THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES See Vol. I. page 43. Ciatots Calentmrta; OR, A COMPENDIOUS ANALYSIS OF THE CALENDAR ILLUSTRATED WITH ECCLESIASTICAL, HISTORICAL, AND CLASSICAL BY JOHN BRADY, ^- L\ *"*^ " Indoctl discant, et ament meminisse periti." TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONLX)N: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, AND SOLD BY LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER ROW ; MATHEWS AND LEIGH, STRAND) .1. M. RICHARDSON, COHNHILL ; AND HOOKHAMS, JUNS. 15, OLD BOND STREET. 1812. GIFT printed by Nichols, Son, and Bentley, fted Lioo Passage, Fleet Street, CE: 73 v.i preface. 1 HE custom of submitting some preliminary observations, by way of PREFACE, to every new publication, has been so long established, that it might appear a want of respect were any person to present his labours to notice, with- out such introduction. The Author of the following sheets, therefore, cheerfully com- plies with the prevailing practice, not only from a sense of imperious duty to the Com- munity at large, for whose favour he is an humble candidate ; but as it affords him an opportunity of offering to the numerous friends who have favoured him with their support, his unfeigned acknowledgments, for the advantage of their countenance, and, through them, for that of many great and distinguished characters, whose names dignify his List of Subscribers. The Reformed Calendar, upon the basis of which the Author has raised his superstructure, 879821 ( iv ) will, upon examination, be found to possess a much stronger claim to attention than it has hitherto appeared to merit : That it is the Na- tional Register of Time, and the Instrument whereby is regulated the Ecclesiastical Estab- lishment of the Nation, cannot but be generally known ; though it requires a more extensive course of reading than many are habituated to, clearly to trace the progress of the Calendar, through its various gradations of improvement, to its present accuracy ; or to appretiate the causes that gave rise to the division of our Church service, in the order that has been settled by our forefathers. The primary object of the Author's attention, has been correctly to point out, and distinguish, the several divisions and subdivisions of that portion of duration denominated TIME, of every variation in the regulation of which pheno- menon, he has given a particular and historical account : And he has added a minute descrip- tion not only of those Instruments to which human ingenuity has resorted for tracing its flight, from the simple Sun-dial to the accurate Chronometer; but also of such different Tables as have been introduced for marking its pro- gress, from the rude Alban Calendar to that of the present day. ^ The first part, upon Time, may justly be regarded as introductory to the general subject treated upon, denominated from its being a key to, or explanation of the Calendar : and the Author trusts that he will be found to have executed his task with an industry, that may procure for him the approbation of a liberal and enlightened public. The scrupulous and vigilant attention he has bestowed to attain cor- rectness may, perhaps, justify the hope of his having been in that respect successful : the Work has been the result of long and arduous application ; and unlike the productions of genius or of fancy, which may be executed with a rapidity proportionate to extent of talent, or fertility of invention, the progress of exertion has been impeded by the necessity of close investigation, and by the tediousness attendant upon minute research. The National Calendar, and the yearly Al- manac formed from that manual, have hitherto been chiefly used for the ordinary purposes of life, and rarely resorted to as mediums through which instruction or amusement might be attained ; but a close investigation will evince that they are abundantly fertile in both respects. Besides the days appropriated to particular observance by the Church, others set apart as Political Holidays, and for the com- memoration of persons eminent for piety and virtue, likewise lay claim to attention: The Author, therefore, has not restricted his re- search to those days pre-eminent for sanctity of observance, but has extended his remarks to all others, which though now disrobed of their former importance, are still retained in the Calendar, either to commemorate great events, or to perpetuate the remembrance of characters who for ages were regarded as wor- thy of such honourable distinction. In the progress of this work, occasion has frequently arisen for noticing the laws, cus- toms, and idolatrous worship, of our Saxon forefathers : This part will be found to contain an outline of the Northern Mythology, which though less elegant than that of the South, yet nevertheless excites considerable interest ; from our Saxon Progenitors is derived no small portion of the traditionary, or as it is usually termed, COMMON LAW of England ; and from the same source is to be traced many of our local customs, and proverbial expressions, some yet retaining their original import, others per- verted from their true meaning by the varying hand of Time: To explain such of those cus- toms and sayings as appear to possess a suffi- cient interest to warrant notice, has also been an object of the Author's solicitude. The Historical Extracts, with the Classical and other Anecdotes, introduced in illustration of particular points, will, it is hoped, be found apposite, and generally acceptable; they will at all events be gratifying to youthful readers, and by alleviating the tediousness of constant narration, will relieve the mind from a too ardent attention. Although the subjects treated upon are each rendered distinct, for the convenience of those, who may be desirous of referring to specific objects, they have a necessary dependance upon and connexion with each other, and fully to embrace the Author's object, ought to be read throughout. The disquisitions on the divisions of Time form one continued series of the same subject, and, although discussed separately, require an attention to the whole , properly to comprehend each as individually detailed : In like manner the Ecclesiastical regulations must be consulted as a body, in order to enable the Reader to form a correct judgment of the wise and judicious arrangement made by the Church, for circulating a knowledge of the sacred ordinances: The Romish Festivals have also a mutual coherence with each other ; and this observation, in fact, applies to every part of the Work. In tracing the absurdities and inconsistencies of mankind through the dark ages of ignorance, a necessity has occurred of adverting to the advantages accruing to modern times, from the suppression of those superstitious usages, which for centuries deformed the Christian Religion ; and to awaken a proper sense of those blessings, the Author has described in strong colours the errors from which we are now happily eman- ( cipated. Of the follies which he has thus ejt- posed, by far the greater number were prac- tised under the sanction and authority of the POPISH CHURCH; and he has, perhaps, been led more frequently to permit himself to remark upon the antient discipline of that Church, than the respect he bears to many of its pre- sent members, might seem to demand : but he trusts that an anxious desire to discriminate between truth and fiction, will not be mistaken for a disposition to animadvert illiberally upon the principles of the more enlightened of the present day. The superstitious impieties of times long past, the Author is convinced, will find few advocates among those who still are professedly of the same Church, but who, ne- vertheless, from that cause alone, might, with- out some explanation, feel themselves involved in one general and indiscriminate censure. THE flattering reception that has been given to the CLAVIS CALENDARIA, having rendered it expedient to print a second Edition of that Work, the Author avails himself of the op- portunity which is thus presented, of offering to his friends, and a liberal public, his respectful acknowledgments for the distinguished encouragement he has received. From a delay in the transmission of the favors of several of his friends, the Author was unable to insert, in his first Edition, the names of very many who honored him with their support ; and he trusts that the complete Last of Subscribers, now prefixed to the Work, will be attributed to a desire of evincing respect where so eminently due, and not to an ostentatious display of patronage. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. His ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF YORK. His ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF KENT. A. The Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. The Right Honourable Lord Arden. Two copies. Abbott, Henry, Esq. Clement's- Inn. Ab(Tcromby, the Hon. James, M. P. Ackland, Gideon, Esq. Camberwell. Adam, William, Esq. Bloomsbury-square. X SUBSCRIBERS. Adams, James, Esq. Plymouth. Adams, James White, Esq. Martock, Somerset. Adamson, Robert, Esq. John-street, Bedford-square. Adderton, Mr. Abraham, Lower Shadwell. Akenside, William, Esq. Parliament-street. Alder, William, Esq. Hunter-street. Aldridge, Thomas, Esq. East India-house. Alexander, Mr. Kennington-place. Allan, Grant, Esq. Lloyd's Coffee-house. Allen, William Elderton, Esq. Manor-house, East Acton,, Three copies. Almon, W. B. Esq. Halifax. Anderson, John, Esq. Newcastle. Anderson, John William, Esq. Bank-street. Anderson, Mr. Thomas, Kent-road. Andrade, Joachim, Esq. Greenwich. Angel, Mrs. Lavender-Mil. Ansted, Thomas, Esq. Mincing-lane. Anthony, William, Esq. London. Appleton, Mr. T. Houndsditch. Armstrong, Rev. John, St. James's Chapel. Arnaud, Elias, Esq. Northumberland-street, Strand. Arnaud, Elias Bruce, Esq. Bedhampton, Hants. Arnaud, Mrs. John, Edinburgh. Atcheson, Nathaniel, Esq. F. A. S. Duke-street, Westminster, Three copies. Atcheson, Miss, Westminster Atkins, Mrs. Wickham, Hants. Five copies. Atkins, Rev. Henry, Shidfield-house, Wickham, Hants. Two copies. Atkins, Augustus, Esq. Ensign of His Majesty's Yeomen of the Guards. Two copies. Atkins, John, Esq. M. P. Alderman, Charlton, Kent. Atkins, John, Jun. Esq. Charlton, Kent. Atkins, Abram, Esq. Finsbury-square. Atkins, Mr. John, Finsbuiy-square. Atkins, Mr. Abram, Jun. Finsbury-square. SUBSCRIBERS. XI Atkinson, Thomas, Esq. Oxford-road. Attersoll, Mr. Jos. Grays, Essex. Aubin, John, Esq. Commissioner of the Victualling Board. B. Baber, Edward, Esq. Park-street, Grosvenor-square. Baker, John, Esq. Wanley-house. Baker, Samuel, Esq. Boley-hill, Rochester. Ball, Mr. Joseph, Stoney-street, Southwark. Bankes, Miss, South Lambeth. Bannatyne, J. Esq. New Broad-street* Barber, J. T. Esq. Southampton-street. Barber, Stephen Nicholson, Esq. Cornhill, Barclay, John, Esq. Conduit-street. Two copies* Barclay, R. H. Lieut. Royal Navy. Barclay, Mr. John> Abchurch-lane. Barclay, George Pearkes, Esq. Cadogan-place. Barker, Francis, Esq. Hans-place^ Sloane-street. Barnard, Benjamin, Esq. Cornhill. Barnes, Peter, Esq. Surry-place, Kent-road. Barnes, William, Esq. Dartmouth-row, Blackheath, Barnes, J. T. Esq. Surry-square, Kent-road. Barnes, Mrs. Surry-place, Kent-road. Barnes, Miss, Surry-place, Kent-road* Barns, M. Esq. Kennington-cross. Barton, William, Esq. Liverpool. Batson, Robert, Esq. Limehbuse. Baxter, Stafford Squire, Esq. Furnival's-inn. Baxter, Robert, Esq. Furnival's-inn. Beard, Thomas, Esq. Rottingdean, Sussex. Beaty, Francis, Esq. Plymouth-dock. Becket, John, Esq. Under Sec. of State, Home Department. Belcher, Andrew, Esq. Lewisham. Two copies. Bell, John Robertson, Esq. Greenwich. Two copies. Bell, Adam, Esq. Deptford. Bell, Adam, Jun. Esq. Deptford. Bell, William Boscawen, Esq. Oxford. b<3 Xll 1UBSCRIBERS. Bell, the Rev. Dr. A. London. Bell, Mrs. Elstree. Bennett, James, Esq. Bedford-square. Benson, Thomas Starling, Esq. High Sheriff of the County of Surry, Champion Lodge, Camberwell. Benson, James R. Esq. Bedford-place. Bentley, Mr. Samuel, Paternoster-row. Best, R. Esq. Greenwich. Biggar, John, Esq. Kennington. Bint, Mr. John, Coleshill, Warwickshire. Birt, Richard, Esq. Hall-Grove. Bishop, Mr. Surgeon Royal Navy. Blackheath Book Society. Blake, Robert, Esq. Essex-street, Strand. Blew, William, Esq, Warwick-street, Cockspur-street, Blomefield, General Sir Thomas, Bart. Royal Artillery. Boehem, Mrs. Arundel. Bond, Charles, Esq. Gravesend. Boniface, Miss, Arundel. Boniface, Mrs. John, Climping, Sussex. Bourne, Edward, Esq. Lombard-street. Two aopies. Bowen, Captain James, Royal Navy, Commissioner of the Transport Board. Bowsher, John, Esq. Chepstow. Boxwell, Mr. John, Wexford. Boyd, James, Esq. Wexford. , Brady, Mrs. Little Hampton. Brady, Anthony, Esq. Victualling- Yard, Deptford. Bremeyer, G. W. Esq. London. Brickwood, Edward C. Esq. Doctors Commons. Brisco, George, Esq. Golden-square. British Circulating Library, Cockspur-street. Brook, William, Esq. Strand. Brougham, James, Esq. Finsbury-place. Brown, Bartholomew, Esq. Colchester. Browne, Anthony, Esq. M. P. Browne, Miss, Laytonstone. SUBSCRIBERS. X1U Browne, Augustus, Esq. Foster-lane. Browne, Harwell, Jun. Esq. Baker-street. Bruce, Robert, Esq. Bristol. Bruce, James, Esq. London. Brunei, M. I. Esq. Chelsea. Bryan, John, Esq. Newington-place, Surry. Brymer, Alexander, Esq. Bath. Two copies. Brymer, Mrs. Bath. Two Copies. Brymer, Mr. William, Bath. Brymer, Mr. James, Bath. Brymer, Mr. John, Bath. Brymer, James, Esq. London. Buckley, Henry, Esq. Lawn, South Lambeth. Buckton, George, Esq. Doctor's-commons. Buckton, George, Esq. Hornsey. Budd, T. H. Esq. Bedford-row. Bulcock, Robert, Esq. Victualling- Yard, Plymouth. Bunn, John, Esq. London. Burn, Joseph, Esq. Lincoln's-inn-fields. Burnell, $. Esq. Stourport. Burnett, Charles, Esq. Vauxhall. Burnett, John, Esq. Lawn, South Lambeth. Burney, Rev. Dr. Charles, Greenwich. Three copies. Bush, Richard, Jun. Esq. Wandsworth, Surry. Two copies. Bushby, Miss, Arundel. Bushby, Thomas, Esq. Goring, Sussex. Butcher, Miss, Wandsworth. Butt, Richard Gathorne, Esq. Oxford-street. Five copies. Butt, Mrs. London. Butt, Henry Samuel, Captain Royal Navy. Byles, Belcher, Esq. Austin Friars. Two copies, C. The Right Honourable the Earl of Chatham. Caldwell, Henry, Esq. Quebec. Callander, Joseph, Esq. Holborn. Callagan, Daniel, Esq. Cork. Callagan, Jerrard, Esq. Cork. XIV SUBSCRIBERS. Calvert, Robert, Esq. St. James's-place. Calvert, Charles, Esq. M. P. St. James's-place. Carlisle, Anthony, Esq. F. R. S. and S. A. Professor of Ana- tomy to the Royal Academy. Carlisle, Nicholas, Esq. Secretary to the Society of Antiquaries. Carpenter, William, Esq. Plymouth. Carslake, H. I. Esq. Sidmouth, Devon. Carrick, John, Esq. Clapton. Carrick, Alexander, Esq. Writer, Glasgow. Carter, William, Esq. Chesterton-house, Cambridge. Cavan, James, Esq. Barbadoes. Champ, Mr. James, Chichestcr. Chany, Mr. Thomas, Chatham. Charrington, Nicholas, Esq. Mile-end. Chegwin, Richard, Esq. Customs, Plymouth. Cheswright, Richard, Esq. King-street, Cheapside. Cherry, George, Esq. Nottingham-place. Cherry, Peter, Esq. Madras. Choppin, Mr. J. M. Gracechurch-street. Chrisp, John, Esq. Tower-street. Christmas, William, Esq. Kennington. Churchill, Rev. Mr. Erpingham. Clark, Edward, Esq. Gray's-inn-square. Clark, Matthew, Esq. Tower-street. Clark, Robert, Esq. Stamford-street, Blackfriars. Clarke, John Alden, Esq. Lavender-hill. Five copies, Clarke, Mrs. Lavender-hill. Five copies. Clarke, Peter, Esq. Mincing-lane. Clarke, Richard Henry, Esq. Wapping. Clarke, J. Calvert, Esq. London. Clarke, Joseph, Esq. Portsmouth. Two copies. Cliffe, Major-General, Wilton-house, Taunton. Three copies. Clogston, Samuel, Esq. Somerset-place. Glutton, John, Esq. Southwark. Coates, Thomas, Esq. London. Coates, William, Esq. Salisbury. Cccke, Josiab, Esq. Army Victualling Storekeeper. SUBSCRIBERS. XV Cole, William, Esq. Gray's inn-square. Cole, Thomas, Esq. Plymouth. Collier, Thomas, Esq. Dover-street. Collier, Sir George, Captain Royal Navy. Collier, Henry, Esq. Upper Belgrave -place. Collier, John, Esq. Plymouth. Collins, Rev. Christopher Rigby, Salisbury. Collins, Mr. William, Strand. Collins, Mrs. Exmouth. Collyer, Rev. Mr. Aylesham. Cologan, John, Esq. Teneriffe. Cooke, Henry, Esq. Hampstead. Cooper, W. Spencer, Esq. King's Naval Yard, Chatham. Cooper, Mr. Thomas, Old-street. Coote, Mrs. Romsey. Coote, Richard Holmes, Esq. Lincoln's-inn. Corbett, Mr. George, Victualling-yard, Deptford. Corney, Edward Bland, Esq. Old Broad-street. Corney, Thomas, Esq. Kennington-place. Two copies. Cort, Richard, Esq. London. Cotterell, Edmund, Esq. Clerkenwell. Cotton, Mr. William, Whitehall. Coulson, Jukes, Esq. London. Courthope, Thomas, Esq. Lewisham. Cowper, James, Esq. Ely-place. Cranstoun, George, Esq. Advocate, Edinburgh. Creed, Richard, Esq. Norfolk-street. Crockford, John, Esq. Yarmouth. Three copies. Crosley, Samuel, Esq. London. Cnmden, John, Esq. Hereford-street. Cullimore, J. Esq. London. Cunningham, Charles, Esq. Commissioner of the Navy. Curry, Edward, Esq. Woolwich. Curson, Charles, Esq. Harwich. Curteis, Edward Jeremiah, Esq. Windmill Hill, Sussex. Curtis, Admiral Sir Roger, Bart. Commander in Chief of His Majesty's Ships and Vessels at Portsmouth. Five copies. XVI SUBSCRIBERS. Curtis, Sir William, Bart. M. P. Alderman. Cutforth, James, Esq. for himself and other Gentlemen at Gibraltar. Thirty copies. Cutler, Martin, Esq. Fleet market. D. Dabbs, John, Esq. Bermondsey. Dalton, Richard, Esq. Camberwell. Daniel, George Frederick, Esq. Lincoln's-inn-square. Danvers, John, Esq. Hornsey. Danvers, Charles, Esq. Wanstead, Essex. Davison, Alexander, Esq. St. James's-square. Four copies. Davis, William, Esq. Goodman's-fields. Six copies. Davis, Mr. Bermondsey. Daubeney, John, D. C. L. Doctors-commons