Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full
Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. In sixteen fifty, English theologian Thomas Fuller coined
Speaker 1: the phrase it's always darkest before the dawn. It means
Speaker 1: things often seem hopeless or their bleakest, just before they
Speaker 1: turn around for the better. Ulysses Has Grant, for example,
Speaker 1: quit the army in eighteen fifty four when he was
Speaker 1: only thirty two years old. He went off to Missouri
Speaker 1: to become a farmer and a leather trader, but he
Speaker 1: couldn't cut it. His family suffered, he'd drink heavily and
Speaker 1: almost lost everything. Then in eighteen sixty one, America became
Speaker 1: embroiled in a bloody civil war, and Grant, with few
Speaker 1: other opportunities, decided to rejoin the military, and he proved
Speaker 1: himself to be a strong leader, winning battles against the
Speaker 1: South and working his way up until he was promoted
Speaker 1: to lead the entire Union army. Eventually, he was even
Speaker 1: elected President of the United States, a far cry from
Speaker 1: the failure he almost became. History is full of stories
Speaker 1: like this, with people in dire circumstances on the brink
Speaker 1: of disaster until the tide's turn in their favor, and
Speaker 1: this happened quite literally in fifteen sixty eight. That year,
Speaker 1: the Dutch and King Philip the Second of Spain began
Speaker 1: a major conflict with each other that would become known
Speaker 1: as the Eighty Years War. The Dutch were vying for independence,
Speaker 1: and by the time the war was over, they had
Speaker 1: lost at least a hundred thousand soldiers plus an unknown
Speaker 1: number of civilian casualties. One of the more important battles
Speaker 1: heard in fifteen seventy three in the South Holland city
Speaker 1: of Leiden. Spain's forces were considerable, numbering amount fifteen thousand
Speaker 1: compared to the Dutchess eleven thousand. However, despite their numbers,
Speaker 1: Spain wasn't prepared for what they encountered upon entering Leiden.
Speaker 1: The Spanish, under the command of Francisco da Valdez, began
Speaker 1: their invasion in October of fifteen seventy three. They got
Speaker 1: off to a rough start almost immediately, though they couldn't
Speaker 1: dig trenches due to the loose soil, and the city
Speaker 1: had established formidable defenses in advance of their arrival. Backing
Speaker 1: the Dutch rebels were the Scottish, the English, and the French,
Speaker 1: who all worked together and put up an admirable fight
Speaker 1: for over six months. And then in April of fifteen
Speaker 1: seventy four, the rebels tried to give the city a
Speaker 1: break by sending an army to the Netherlands to distract Valdez.
Speaker 1: The Spanish officer stopped the siege for a bit to
Speaker 1: attend to this splintered faction, but another general took care
Speaker 1: of things and wiped them out first. The Spanish restarted
Speaker 1: this age the following month, and things looked grim for
Speaker 1: the Dutch. Supplies were running out, the rebels had lost
Speaker 1: ground and their casualties were growing. William of Orange, the
Speaker 1: leader of the Dutch revolt, sent a carrier pigeon to
Speaker 1: the city, begging them to hold on for just another
Speaker 1: few months until he could bring them reinforcements. And William
Speaker 1: had more than troops. He had a plan. He would
Speaker 1: break the dikes that had long protected the city from
Speaker 1: flooding by the North Sea, and with the dike's gone,
Speaker 1: the north Sea would wash over the land, allowing the
Speaker 1: Dutch fleet to rush in and relieve Leiden. Two ships
Speaker 1: were stockpiled with supplies and food for Lydens citizens ready
Speaker 1: to go. The dikes were breached and the rebel fleet, well,
Speaker 1: it didn't go anywhere. The water wasn't high enough to
Speaker 1: let them travel as far as they needed to, about
Speaker 1: fifteen miles. The ships could only go small distances before
Speaker 1: encountering an enemy vessel or a dike that needed to
Speaker 1: be cut down. At one point, things got so dire
Speaker 1: in enlightened that the townsfolk hungry and desk Britt called
Speaker 1: for a surrender. The reinforcements that they had been promised
Speaker 1: hadn't arrived yet, and their outlook was bleak. Thousands had
Speaker 1: starved to death already, but the mayor employed everyone to
Speaker 1: wait for help to arrive. He even suggested that they
Speaker 1: eat his arm to stay alive. The people of Leightden
Speaker 1: did hold on, knowing that they'd be killed by the
Speaker 1: Spanish if they all gave up. Finally, on October one,
Speaker 1: storms brought heavy rains and powerful winds to the area,
Speaker 1: the dikes were overrun and Lighten was flooded. The Spanish
Speaker 1: men on the ground abandoned their posts and fled as
Speaker 1: the waters rose, while those on ships retreated before the
Speaker 1: Dutch fleet showed up. On October three, rebel ships finally arrived,
Speaker 1: sailing into the streets and feeding the weakened people of
Speaker 1: Leightden with herring and white bread. William of Orange's plan
Speaker 1: had actually worked, although it had taken longer than expected,
Speaker 1: and all they had needed was a little help from
Speaker 1: Mother Nature. These days, I'm betting that just about everyone
Speaker 1: is familiar with the idea of steampunk. Stories like Mortal
Speaker 1: Engines bring these worlds to life, built up clockwork machines
Speaker 1: operating with cogs and cranks, churning out smoke like factory billows.
