Golden Fleece, order of knighthood, began in Flanders, 1452. King of England, the title first used, 20; of Ireland, 1542, of Great Britain, 1605. King of France, the title assumed by the king of England, and his arms quartered with the English, and the motto "Dieu et mon Droit," first used, Feb. 21, 1340; relinquished Jan. 1, 1801. King of the French began, 1791; abolished, 1792. Knighthood first used in England, 897. Legion of Honor, instituted by Bonaparte, confirmed by Louis XVIII, 1814. Lord mayors of London first appointed annually, 1208 Louis, St. order of knighthood, began May 10, 169; abolished, 1791. Majesty, the title used to Henry VIII, of England. Poet Laureat, the first in England, 1487. Pope, the title first assumed, 154. MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE, in France, ceased June 27, 1720, when its amount was one hundred million pounds sterling. MONASTERY, the first founded, where the sister of St. Anthony retired, 270; the first founded in France, near Poictiers, by St. Martin, 360; Constantine IV sends for a great number of friars and nuns to Ephesus, orders them to change their black habits for white, and to destroy their images; on their refusal, he orders their eyes to be put out, banishes them, and sells several monasteries, appropriating the produce, 770; they were totally suppressed by act of parliament in 1539. MONEY, first mentioned as a medium of commerce in the twenty-third chapter of Genesis, when Abraham purchased a field as a sepulchre for Sarah, in the year of the world, 2139; first made at Argos, 894 B. C.; has increased eighteen times its value from 1290 to 1640; and twelve times its value from 1530 to 1800. MOUNT AUBURN. A retired and ornamented place of sepulture, about four miles from Boston, was publicly dedicated, as a cemetery, Sept. 24, 1831. There are upwards of fifty acres enclosed, and the whole is under the direction of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, which was incorporated for the purpose by the Massachusetts Legislature, June, 1831. The lots however are purchased by individuals and are permanently secured to them, and their legal representatives. The grounds are planted with shrubbery, flowers and trees, and are laid out in walks. Various monuments, tombs and cenotaphs have been erected, and it is probably as a city of the dead" destined to rival the far famed Pere la Chaise of Paris. MULBERRY TREES first planted in England, 1609; in the English provinces of North America, about 1750, for cultivating silk. MUSIC. According to Mosaic records, Jubal the son of Lamech, played on musical instruments even before the deluge. At a later period, we find mention made of the harp, the trumpet and the drum. The oldest song, is that which Meriam sang after the passage of the Red Sea. Music reached its highest perfection among the Hebrews, at the time of David and Solomon. The Greeks are said to have received the art of music from Lydia and Arcadia. But it was not till the 6th century that much of the science of music was understood. Labus, a Greek, who lived about 546 B. C., wrote something on the theory of music. In the time of Pericles, Damon is said to have been a distinguished teacher of music. In the time of Plato and Aristotle, many improvements in music were made; these philosophers considering music useful as a means of education. At the time of Alexander, Aristoxenus distinguished himself as a writer on music. He composed many treatises, and made many great changes and improvements He introduced the chromatic scale. We have on the whole but little light on the subject of the musie of the ancients, as the existing writings are very obscure and unintelligible. The Romans seem to have received their sacred music from the Etruscans, and their warlike music from the Greeks. Stringed instruments were introduced into Rome, 186 B. C. Under Nero, music was cultivated as a luxury. After his death, five hundred singers and musicians were dismissed. In the middle ages, the progress of music was promoted by its being consecrated to the service of religion, and education was not thought complete without some knowledge of music. Guido, of Arezzo, made great improvements in the manner of writing the notes in music, and in the fifteenth century still farther improvement was made by Johannes de Muris. At the same period, music was treated scientifically in the Netherlands, France and Spain. The invention of the opera in the sixteenth century, has chiefly contributed to the splendor and variety of modern