Daun, Edward, Esq. Vauxhall. Dawson, Mr. Samuel, Commercial-road. Day, W. A. Esq. Poplar. De Crespigny, Sir Claude, Bart. De Crespigny, Lady. De Coet logon, Rev. C. Godstone. De Home, Abraham, Esq. Surry-square. Dclavaud, George, Esq. Battersea-rise. Denham, Mr. Charles, Robert -street, Bedford-row. Densham, Mr. Richard, Plymouth. Derrick, Charles, Esq. Navy-office. Desbrisay, General, Royal Artillery. Dickinson, Robert, Esq. Great Queen-street, LineolnVion- fields. Two Copies. Dickinson, John, Esq. Tottenham. Dickson, William, Esq. Idol-lane, Thames-street Dimock, Rev. Charles, Mongeham, Kent. Dixon, John, Esq. Leven-grove, Dumbarton. Dixon, Jacob, Esq. Rockbank, Hellensburgh. Dodd, Rev. P. S. Aldrington, Sussex. Dodd, Charles, Esq. Camberwell. Domville, William, Esq. London. SUBSCRIBERS. XVil Drevar, George, Esq. Dublin. Two copies. Drown, Mr. Joseph, Broad-street. Druce, John, Esq. Norfolk-street. Drummond, Capt. David, Edinburgh-castle. Four copies. Dudley, Mr. C. S. Southwark. Dudman, John, Esq. Deptford. Dudman, Edward, Esq. Deptford. Duff, Luke, Esq. Dublin. Two copies. Dunbar, Robert, Esq. St. Mary-axe. Dunkin, Christopher, Esq. Wandsworth. Dunlop, James, Esq. Russell-square. Dunning, Richard, Esq. Plymouth-dock. Dunsterville, Peter, Esq. Plymouth. Dunsterville, John William, Esq. Cork. Durie, John, Esq. Leith. Two copies. Dyer, George, Esq. Doughty-street. Dyer, John, Esq. Aldgate. E. TheHonourable Court of Directors of the East India Company. Earl, Edward, Esq. Chairman of the Board of Customs, Scotland. Earle, James, Esq. Hertfordshire. Two copies. Earle, Mr. James, Hertfordshire. Earle, Mr. Thomas, Hertfordshire. Easum, Mr. Matthew, Stepney. Edgecombe, Fred k . Esq. Commissioner Victualling Board. Edmonds, Luther, Esq. Crane-court, Fleet-street. Eeles, Isaac, Esq. Nottingham-street. Ellice, William, Esq. M. P. Ellice, Edward, Esq. New-street, Spring-garden*. Elliot, William, Esq. Kentish-town. EUy, Mr. Samuel, New Ross. Elwin, Michael, Esq. Dover. Emly, Samuel, Esq. Temple. English, William, Esq. Croydon, Surry. Gannett, George, Esq. Deptford. XV111 SUBSCRIBERS. Evans, Rev. John, Islington. Evans, John/Esq. Saltasb. Evens, Owen, Esq. Little Hampton. Everend, Jolm Wilson, Esq. Southampton-row, Russel-squ. F. Farrington, General, Royal Artillery. Farrington, Captain Henry, Royal Artillery. Farquhar, James, Esq. M. P. Farquharson, Thomas, Esq. Leicester-street. Fearn, Joseph, Esq. Ludgate-hill. Felgate, Thomas, Esq. Gravesend. Fennell, George, Esq. INavy Pay-office. Two copies. Fennell, Captain Edward, Aylsham. Fergusson, James, Esq. Advocate, Edinburgh. Ffinch, Matthew, Esq. Deptford. Five copies, Ffinch, Mrs. Deptford. Ffinch, Matthew, Mr. jun. Deptford. Ffinch, Benjamin, Esq. Woolwich. Finlaison, John, Esq. Admiralty. Finney, John, Esq. Salisbury. Fleetwood, Robert, Esq. Palace-street. Fletcher, Sir William, Londonderry. Two copies. Fletcher, Joseph, Esq. Shadwell. Flint, Sir Charles Wm. Resident-secretary Irish department. Flounders, William, Esq. Liverpool. Flower, Sir Charles, Bart, and Alderman, Finsbury-square. Flower, James, Esq. Finsbury-square. Flower, Matthew, Esq. Walworth. Forbes, Thomas E. Esq. Lambeth. Ford, Richard, Esq. Sloane-street. Forsyth, George, Esq. Plymouth. Forsyth, John, Esq. Deptford. Forsyth, Alexander, Esq. Clement's-inn. Forsyth, George, Esq. London. Forsyth, James, Esq. Greenock. Foote, Edward James, Rear-admiral, Royal Na SUBSCRIBERS. XIX Forster, Edward, Esq. St. Helen's-place. Forster, William, Esq. Kennington. Forster, John, Esq. Portsmouth. Two copies. Forster, John, Esq. Thames-street. Francillon, Francis, Esq. Chatham. Freeling, Francis, Esq. Secretary, Post-office. French, Nathaniel Bogle, Esq. Dulwich. French, Augustus Bogle, Esq. Dulwich. Fry, Charles, Esq. Tower-street. Fuller, Benjamin, Esq. Hornsey. G. His Grace the Duke of Gordon. Right Honourable Earl Grey. Gainer, George, Esq. Deptford Naval-yard, Gaitskell, William, Esq. Rotherhithe. Gale, James, Esq. Shadwell. Galloway, James, Captain Royal Navy. Gant, Mr. James, Victualling-yard, Plymouth. Gardner, J. S. Esq. Crouch End. Garraway, John, Esq. Cadogan-place, Sloane-street. Geoghegan, John, Esq. Rio de Janeiro. Gift'ord,%John, Esq. Penge Lodge, Surry. Giles, Edmund, Esq. Hatton-garden. Gillespie, Leonard, M. D. Bath. Girdlestone, James, Esq. Guildford-street. Glenny, George, Esq. Bernard-street, Russel-square. Goldfinch, John, Esq. Portsmouth. Two copies. Gosling, William, Esq. F. A. S. Somerset-place. Gosling, John, Esq. Gloucester-place, New Road. Gosling, Mrs. John, Gloucester-place, New Road. Goodchild, James, Esq. London. Goodcve, Benjamin, Esq. Portsmouth. Two copies. Goodwyn, Wildrnan William, Esq. Blackheath. Gompcrtz, Isaac, Esq. Leicester -square. Graham, William, Esq. Junior, Upper Thames-street Grant, John, Esq. London. XX SUBSCRIBERS. Grant, George, Esq. Old Broad-street. Grant, Mr.Arundel. Grant, Thomas, Esq. Bideford, Devon. Grant, Charles, Esq. Southampton-place, New-road. Grant, Charles, Esq. Limehouse. Grant, James, Esq. Kingston, Jamaica. Two copies. Graves, Samuel Colleton, Esq. Hembry Fort, Devon. Graves, Mr. Walworth. Graves, Mr. Joseph, London. Gray, Robert, Esq. Somerset-place. Gray, John, Esq Water-lane. Gray, William, Esq. Bermuda. Gray, Hugh, Esq. Mincing-lane. Greatly, Thomas W. Captain Royal Artillery. Grehan, Patrick, Esq. Dublin. Green, John, Esq. Dell-lodge, Blackheath. Green, William, Esq. Lenton Abbey, Nottingham. Green, Charles, Esq. Walbrook. Green, Henry, Esq. Walbrook. Greene, John Hooke, Esq. Fisherton Cottage, Salisbury. Greenlaw, George, Esq. Writer to the Signet, Edinburgh. Gregory, John, Esq. Crutched-fiiars. Two copies. Grierson, John, Esq. London. Griffith, Thomas, Esq. Pall-nr.aU. Griffith, Philip, Esq. Pall-mall. Griffiths, Miss, Arundel. Groome, Mrs. Thackenham, Sussex. Grout, John, Esq. Naval-yard, Deptford. H. The Right Honourable Admiral Lord Viscount Hood. Hadwin, Mr. Joseph, Liverpool. Haley, Mr. James, Victualling-yard, Deptford. Halford, George, Esq. Southend, Kent. Halford, James, Esq. Norfolk-street. Halford, James, Esq. Junior, Norfolk-street. Hambly, Theodosius, Esq. London. SUBSCRIBERS. XXI Hamilton, Lieut.-Col. Mark Kerr, Edinburgh. Hankey^ Hon. Mrs. Fetchana Park, Surry. Hankey, Thomas, Esq. Bedford-square. Hankin, Thomas, Esq. Ware, Hertfordshire. Harding, Thomas, Esq. Transport Office. Harman, Richard Hawes, Esq. Lewisham. Hartwvll, Sir F. J. Bart. Deputy Comptroller of the Navy, Hartwell, Rev. Houlton, Somerset-place. Harris, Thomas Rogers, Esq. London. Harvey, James, Esq. Dublin. * Hase, William, Esq. Plymouth. Hawker, Moses, Esq Catisfield, Hants. Hawkins, Lieutenant, A. M. Royal Navy. Hays, Thomas, Esq. Horsleydown. Hayes, James, Esq. Loddon. Hayter, Cornelius, Esq. Wickham, Hants. Heale, William, Esq. Mincing-lane. Heale, Richard, Esq. Walworth. Heath, James, Esq. Colchester. Hedges, Henry, Esq. East India House. Henderson, William, Esq. Fenchurch-street. Hendry, Timothy, Esq. London. Henger, William, Esq. London. Herbert, Jacob, Esq. Chester-place. Hewit, Captain Charles, Royal Navy. Heylyn, Henry, Esq. Lavender-hill, Surry. Hicks, George, Esq. Cadogan-place. Higginson, Joseph, Esq Oakfield, Middlesex. Hilbers, Henry, Esq. London. Hilliard, Mr. I. Writtle, Essex. Hillier, William, Esq. Chatham Victualling-yard. Hills, Mr. William, Chatham. Hinchinbrook, Augustus, Esq. London. Hitchcock, Charles, Esq. Limehouse. Hitchings, John, Esq. Catram, Croydon, Surry. Hobbs, Samuel, Esq. Deptford. Hodson, James, Esq. Liverpool. XXII SUBSCRIBERS, 1 Hoffman, James, Esq. Bishopsgate-street. Hogg, Thomas, Esq. Appledore, Devon. Hogg, Mr. William James, Dundalk. Holland, Rev, William Woollans, Chichester, Sussex. Holl, Edward, Esq. Lower Eaton-street, Pimlico. Holmes, Richard, Esq. Arundel. Holmes, Miss Ann, Arundel. Holt, Richard, Esq. John-street, King's-road. Hort, Emanuel, Esq. London. Houseman, John, Esq. Transport-office. Howard, Miss, Arundel. Hooper, Robert, M. D. Saville-street. Hubbard, John, Esq. Edgeware-road. Huggins, John, Esq. Sittingbourne, Hughes, John, Esq. Deptford. Hughes, William, Esq. Golden-square. Hughes, Peter, Esq. Chatham. Hulke, Manly, Esq. Palermo. Hull, Edward, Esq. Kennington-common. Hume, James, Esq. Commissioner of His Majesty's Customs* Hunt, Joachim, Esq. London. Hunter, James, Esq Glasgow. I. J. Jackson, John, Esq. M. P. East India Director. Two copies, Jackson, John, Esq. London. Jacob, Mr. Thomas, Waterford. Jaffray, Robert, Esq. London. James, John, Esq. Victualling-yard, Deptford. Ibbetson, John Holt, Esq. Chelsea. Ibbetson, Thomas, Esq. Arundel. Idle, John, Esq. Kentish-town. Idle, Christopher, Esq. Adelphi, Idle, Mrs. Christopher, Adelphi. Idle, Mrs. George, Portman-place. Jellicoe, Joseph, Esq. Fenchurch-street. Jephson, Rev. William, Camberwell. Four copies. SUBSCRIBERS. XXlll Jerram, Rev. Charles, Chobham. Jessep, Elizeus, Esq. Naval-yard, Sheerness. Inglis, John, Esq. East India Director. Johnson, Capt. Thomas, Vauxhall. Johnson, Robert, Esq. Agent- victualler, Lisbon. Johnson, Alfred, Esq. Agent-victualler, Cape of Good Hope. Jones, Mr. Thomas, Stoney-street, Southwark. Jordaine, Andrew, Esq. Great George-street. Joseph, Simeon, Esq. Brighton. Jukes, Richard, Esq. Stourport. Jukes, A. Esq. Bombay. Jukes, John, Esq. Birmingham. K. Keats, Mr. Robert, Whitechapel. Kell, Thomas, Esq. London. Kemble, Jacob, Esq. London. Kennison, Warner, Esq. London. Kentish, T. Esq. Upper Baker-street. Kentish, Samuel, Esq. Portsmouth. Kentish, Lieut. S. Royal Navy. Kettle, Henry, Esq. Hersham-green, Surry. Keyte, Isaac Joseph, Esq. London. Kilpen, Alexander Samuel, Esq. London. King, David, Esq. Rodney-buildings, Kent-road. King, Harry Thomas, Esq. Soho-square. Kingdom, William, Esq. Sloane-street. Kingdon, Mrs Chudleigh, Devon. King&ford, Samuel, Esq. Nelson-square. Two copies. Klingender, Frederick, Esq. London. Knap, Theodosius, Esq. London. Knapp, James, Esq. Arundel. Knight, W. Y. Esq. Temple. Knight, Edward, Ea.j. Clapham-road. Knight, Joseph, Esq. Jcrmyn-street. Knowles, Edward, Esq. Navy-office. Knowles, Thomas, Esq. Stockwell. Two copies. XXIV SUBSCRIBERS. L. The Most Noble the Marquis of Lansdowne. The Right Honourable the Earl of Lonsdale. Lachlan, James, Esq. Great Alie-street. Lacy, Mr. Jonathan, East-lane, Rotherhithe. Ladbroke, Henry, Esq. Old South Sea House. Ladbroke, Felix, Esq Bank-buildings. Ladd, Miss, Little Ormond-street, Queen-square. Lambert, Edward, Esq. Plymouth. Lamb, John, Esq. Parsons-green, Radcliff. Lampen, Robert, Esq. Plymouth. Lane, James Vickery, Esq. Temple. Two copies. Lane, John, Esq. Arundel. Lane, Charles, Esq. Arundel. Lane, Peter, Esq. Arundel. Lane, William, Esq. Slindon. Larkins, John Pascal, Esq. Calcutta. Larkins, Mrs. Blackheath. Lark, Henry, Esq. Essex-street. Last, Mr. B. Lowestoff. Lavers, James, Esq. for himself and other Gentlemen at Malta. Twelve copies. Learby, Henry, Esq. Scarborough. Lear, Mrs. Batworth-park, Sussex. Two copies. Leathes, Thomas Stanger, Esq. Newington-place. Leckie, William, Esq. Old Broad-street. Lee, Edward H. Esq. South Lambeth. Leighton, Sir William, Alderman, Fenchurch-buildings. Lenox, Samuel, Esq. Liverpool. Lewes, Samuel, Esq. Sheerness. Two copies.. Lewes, Samuel, Junior, Esq. DeaL Lewis, William, Esq. Holborn. Ley, Mr. Victualling-yard, Plymouth. Ley, Mr. John, Victualling-yard, Plymouth. Library of the Writers to His Majesty's Signet in Scotland. Linthorne, Benjamin, Esq. Bedford-place. SUBSCRIBERS. XXV Lithgow, William, Esq. Heligoland. Little, William, Esq. Camberwell. Little, Simon, Esq. Crouch End. Littler, Thomas, Esq. Warwick-street. Livie, Robert, Esq. Austin-friars. Lloyd, Thomas Gore, Esq. East India House. London and Westminster Circulating Libi-ary, Holborn. London, Philips, Esq. Cannon-street. Two copies. Longman, George, Esq. M. P. Lubbock, John William, Esq. M. P. Lyde, Edward, Esq. New York. Lyde, John, Esq. Strand. Lymburner, Adam, Esq. London. Lyons, James, Esq. Limerick. M. The Right Honourable the Earl of Moira. The Right Honourable Earl Mulgrave. The Right Honourable Lord Viscount Melville. M' Arthur, John, Esq. Hinton Lodge, Horndean, M'Arthur, John, Esq. South Lambeth. M'Auley, Alexander, Esq. Edinburgh. M'Farquhar, Roderick, Esq. Ross-shire. M'Innis, Alexander, Esq. George-street, Portman- square. M'Kenzie, Andrew I. Esq. South-street, Finsbury-square. M'Kenzie, Sir Alexander, London. M'Lea, S. Esq. Glasgow. M'Leod, Donald, Captain Royal Navy. Madox, John, Esq. Southwark. Manby, George, Esq. OM -buildings, Lincoln's-inn. Manley, William, Esq. Victualling-yard, Deptford. Makin, Robert, Esq. Liverpool. Martin, Sir Henry, Bart. Lockinge-park. Martin, I. D. Esq. Furnival's-inn. Martin, I. A. Esq. Austin-friars. Martin, Captain, Kennerton Cottage, Te\vksbury. Marryat, Joseph, Esq. M. P. Two copies. XXVI SUBSCRIBERS. Marshall, Mr. George, Deptford. Marsh, John, Esq. Brighton. Marsh, Thomas, Esq. London. Mason, John, Esq. Deptford. Mason, Mrs. Deptford. Mason, Kender, Esq. Beel-house, Amersharo. Massey, Thomas George, Esq. Liverpool. Mathews, Mrs. Blackheath. May, J. H. Esq. New Ormond-street. May, Mr. Simon, Dublin^ Meheux, John, Esq. Assistant Secretary, India Board. Mellish, William, Esq. Shadwell. Two copies. Menzies, Robert, Esq. Writer to the Signet, Edinburglu Merry, William, Esq. Deputy-Secretary at War. Metcalfe, James, Esq. Treasury. Meyer, C. P. Esq. London. Miles, Mr. William, Jun. Hornchurch. Miller, James, Esq. Castle-court, Budge-row. Miller, Boyd, Esq. Clapham. Miller, Thomas, Esq. Agent Victualler, Plymouth. Two copies, Millman, George, Esq. Chester-place. Mitchell, Miss, Dover. Mitchell, William, Esq. Rear-admiral of the Red. Mobbs, John, Esq. Chatham Naval Yard. Monkhouse, John, Esq. Lombard-street. Two copies. Monkhouse, William, Esq. Abingdon-street. Montagu, , Esq. London. Montague, Basil, Esq. London. Montgomery, James, Esq. London. Morgan, John, Esq. Greenwich. Morgan, Miss, Grantham. Two copies. M orison, Peter, Esq. Portman-place. Morison, Mr. Joseph, Dublin. Morris, John, Esq. Baker-street. Mostyn, Mrs. Segryt, Denbigh. Moody, Robert Sadleir, Esq. Norton-street. Two copies. Moody, Henry Riddell, Esq. Oriel College, Oxford. Two copies. SUBSCRIBERS. Moody, Aaron, Esq. Somerton. Moore, William, Esq. Oxford-street. Moore, Walter, Esq. Liverpool. Moyle, John, Esq. Portsmouth. Two copies. Mugg, Rev. Henry, Chudleigh, Devon. Mugg, Henry Holman, Esq. London. Mugg, Mr. John David, Chudleigh, Devon. Mumford, William, Esq. Plymouth. Munns, Mrs. Bromley. Murray, Robert, Esq. Vice-admiral, Royal Navy. N. The Honorable Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy. Napier, Francis, Esq. Writer to the Signet, Edinburgh. Napier, Archibald, Esq. Tobago. Nelson, Richard, Esq. Somerset-place. Nelson, Robert John, Esq. Deptford Dock-yard. Nelson, John William, Esq. Rotherhithe. Nelson, Mr. George, Palsgrave-place. Nelthorpe, Mr. Brewer-street, Pimlico. Nerot, Miss, Clifford-street. Newal, Joseph William, Esq. London. Newbery, Francis, Esq. Heath field-park, Sussex. Newberry, William, Esq. Camberwell. Nevvland, Miss M. A. Slindon, Sussex. Nichol, I. Esq. King's Proctor, Doctors Commons. Nichols, John, Esq. F. S. A. Canonbury. Nichols, John-Bowyer, Esq. Red Lion Passage, Fleet-street. Nicholson, William, Esq. St. Margaret's, Rochester. Nicholson, William, Esq. Clerkemvell. Nightingale, Mr. I. Cumberland-street. Norcott, William, Esq. Finsbury-square. . North, John, Esq. East Acton. Two copies. Norton, Jacob Samuel, Esq. London. Notley, Mr. John, Victualling- Yard, Deptford. Nottidge, Rev. I. T. Halstead, Essex. Norwich, A. H. Esq. Heligoland. , - XXVlll SUBSCRIBERS. Nun, Alexander, Esq. London. Nunn, Joshua, Esq. St. Margaret's, Wexforcf, (X Oakley, George, Esq. Bond-street. Two copies. Ommanney, Francis Molyneux, Esq. Norfolk-street. Ongar, Mr. Samuel, Bedford. Orton, William Samuel, Esq. Bristol. Orton, Theodosius, Esq. Clifton. Osborn, Alexander, Esq. Commissioner of Customs, Scotland. Osborn, Mrs. Wick, in Sussex. Oswald, William, Esq. Deptford. , Oswald, Mr. Thomas, Victualling- Yard, Deptford. Oswald, Mr. John, Victualling- Yard, Deptford. Oswald, Mr. Edward, Victualling-Yard, Deptford.. Ovell, Samuel, Esq. London. Oviatt, William, Esq. Quebec. Oxforden, Joseph, Esq. Nottingham. Oxley, John, Esq. Clerkenwell. P. The Rt. Hon. Spencer Perceval, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Pack, Richard, Esq. Bridge-street, Blackfriars. Pafoot, Charles, Esq. Portsmouth. Two copies. Palmer, Thomas, Esq. Berkeley-square. Palmer, William, Esq. George-yard, Lombard-street. Palsgrave, Theodore, Esq. Bennett-street, Blackfriar*. Panton, Mrs. (Doctor) Edinburgh. Parkhouse, John, Esq. Manchester-buildings. Parkhouse, William, Esq. Manchester-buildings. Parker, William, Esq. London. Parker, Mr. Arundel. Parkins, William, Esq. Buckingham-street, Adelphi. Parry, Isaac, Esq. Deptford. Parry, Joseph, Esq. London. Partington, Henry, Jun. Esq. Shoreham, Sussex. Pattison, James, Jun. Esq. Albany. SUBSCRIBERS. XXIX Pearce, John, Esq. Governor of the Bank of England. Two copies. Pearson, Robert, Esq. Deal. Peirce, William, Esq. New Broad-street. Penn, Mr. George, Margate. Penn, Miss, Margate. Pennington, Mr. John, Strand. Pering, Richard, Esq. Naval-Yard, Plymouth. Pewtress, James, Esq. Verulam-buildings, Gray's-inn. Pilleau, Henry, Esq. Kennington-green. Pinkerton, Thomas, Esq. New Broad-street. Pinkerton, Mrs. New Broad-street. Pitt, Tho. Esq. Victualling- Yard, Portsmouth. Four copies. Phipps, Warner, Esq. New Bridge-street, Blackfriars. Platt, Charles, Esq. Brunswick-square. Pocknell, Thomas, Esq. London. Pole, Admiral Sir Charles Morice, Bart. M. P. Pollard, R. B, Esq. Cadogan-place. Porker, John, Esq. Muswell-hill. Porter, William H. Esq. Hunter-street. Pott, Charles, Esq. Albion-place, Surrey. Two copies. Pott, Robert, Esq. Castle-street, Southwark. Two copies. Potticary, John, Esq. Blackheath. Pridham, Joseph, Esq. Plymouth. Prime, Joseph, Esq. Lambeth. Prime, Mr. Joseph, jun. Lambeth. Pritchard, Miss, Richmond. Pugh, John, Esq. Gracechurch-street, Punier, Rev. Henry, Bath. Purrier, Rev. H. Hinton, Wilts. Q. Quennell, Mrs. Arundel. Quin, Edward, Esq. Fleet-street. R. The Right Honourable the Earl of Radnor. The Right Honourable George Rose, M. P. Two copies. XXX SUBSCRIBERS. Rains, John, Esq. Wapping. Four copies. Ramsden, John, Esq. Hyde-street. Ramsey, Alexander, Esq. Edinburgh. Ramsey, Miss C. A. Karr, Edinburgh. Reddock, Ralph, Esq. Gravesend. Reed, Shakespear, Esq. Shadwell. Reed, James, Esq. Woolwich. Reeks, William, Esq. Agent Victualler, Portsmouth. Four copies. . ' Richardson, Thomas, Esq. Gray 's-inn-squ are. Richmond, Henry, Esq. Secretary of the Customs. Ricketts, T. Esq. Royal Navy. Rigby, John George, Esq. South Lambeth. Robb, C. Esq. Deptford Naval-yard. Roberts, Thomas, Esq. Store-street, Bedford-square. Roberts, Thomas, Esq. Charter-house-square. Two copies. Roberts, Thomas, jun. Esq. Charter-house-square. Roberts, Mrs. Charter-house-square. Roberts, Miss, Charter-house-square. Robinson, Mrs. Halstead, Essex. Robinspn, Isaac, Esq. Copthali Chambers. Robinson, Mr. Red Lion-street, Holborn. Robson, George, Esq. Stoke Newington. Robson, Ridley, Esq. Plymouth. Rogers, John, Esq. Bird's-lodge, Croydon,.