Speaker 1: It looks pretty cool, as impractical and impossible as it is,
Speaker 1: although it's not totally impossible. In fact, there was a
Speaker 1: short time in Europe when the reality of these mechanics
Speaker 1: was full steam ahead, even becoming the livelihood of many inventors,
Speaker 1: and one such man was James Cox, and like many
Speaker 1: of his contemporaries, he was a man of many talents.
Speaker 1: He was a jeweler and a goldsmith, which is where
Speaker 1: he found a capital to foray into the wonderful world
Speaker 1: of automata. Using his other skill sets, James became known
Speaker 1: for creating clockwork curios encrusted with jewels and gold. He
Speaker 1: referred to them as sing songs, since they well sang
Speaker 1: songs in addition to all their other abilities. Not unlike
Speaker 1: a wind up toy. Today, all you had to do
Speaker 1: was turn the crank or twist the knob and watch
Speaker 1: as the creation came to life, running its cycle until
Speaker 1: it was ready to be started again. And while the
Speaker 1: British public was more or less interested in these creations,
Speaker 1: it was new lands in the Far East that James
Speaker 1: targeted for his primary market. Even the Chinese emperor at
Speaker 1: the time was a satisfied customer of james Cox, purchasing
Speaker 1: a large mechanical chariot that he kept at his court.
Speaker 1: James made so much money from his sales to the
Speaker 1: Far East that he was instrumental in reducing the British
Speaker 1: trade deficit, alongside another chief export of the time, t Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: only one of these items would stand the test of
Speaker 1: time as the Eastern market saturated. Though James fell on
Speaker 1: hard times and decided to open up his own curiosity
Speaker 1: museum in the Great Room met Spring Gardens in London.
Speaker 1: And honestly, I feel like that was a move I
Speaker 1: can get behind. Curiosities need to be shared right there
Speaker 1: in his museum. Tickets to see his clockwork oddities carried
Speaker 1: an exorbitant price, but one the public was willing to pay.
Speaker 1: The exhibit became such a hit that had appeared in
Speaker 1: numerous novels and plays of the time, and became a
Speaker 1: favorite of patrons like British writer Samuel Johnson. And by
Speaker 1: this time James had constructed his most famous work, the
Speaker 1: Peacock Clock, featuring three life size peacocks that could dance
Speaker 1: and preen as if they were alive. Only these peacocks
Speaker 1: were made of gold, silver and gems. Staying with the
Speaker 1: general theme, he also worked with John Joseph Merlin to
Speaker 1: create a silver swan that could lift its wings, swim
Speaker 1: and catch a fish in its beak. Both pieces ended
Speaker 1: up on display at the Hermitage Museum in Russia, purchased
Speaker 1: by Catherine the Great. At its zenith, the London Curio
Speaker 1: Museum may have even displayed the severed head of Oliver Cromwell.
Speaker 1: Although I'm happy to report that it wasn't modified with
Speaker 1: any steampunk functions. It did not sing or wink either,
Speaker 1: at least not that we know of. Unfortunately, in a
Speaker 1: volatile national economy, James soon found his fortune turned to dust,
Speaker 1: declaring bankruptcy as his plea for royal patronage fell on
Speaker 1: deaf ears. Many of the pieces were sold by lottery,
Speaker 1: and James was left more or less right back where
Speaker 1: he had started. Richer in experience and knowledge, for sure,
Speaker 1: but not in funds. A few years later he declared
Speaker 1: bankruptcy yet again. You see, while James Cox had a
Speaker 1: brilliant mind for mechanics and musical whimsies, he could not
Speaker 1: maintain a sustainable income in a marketplace that was, believe
Speaker 1: it or not, already flooded with mechanical birds that sang
Speaker 1: and dance. James remained in business as a retailer following
Speaker 1: his second bankruptcy until his death in eighteen hundred. Like
Speaker 1: many artists of his day, he died with very little
Speaker 1: money to his name, only to have his work grow
Speaker 1: in value long after his death, and the handiwork of
Speaker 1: James Cox is still changing hands for large sums of
Speaker 1: cash today. Back in two thousand twelve, for instance, a
Speaker 1: large musical clock that had previously been owned by the
Speaker 1: Egyptian king Farouk sold for nearly six hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: Who knows what James might have spent that sort of
Speaker 1: money on back in his day, but I'm willing to
Speaker 1: bet that whatever it was, it would have danced, saying
Speaker 1: and maybe even flapped its wings. I hope you've enjoyed
Speaker 1: today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for
Speaker 1: free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show
Speaker 1: by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created
Speaker 1: by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works.
Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is
Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can
Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the World of Lore
Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious one