The ancient Greek vessels carried several anchors, one of which, called the "sacred anchor," was never let go until the ship was in dire distress.
Anne Boleyn was remarkably dainty about her gloves. She had a nail which turned up at the sides, and it was the delight of Queen Catherine to make her play at cards without her gloves, in order that the deformity might disgust King Hal.
This expression has reached us from a fable by Phædrus, a Roman author who lived in the reign of Augustus Cæsar, and whose writings were first discovered to modern literature in 1596, at Rheims, in France. The fable is called "The Bald Man and the Fly," and reads as follows:—
"A fly bit the bare pate of a bald man, who, endeavoring to crush it, gave himself a heavy blow. Then said the fly, jeeringly, 'You wanted to avenge the sting of a tiny insect with death. What will you do to yourself, who have added insult to injury?'"
St. Anthony's fire is an inflammatory disease which, in the eleventh century, raged violently in various parts. According to the legend, the intercession of St. Anthony was prayed for, when it miraculously ceased; and, therefore, from that time, the complaint has been called St. Anthony's fire.
Before houses were numbered it was a common practice with tradesmen not much known, when they advertised, to mention the color of their next neighbor's door, balcony or lamp, of which custom the following copy of a hand-bill presents a curious instance:—
"Next to the _Golden Door_, opposite Great Suffolk street, near Pall Mall, at the Barber's Pole, liveth a certain person, Robert Barker, who has found out an excellent method for sweating or fluxing of wiggs; his prices are 2_s._ 6_d._ for each bob, and 3_s._ for every tye wigg and pig-tail, ready money."
The monks used to say their prayers no less than seven times in twenty-four hours—
1st. Nocturnal, at cock-crowing (2 o'clock in the morning). 2d. Matins, at 6 o'clock in the morning. 3d. Tierce, at 9 o'clock in the morning. 4th. Sext, at 12 o'clock noon. 5th. None, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. 6th. Vespers, at 6 o'clock in the afternoon. 7th. Compline, soon after 7.
Quarles wrote a neat epigram on the subject—
"For all our prayers the Almighty does regard The judgment of the _balance_, not the _yard_; He loves not words, but matter; 't is His pleasure To buy His wares by _weight_, and not by _measure_."