- Rogers, Mr. Patrick, New Ross. Rohde, Casten, Esq. Charing-cross. Rolt, Mrs. Deptford. Rolt, Miss, Deptford. Rolt, John David, Esq. Navy Office. Rolt, Mrs. John, Deptford. Rolt, Mr. John Henry, Deptford. Ross, R. H. Esq. Deal. Rossiter, Mr. Richard, Bristol. Rowcroft, Thomas, Esq. Barnes-common. Rowcroft, Mrs. Barnes-common. Rowcroft, Miss, Barnes-common. SUBSCRIBERS. XXXI Rowed, Richard, Esq. Christ-church, Suny. Rowsfield, Michael, Esq. Lombard-street. Rule, William, Esq. Somerset-place. S. The Right Honourable Earl Spencer. The Right Honourable Admiral Earl St. Vincent, K. B. The Right Honourable Lord Viscount Sidmouth. Two copies. The Right Honourable Lord Scarsdale. The Right Honourable Lord Suffield. The Right Honourable Lord George Stuart. Salt, I. N. Esq. late Storekeeper, Plymouth. Sanden, Thomas, M. D. Chichester. Sanders, Samuel, jun. Esq. Abingdon-street. Saumarez, Vice Admiral Sir James, Bart. K. B. and K. S. Saumarez, Richard, Esq. Newington. Saunders, Thomas, Esq. Oxford-road. Sayer, Thomas, Esq. Thurlton. Sayer, Miss, Thurlton. Scarvell, Jeremiah, Esq. Little Hampton. Scott, John, Esq. North Cray Place, Kent. Scott, Thomas, Esq. London. Scott, Robert, Esq. Strand. Searle, John Clarke, Captain Royal Navy, Chairman of the Victualling Board. Shackleford, the Rev. R. D. D. D. F. R. S. and S. A. Charter- house-square. Shaen, Samuel, Esq. London. Shannon, Dr. Pimlico. Sharp, George, Esq. London. Shaw, Benjamin, Esq. M. P. Shee, Joseph, Esq. Belmont Cottage, Vauxhall. Sheppeard, Edward Waldwyn, Esq. Great Russell-street, Sherriff, James, M. D. Deptford. Shipman, Thomas, Esq. Greenwich. Shuter, T. A. Esq. Southwark. Sibbeth, C. Esq. Heligoland, SUBSCRIBERS. Sikes, Henry, Esq. Mansion-house-street. Sikes, William, Esq. Mansion-house-street. Simpkinson, Rev. James, Kingston^ Surrey. Two copies. Simpson, Geddes, Esq. Tower-street. Sissmore, Rev. Henry, Fellow of Winchester College. Skardon, John, Esq. Southdown. Skidmore, Emmett, Esq. Rickmansworth. Slight, John, Esq. Victualling-yard, Plymouth. Sloper, Robert S. Esq. Montague-street, Russell-square. Smith, Vice- Admiral Sir Sidney, K. C. and K. F. Smith, William, Esq. M. P. Smith, Mr. William, St. John-street. Smith, William, Esq. Bromley, Kent. Two copies. Smith, Joseph, Esq. West-square. Smith, William, Esq. Liverpool. Snaith, Westergath, Esq. Mansion-house-street. Two copies. Snaith, Mrs. Mansion-house-street. Snell, William, Esq. Hanover-street. Solly, Isaac, Esq. London. Solly, Thomas, Esq. London. Soppett, William, Esq. Queenhithe. Sowerby, Mr. Liverpool. Sparshott, Daniel, Esq. Deal. Spearing, James Edward, Esq. Portsmouth. Two copies. Spearman, Thomas R. Esq. Plymouth Dock. Spence, Mr. Sawyer, Wapping. Spence, John, Esq. Mincing-lane. Springall, Nathaniel, Esq. Lombard- street. Stable., Lorenzo, Esq. Hanover-street, Hanover-square. Stace, W T illiam, Esq. Woolwich. Stanger, Hugh, Esq. Clement's-inn. St. Barbe, John, Captain, Royal Navy. Steppen, Miss, Surry-place, Kent-road. Stephens, Daniel, Esq. Commercial-road. Stewart, Hope, Esq. of Ballichin, Perthshire. Stewart, James, Esq. St. James's. Steward, Thomas, Es Jacob, Esq. Rood-lane, SUBSCRIBERS. XXXV Warner, Redston, Esq. Rood-lane. Waters, John, Esq. Deal. Webster, Sir Godfrey, Bart. Battle Abbey, Sussex. Welsh, Col. Thomas, Commissioner of the Victualling Board. West, John, Esq. Plymouth. West, Morris, Esq. Secretary of the Customs, Edinburgh. Wheeler, James Rivington, Esq. Gloucester-place, New-road. Wheeler, Thomas, Esq. Holborn. Whitbread, Samuel, Esq. M. P. Whitehurst, Thomas, Esq. Russel-square. White, John, Esq. Tower-street. White, James, Esq. Purbrook. Wickey, William Henry, Esq. Oxford-street. Williams, Mr. John, Oxford-street. Williams, Mrs. Kennington. Williamson, Alexander, Esq. Writer to the Signet, Edinburgh. Wilkinson, W. Esq. Change-alley. Two copies. Willett, W. H. Esq. Ludgate-hill. Wilson, Mr. Edward, Bermondsey. Wilson, Rev. John, Cheam. Wilson, Thomas, Esq. Hampstead. Wilson, Christian, Esq. Benville, Wexford. Winter, Miss, Arundel. Winter, Thomas, Esq. St. James's-street. Winter, James, Esq. Paper-buildings, Temple. Windeyer, A. C. Esq. Chatham. Winslow, Nathaniel, Esq. Cheapside. Wood, George, Esq. London. W'oodrilFe, Robert, Esq. Temple. Worthington, Jonathan, Esq. Meer-hall. Wot ton, Mr. John, Plymouth. Wray, Luke Henry, Lieutenant, Royal Navy. Wright, Samuel, Esq. London. Wyatt, Richard, Esq. Court-wick, Sussex. Wyatt, Mrs Court-wick, Sussex. Wyatt, Jeffry, Esq. Upper Brook-street. XXXVI SUBSCRIBERS. Y. Yeats, George, Esq. Navy Office. Yellowly, William, Esq. London. Young, Florence, Esq. Southwark. Young, Florence, jun. Esq. Southwark. Young, Peter, Esq. Lewisharo. C I S defined by philosophers to be " a succession of phenomena in the universe" better to be con- ceived than described, and of which, as Mr. LOCKE hath observed, vre can only form an idea " by considering any part of infinite duration as set out by periodical measures :" other and later philosophers define the nature of time in terms somewhat differently expressed, though in mean- ing precisely the same. The " measure" of such " part of infinite dura- tion" depending upon motion, the heavenly bo- dies have, in every age, been selected for that pur- pose, and the ancients distinguished their diffe- rent seasons by the appearance of particular con- stellations; the cosmical rising of the Pleiades they made to denote the commencement of sum- mer, and that of the Dog Star its declination : and by such general regulations alone, ARISTOTLE marked the times of gestation and migration of animals. Subsequent knowledge enabled man- kind to arrive at a more exact and better under- VOL. I. B stood method of tracing the course of time, and to distinguish it by epochs, milleniums, cycles, cen- turies-, years, months, weeks, days, hours, mi- nutes, and moments, seconds or instants. Of the mechanical means that have by degrees been discovered of computing, and as it were marking time in its flight, the following is a ge- neral outline selected from a vast variety of sources ; and under the head of Calendar will be found a description of the tables that have been invented whereby to register its progress. The first mention of any instrument to shew the passing period, is in holy writ, in the reign of HEZEKIAH king of JUDAH, and refers to the , or, as it is now called, ^Ult SDfal, of AHAZ, his father, who died about the year of the world 3278, or 726* years before the Christian sera ; though there is reason to conclude that the very obvious method of ascertaining the time of the day by a shadow, must long ere that period have been resorted to. The dial of AHAZ was described upon the steps of his palace, and the shade of a pillar (erected probably for that express use) passing over it, was the full extent of accuracy at which the art had then arrived. There was no gnomon to this dial, nor is there any account of such addition until the invention of MAXIMENES MILESIUS, about 1(>0 years afterwards. From the East, these dials found their way to Rome, though not until about 20,5 years before the Christian sera, when PAPI- RIUS CURSOR erected one in the court of the Temple of QUIRINUS ; while before that period the nearest approach made by the Romans for as- certaining the hour, was, by observing when the sun appeared between the rostrum, where orators harangued, and the spot called the station of the Greeks, or where ambassadors stopped when they were deputed to the Senate, at which time the crier of the consuls proclaimed NOON. M. VALERIUS MESSALA, after the taking of CATANA, brought out of Sicily a dial which he caused to be fastened upon a pillar near the ros- trum ; and although not accurate, inasmuch as it was formed for the latitude of Catana, which differed from that of Rome, not any better stand- ard was used for near a century. Lucius PAULUS set up a dial about eleven ^ years after that of MESSALA, though it was equally erroneous ; and about that period QUINTUS MAR- CUS PHF-IFFUS is stated to have made another dial more correct. But as these instruments were, even in their improved state, of use only in the day-time, and not even then when the sky was overcast, the Ro- mans were frequently at a loss to know the hour of the day, and were totally incapable of decid- ing that of the night. B2 In the year of Rome 595, being 157 years be- fore the birth of CHRIST, SCIPIO NASICA brought into use an instrument called C&e Ciepgptira, or muttt Clocfc, which, by acting in all weathers, and at night as well as day, was of the utmost utility and im- portance : whether he borrowed the idea from other nations cannot be now ascertained ; but it is beyond all doubt that the clepsydra is very an- tient, and, as well as the DIAL, an invention of the East ; VITRUVIUS attributes it to CRESIBIUS, of ALEXANDRIA, who lived under PTOLEMY EUER- GETES, about 245 years before Christ. The CLEP- SYDRA of SCIPIO NASICA is thus described by PANCIROLLUS: "They took," says he, " a vessel made of glass, in the bottom of which was a nar- row hole done about with gold, lest the water should wear it away ; on the other part of the vessel was drawn a right line having the twelve hours set upon it, after which they filled the ves- sel with water, which issued drop by drop out of the little hole : in the water was a cork with a pin stuck into it, and the point of that pin turned to the first hour when the glass was full, and to the other hours in proportion to the gradual decrease of the water. This by a Greek derivation was called a clepsydra, and with us an hour-glass." But the Romans afterwards made several altera- tions, and reversed its original method of shewing the time, making the water which escaped into the lower receptacle the horologe instead of the top glass, thus computing by increase instead of diminution ; and they were soon brought into ge- neral use. The Roman advocates who, in their pleadings, had been considered to amplify beyond what their subject required, were, by the Pompeian law, (founded upon a similar regulation among the Greeks,) restricted to a certain period in their ha- rangues ; and, for that purpose, had always CLEP- SYDRJE placed in view to keep them within the prescribed limits : They were of different sizes, so as to admit of longer or shorter periods of pleading, and were distributed at the discretion of the judges according to the nature and import- ance of the causes, always allowing the accused half as much more time to justify himself as was granted to his accuser in making the charge. JULIUS C^SAR is said to have brought sun dials and clepsydra-Pto BRITAIN, and they are stated to have been used in this country for several ages. It is however worthy of notice that although there might be one or more of each description so used, the want of some plan for measuring time was so generally felt, that ALFRED THE GREAT about the year 886' invented a new method of measuring time, (which was followed for general purposes,) by the burning of wax candles, three inches of which lasted an hour. These were committed to the custody of the clerk of the chapel, who placed 6 them in horn lanthorns, invented also by ALFRED, to protect the flame from the wind, and who regu- larly communicated to the sovereign how the hours passed away. The idea of the Sand HOUR- GLASS was taken from the CLEPSYDRA : and our gallant tars used, until very recently, to inform us how many glasses they engaged with the enemy, instead of how many hours. Strictly speaking, however, there do not appear ever to have been any glasses used in the Navy, adapted for the precise period of an hour. Those, at present allowed are, WATCH GLASSES running four hours, by which the change of the watch at sea is regulated. HALF WATCH GLASSES running two hours. HALF HOUR GLASSES for keeping the time of day and night. HALF MINUTE and QUARTER MINUTE GLASSES by which the knots are counted when the log is heaved ; for finding what way the ship makes through the sea. ^ There are upon the continent at this time some clepsydrae or water clocks upon very scientific and accurate principles, with dial-plates, and with bells that strike the hours. They are mentioned in BECKMANN'S History of Inventions and Disco- veries, translated by Mr. W. JOHNSTON, as having been revived and improved principally by DOM. CHARLES VAILLY, a Benedictine monk, in 1690; though even so far back as the ninth century, they seem to have arrived at great perfection in Asia. In the French annals there is the following description of one by EGINHARDT, the secretary to CHARLEMAGNE, which he states to have been sent to his royal master by ABDALLA king of Per- sia, about the year 807. " A horologe of brass, wonderfully constructed for the course of the twelve hours, answered to the hour-glass, with as many little brazen balls which dropt down on a sort of bells underneath and sounded each hour ; and there were also twelve figures of cavaliers, which at the approach of each hour came out of small openings in this horologe," &c. The Ve- netians likewise had clocks in 872, and sent a specimen of them that year to Constantinople. After the clepsydra, the next and most essen- tial improvement in mechanical contrivances for marking the lapse of time, was that of a Ctocfc, impelled by springs or weights, and regulated by wheels and other contrivances, of which the Ro- mans were entirely ignorant. This was called a NOCTURNAL DIAL, to distinguish it from a Sun Dial, regardless of the apparent absurdity of that appellation. PACIFICUS, archdeacon of VERONA, who lived in the ninth century, in the time of LOTHARIUS the son of Louis LE DEBONNAIR, is esteemed the inventor of clocks worked by wheels ; though this reputation rests solely on the authority of an epi- 8 taph ; and the merit of the invention is, by many, strongly contested as due to BOETHIUS, who is said to have made the discovery about the year 510: whether, however, machinery by wheels and pullies was invented by either of these per- sons, or only recovered from the celebrated sphere of ARCHIMEDES or that of POSIDONIUS, it is cer- tain that either PACIFICUS or BOETHIUS was the first by whom such powers were applied to the regulation of time ; and that a very considerable period had elapsed before the invention became practically useful. DANTE, who was born in 1265 and died 1321, mentions a clock in Italy that struck the hours, which is the earliest instance on record ; and it appears that some such kind of horologe was, about the same period, fixed to the famous CLOCK-HOUSE near WESTMINSTER HALL, the expense of which was defrayed out of a fine imposed on the chief justice of the King's Bench in 1288. In 1292 a similar clock was constructed for the Cathedral at Canterbury. " Mr. WARNER in the description of Glastonbury Cathedral, from his work entitled " A Walk through the Western Counties," has the follow- ing passage : " The Northern transept contains a curious old specimen of the ars horologica, or antient clock-making: it is a DIAL constructed by a monk of Glastonbury called PETER LIGHTFOOT, about the year 1325, of complicated design and ingenious execution: on its face the changes of the moon and other astronomical particulars are 9 contrived to be represented, and an horizontal frame work at the summit of the dial exhibits, by the aid of machinery, a party of knights armed for the Tournay, pursuing each other on horseback with a rapid rotatory motion.'' In RYMER'S FGEDERA mention is made of a pro- tection granted by EDWARD thellld. in 1368, to some Dutchmen who were " ORLOGIERS :" and RICHARD WALLINGFORD of ST. ALBANS, in the reign of RICHARD the Ilnd. from 1377 to 1399, made a clock for the abbey at that place. PENDULUM clocks, whereby the measure of time is reduced to the greatest precision, are but of recent date. The honour of the invention is disputed by HUYGENS and GALILEO; " the for- mer, who has written a volume on the subject, declares it was first put in practice in the year 16*57, a d the description thereof printed in 1658. BECKER, De novd Temporis dlmetiendl Theorid, anno 16*80, contends for GALILEO, and relates, though affeecond hand, the whole history of the invention, adding that one TRESLER, clock- maker to the then GRAND DUKE of TUSCANY, made the first Pendulum clock at FLORENCE, by direction of GALILEO GALILEI ; a pattern of which was brought into Holland : The Academy DE'L CIMENTO say expressly, that the application of the pendulum to the movement of a clock was first put in practice by his son VINCENZO GALI- LEI, in 1649. Be