vocal music, and in the eighteenth century, there were immense improvements made in musical instruments. The merit of the advancement of vocal music is claimed by the Italians; that of instrumental music by the Germans and French. MUSICAL NOTES as now used, 1330. MUSKETS first used in France at the siege of Arras, 1414; in general use, 1521. MUSLINS from India, first in England, 1670; first manufactured there, 1781. N. NATIONAL DEBT in England, first contracted in Henry VII's reign, £14,301. NEEDLES were first made in England by a native of India, 1545, the art lost at his death; recovered by Christopher Greening, in 1560, who was settled with his three children, Elizabeth, John, and Thomas, by Mr. Damer, ancestor of the present earl of Dorchester, at Long Gredon, in Bucks, where the manufactory has been carried on from that time to the present day. NEW STYLE first introduced into Europe, 1582; into Holland and the Protestant states, 1700; in England, 1752. NEWSPAPER, first published in England, entitled the "English Mercury," July 28, 1588; after the revolution, first daily paper was called the "Orange Intelligencer," and from that time to 1692, there were twenty-six newspapers; in 1709, there were eighteen weekly and one daily paper, the "London Courant; in 1795, there were published in London, Scotland, and Ireland, one hundred and fifty eight papers; in 1809, there were two hundred and seventeen newspapers in the United Kingdom; the number conveyed by post in England, in 1794, amounted to near 12,000,000 per annum. The first printing press in North America, opened at Cambridge, 1639. Among the first books printed were an Indian version of the Bible, and Sandy's translation of Ovid. Two licensers were appointed in Massachusetts, 1662; ; presses were forbidden in Virginia, 1683; the first printer in Connecticut, 1709. NIAGARA FALLS. It is said that the best station for viewing this magnificent natural curiosity is on the Canada side of the river, though a greater variety of interest is said to be on the American side. The surface of the country about the Falls is flat and uninteresting, and from one side gives little indication of the approach to any remarkable scene; the noise of the fall of waters, gradually increases, and the mist rises in dense volumes, forming clouds in the air. The illustrative engraving was drawn upon the spot by Mr. Bakewell, to whom we are indebted for the description; a strict regard to pictorial proportion has been dispensed with, in order to present all the leading features in one view. From the hotel (A) there is a gra dual descent to a very steep bank (B) about 140 feet high, which caps the limestone rock; having descended, you walk over planks laid on the marshy ground, to the extent of 200 yards, which leads to the brink of the precipice (c), where the whole scene bursts at once on the sight. You are here on a level with the river immediately before it rushes down the dreadful abyss. The loud, solemn, all-pervading roar of the waters is indescribably awful. The water from violent agitation is perfectly white for some distance below the Falls, producing a thick cream colored foam which is seen floating down the stream in large apparent masses. The sublimity of the scene cannot be exceeded. We find ourselves suddenly in the presence of a Superior Power, and feel an impressive consciousness of our own nothingness. This Fall (from its concave form called the Horse-shoe Fall) is 600 yards wide, and 158 feet perpendicular. The descent of the rapids immediately above the Falls (d) is 58 feet, making the whole 216 feet. Goat's Island (e) which divides the American and Canada Falls, presents a bare face of perpendicular rock (h), which extends about 500 yards north and south. The American Falls are about 200 yards in width, and 164 feet in height. A spiral staircase (f) is erected, by which a descent can be made nearly to the bottom of the Falls. The ferry (g) is rather more than a quarter of a mile from the Falls, in a direct line. The small town of Manchester (i) is situated about half a mile above the Falls, and several large mills give a cheerful appearance to this part of the picture. Such is the comparative tranquillity of the water at the ferry, that you may be taken across by a boy to the landing place on the side immediately below the American Falls. The waters which expand to form the American and Canada Falls, after uniting, are here contracted into a stream not more than 160 yards broad. The river is confined between perpendicular