clock was soon completed. The old man wept for joy at the success of his labor. Everybody came to see it, and the city authorities bought it for the cathedral. Then the lovers were married.

"The fame of the clock soon spread far and wide; and the city of Basel, Switzerland, ordered another just like it. This aroused the jealousy of the magistrates; and, sending for the old mechanic, they tried to extort a promise from him that he would never duplicate this masterpiece for any other town. I will make no such promise,' said the clock-maker. "Heaven gave me not my talents to feed your vain ambition.' Then the magistrate who had been rejected by the old man's daughter persuaded his colleagues to put out the old man's eyes. The clock-maker heard the sentence with fortitude, only requesting that his sentence might be executed in the presence of his beloved work. His request was granted: he was carried before the clock, where he stood gazing at it fondly. 'But one touch remains to complete my work,' said the old man; and he busied himself a moment among the wheels of the clock. Then he stepped back, and submitted himself to the executioner, who quickly deprived him of his sight. At the same moment a crash was heard, and the works of the clock fell into a mass of ruins. The old man had removed the mainspring; and the works, suddenly released from control, had destroyed themselves.

"His revenge was complete, for there was no one that could restore the wonderful piece of mechanism.

"The people then turned upon the cruel magistrate, and with blows and curses drove him from the church."

The clock remained a ruin until 1842, when parts of it were used by Schwilgue to construct the present

one.

28. GREEK FIRE.

During the reign of Constantine III., the Saracens besieged the city of Constantinople for five months, but were then obliged to retire.

They returned seven times during as many succes

1 See Gibbon, early sieges of Constantinople, for its use, etc.

sive years, but were each time repulsed by Callimachus, who, in 688, invented an inextinguishable fire by which he destroyed their ships.

This Greek or liquid fire was made principally of naphtha or liquid bitumen, mixed with some sulphur and pitch extracted from green firs. Water, instead of extinguishing, quickened this powerful agent of destruction, which nothing but sand, wine, or vinegar could check. For four hundred years the Greeks kept the secret of its composition, but the Mohammedans at length discovered and used it.

This fire remained in use until the middle of the fourteenth century, when it was superseded by gunpowder.

29. A KING EXHIBITED IN AN IRON CAGE.

Bajazet I. was sultan of the Ottoman Turks in 1389. He was called Ilderim (the Lightning) on account of his rapid successes in the war. He made all of Asia Minor a part of his dominion, conquered what is now called Turkey in Europe, overran Greece, Hungary, He seemed invincible until Tamerlane of Timour defeated him, and took him prisoner in the great battle of Angora.

Timour was one of the greatest soldiers that ever lived. No one man ever conquered so large a portion. of the world, or ruled over so many conquered people.

After the battle of Angora, Bajazet being asked by Tamerlane how he would have treated him had their lots been reversed, "Like a dog," he replied. "I would have made you my footstool when I mounted my saddle; and when your services were not needed, I would have chained you in a cage like a wild beast." Tamerlane.

replied, "Then, to show you the difference of my spirit, I shall treat you as a king."

So saying, he ordered his chains to be struck off, gave him one of the royal tents, and promised to restore him to his throne if he would lay aside his hostility. Bajazet abused this noble generosity, and plotted the assassination of Tamerlane.

Finding clemency of no avail, Tamerlane commanded him to be "treated as a dog," to be "chained in a cage like a wild beast," and in this condition was compelled to accompany the victorious army of Tamerlane.

30. THE "EIKON BASILIKÉ."

The "Eikon Basiliké" ("Royal Image") was a book for many years supposed to have been written by Charles I. of England, during his imprisonment on the Isle of Wight. It is now known to have been written by Dr. Gauden, Bishop of Exeter (1605-1662). The manuscript copy was put into the hands of the publisher, Richard Royston, on the 23d of December, 1648. Whether any copies were printed by the 30th of the following month, the day when Charles I. was executed, is doubtful; but there is no doubt that it was largely in circulation soon afterwards, and that it produced a powerful effect upon the Royalists, strengthening their doctrine in the divine right of kings, most of them believing that the king himself wrote it.

This work was the chief means of obtaining for Charles I. the designation of the "Royal Martyr," and to it has been attributed also the Restoration.

M. Guizot, in his history of the events of those times, says, "The manuscript had probably been read, perhaps even corrected, by Charles himself, during his resi

dence in the Isle of Wight. In any case, it was the real expression and true portraiture of his position, character, and mind, as they had been formed by misfortune."

Nearly fifty thousand copies of it were sold within a year in England alone, and it did not fail to excite a deep interest in the faithful adherents of the House of Stuart it also produced a general tendency among his avowed opponents to forget the faults of the unfortunate king, and to recall his virtues. The Government becoming alarmed at the effect of it upon the public mind, desired Milton to write an answer to the "Eikon Basiliké," with the view of showing, that, whether written by the king or not, its political reasonings were invalid. Milton accepted the duty, and wrote what became one of his most celebrated works, called the "Eikonoklastes" ("Image-breaker"), more frequently spelled Iconoclastes.

The question of the authorship of the "Eikon Basilike" was long a matter of literary discussion; and in the last century we find Hume, in his History of England, advocating the claims of the king to the authorship, in preference to those of Dr. Gauden.

Numerous copies of the "Eikon Basiliké" are preserved in public and private libraries in England: these copies have verses, written on the fly-leaves during the troubled period of the Commonwealth, showing that the grief of the people was deep and sincere, and that they considered the work to be "A Faithful Portraiture of his Sacred Majesty in his Solitudes and Sufferings."

According to Hume, "it must be acknowledged the best prose composition which, at the time of its composition, was to be found in the English language." The bitter vein and scurrilous tone of the "Iconoclastes' has been considered a spot on Milton's fame.

31. THE ROPE OF OCNUS.

"The Rope of Ocnus" is the name of a celebrated picture painted by Polygnotus, a distinguished Greek painter who died about 426 B.C. He was the first who gave life, character, and expression to painting. According to Pliny, he opened the mouth, and showed the teeth of his figures: he was the first to paint women. with transparent drapery and with rich head-dresses.

Ocnus was the name of a poor but industrious Greek, whose extravagant wife spent his money as fast as he earned it. He complained to Polygnotus of his trials and tribulations in this respect, and Polygnotus painted the picture alluded to above.

The picture represents a poor man weaving a rope out of straw, while behind him stands an ass eating off the other end of the rope. The silent lesson conveyed by the picture is said to have had the desired effect upon the wife of Ocnus, and by her frugality and thrift she enabled him soon to rise from obscurity to great prosperity.

The phrase, like "the rope of Ocnus," signifies profitless labor.

32. ORIGIN OF LIFTING THE HAT.

The custom of lifting the hat had its origin during the age of chivalry, when it was customary for knights never to appear in public except in full armor.

It became a custom, however, for a knight, upon entering an assembly of friends, to remove his helmet, signifying, "I am safe in the presence of friends."

The age of chivalry passed away with the fifteenth century; but among the many acts of courtesy which