the inventor who he will, it is certain the invention never flourished till it came 10 into HUYGENS' hands, who insists on it, that if ever GALILEO thought of such a thing, he never brought it to any degree of perfection. The first pendulum clock made in ENGLAND was in the year 1662, by Mr. FROMANTIL, a Dutchman." Having traced the origin and progressive im- provements of CLOCKS, which in their original state implied those machines used in ascertain- ing the flight of time by STRIKING the hours upon a bell, called in old German clock, and from thence in French cloche, we proceed to the pocket movement of a similar use, denominated a OTateft, which is the latest name given to that minute piece of mechanism, to distinguish it from the clock, which, as before observed, denoted the passing time by sound and sight, while the watch expressed it by sight only. But it is to be remarked that they originally were called dials, not watches, because they ex- hibited the fleeting hours of the day ; and that, from the like cause, the part on which the hours are marked on both clocks and watches, is yet denominated the dial plate. This pocket dial is now generally called a watch, a name thought to have been given to it from the term watch having been antiently applied to the time when centinels paraded ; from whence also we have styled our civil guardians of the night .watch or watch-men : And on shipboard we still use the term watch for the divisions of nautical duty, morning watch, mid watch, &c. although watching is properly only applicable to night, and warding to day duty, and is so distinguished in all respectable old authorities.. Now, however, we have watches that regularly strike the hours and quarters, called striking- watches ; and others which only strike on the pressure of a spring, termed Repeaters ; and we distinguish a watch from a clock, not only from the latter being generally impelled by a pendu- lum, though sometimes also by springs, but chiefly from a watch being so contrived as to be carried in the pocket. The precise period when watches were first used is not known ; the earliest on record were jnvented at NCREMBERGH, by PETER HELE^ in the year 1490, and called " NUREMBERGH EGGS," on account of their oval form ; and most of the antient watches in the different collections of our antiquaries, and that of the late Sir Ashton Le- ver, were of such figure. In 1500 George Pur- bach, a mathematician of Vienna, possessed a watch that described seconds, which he applied to the purpose of taking astronomical observations, so that they must then have arrived at great per- fection. A watch which was considered to have belonged to ROBERT BRUCE, KING OF SCOTLAND, who reigned from 1305 to 1328, was said to have been dug up at BRUCE CASTLE not many years 12 since; but this story is generally supposed to have no foundation in truth. The emperor CHARLES V. is stated to have had several watches, with which he was accustomed, after his abdication, to amuse himself, by trying to keep them all in an exact agreement of time ; but it is asserted by modern authors, that they were only small table clocks. Our HENRY the Eighth, who lived at the same period, is declared by DERHAM, who published his Physico-Theology in 1714, likewise to have had a watch which continued, during Derham's life, to keep time correctly. It is ne- vertheless now contended, that these machines were invented only so recently as the year 1658, and that they owe their origin either to Dr. HOOKE, our own countryman, or M. HUYGENS; but to which of these two distinguished philoso- phers the merit of the invention is due, the learned have not yet been able positively to decide. By many it is conjectured that both these great me- chanical geniuses invented a similar machine about the same period ; an(J a watch after the mo- del of those made by HOOKE and HUYGENS, was presented to our CHARLES the Second with this inscription: " ROBERT HOOKE invent. 1658. T. Tompion fecit, 1675.'* From that time watches have gradually im- proved to such a height of perfection as to be re- garded by some as having attained their ne plus ultra ; and they are now constructed with such extreme accuracy as not to vary many seconds in 13 the course of a year, whence they are emphatically denominated Chronometers, or Time-pieces, to mark that astonishing precision of actron. REPEATERS, or such clocks and watches as strike the hour, and the quarters, by the pulling of a string, or pressure of a spring, are univer- sally admitted to have been invented by Mr. BARLOW, who first put the contrivance into prac- tice to clocks in the year l6j6, though he did not apply his invention to watches until the reign of JAMES the Second, when he procured a patent; but ABRAHAM QUARE having made and shewn to the king and council a watch upon the like prin- ciple, to which a preference was given, the same was explained in the Gazette, to the injury of BARLOW'S fame and interest. llalentiar, or Calendar* Having given a general outline of that measure of duration which we distinguish by the name of TIME, with the various modes which, from one period to another, have been had recourse to, whereby to mark its progress; we are naturally led to a consideration of those registers, or tables, that have been introduced, to note the order of our division of time throughout each year ; as well as of various other matters applicable to the ordi- nary purposes of life. 14 These registers are principally known by the titles of KALENDARS or CALENDARS, and ALMA- NACS, but they are sometimes called DIARIES and EPHEMERIDES. The kalendar of the Romans, or CALENDAR, which latter is the most antient orthography, took its name from the Latin word calendarium, either from the book of accounts kept by them of the money they let out upon interest, which they termed use money, and were in the habit of calling for on the calends, or first of each month, or from the antient custom observed among them of calling or proclaiming the calends, &c. on the ap- pearance of every new moon. A practice that continued until the year of Rome 450, when C. FLAVIUS, the curule aedile, ordered the Fasti, or calendar, to be affixed upon the public places of resort, that the festivals might the more generally be known. The latter etymology is now ad- mitted, and in all probability correctly so ; for, as the first calendars were called fasti calendar es, it would seem that the people borrowed the name of their private account books from that epithet given to the public register. The old Latin word calo, I call, or proclaim, is derived from the Greek xaXsw, whence some writers spell calen- dar with a K. The original Alban or Latin calendar consisted of ten months of disproportionate duration : namely, 15 Aprilis - $6* Mains - 22 Martius - 36* Junius - 26 Quin tills -36 Sextilis - 28 September 16 October - 39 November 30 December 35 And to tbese were added two other divisions, without names, one consisting of 33, the other of 23 days, so as to make the year actually to con- tain 360 days, or, computing in round numbers, 12 lunations, agreeably to the primitive division of time before the deluge : NOAH, as appears by the sacred writings, reckoned by months of 30 days each : and from him that mode of computing the year was adopted by the Chaldeans, Egyptians, &c. The first variation from this equal division by the Greeks, and from them by the Latins, was from a silly desire of making their months re- spectively conform to the number of degrees con- tained in their original division of the zodiac. ROMULUS, the founder and first king of Rome, formed what is deemed the original Roman ca- lendar ; and brought it back in point of equa- lity of the months nearly to the sacred division, viz. 16 Martius - 3 1 Aprilis - 30 Maius - 31 Junius - 30 Quintilis 31 Sextilis - 30 September 30 October - 31 November 30 December 30 304 But finding this account still defective, supple- mentary days were continued to be used without any fixed rule, to complete the solar year with as much accuracy as was practicable in the then state of knowledge; these additional days al- though comprising a sixth part of the whole year, like the Alban or Latin anonymous months, had not any name assigned to them, and they were yet more imperfect by not consisting of any cer- tain or determinate number ; all that ROMULUS strove to attain was, that his first month, which he settled to commence about the vernal equinox, might correspond with the appearance of the hea- vens at that time. SCALIGER, speaking from the authorities of LUCINIUS, MACER, and FENESTELLA, and having these intercalary days in view, affirms that the Roman year never consisted of less than 12 months ; but there are too many testimonies, such If as MACROBIUS, VARRO, OVID, CENSORINUS, and others, against him : though it must be admitted, that notwithstanding only ten months were spe- cifically named by ROMULUS, he certainly made us of days sufficient to compose the two addi- tional months, which after his time were com- bined with the ten already established : and it was by NUMA POMPILIUS, the immediate successor of ROMULUS, that the supplementary days were actu- ally formed into two additional months, for the pur- pose of correcting and reforming the calendar. These months he placed before Martius, and made his year to commence on the first of Januarius, to which he gave priority ; and regulating the num- ber of days appropriated to those two months, and to the former ten, by the Grecian model, he made them alternately to consist of 30 and 29 days ; though shortly afterwards, from a super- stitious idea of an odd number which is alleged to have been imbibed from the EGYPTIANS, he added another day to the first month of the new calendar. It seems, however, inconsistent with the character of NUMA to assign this augmen- tation to so weak and puerile a motive, How- ever tainted with idolatry mankind in general were in those days, NUMA seems to have been su- perior to many of the errors of his time : disgusted with what he justly considered an absurd prac- tice of the people, who bowed to the workman- ship of human ingenuity, he proscribed all visi- VOL. I c 18 ble representations of their deities, and from his example and influence idolatry was discontinued during the whole of his reign : and yet there would appear some reason for such charge, when it is considered that he altered his original year from 354 days, which before corresponded with the 12 lunations or lunar year, to 355 days ; and further that a superstitious regard was paid to odd numbers, not only throughout the whole of the Roman Empire until its downfall, but has been preserved even to the present day in this country, and in all others wherever the Roman power prevailed. The primitive and sacred division of time was, as already explained, by months of 30 days ; but the Greeks finding a lunation to consist of only about 29 days, amended their calendar by de- priving every other month throughout their year of one day of its original complement ; and NUMA appears to have been actuated by the like motive in the formation of his original calendar, which ubsequently, however, he made to consist of Januarius 31 Februarius 29 Martius - Aprilis - 29 Mains - 30 Junius - 29 Quintilis - 30 Carried over 208 19 Brought over 208 Sextilis - 29 September 30 October - 29 November 30 December 29 355 NUMA was conscious that, even by this emend- ation, he had not been able to adjust the year so that it might commence regularly at the winter solstice ; and to remedy the defect, he ordered 22 days to be intercalated every 2nd year, 23 days every 4th year, 22 days every 6th year, and 23 days every 8th year, as was practised by the Greeks ; all which interpositions were made in February, and the month in consequence named " MARCIDONIUS, or the Intercalary FEBRUARY:" this rule, however, failing of its object, it was thought proper to add only 15 days every 8th year instead of 23. The fasti calendarii were invented by NUMA for making known to his subjects all matters re- lative to their feasts and ceremonies of every de- scription, somewhat in the manner of our present almanacks, and were placed under the control of the PONTIFEX MAXIMUS, whose office was insti- tuted also by that monarch ; but from ignorance, or, as some assert, by design, the year was suf- fered to run into great irregularity. NUMA did not disturb the names given by ROMULUS to hit c 3 20 ten months, though he altered their rank in the series ; hence the apparent absurdity of the 9th, 10th, llth, and 12th months in his calendar, bearing the names of the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th, which they still retain. For several centuries the Roman calendar was governed by NUMA'S amendment, until the DECEMVIRS threw it into great perplexity, by ren- dering the months more unequal in the number of days of which they before consisted, without remedying the inaccuracy well known to exist in the total number required to form a solar year : viz. Januarius 29 Februarius 28 Martius - 3 1 Aprilis - 29 Maius - 31 Junius - 29 Quintilis - 31 Sextilis - 29 September 29 October - 3 1 November 29 December 29 355 Supplementary 11 Total - $66 But it is to be remarked, that several authori- ties state NUJJA'S year to have been composed precisely of the unequal number of days alleged 21 by others to the Decemvirs ; and that those magistrates merely made February the second month of the year instead of the last, where those authors affirm it to have been placed by NUMA. As NUMA, however, is generally understood to have formed his calendar after the Grecian model, it is more than probable that the Decemvirs, and not NUMA, are justly to be charged with having made the months to revert to nearly their former inequality ; while it must be confessed, that there is some reason to doubt, whether the Decemvirs or NUMA made February the second month, though the most prevalent belief assigns that re- gulation to NUMA. The Pontiffs, still negligent of the trust com- mitted to them, permitted the year to run on with increasing confusion, until JULIUS CAESAR'S third consulship, when the beginning of the year was found to have anticipated its real station 67 days, the whole of which that great man interca- lated between the months of November and De- cember, whereby this year (which was the one to which NUMA'S appropriated 23 days were added to February), consisted of 445 days, or 15 months : viz. NUMA'S common year - - 355 Supplementary days to February - - 23 JULIUS CESAR'S addition of days lost - 67 445 22 and this ye^ar, immediately preceding that deno- minated the Julian Period, has been distinguish- ed by the name of " the year of confusion :" CENSORINUS and SUETONIUS thus explain the matter : " CESAR finding that the PONTIFFS of ROME, whose business it was to intercalate the years which were to be lunae-solar years, had abused their authority, and managed this inter- calation with a regard to their own conveniency, or to oblige their friends, according as they were inclined to keep the magistrates in their places a longer or a shorter time ; upon a view of these abuses, he took the resolution to redress the growing corruption.'* JULIUS CAESAR, who was no less renowned for his general learning and acquirements, than for his military talents, after having rectified the errors of the old computations by this augmented year, endeavoured to put the calendar upon such a basis, as should obviate the recurrence of a similar in- consistency : accordingly, with the assistance of SOSIGENES, a celebrated Egyptian astronomer, and mathematician, he caused calculations to be made of the annual course of the sun, which he found to consist of 365 days and about 6 hours ; and agreeably thereto a new calendar was formed, by FLAVIUS a scribe, and established by public edicts. 23 Januarius 3 1 Februarius 29 Marti us - 31 Aprilis - 30 Maius - 31 Junius - 30 Quintilis 31 altered to Julius. Sextilis - 30 September 3 1 October - 30 November 3 1 December 30 36*5 To bring to account the six hours in each year unprovided for by this regulation, he di- rected that one day should be intercalated every fourth year ; making such year to consist of 366 days. This supplementary day was not added to the end of the year, nor was it placed at the end of any month, but introduced between the 23d and 24th of February, which they called the 6th kalendas Martii, or the 23d of February, reckoned twice over, by accounting those two days as one ; and this practice of reckoning the 23d and supplementary day as one was adopted and confirmed by an a;t of our legislature, which, " to prevent all ambiguity that may arise on the account of the intercalation of a day every 4th year, appoints by the statute De Anno Bissextile, 21st Henry III. that the day increasing the leap year, and that next before, shall be accounted but as one day." Whence the Roman term yet retained of Bissextile, i. e. Bis, twice ; and Sex- tus, the sixth : while it is also called by us Leap- year ; because though in common years any fixed day of the week changes in the succeeding com- mon year, to the next day in rotation, in the Bissextile years the day of the week changes again on the 2th February, and we leap, as it were, to the next but one. In Leap-years, there- fore, there are two Dominical letters ; for exam- ple, if C be the original dominical letter, it will last until the Sunday prior to, and change on the Sunday next following, the 2th .of February, when it will be superseded by the letter B. Thus, in the Bissextile year, ST. MATTHIAS'S festival, which was disturbed by the introduction of the intercalary day, was removed from the 24th to the 25th of February, in order that it might be kept on the 6th day, inclusive, from the month of March, agreeably to its original station : In the Ccmrnon Prayer Books of KING EDWARD, that old rubric was altered, and the following in- stituted in its stead : " This is also to be noted, that the 25th of February, which in Leap-years is counted for two days, shall in those two days alter neither psalm nor lesson, but the same psalms' and lessons which be said on the first day shall serve also for the second day." After which some persons kept ST. MATTHIAS'S festival on the 24th in Leap-years, while others considered it a 25 mistake in the Reformers, and still adhered to the practice of removing that holiday to the 35th of the month : But after queen ELIZABETH'S Com- mon Prayer Book was compiled, the 525th of Fe- bruary was again universally held as the festival of ST. MATTHIAS, conformably to the following rubric, viz. " When the years of our Lord may be divided into four even parts, which is every fourth year, then the Sunday letter leapeth ; and that year the psalms and lessons which serve for the 23d day of February shall be read again, the day follow- ing, except it be Sunday, which hath proper lessons from the Old Testament appointed in the table to serve for that purpose." Upon the Restoration of CHARLES the Second, the revisers of the Liturgy, in solemn council, once more altered the regulation of ST. MAT- THIAS'S festival, by causing the fc Lauwmaand, .. chilly or frosty month. I Dutch, J February, ........ Sprokkelmaand, . . vegetation month, March, .......... Lentmaand, ...... spring month. April, ........... Grasmaand, . . . i . . grass month. flower or blossom T,, Bkmmaand, .. June, ............ Zomermaand, .... summer month. July, ............ Hooymaand, . ___ * hay month. August, . ... ..... Oojtmaand, ...... harvest month. September, ........ Herstmaand, ..... autumn month. October, ......... Wynmaand, ...... wine month. November, ........ Slagtmaand, ..... slaughter month. December, ........ Wintennaaud, .... winter month. The same in German, except the word ' maind, which is called mound. These characteristic names of the months ap- pear to be the remains of the antient Gaulish titles, which were also used by our Anglo-Saxon ancestors, as will be seen by reference to the respective subsequent explanations of the clifferent 38 months, now, however, bearing the appellations first assigned to them by the Romans. Among other puerilities and absurdities of the French calendar may also be included the bor- rowed application of the titles of the months, intended as they were to be expressive of the various seasons of production, maturity, decay, and torpidity of the vegetable world. In a terri- tory comprehending climates so diversified as France, the variations of the seasons must neces- sarily defy any description that can be universally appropriate ; and an English wit, disgusted with the " namby pamby" style of the French calendar, ridiculed this new method of registering time in the following ludicrous translation of their months, as divided by them into seasons, considering it a critique more suitable to the insignificance of the subject, than argument or grave discussion. " AUTUMN, wheezy, sneezy, freezy. WINTER, slippy, drippy, nippy. SPRING, showery, flowery, bowery. SUMMER, -hoppy, croppy, poppy. Almanac* Although the terms Calendar and Almanac mre in general regarded as synonymous, there is, nevertheless, a material distinction between them. The calendar, strictly speaking, refers to time in general the almanac to only that portion of time which is comprehended in the annual revo- lution of the earth round the sun, and marking, by previous computation, numerous particulars of general interest and utility ; religious feasts ; public holidays ; the days of the week, corre- sponding with those of the month ; the increasing and decreasing length of the day ; the variations between true and solar time ; tables of the tides ; the sun's passage through the zodiac ; eclipses ; conjunctions and other motions of the planets; &c. &c.; all calculated for that portion of duration comprehended within the year. From this dis- tinction between the terms calendar and almanac, it has been deemed proper to give the preceding historical account of the alteration made in the supputation of time, under the head Calendar, as it would be absurd to speak of the almanac of ROMULUS, or even of the late fantastic innovation of the French, by that name. We may with propriety use calendar or almanac for any parti- cular year, but, as allusive to time in general, calendar can alone be properly applied : In speaking of an alteration in the French calendar, we are clearly understood to mean some general improvement or alteration in the calculation of time in France; while an alteration in the French almanac would be understood only as implying a new mode of arranging the different computa- tions and notices adapted to one year. The calendar denotes the settled and national mode of registering the course of time by the sun's pro- gress ; an almanac is a subsidiary manual formed out of that instrument. NUMA marked the distinction between the ca- lendar and the almanac by his invention of the fasti, of which our almanac is a close resem- blance, in order to make known the annual rou- tine of public and religious ceremonies, depen- dant on his regulation of the calendar : and although no private individual ever did, or could attempt to change the calendar, every person who thought proper could frame an almanac; and this privilege has been exerted to so great an extent, as to call forth public acts to regulate and limit their publication. We have also a more accurate and minute computation of time, known by the name of an ephemeris, in which, as the name indicates, the daily variations in the planets, the apparent positions of the fixed stars, and other ccelestial as well as terrestrial phenomena, are minutely recorded, for the especial purposes of navigation., and for facilitating the study of astronomy. 41 JUDICIAL ASTROLOGY, or the pretended power of predicting future events, was professed at a very remote period; and ahnanacs, not calen- dars, made the principal medium of circulat- ing its absurdities. So early as the year 1579, HENRY the third of France issued an edict, that " none of that tribe should for the future presume to publish predictions relating to affairs of the state, or of private persons, in terms either ex- press or covert, &c." The planetary system was generally the ground-work or foundation of this abstruse species of plausible imposition ; but as the influence of the sun and moon was too sensibly felt to admit of mysterious deception, these pretenders to supernatural knowledge did not select those luminaries as objects for their impositions on the superstitious; hence the other planets, whose influence, if any, was not obvious to the senses, were made the foundation, of this delusive art ; and being named after deities of the heathen mythology, but little ingenuity was necessary to imbue the planets with powers and attributes ascribed to those objects of heathen worship, whence they derived their names ; thus opening a boundless field for practising upon the credulity and superstition of mankind, which even to this day, with all our advances towards perfection in science, and manifest advantages in point of intellectual acquirement, is not 'yet wholly eradicated. In 42 In the highlands of Scotland the prognostic 6r presage of weather is formed on a supersti- tious, but innocent conceit, that the year will be governed, as to its general fluctuation, by the state of the twelve days beginning from the 31st of December : thus if the 31st of December should be fair, so will the ensuing January ; if the 1st of January should be fair, so will the succeeding February ; if the 2d of January, &c. so will March be found, and so on throughout the year. Various persons still implicitly be- lieve in these auguries ; but it is to be hoped that the weather in general in the highlands will be found rather more favourable throughout the different months, than can well be expected from an observation made on the days they have selected in the very depth of the winter season. The etymology of the word almanac has been, perhaps, the subject of more dispute than that of any term admitted into our language. With the single exception of VERSTIGAN, all our lexicogra- phers derive the first syllable al from the article definite of the Arabic, which signifies the ; but the roots of the remaining syllables are variously accounted for, some taking it from the Greek ju,ava?i\h\, that^is, After- Christmas, was made the name of the month. For what reason we abandoned the Saxon title of this and of the other months, but retained the Saxon names of the days, it is difficult to conjec- ture ; but as the former were each expressive of the period of the year in which they were respect- ively placed, and the latter merely the names of the idols worshipped on those particular days, there does not appear to have been much judg- ment exercised in the rejection of the one, or the retention of the other. January is represented in antient paintings by the figure of a man clad in white, as the type of the snow usually on the ground at that season, and blowing on his fingers as descriptive of the cold : under his left arm he holds a billet of wood, and near him stands the figure of the sign AQ.UA- RIUS, the watery emblem in the Zodiac, into which the Sun enters on the igth of this month. The Anglo-Saxons, who were much addicted to drinking, depicted January as a man seated at a table holding a goblet of ale to his mouth ; and in the back ground were persons ploughing with oxen, sowing seed, &c. &c. 61 In the now obsolete Cornish language, this month was called Genver, an evident corruption of its common name, January. When NUMA POMPILIUS made the first and most extensive alteration of the calendar of RO- MULUS, he added January and February to the year ; giving to this latter month the second place, which rank it yet retains. NUMA, who was governed in his regulation by the Grecian ca- lendar, assigned to this month 29 days ; JULIUS C^SSAR continued that number ; but AUGUSTUS CSSAR reduced it to 28, at which it yet continues, and placed the 29 th, or expunged day, to the month of August, although the additional day in- troduced by JULIUS CAESAR, which was still in- tercalated every fourth year between the 23d and 24th of February, was suffered to remain. NUMA, whose reign was marked throughout by wisdom and moderation, anxiously endeavoured to soften the natural ferocity of the Romans, and to excite a disposition for cultivating the arts of peace : he was therefore induced to assign to Fe- bruary the second station in the year, thereby giving to it a greater nominal consequence over 62 the ten months which before composed the calen- dar ; and he placed it under the immediate pro- tection of NEPTUNE, who was in high estimation with the Romans, not only as holding dominion over one of the four elements, but for his having been the reputed promoter of the forcible abduc- tion of the Sabine women, when the population of the newly-formed state was in danger of ex- tinction from the inferior number of the females. The name of this month is taken from Februa, Februaca^ or Februalis, names of JUNO, who presided over the purification of women, because the Lupercalia were then held; or as other authors contend, from Febrais expiatoriis, sa- crifices for purging souls, there having been a feast upon the 2d day of this month, when the Heathens offered sacrifices to PLUTO, the infernal deity, for the souls of their ancestors. As NUMA, however, placed this month under the protection of NEPTUNE, chiefly, as is affirmed, on account of the advice he gave for carrying off* the Sabine females, there is reason to favour the former ety- mology, from the obvious connection of that mea- sure with the LUPERCALIA which was instituted by ROMULUS, under the superstitious idea of ren- dering the Sabine women fruitful. FEBRUARY was called by our Saxon ancestors " @>pr0UMtde, b? ftele meaning tjbe &de iUtltt, to&idb toe calf tlje COlC^ftJUtt, tije greatest 00t4UUtt in time long pat tfjat cut aiuegtoriS uged, anD tije brotij made tfjeretotrt) toag thereof ai^o caUefc ftele ; for before toe 63 borrowed from tfje tfrenrfj te name of potHiJC, and t!je name of f)0tiJC> tfje one in oar otone language toas called ftele, and rtje ort)er JDurt ; and as tfys feele#toort or pot* age^earbe toaS tfje c^iefe tointer*tourt for rtje Sustenance of tfje husbandman, so toaS it tfje first eatbe tfjat in t])i$ mont|) began to pielD out to^ole^ome poung jSprout^, and consequently 0ate thereunto tije name of Sprout* Jtele. &bt ijearbe toa^ not oneln of our old ancejStor^ fjefo to be tjcrp good, botf) for ^u^tenance anD t)ealtf), but tije ancient ?fioman^ tiad alo ^ucf) an opinion thereof, tijat During tije 600 peare^ tijat Ciome taa-o toit^out piji^i* tcan.tf, tije people u.^eD to plant great store of rtjc^e Spurts, tnjjicf) t^ey accounted botl) meat and medicine : for a tliep did eate tJje tourt for Sustenance, So did tijcp drin^e tije toater tntjerein it toas boylcd, as a tj)ing sobe* raigne in all fcindS of SicfeneSSeS." The Saxons changed its name afterwards to ^>0l UlOnntlj, from the then returning Sun. On the iSth of this month the Sun enters Pisces, or that sign of the Zodiac typified by Fishes, which being the most prolific of all animated nature, aptly bespeaks the approach of Spring, when seeds and plants are made to vegetate by the growing heat of that season ; and the common emblema- tical representation of FEBRUARY is, a man in a dark sky-coloured dress, bearing in his hand that astronomical sign. The old Saxon pictural cha- racters of this month were, however, different : In some of these, a vine dresser was to be seen pruning of trees ; and in others a man with his jacket buttoned, warming bis hands by striking 64 them across his body, in token of the early part of that month being generally the most inclement of the whole year, from the causes explained in the article treating upon the Dog Days. which is the third month in the present calendar, held the same station in that of the Alban. RO- MULUS assigned to it the honour of leading the year ; and although it was superseded in that dis- tinguished rank by JANUARY and FEBRUARY, when NUMA POMPILIUS altered the computation of RO- MULUS, it still so far preserved its precedence ^at Rome, that the custom of entering upon public offices in the Commonwealth on the 1st of this month, was continued until the first Punic war, when it was changed to the 1st of January, form- ing a period of about four centuries. In France MARCH was generally reckoned the first month until the year 1564; and it retained that prece- dence, in various legal points in this country, even until 1752; while in Scotland, January was or- dered to commence the year so early after the French regulation as 1599. Whatever motives might have induced ROMU- LUS to commence his year with this month, whe- ther from the circumstance of the Sun entering 65 upon that portion of the imaginary circle, cor- responding with thejirst sign of the Zodiac, on the 21st of this month, or from other cause, may not now be material to inquire : the controversy as to the proper period at which the calculation of the course of time should begin, has been com- pletely settled, and is not likely soon again to provoke discussion. In assigning such precedence to the month bearing the name of his reputed fa- ther Mars, the god of war, ROMULUS evidently consulted the feelings and interests of his subjects ; who, at that time, having no prospect of esta- blishing their newly-acquired settlement other- wise than by force of arms, it required every ef- fort to instil into their minds a martial spirit: and, no doubt, a similar notion of policy prompted him to place MARCH under the imme- diate protection of the goddess MINERVA, so pre- eminent among the heathens for her reputed wis- dom, and particularly for her knowledge of all warlike arts. By the Saxons MARCH was called KljCtlC or 3EUtf)0-Q50n8tI)> because a rough or rugged month, which, according to some authors, ftijeDe is said to signify ; or, as other authorities state, because sacrifices to the idol HUjCtta were madeduring',this month; and it was changed to L0ttCt'^Onat, i#i according to our note ortljograpljp, LCHStlj nctj), because tlje oaye DID t^jen fict begin in Icngtfj to trceea fyt nigbttf ; anD tfjis monctlj being bp our anceji? $& calUo tojjen fljew recetoco Cljrrttianitp, ana VOL. I. F 66 consequently tfjeretoirtj tyt antient Cr$ttan ntftome of fasting, rtjep called tJ}i cfjiefe eaon of fasting te fa#t of Hettet, because of flje JUnet-^Cttat tofcereon tye mogt part of tfje time of ttji.s fasting altoaieg fell ; and fjtreof it commetfj tfjat toe note call it JLettt, it being rather tf)e fasJt of llent, tfjougf) t!)e former name of L0ttCt-(^Ottat be long ^ince logt, ano tf)e name of 3Uard) borrotoeo instead tljereof^* This month is pourtrayed in old paintings as a man of a tawny colour and fierce aspect, with a helmet on his head, so far typical of Mars; while, appropriate to the season, he is repre- sented leaning on a spade, holding almond blos- soms and scions in his left hand, with a basket of seeds on his arm, and in his right hand the sign Aries, or the Ram, which the sun enters on the 20th of this month, thereby denoting the augmented power of the sun's rays, which in an- tient hieroglyphics were expressed by the horns of animals. Our forefathers, who indulged in prognostica- tions, were particularly observant of the state of the weather in this month ; hence the old pro- verb of " A bushel of March dust is worth a king's ransom ;" that is, if this month be dry, it portends a plentiful season, from such early dry weather being particularly favourable to corn, on clay lands, of which England chiefly con- sists ; while an early wet season, on the contrary, is destructive, particularly to wheat and rye: And the enormous sums demanded for the ransoms 67 of kings, sometimes estimated at a tenth of the amount of agricultural produce, evidently caused the selection of that term, whereby strongly to express the importance of dry or dusty weather at that season of the year. In the antient dialect of Cornwall this month was called Meurz, or Merk, an evident corrup- tion of MARCH. is the fourth month of the year, and consists of 30 days, which was the number assigned to it by ROMULUS : NUMA POMPILIUS deprived it of one day, which JULIUS CAESAR restored, and which it has ever since retained. This month held the first station in the Alban calendar, and then consisted of 36 days. The three preceding months received their ap- pellations from causes totally unconnected with the particular character of that portion of the year to which they were assigned : but the name of this month was meant to be expressive of the season in which it has been placed ; the word APRIL being universally allowed to be derived from " Aprilis? of " aperire, to open" in allu- sion to the buds then beginning to open, and to the earth generally shooting forth fresh vegetation. F 2 68 Our forefathers aptly depicted April as a yorafig man, winged, and clad in green, crowned with a garland of myrtle and hawthorn buds, holding in one hand primroses and violets, and in the other the sign Taurus, the Bull, which the sun enters on the 19th of this month ; an emblem peculiarly appropriate, as the bull is one of the strongest of all domestic animals, and consequently the best familiar object to signify the power which the sun's rays have usually acquired at that season. By the Anglo-Saxons APRIL was called " ^)onat, Ogtetr-^cmatl), and Caste &ome tjbinfte of a <6oddej5.e tailed COJ3tCt toijereof % gee no 0teat reason, fo: if it tooft appellation of gudj a 0o&de?ge, (a guppoged cauget of te easterly toindeg) it to ijafce bin gome&rfjat by jome mi^toritten, an& ri0i)tlji be O3tCt, ano not C033tCC- ^c toinOjS indeed, tig antient ob^ettation, toere found in t^ijS monetlj mojSt common^ to bloto from tije Cat, and CaiEft i tl)C totonicfce i$ )j5t> and f)jSt^nU, in at name for tfje terne situation thereof, ajS to t!je #jbip^ it toijicfj ttii:ou0]3 tjje narroto ea do come from fyt t21CJ ^o a^ out name of t^e fea?t of CaiStCC wag be muclj to gap a t]je fea^t of )|5tCtt being yet at present in ^>a]L*onp called )0t0ttl, ^bicb comet]) of jSDj3te?