rocks, and the quantity of water that falls is estimated to be 100,000,000 tons in an hour! A railed platform (in) has been constructed on the rocks extending over the water from the island to the cominencement of the curve, which forms the concave central part of the Horse-shoe. In regard to the History of the Falls, we copy the following from an eloquent article by the Rev. Mr. Greenwood, of Boston, written upon visiting the Falls in 1831. "These Falls are not without their history; but like their depths, it is enveloped with clouds. Geologists suppose, and with good apparent reason, that time was when the Niagara fell over the abrupt bank at Queenstown, between six and seven miles below the place of the present Falls, and that it has, in the lapse of unknown and incalculable years, been wearing away the gulf in the intermediate distance, and toiling and travelling through the rock, back to its parent lake." NINEVEH destroyed by the Medes, 612 B.C. NON-IMPORTATION law, March, 1811. NON-INTERCOURSE law conditionally repealing the embargo, March, 1809; against England and France, passed by congress, May 1, 1-10, repealed as to France, Nov. 1810. NOOTKA, in the northwest of America, discovered, 1778; settled by the English, 1789; captured by the Spaniards, 1790, but afterwards confirmed to the English by treaty. NORTHEAST PASSAGE to Russia discovered, 1553. NOTARY PUBLIC, began in the first cen tury. NOTES and bills first stamped, 1782. NOVA ZEMBLA discovered, 1553. 0. OPERA, first in London, 1692; by Handel, 1735; opera house burnt, 1789; new one built, 1790; another in the strand, 1816; opera house in Rome, roof fell in, January 18, 1762. ORATORIO, the first in London, was performed in Lincoln's-inn play-house, Portugal street, in 1732. ORGANS brought to Europe from the Greek empire, were first invented and applied to religious devotion in churches, 758. ORRERY invented, 1670. OTAHEITE, or George III's island, discovered June 18, 1765. OWHYHE island discovered, 1778, where captain Cooke was killed. OXFORD UNIVERSITY, founded by Alfred, 886. P. PADLOCKS invented at Nuremburg, 1540. PAINTING. The earliest account we have of the existence of painting in the reign of Ninus, about 2000 B. C. Egypt was decidedly the birthplace of the arts and sciences, though but few of its paintings remain, and their date is uncertain. The Greeks were very little advanced in the art of painting at the time of the Trojan war. The first important fact in the history of painting is, that 700 years B. C., a king of Lydia purchased a picture of a Greek artist, and paid him its weight in gold. In the year 400, Żeuxis introduced a new style of painting into Greece, and at this period much progress was made in the art. About the year 328 B. C. Apelles commenced a new era in painting, and many distinguished painters were his contemporaries. Before Greece was taken by the Romans, the art of painting had arrived at a high degree of perfection, but at that time the spirit which had animated her arts had departed, and with her liberty, her arts perished. The first naine worthy of record in the annals of Italian painting is Cimabue, a native of Florence, who painted in fresco 1300 A. D. In 1445, Leonardo de Vinci was born at Florence. Many subsequent painters are indebted to this great artist for his improvements in the art. During his time, the use of oil in painting was discovered. Michael Angelo Buonarotti was born in the year 1474. He erected an academy of painting and sculpture at Florence, and is considered as the founder of the Florentine School. Raphæl, born 1453, was the founder of the Roman School. Titian, born 1477, was the founder of the Venetian School. Corregio, born 1494, founded the Lombard School. The establishment of these four schools embraces the golden age of painting. Of the German schools there are three distinct ones, the German, Flemish and Dutch. The Gothic style of painting originated in Germany, and terminated at the beginning of the 15th century. Albert Durer, born in 1471, was the prince of German artists, and the De Vinci of his country. The head of the Flemish School was sir Peter Paul Reubens, born at Antwerp in 1577. What Reubens did for the Flemish School, Rembrandt did for the Dutch, he gave it a character. He died in 1674. There seems to have been no regular Spanish school of painting, although many Spanish artists have distinguished themselves, particu larly Velasquez and Murillo. The Spanish style holds an intermediate rank between the Venetian and Flemish. |