We have still in the Town Hall here the chain in which it is said Jefferies sat at the Bloody Assize.
[We shall gladly receive the particulars which our Correspondent proposed to collect and forward.]
[Mr. Thoms' Query in this case should have been limited to the _straw necklaces_, as Mr. Nichols has already explained the _serpents' eggs_; but our Correspondent's letter is so satisfactory on both points that we insert it entire.]
The passage from Erasmus, "brachium habet ova serpentum," is plainly to be rendered "and with a string of serpents' eggs on your arm." The meaning is equally apparent on recalling the manner in which snakes' eggs are found, viz., hanging together in a row. Erasmus intends Menedemus to utter a joke at the _rosary of beads_ hanging over the pilgrim's arm, which he professes to mistake for serpents' eggs.
I am not aware what particular propriety the "collar or chaplet" (for it may mean either) of _straw_ may have, as worn by a pilgrim from Compostella; or whether there may not lurk under this description, as beneath { 25} the other, a jocular sense. The readiest way of determining this point would be to consult some of the accounts of Compostella and of its relics, which are to be found in a class of books formerly abundant in the north-western towns of Spain.
"A Student" may consult the _Proceedings of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, Copenhagen_, Mr. Geogehan's _Ireland_, O'Flaherty's _Ogygia_, Magnusen and Rafn _On the Historical Monuments of Greenland and America_, and some of the _Sagas_.
The earliest account we have of coffee is said to be taken from an Arabian MS. in the Bibliothèque du Roi in Paris.
Schehabeddin Ben, an Arabian author of the ninth century of the Hegira, or fifteenth of the Christians, attributes to Gemaleddin, Mufti of Aden, a city of Arabia Felix, who was nearly his contemporary, the first introduction into that country, of drinking coffee. He tells us, that Gemaleddin, having occasion to travel into Persia, during his abode there saw some of his countrymen drinking coffee, which at that time he did not much attend to; but, on his return to Aden, finding himself indisposed, and remembering that he had seen his countrymen drinking coffee in Persia, in hopes of receiving some benefit from it, he determined to try it on himself; and, after making the experiment, not only recovered his health, but perceived other useful qualities in that liquor; such as relieving the headach, enlivening the spirits, and, without prejudice to the constitution, preventing drowsiness. This last quality he resolved to turn to the advantage of his profession; he took it himself, and recommended it to the Dervises, or religious Mahometans, to enable them to pass the night in prayer, and other exercises of their religion, with greater zeal and attention. The example and authority of the mufti gave reputation to coffee. Soon men of letters, and persons belonging to the law, adopted the use of it. These were followed by the tradesmen and artisans that were under the necessity of working in the night, and such as were obliged to travel late after sunset. At length the custom became general in Aden; and it was not only drunk in the night by those who were desirous of being kept awake, but in the day for the sake of its other agreeable qualities.