^Onat tfmt and our old name of $ptfl." The Romans dedicated April to Venus, and hence sometimes called it Mensis Veneris, as \vell as Aprilis : and the name of this month in, 69 the Cornish language was Eprell, a corruption evidently from its Latin appellative. The inclination our ancestors had to prognosti- cation, made them, as shewn in the preceding article, particularly attentive to every operation of nature : MARCH, for the reason assigned, was regarded by them as most favourable when dry ; the month of APRIL, on the contrary, as most propitious when tvet, which indeed it usually is ; and they expressed this idea in many of their proverbs " March winds, and April showers, t( Bring forth Mayflowers." " In April, Dove's Jlood " Is worth a fang's good" both of which, relating to March as well as April, are selected for notice ; the first alluding to the windy or dry weather of March, in the proverb adapted to that month ; and the latter to the king's ransom, also mentioned in that proverb, or " good" as it is called for the sake of the rhyme, which would seem to have been a fa- vourite and strong expression with the people. The Dove, it is to be observed, is a river of Staf- fordshire ; and that when it overflows in conse- quence of a great fall of rain, the adjoining mea- dows are much benefited, and there is reason to hope similar favourable results to the kingdom a* large. was the second month in the old Alban calendar, the third in that of ROMULUS, and the fifth in the one instituted by NUMA POMPILIUS a sta- tion it has held from that distant date to the pre- sent period. It consisted of 22 days in the Alban, and of 3 1 in ROMULUS'S calendar ; NUMA deprived it of the odd day, which JULIUS CVESAR restored, since which it has remained undisturbed. RO- MULUS continued to this month the name of Mains, out of respect to the counsellors or senate appointed to assist him when he was elected king, who were distinguished by the epithet of Majores ; evincing by that act, as he did in almost every instance throughout his reign, a pro- found knowledge of mankind, and an ardent de- sire of being esteemed the friend, as well as the sovereign of his people. As on the first day of this month the Romans offered sacrifices to Mala, the mother of Mercury, some authors affirm, that ROMULUS was from that circumstance led to retain the name of this month; while others assert that it is derived from MadiuSy eo quod tune terra madeat. But as that great man endeavoured to withdraw the minds of his subjects as much as possible from the superstition then prevalent, by the passing of a law forbidding fabulous stories to be mingled 71 with the mysteries of religion ; there is reason to infer he would compliment the senate in prefe- rence to the supposed mother of MERCURY : es- pecially as, MARCH alone excepted, which was named from his reputed father, there seems not iti any instance to be an allusion to the heathen mythology, in the titles of the months. On the 20th of this month the sun enters the sign Gemini, or the Twins, expressive of the heat of that orb, and his typified twin brother, the cold Ether, then bearing an equal share in the system of nature. The Saxons called this month CnXJMttlfci, and 4Tri* jRficf)! ; the juices of the young grass then vi- gorously growing, being so beneficial to the cows, as to enable them to afford milk ri, or three times in the day ; and the antierft painters emble- matized May by a youth with a lovely counte- nance, clothed in a robe of white and green, em- broidered with daffodils, hawthorns, and blue- bottles, his head adorned with a garland of white and damask roses ; in one hand holding a lute, and on the fore-finger of the other a nightingale. Me, an evident corruption of May, was the old Cornish name of this month ; and there is cause to conclude from that, and other similar corrup- tions in the Cornish names of the different months, that their Roman titles were more general in this island than those given by the Saxons. APOLLO was the tutelar deity of this month among the Romans. Bfune, When ROMULUS was elected sovereign magi- strate or king of the newly-built ROME, a senate was appointed, composed of one hundred of the principal citizens of approved wisdom and expe- rience, who acted as his counsellors : another body was also elected, composed wholly of ple- beians, in which latter was vested considerable power, insomuch that not any act, whether ori- ginating in the king, or in the senate, could pass into a law without the sanction of their confir- mation. By the appointment of these authorities the Roman government became a mixed mon- archy, and the success which then attended that great people was such as might be justly expected from so wise an institution. The British nation have, after various struggles, settled their govern- ment upon a similar principle, and it is ardently to be hoped we shall never be tempted to disturb this great and inestimable blessing. When the Roman monarchy gave way to republican inno- vation, many glorious examples were displayed of individual virtue and patriotism ; but yet, in process of time, the change proved destructive : civil wars, the certain consequence of numbers striving for ascejidancy, ravaged their territories ; 73 and, like France in modern times, they fell a prey to one ruler, more daring than the rest. From that period, Rome was governed by de- spots, the naturaj result of such struggles ; pri- vate virtues were unavailing ; and after a course of alternate prosperity and debasement, they became victims to a race of barbarians, against whom neither their emperors, nor themselves, retained sufficient of their original valour to offer a defence. ROMULUS, regardful of whatever tended to increase his influence, continued to this month, the fourth in the Alban and his calendar, but the sixth in all the subsequent ones, the name of JunluSj a Junior ibus, out of compliment to this junior or inferior branch of the legislature; an attention similar to that which he had paid in the preceding month to the Majores, or elder branch of the constitution. OVID makes the goddess JUNO expressly assert the name of June to have been given in reverence to herself; but the same arguments that deprive Mala of the honour of giving title to the month of Mav, are also fatal to OVID'S declaration ; v while various other authorities state June to have received its appellation from Junius Brutus, who began his consulship in this month ; though as the- name to the month was applied centuries before JUNIUS BRUTUS was elevated to that dig- o nity, the latter etymology of the word cannot admit of argument. ROMULUS assigned to this month a comple- ment of 30 days, though in the old Latin or Alban calendar it consisted of 26 only. NUMA deprived it of one day, which was restored by JULIUS CAESAR ; since which it has remained un- disturbed. MERCURY was regarded by the Romans as the deity who presided over June. ), dry month, and before that, > were the names of June among the Anglo-Saxons, and they gave it the latter title, " because tfjeir beagtg trio tijen toepD in te meo* notoe.s, tfjat i to ap, goe to feefc tijere ; anfc hereof a mebDoto ig alga in tf>e Ceutonicfee called a toepD, anfc of toegd toe pet retaine our tootfc toade, toijicl) toe unber^tanti of going ti)oroto toaterp placed, ucl) a^f metmotoe^ ace toont to be/' The ancients represented this month by a young man clothed in a mantle of dark grass- green colour, having his head ornamented with a coronet of Bents, King-cobs, and Maiden-hair, bearing on his arm a basket of summer fruits, and holding in his left hand an eagle, and in his right hand the sign Cancer, the Crab, which the sun enters on the 22d, and makes the summer solstice, when that orb, being apparently statio- nary, is about to recede, aptly typified by a, crab, whose motions are either sideways or retrograde, and, in that eccentricity of motion, differing from all other animals. which is now the seventh, was originally the fifth month of the year, and was named accord- ingly Quintilis, to denote that numerical station. In the Alban calendar Quint His had a comple- ment of 36 days. ROMULUS reduced it to 31; NUMA to 30 ; but JULIUS C^SAR restored the day of which NUMA had deprived it, which it has ever since retained. MARK ANTHONY, desirous of expressing as strongly as possible the obligation due to JULIUS C#:SAR from society, altered the name of this month from Quintilis, to Julius, the surname of CAIUS CAESAR, to hand down to poste- rity, through the calendar, in which such exten- sive improvement had been made, the name of his most illustrious patron and friend ; and he selected this month for such honorary distinc- tion, when the sun was generally most potent, the more effectually to denote that JULIUS was the emperor of the world, and therefore the appropriate leader of one half of the year. JULY is usually depicted as a strong, robust man, with a swarthy, sun-burnt face, nose, and hands, clothed in a jacket of a light yellow colour, to the girdle of which hangs a bottle; eating cherries or other red fruit. His head is surrounded 76 with a garland of centaury and thyme ; on his shoulder he bears a scythe, and at his side stands Leo, the Lion, the most active and powerful beast of the forest, in token that the sun enters that sign on the 23d of the month, and that during its progress the heat is generally more violent than at any other season of the year. JULY was called by our Saxon ancestors because therein rtjep u^uallp motoeb anD ma&e tijeit art!et ; and al.so feeing tfjen in tfjetc bloom* was originally called Sextilis, from having been the sixth month in the Alban calendar; and was suffered to retain that title by ROMULUS, NUMA POMPILIUS, and JULIUS C/ESAR, when they made their respective alterations : but it has held only the eighth place in the series of months ever since NUMA'S reform. In the. Alban calendar this month consisted of 28 days ; in that of RO-* MULUS, 30; of one of which NUMA deprived it : JULIUS C^SAR restored to it the 30th day, and AUGUSTUS CESAR appropriated to it another: from which latter period to the present time it has consisted of 3 1 days, When JULIUS CESAR introduced the Bissex- tile^ or intercalary day, to regulate the method of keeping time as nearly as possible to the course of the sun, it was intended that this day should have been added at the end of every fourth year ; but the priests, who had been the authors of the old confusion in the calendar, either through ignorance or by design, interposed the leap day at the beginning of every fourth year. This error OCTAVIUS C.^SAR rectified, and thus, by following the steps of JULIUS CAESAR, gave the pretext for his name being alike honoured in the register of time. It was originally proposed that SEPTEMBER should bear the name of AUGUSTUS, from the circumstance of his having been born in that month ; that emperor however was led to prefer SEXTILIS, not only as it stood immediately next to JULY, recently named after JULIUS, but more especially for the reasons which influenced the senate when they deliberated on the matter, as detailed by MACROBIUS: " It was,in the month hitherto called SEXTILIS, that the emperor CAESAR AUGUSTUS took possession of his first consulship; that he celebrated three triumphs; that he received the oath of allegiance of the legions that occupied the Janiculum; that he reduced EGYPT under the power of the Roman people ; that he put an end to all civil wars ; it appears that this month is and has been a most happy month to this empire; the senate therefore ordains, that this month shall henceforth be called AUGUSTUS." The month SEXTILIS was thenceforward called AUGUSTUS, whence our AUGUST, a title which was conferred upon OCTAVIUS when the senate placed the sovereign power in his hands, to de- note his royal and important situation. AUGUSTUS, ambitious that the month thus preferred should not consist of less days than the one to which JULIUS had given name, added to it the 3lst day, which he took from February ; and having thereby disordered August and the four succeeding months, which before consisted of 30 and 31 days successively, making July, August, and September, all have 31 days, he changed the former ordination, and depriving September and November each of one day, as- signed them to October and December. This month was called by the Anglo-Saxons "attt'CpOltat (more rtgijtlp QBatU^Onat), intent ing ttierebp rt)e tfjen filling of tijeii: barney toirt) torne;" and}p)0U afterwards 2l00ll tttOHfltl) : each bear- ing the like signification ; the Saxon $eo& being expressive of a full covering or cloathing, and originally allusive to the corn on the ground ; and our English word weed, as well as the Saxon JDcoD, being both derived from $eob ; which latter, an expression yet in common use, of a widow being in her mourning-weeds, or garments, fully confirms. That corn too was the cloathing of the earth, which gave the Saxon appellative to the month, is perfectly consistent with propriety, 79 from the several harvests then arriving at matu- rity, which would afford a much more important -character of the period than that of the growth of weeds, as some authors explain that name': and it is to be remembered, that all nations re- garded the harvest and vintage seasons, with par- ticular demonstrations of festivity : we yet say, " A man has made his harvest, 8$c." when we would imply that he has been successful ; and the French have a proverb of the same tendency, though differently expressed, " A man has made his august, &c." which latter expression proves August to have been the acknowledged time of in-gathering; although the Saxons, when they altered the title of this month to JDeoti^monatfj, or the month of weeds, expressly called September their harvest monath. The drawings that are to be found in the Saxon calendars characterize August by the appearance of a carter standing near a loaded cart of corn, &c. ; in later times, men mowing grass was the emblem of the month ; and still nearer our own period, but of old date, August was delineated as a young man with a fierce countenance, dressed in a flame-coloured garment, bearing a victim, and crowned with a garland of wheat ; having on his arm a basket of summer-fruits, and a sickle stuck through his belt. I The sign of the zodiac, which the sun reaches on the 23d day of this month, is Virgo, the Virgin, or a representation of a young woman ; 80 considered as an appropriate type of the increase of the human race, and as such, peculiarly ex- pressive of the fruits of the earth being then brought to perfection. was originally, as its name denotes, the seventh month of the year in the Latin and Roman ca- lendars, though it is the ninth in our present series of months. The word is composed from Septem, seven, and a contraction of Imber, a shower of rain, this month having been consi- dered as the commencement of the showery or rainy season. In the Alban calendar it consisted of 16 days ; ROMULUS assigned to it 30 days, which were continued at Numa's reform ; JULIUS C^SAR added to it one more, but AUGUSTUS C/ESAR re- duced it again to 30, at which it has ever since remained. The senate of Rome, in the time of TIBERIUS, the Third Emperor and immediate successor of AUGUSTUS, were desirous of naming this month TIBERIUS, out of compliment to that sovereign ; but he declined the proffered honour, with the hypocritical and delusive modesty so truly cha- racteristic of that deceitful and sanguinary tyrant. 