the penalty of a nocturnal oration, says: I could not but admire his exemplary patience, and discovered, by his whole behavior, that he was then lying under the discipline of a curtain lecture. THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE. The metre, movement, and idea of Tennyson's Charge of the Six Hundred at Balaklava, are evidently derived from Michael Drayton's Battle of Agincourt, published in 1627. The first, middle and last stanzas of Drayton's poem run thus: 1. Faire stood the Wind for France Longer will tarry; But putting to the Mayne, 8. They now to fight are gone, Armour on armour shone, Drumme now to Drumme did grone, To heare was wonder: That with the Cryes they make, The very earth did shake, Trumpet to Trumpet spake, Thunder to Thunder. 15. Upon Saint Crispin's day THE FAUST LEGENDS. About the middle of the thirteenth century began to spread the notion of formal written agreements between the Fiend and men who were to be his exclusive property after a certain time, during which he was to help them to all earthly good. This, curious to say, came with Christianity from the East. The first instance was that of Theophilus, vicedominus of the Bishop of Adana, a city of Cilicia, in the sixth century, whose fall and conversion form the original of all the Faust legends. The story of Theophilus may be found in various works, among them Ennemoser's Universal History of Magic, which was translated by William Howitt. AIR CUSHIONS. Ben Jonson, in the Alchemist, makes Sir Epicure Mammon, in his expectation of acquiring the secret of the philosopher's stone, enumerate to Surly a list of anticipated luxuries. Among these indulgences is this prophetic forecast of modern inflated India-rubber beds and cushions: "I will have all my beds blown up, not stuffed; THE CAT IN THE ADAGE. Lady Macbeth thus taunts her husband: Wouldst thou have that Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life, The adage is thus given in Heywood's Proverbs, 1566:"The cat would eate fishe, and would not wet her feete." The proverb is found among all nations. The Latin form of mediæval times was as follows: "Catus amat pisces, sed non vult tingere plantas.” The Germans say: "Die Katze hätt' die Fische gern; aber sie will die Füsse nit nass machen." And the Scotch have it: "The cat would fain fish eat, But she has no will to wet her feet." CORK LEGS. A gentleman. in Charleston conceived a very decided liking to a young lady from Ireland, and was on the eve of popping the question, when he was told by a friend that his dulcinea had a cork leg. It is difficult to imagine the distress of the young Carolinian. He went to her father's house, knocked impatiently at the door, and when admitted to the fair one's presence, asked her if what he had heard respecting her were true. "Yes, indeed, my dear Sir, it is true enough, but you have heard only half of my misfortune. I have got two cork legs, having had the ill-luck to be born in Cork." This is the incident on which is founded Hart's afterpiece called Perfection. THE POPE'S BULL AGAINST THE COMET. When President Lincoln was first asked to issue a proclamation abolishing slavery in the Southern States, he replied that such an act would be as absurd as the Pope's bull against the comet. The comet referred to is Halley's. Concerning its first authenticated appearance, Admiral Smyth, in his Cycle of Celestial Objects, says: In 1456 it came with a tail 60° in length, and of a vivid brightness; which splendid train affrighted all Europe, and spread consternation in every quarter. To its malign influences were imputed the rapid successes of Mahomet II., which then threatened all Christendom. The general alarm was greatly aggravated by the conduct of Pope Calixtus III., who, though otherwise a man of abilities, was but a poor astronomer; for that pontiff daily ordered the church bells to be rung at noontide, extra Ave Marias to be repeated, and a special protest and excommunication was composed, exorcising equally the devil, the Turks, and the comet. SWAPPING HORSES. The celebrated maxim of President Lincoln, "not to swap horses while fording the stream," was anticipated centuries ago by Cyrus the Elder, King of Persia, in directing his troops to take up their several stations, when he said, "When the contest is about to begin, there is no longer time for any chariot to unyoke the horses for a change." WOODEN NUTMEGS. Judge Haliburton, in that amusing book The Clockmaker, puts the following in the mouth of Sam Slick: |