The deepest perpendicular mining shaft in the world is located at Prizilram, Bohemia. It is a lead mine; it was begun in 1832. In January, 1880, it was 3,280 feet deep.

Isabella of France, wife of Edward II. of England, murdered her husband by thrusting a red hot iron into his bowels, and so earned the title, "The She-Wolf of France."

Donnybrook, a former village and parish, now mostly embraced in the borough of Dublin, was at one time celebrated for a fair notorious for fighting, which was abolished in 1855.

The first circumnavigator was Magellan, a Portuguese, who sailed round the world in three years and twenty-nine days, starting in 1519. Amongst others were Sir Francis Drake (1577), Cook (1708), Carteret (1766,) and Belcher (1836).

The deepest silver mine in the United States is the Yellow Jacket, one of the great Comstock system at Virginia City, Nev. The lower levels are 2,700 feet below the hoisting works.

John Adams was eight years older than Jefferson. Jefferson was eight years older than Madison. Madison was eight years older than Monroe. Monroe was eight years older than J. Q. Adams.

Hong Kong, formerly a little barren island at the mouth of the Canton river, in China, was given to the English and is now covered with the warehouses, gardens and residences of wealthy merchants.

The deepest coal shaft in the United States is located at Pottsville, Pa. In 1890 it had reached a depth of 1,576 feet. From this great depth four hundred cars, holding four tons each, are hoisted daily.

There is an unknown quantity of silver in the bay of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; a silver mine, in fact, of comparatively speaking unlimited dimensions, and every ship that drops anchor there cuts into the bed of ore.

Gretna Green is a village in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, and the place where, for nearly a century, runaway couples were made man and wife. These irregular marriages were discountenanced by law in the year 1856.

Charing Cross was originally a London suburb, where was erected the last of the crosses in memory of Eleanor, Queen of Edward I. The cross was destroyed in 1647 but a new one was placed on the spot in 1865.

The Bridge of Sighs is the Bridge in Venice which connects the palace of the doge with the State prison, and was so called because over it prisoners were conveyed from the judgment hall to the place of execution.

The Maelstrom is a whirlpool, or more correctly current, between the islands of Mosken and Moskenas, two of the Lofoden Isles, which is dangerous when wind and tide are contrary. Its sound is heard for several miles.

A remarkable rock formation is located on a high peak of mountain about five miles from Agua Caliente, in Arizona. The rock, which measures 300 feet high, is shaped like a barrel and can be seen for miles distant.

The famous chief Black Hawk, of the Sac and Fox Indians, was born in 1767. He joined the British in 1812, and opposing the removal west of his tribe, fought against the United States in 1831-32. He died in 1838.

Clement (Joseph) son of a poor weaver, was brought up as a thatcher, but, by utilizing his waste moments in self-education and work of skill, raised himself to a position of great note, giving employment to thirty workmen (1779-1844).

The Champ de Mars is an open space in Paris, surrounded by artificial embankments. The Franks held their annual assemblies here in the month of March, Mars. Here a constitution was sworn to before Napoleon I., May 1, 1805, and other noted gatherings were held on the spot.

The cinque ports were the five great English ports on the coast of Kent and Sussex lying opposite to France - Sandwich, Dover, Hythe, Romney and Hastings. They were of high importance in Anglo-Saxon times and were made a separate jurisdiction, for insular defence, by William I.

The city of Ghent, Belgium, stands on 26 islands, connected with each other by 80 bridges. The city of Venice is built on 80 islands, connected by nearly 400 bridges. In Venice canals serve for streets and gondolas for carriages.

"Vaticanus Mons" is a hill at Rome, chiefly noted for its magnificent palace of the popes, the Vatican, with its superb gardens, its museums, celebrated library, and basilica of St. Peter. The palace was constructed in 498, but has been often enlarged.

How Anglesey obtained its name is quaintly told by the "chronicler": Edwin King of Northumberland, "warred with them that dwelt in the Isle of Mona, and they became his servants, and the island was no longer called Mona, but Anglesey, the isle of the English."

Thomas Chatterton, "the marvelous boy," was a literary impostor. He began in 1768 to produce poems which he pretended to be from the pen of Thomas Rowley, a monk of the fifteenth century. Chatterton was born at Bristol, and committed suicide (1752-1771).

Chillon is a celebrated castle of Switzerland, at the eastern end of the Lake of Geneva. It stands on an isolated rock, and long served as a state prison. Here for six years (1530-36) Bonnivard endured the captivity immortalized by Byron's "Prisoner of Chillon" (1821).

Calaveras Grove in California is noted for its immense trees. Of 92 redwood trees there are 10 over 30 feet in diameter, and 82 have a diameter of from 15 to 30 feet. Their ages are estimated at from 1000 to 3500 years. Their height ranges from 150 to 237 feet.

A famous old ruin is Blarney Castle, near Cork, Ireland, in the wall of which is a stone, difficult of access, that is said to endow the one kissing it with the power of cajolery. In general Blarney is a colloquial term applied to any smooth and excessively complimentary talk.

Haroun-al-Raschid, the caliph of the Abbasside race, was contemporary with Charlemagne, and, like him, a patron of literature and the arts. The court of this caliph was most splendid, and under him the caliphate attained its greatest degree of prosperity (765-809).