81 DOMITIAN, the twelfth Emperor, did actually change the appellation of this month to GER- MANICUS (the surname he had assumed), in per- petuation of his * pretended victory over the Catti, a people of Germany ; but it held that altered title only a very short period : It was afterwards called ANTONINUS, out of respect to TITUS AN- TONINUS, the sixteenth emperor, surnamed Pius, whose virtues had rendered him an object of universal esteem. That odious miscreant COM- MODUS, the eighteenth emperor, called it Hercu- leus, a surname he had himself assumed, as the pretended son of JUPITER ; and subsequently TACITUS, the thirty-sixth emperor, was desirous of calling it by his name, but as he reigned only six months, the change did not take place. While July and August have remained unal- tered from the periods they were first so called, * The best historians agree that DOMITIAN obtained only trifling and temporary advantages over the Catti; retiring almost the instant after coming into combat with that hardy race. A splendid triumph was, however, prepared in honor of this petty warfare ; and medals were struck upon the oc- casion, many of which are yet preserved in the cabinets of the curious, of the date of the year 86, (Cos. XII.) on which are the words GERMAN I A S. C. In memory of this falsely assumed victory, coins also had been struck in the preceding year, on one side of which were inscribed, CAES. DOMIT. AVG. COS. XI. CENS. POT. P. P. and on the reverse, the figure of a prisoner sitting, intended to signify Germany, with the words, GERMANIA CAPTA. S. C. VOL. I. c thereby 82 thereby evidencing the constant veneration m which JULIUS and AUGUSTUS CJESAR continued to be regarded in Rome, all the variations made in- the name of September were of but short duration, and it still retains its original appella- tion ; which, although improper according to its- present station in the year, nevertheless tends, as do the three months immediately following it, to court investigation as to their primitive places in the calendar ; an enquiry which leads to. the different progressions towards improvement made in the register of time, until brought to its pre- sent state of perfection. September was named by the antient Saxons w erst monat for fljat bane? to#c& tfjat mmtetfj commonlp peeldeD fcra antientlp called <^Ctgt, tfje name of barfeg being giben unto it bp reason of tie orinfce tfjeretoitJj matie calleD b00t& ano from it came to fcetlegf), and from bCtleg!) to ^o in Jifee manner i)$Ct{j^nt to tott, t^e Decking or cobering of beere came to be calleD anD aftertoarop' tJattttC, :babin3 j^ince gotten 5j loot not oto man? name^ be^iDe.^. 2Tfy excellent anD gome liquor beetC, antientlp aijSo called fttl, a^ of ane it pet i^ (beere and ale being in effect all one), fi'r.^t of tfje 45erman^ inbenteD, anD brought into ue." Tiie more modern Saxons called it Ipftfljffcgt UlOltatfj, or harvest month, when they varied the original title of August, which before alluded to the harvest, and changed that latter to tDCOtl or tBEttl month ; September therefore, in the illustrations- 83 of the characters of this month, in some of the old Saxon calendars, after such alteration, is de- picted as a vintager, whereas prior to that, this month was characterized by a boar-hunt, the men armed with spears, and dogs in full pursuit. After Christianity became established, September was called 5>alfg niQttntlj, or holy month, in reference to some important religious ceremonies then peculiarly attended to. In other paintings of less antient date September is drawn as a man clothed in a purple robe, with a cheerful counte- nance, and adorned with a coronet of white and purple grapes, holding in his left hand a small bundle of oats, and in his right a cornucopia of, pomegranates and other fruits, together with a balance, the latter in token of the sign Libra, which the sun enters on the 23d of this month, and makes the autumnal equinox, or that period designed to be typified by the balance, when the heat and cold are supposed to be equally striving for predominance. was the eighth month in the Alban year and in that of ROMULUS, whence the name it now bears, from the Latin words Octo, eight, and Imber, a shower of rain; although it is the 10th month in G 2 84 our present calendar, as it was also in those of NUMA POMPILIUS, JULIUS, and AUGUSTUS. In the Alban Calendar it contained 3,9, and in the amended one by ROMULUS 31 days : NUMA re- duced it to 29 days; but one of these so expunged was restored by JULIUS, and the other by AUGUS- TUS CESAR, since which last alteration it has retained its present number. Like September this month has undergone some temporary changes of name, and like that month it soon reverted to the one by which it was. originally distinguished. The senate, out of respect to the emperor ANTONINUS, sur- named Pius, first altered October to Faustinas, from Faustina his amiable consort ; as they had also, out of compliment to that much-loved em- peror, changed the title of September to the name he bore. DOMITIAN, the deceitful and detestable despot, who in his reign caused September to bear the surname he had assumed of GERMAN icus, likewise changed the antient appellative of this month to Domitianus : and COMMODUS, one of the vainest and most cruel tyrants that ever dis- graced humanity, who had commanded Sep- tember to be called Herculeus, from his arrogant assumption of that hero's name, likewise changed October to Invictus, or invincible, in allusion to his skill in athletic exercises, of which he was so extremely fond as even to abandon his palace and reside among the gladiators. 85 Our Saxon ancestors called October UKHttf) or wine month ; * ano albeit tijej fjao not antientty toineg made in German?, pet in tfjte geagon tfjep tfjem from otoens countries afcjopninjj ;*' also Hftfj, from the winter approaching with the full moon of that month. Some of the very old Saxon calendars have marked the character of this month by the figure of a husbandman carrying a sack on his shoulders and sowing of corn ; as expressive that October was a proper time for that important part of agri- cultural labour, when the weather was cool and dry. In others less antient, hawking is the em- blem of the month ; and in yet more modern times October has been depicted as a man clothed in a garment of the colour of decaying leaves, with a garland of oak branches and acorns on his head, holding in his left hand a basket of chesnuts, medlars, services, &c. and in his right, Scorpio, being the sign of the zodiac the sun enters on the 23d of the month. The scorpion is alleged to have been expressive of the growing power of the cold over the before presumed equal influence of the heat, typified by the balance in the former month ; that reptile being of a destructive charac- ter, as cold also is over nature. 86 Jtctoemfar- This month was called by the Saxons " ntonat," to ant, < tDinti monetlj, tymty &t ma? #ee fl)at our ancestor^ toere in tfj$ geajson of rtje peare made acquaint^ toiti) blugtring 05(Jt0fl0. anb it toa flje ancient cugtome for l)ip-tt1Ctt tijen to $ at ijomc, anb to gibe ofoer ^ea^faring tije Itttlene^^c of tijar tl)en u.^eb bopage^) untUI falu^tring JE&arrf) ijab bibben tljem toetl to fare." And it after- ward obtained thenameofOBIdtttlOtintf), to denote that it was usual at this season to slaughter oxen, sheep, hogs, &c. for the service of the ensuing winter ; artificial pasturage, drying of grass into hay, and other important circumstances in agri- cultural pursuits, having been then unknown. The stock of salted meat prepared was to last throughout the whole of the winter months, un- til vegetation again became sufficiently forward to enable them to resume the use of fresh provisions ; and we may form an idea of the vast extent to which the opulent provided themselves and their retainers, by the larder of the elder SPENCER in, 1327? which so late as in the month of May con- tained " rtjecarca&Jeg of 80 jSalteb beebe.si, 500 bacon, anb 600 muttong, mere reliqueg of fc$ tointer protri* gion." Notwithstanding the many disadvantages under which they laboured from the infant state 87 of husbandry, feastings to the most enormous and extravagant excess were usual ; nor were these confined to the monarchs and great barons, but descended to the inferior orders in the commu- nity. EDWARD the Third, in whose reign this passion for costly and destructive hospitality had become outrageous, passed a species of sumptuary law restraining all ranks of people within limits proportionate to their quality and apparent re- sources; but we find that, even after that law, LIONEL of Clarente gave an entertainment at his marriage, at which there were thirty-six courses, and from die fragments of which upwards of 1000 persons were fed. Perhaps LIONEL was not, in point of proportionate ability, less capable of sus- taining the charge of his matrimonial feast, than EDWARD had been of defraying the enormous amount of ^40,000, which was expended at his coronation dinner ; a sum which, considering the difference between the value of money then and at the present time, almost exceeds belief; and yet we read that, at an earlier period (about the year 1302) RALPH the Abbot of St. Augustine's exceeded that sum by ^3000 when he gave a Re- past at his installation : we read also in authentic documents of barons having 30,000 dishes served up at their wedding tables ; of monks complaining against their abbots for depriving them of three out of 13 dishes they were accustomed to have at each meal ; of others partaking of 17 dishes con- stantly, all of which were dressed with spices and rich sauces; of ^400 being paid for almond-milk for the use of these self-mortifying brethren on fish-days : and of an Archbishop (NEVILLE) who had, among other dainties, at one of his feasts, 1000 of those beautiful birds of the heron kind, called Egrette, served at his table, since which they are become so scarce in this kingdom, that he may be justly charged with having almost de- stroyed the whole species at one meal. Gluttony indeed was carried to such an extent, that in these better days the mere recital of some instances is sufficient "to excite our disgust and abhorrence. o What are we to think of 6*0 fat oxen, 400 swans, 2000 geese, with porpoises, seals, and other fish, and 28,000 tarts, custards, &c. served up for one meeting ? Of six oxen being consumed at a breakfast? Or, what of mills being employed to grind spices, and wells filled with wine, for a pe- riod of three months ? And yet such facts are too well authenticated to admit of contradiction. These sensual enormities are not however to be considered as having been confined to England ; for on the Continent they appear to have been even more prevalent ; and we read with equal hor- ror and disgust of a favorite preacher in France, who, to excessive Epicureanism, superadded the impious prophaneness of reading from the pulpit a petition from the pheasants, partridges, and ortolans, that the clergy alone would eat them, " so that, being incorporated with their glorious bodies, they might be raised to heaven, and not go with infamous devourers to the infernal re- gions." BULWER, an English physician of the l6th century, who appears to have held "the luxurious tyranny of the belly" in proper con- tempt, has given the following quaint instructions to all practitioners in the science of gormandiz- ing, in his treatise styled " ANTHROPOMETAMOR- PHOSIS." " Stridor dentium, Altum silentium, Stridor gentium.'* Which has been ludicrously translated, "Work for the jaws, A silent pause, Frequent ha hahs." And he shews the advantage of an attention to such rules by the judicious observation that it " adjourns discourse until the belly be full, at which time men are better at leisure, and may more securely * venture upon table-talk, &c." * In the family of the great Sir Thomas More a servant al- ways was employed in reading during meal-time, " there be- ing no security in conversation before serving-men." Our facetious author, therefore, appears to have had a double meaning in his allusion to security in table-talk ; the one as applying to the stomach being properly fortified for such ex- ertion j the other, regarding the political danger that might ensue from any accidental or misinterpreted expression ! In those times " dumb waiters'* might have been advantageously used ; but in such case the GREAT must have condescended to " help themselves" in a literal sense as cheerfully as they then did iu a figurative one. 90 Perhaps, bad he been aware of the number of teeth antiently bestowed upon mankind (see arti- cle HOLY CROSS) he would have added some useful hints, whereby to make up for the present reduction of those useful members of the body. The custom of salting meat at this season, for winter consumption, was universal in this island, and throughout all the nations on the Continent of Europe ; in Scotland it was generally in use within the memory of man, and is still practised in the Highlands ; we have yet our martlemass or martinmass beef, or beef cured about the fes- tival of St. Martin, on the llth of this 05IOt ttlO- ttQtft- And the Spanish proverbs of " his mar- tinmass will come as it does to every hog ;" and " his martinmass is coming, ' when we shall be all hogs alike," that is, meet the same fate, empha- tically allude to the slaughter of swine at this period. To the change from the use of salted to that of fresh meat, joined to the advantage of the vegetable productions now common through- out the year, is principally to be ascribed the al- most total extirpation of the leprosy, which for- merly made such havock among mankind: though the introduction of linen, tea, and tobacco, are considered as having contributed very much to that happy effect. The appellative November, by which this month is called in this country, and with some trifling variation generally on the Continent, was the one assigned to it in the Alban Calendar ; and 91 the contraction of Novem, nine, and Imber, a shower of rain, denotes the station it then held. It originally consisted of 30 days, which were continued by ROMULUS and NUMA : JULIUS CJE- SAR gave it another day : but AUGUSTUS reduced it again to 30, which it has ever since retained. NOVEMBER has kept that title from its first introduction though the emperor COMMODUS at- tempted in vain to change it ; and notwithstand- ing " The Roman senators, for whose mean ser- vilities TIBERIUS, it is said, often blushed, wish- ed to call this month, in which he was born, by his name, in imitation of JULIUS and AUGUSTUS CAESAR, this emperor absolutely refused, saying, ' What will you do, conscript fathers, if you should have Thirteen CAESARS' ?" November was represented as a man clothed in a robe of changeable green and black (or, as it is usually termed, Shot coloured) ; his head adorned with a garland of olive branches and fruit, holding in his left hand turnips and parsnips ; and in his right the sign Sagittarius, or the Archer, which the sun enters on the 22nd of this month, thereby emblematically expressing that the cold ether, which in the former month was gaining a pre- dominance over the sun's heat, now shot and pierced its way into the pores of the earth, and suspended vegetation. Mus.^us is recorded to have invented the sign Sagittarius, out of respect to CHIRON, the Centaur, who was the most ex- pert of archers ; aqd as that " great son of 92 f ER" was the inventor of Botany, and peculiarly gifted in all knowledge connected with that sci- ence, and was besides the most skilful in medici- nal and chirurgical operations, whence the latter term as applied to the practice of a surgeon, he was deemed the most appropriate to preside over the month, wherein vegetable nature received its greatest shock. like the three preceding months, still retains the original name assigned to it in the old Alban, and first Roman calendar adopted by ROMULUS, in both of which it was the tenth or last month. It is composed of decem, ten, signifying its antient station in the calendar, and a contraction of im- ber, a shower of rain, which latter is likewise the addition to the names of the three preceding months. It was consecrated to SATURN, as some authors affirm, or, as others state, to VESTA, the daughter of SATURN and RHEA. In the Alban calendar December consisted of 35 days ; ROMU- LUS reduced it to 30, and NUMA to 29 days ; JU- LIUS CESAR restored the day of which NUMA had deprived it; and AUGUSTUS added to it another, which k has retained until the present period. 93 COMMODUS, who gave the temporary name of Herculeus to September, and Invictus to October, attempted to change the names of November and December; and for a short time some of his pa- rasites admitted the latter to be disgraced by the appellation of AMAZONIUS, a surname which COMMODUS had assumed out of compliment to a courtezan whom he passionately admired, and habited in the garb of an Amazon, as he also dressed himself, the more appropriately to indulge the profligacy of his disposition. Our Saxon ancestors, with whom December was the first month, gave it the appellation of "flUfntet-monat, to &it, tofnter-monetf);tmt after receibeD Christianity, tijep tljen, o Debotion to tfje me ot Christ, tearme & it bp tfje name of Ipclfgfp tttOttat tfcat is to sap, {joty ItlOnetf) ;" though it is to be noticed that $alig or Ifclig^monflt, was ori- ginally bestowed upon September. VERSTEGAN, who appears to have studied the Saxon Chronicles more than almost any other au- thor, observes, that " &omc o t^e term* expressive of the sun then turning his glorious course. The emblematical representation of this month was that of an old man, with a grim counte- nance, covered with furs or a shagged rug, with sundry caps upon his head, and over them a Turkish turban, his nose red, and that and his beard pendent with icicles ; carrying at his back a bundle of holly and ivy, and holding in one of his hands, which were in furred gloves, the Goaf, in token of the sun entering the tropic of Capri- corn, or wild goat, on the 22d of this month, and marking the winter solstice, or that period when the sun reaches its greatest decline, and is return* ing to its former altitude and influence, which the goat was designed to typify ; that animal being not only much prone to climbing, which would denote the ascent of the sun, but his horns being, according to antient hieroglyphics, emblematical of the heat naturally to be expected from such ascent. Witvb. The division of time into weeks, or periods of seven days now so called, is coeval with the world itself. In the first chapter of GENESIS there is a 95 sublime description of the creation, which the al- mighty Framer of the universe condescended to communicate to mankind ; and we have in that inspired writing even the minute particulars of this stupendous work of the Deity, in reducing, within the short space of six days, chaotic matter to that beautiful system, which can never be con- templated, by sublunary beings, but with awful admiration. The Hebrews, incontestably the most antient nation on earth, have ever marked their time by septennials, thereby following the mandate given by God himself, for working only on six days, and resting on the seventh : and, according to the divine command, they not only hallowed the se- venth day, or sabbath, which formed their weeks of days, but had also their weeks of years, which consisted of seven years, and their weeks of seven times seven years, when they held their jubilees. From the Hebrews, the Assyrians, Egyptians, Arabians, Persians, and most of the antient ori- ental nations, appear to have derived the custom of reckoning by weeks ; yet, notwithstanding so incontrovertible a fact, the origin of the computa- tion of time by sevenths has been vehemently contested, some authors asserting; such method to o have received " its origin from the four quarters or intervals of the moon, the changes or phases of which being about seven days distant, gave occa- sion to that division." "As, however, the septe- nary division evidently appears to have had its ori- 96 gin from the beginning of all things, and by the express command of God, it would be an arrogant and unwarrantable assumption for man to attri- bute it to any other source. But it is highly pro- bable that the phases of the moon may, in later ages, have confirmed the practice, inasmuch as the researches of infant science had discovered nearly a coincidence in the revolutions of that pla- net with the weekly partition of time. The Romans', from whom we have not only borrowed our modes of computing duration, but even their forms of registering its advancement, did not reckon their days by Hebdomades, or se- venths, until after the time of THEODOSIUS, but divided their calendar at one period into eighths, and at another period into ninths ; and it is to be observed, that the term Week is of Saxon origin WEOC, Sax. WEKE, Belg. WEEKA, Sax. WEC, Bo. Wic, Pol. VEEK, Dal. WICK, Goth, each signifying an order or series generally) though now expressive only of the space of seven days. By this term we ordinarily comprehend that portion of time during which it is light, while that division wherein it is dark we call night: but a day, in its primitive and more enlarged sense, 97 com prebends both ligbt and darkness, or the time wherein the earth performs one rotation on its axis. The first is now called simply the day, and the latter, Nychthemeron, which implies both day and night. Dr. ARMSTRONG, in allusion to this regular and alternate change from light to darkness, facetiously remarks, that in each year there are always 365 total eclipses of the sun, be- sides those commonly noticed in our almanac. DAYS have been, and are still in some cases, distinguished under the various epithets of Civil, Natural, Political, Artificial, Astronomical, and Ecclesiastical; but these terms have caused much occasional confusion, the chronologers and the astronomers having very commonly reversed their application : The natural day in chronology has been called by the astronomers artificial,. and the civil days of the chronologers natural. At present an artificial day is understood to begin with the rising, and end with the setting of the sun ; while the day and night included is called in astronomical references Nychthemeron, and civil, political, or natural day, when applied to the af- fairs of state, or to general purposes ; though some consider the natural day as only properly appli- cable to that space of time in which it is light. The artificial day is of unequal duration in different parts of the world, and varies with every revolution of the earth in this country. The civil day is always of nearly the same length, and in this country commences at midnight, from VOL. I. If 98 which we count twelve hours to noon, and from thence proceed with the twelve remaining hours to make out the twenty-four, until midnight again ; a practice borrowed from the Romans *. Different nations have varied, and even still disagree, in the periods of commencing their di- urnal computation. The Turks and Mahometans reckon from evening twilight ; while the Italians, not only begin their first hour at sunset, but count out the 24 hours without any remission, and not twice 12, as is practised in this country and in Europe in general, some part of Germany ex- cepted, where they also count by the 24 hours, which they call " Italian hours." This method of counting the 24 hours in one continued series is not only more rational and correct than that of dividing them into two parts, but accords with the practice of astronomers ; though as the ecclesias- tical day throughout Italy begins at midnight, and the rites of the Roman church are in all cases regulated by that custom, it is particularly re- markable, that the civil day should be permitted so to differ in its period of commencement, and thus to stand at variance with the usag;e of almost all O the rest of Europe, as well as of their own ancestors; Besides, by the variations in the time of sun- setting, which governs the civil day, not only -there is no fixed or general period for commenc- ing their days, by which the greatest confusion * See HOUR, for the difference between wean time and tba$ shewn by a sun-dial. 99 naturally occurs ; but from that cause they are compelled to shift their noon-tide by quarters of an hour at a time, to agree with their clocks, which otherwise would differ three hours in sum- mer and winter : They are, therefore, compelled to have recourse to their almanacs to ascertain the time of noon, which sometimes happens at 16, -and at other times at 19 o'clock, &c. ; and yet it is of much importance ^o be particular as to this point in the papal dominions, since on fasting days the people are not permitted to take any re- freshment until after the noon song has been chaunted. The term noon originally meant the ninth hour, counting from 6 in the morning, an- swering to 3 in the afternoon, at which time the song was, by antient church regulation, al- ways sung. Noon now signifies mid-day, either because the monks, eager to break their fast, ap- propriated the ceremony of the ninth hour to that time, or, as others think, because the commoQ dinner hour was at the sixth, or our twelfth hour, and noon had become synonymous for dinner- time. The latter seems most probable, when it is considered, that 12 o'clock, and in some places 11 -o'clock, is still noon, or the common dinner hour in many parts of this country ; that the mo- dern substitutes, or anticipations of dinner, are generally called nuncheons, that is, noon songs, or the time of eating, erroneously sipeXt^htnckeons, and that nooningscaup is even at this moment flie usual expression in Yorkshire for the Ja- V 3 100 bourers' resting time after dinner, another evident corruption of the noon song. Our Saxon ancestors called the day iDflC8> ^ ron * whence the term with us ; they are considered to- have received it from the Roman Dies, a Diis, the Roman days having taken their names from the planets, which they called Dii, or gods. In the Cornish language a day was called De, evi- dently an abbreviation of the Saxon ^80$) or the Latin Dies. which is t\\ejirst day in the week, is observed asr a solemn festival in memory of our Saviour's- having been born and risen from the dead, and of the Holy Ghost having descended upon the apostles, on that day. From the earliest period- x)f the world, and by the express commandment of the ALMIGHTY himself, one day in every seven has been always set apart for divine worship : " Six days shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to do; but the seventh day is the- sabbath of the Lord thy God," &c. The Hebrews denomi- nated the seventh day the Sabbath, or a day of rest; and as the day observed by Christians is in. like manner appropriated as a pause or cessation from the labours of mankind in their different vo~ 101 nations, we still retain the name of Sabbath, par- ticularly in our public statutes, though we apply it to the first day of the week, and not to the se- Venth, which latter the Jews still observe, from their obstinate disbelief of the foundation, and every consequent principle, of the Christian religion. Archbishop CHICHELEY made an ex- traordinary and unfortunate mistake in 1415, when, to reform the barber-surgeons, he strictly enjoined that their shops should not be opened on the Lord's day, namely, the seventh day of the week, which the Lord blessed and made holy, and on which, after his six day's works,- he rested from all his labour." The Jews were much grati- fied at this error, but their triumph was of short duration. Sunday among Christians has three denomina- tions ; the Sabbath, from its being, as before pointed out, the day of rest ; the Lords-day *, from its having been selected by the apostles as their peculiar time of meeting " to offer up their praises and thanksgivings for the inestimable be- nefits bestowed upon mankind, through JESUS CHRIST OUR Lord;' and lastly, and most com- monly, it is called Sunday, in compliance with the long-used and ordinary form of speech. The * " I was jn the spirit on the LORD'S DAY, &c." Rev. i. 10. " And upon the FIRST DAY of the week, when the Apostles came together, &c." Acts, xx. *. " Upon the FIRST DAY of the week, let, &e." Cor. xvi.ii. 102 Romans called this day Dies Solis, because it was dedicated to the worship of the Sun ; and our Saxon ancestors gave to it the name of j)tt!infitt* JDfl$, or Sun's-day, from the like heathenish cause. Whether the Saxons, or the Germans from whom they descended, received their my- thology from the Romans, or whether they had idols of their own (as VERSTEGAN contends), seems to be a matter of much doubt. The Ro- mans certainly worshipped the planets by the names of some of their most esteemed deities ; and there is a very strong resemblance in the La- tin characteristics and in some of those of the Saxons, though they are in most instances diffe- rent in their appellations. The names of all the days of the Week we have most assuredly conti- nued from the Saxons, be their origin what they may ; and the emblematical representation of the idol of the Sun has been thus described : " 3ft toa maoe lifte a Jjalfe^nafceb man $$t upon a piHar,f)ig face a it toere brigijteneD toitij gleamed of fire, anb folding, toitjj botf) ty$ arme gtretdjeo out, a burn* ing to-ljeele upon ty$ breast; tije to^eele being to #gnifie fyt course tnfyri) ty runnetf) about tjje toorlo, and tlje fierp gleamed anb brig?)tne, tfje lig^t and eat to^ere* an& comfortetij ti>t tljing^ tljat lite ant> 103 pM*. Although from the time of the apostles the first day of the week seems to have been selected for especial veneration, it was not until the reign of CONSTANTIN E the Great, that a regular celebra- tion of that day was established by public decree ; before, and during part of the sovereignty of that emperor, the Christians observed the Jewish Sab- bath out of compliment to the converts from Ju- 104 daism, and our present Lord's day also. In the year 321, CONSTANTINE enacted that the first, or our Lord's day, should be kept as the day of rest in all cities and towns throughout the Roman em- pire, though he permitted the country people to follow their necessary avocations. THEODOSIUS the Great, A. D. 386*, prohibited all public shews; and THEODOSIUS the younger, some few years af- ter, confirmed that decree, extending its opera- tions to all Jews, Pagans, &c. ; and to mark his sincere desire of honouring the day, he settled, that whenever the anniversary of his inauguration should occur on a Sunday, it should be celebrated on the day following. In 517, by a Council of the fathers of the church, it was ordained, that on Sunday not any causes should be heard or decided upon; whereas before that period the Christians, in opposition to the old Roman cus- tom, used that and all other days throughout the yea* alike, for hearing causes of a peculiar ten* dency, such as emancipating slaves, &c. In 538, the Council of Orleans restricted the people from works of all kinds, and prohibited travelling with horses, or otherwise, even for the purposes of health, or procuring food. King ATHELSTAN, who, about the year 940, caused the Scriptures to be translated into the Saxon language, the then vulgar tongue of this country, imposed very severe forfeitures and penalties upon any traffic on this day. EDGAR ordained, A. D. 96*0, that the Sun- day should be kept holy in England from Satur- 105 day, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, until Monday at day-break. HENRY the Sixth, by statute, for- bade any fairs or markets to be held on any Sun- day, the four in harvest excepted. EDWARD the Sixth, by public Edict, authorised " all latofull re* rrcation?, anD ijane.st erercie on >un&ape.!, ant otijcr |)0lp bape, after rtje afternotme Sermon or gertotce, gutfj a.si Daunting either for men or teomen, arcijerp for men, leaping, toaulting, e been to ijat &t i, but ti)e reason of fcer e|)apron long eare.iS, a al^o of i)er ^|jort eoat, an^ ppfeei #i 31 tJoe not fi'uoe/' Ill Mr. HORNE TOOKE observes, " that in many of the Asiatic languages, and in all the Northern languages of this part of the globe, and particu- larly in our mother language, the Anglo-Saxon (from which Sun and Moon are immediately de- rived to us) Sun is feminine, and Moon is mas- culine ; and so feminine is the Sun, (' that fair hot wench in flame-coloured taffkta/ 1st part of 112 Henry IV th,) that our Northern mythology makes, her the wife of Tuisco." As the Idol of the Sun, has not any peculiar characteristic to ascertain whether it was designed for a male or a female ; the observation (taken from VERSTEGAN) that "it toa mafce a? fjere appeared) ufee fjalf a nafeeb man/' may have arisen from a mistake similar to that which Mr. TOOKE assigns to our English poets, Shakspeare, Milton, &c. ; who, he proceeds to state, reversed the genders of the Sun and Moon, " by a familiar prosopopeia, because from their classical reading they adopted the Southern not the Northern Mythology, and followed the pat- tern of their Greek and Roman masters.* 1 But if there be room to suppose, that an error has been committed, as respects the gender of the idol of the Sun, there seems still greater cause to consider that a similar mistake has occurred in the ideal sex of the Moon. The figure under which the latter idol is depicted, certainly bears more semblance to a male than a female; and the remark that " tfje form of tfjijj i&oll ^eemetfj fcerp gtrange, for, being ma&e for a tooman, $jee ijatti a gijort coat lifie a man," undoubtedly affords some confirmation that Mr. TOOKE has the better side of the argument ; particularly as " in the Gothic, Anglo-Saxon, German, Dutch, Danish, and Swedish Languages, all of which it is contended were originally from the same root, it is incon- trovertible that Sun is feminine and Moon mas- culine," in the Northern mythology ; although 113 they are of reputed contrary genders m that of the South. By the former, the Sun is made the wife of Tuisco, the idoi that gave name to Tuesday : by the latter, the Sun is made the hus- band of the Moon, and as such, received, in the sovereignty of ANTONINUS, the rich marriage portion of his spouse worshipped by the Africans as ASTARTE, when a general festival was held in honour of the union, at Rome, and throughout the empire. By the Romans, who, as well as the Saxon*, dedicated this day to the Moon, it was called DIES LuwEjferia secunda ; and antiently, on the first day in every lunar month, festivals were held by our forefathers in commemoration of the bene- fits bestowed during the former Moon, and in gratitude for the return of that luminary. This secondary planet, and the earth, are reci- procally moons to each other, though when the former presents to us what is called a new moon, we are at full to that orb. The distance at which we are separated is 240,000 miles, a space, vast a$ it is, yet insignificantly small, when compared with that between our globe and the Sun. The wor- ship that has been paid to the Moon as a Deity, originated from the causes assigned to that of the Sun ; but in Europe, all direct adoration of those orbs has long since been exploded, although traces of its having been once prevalent yet remain. In some parts of England it is custo- VOL. I. I 114 mary to bless the New Moon, while in Scotland they not only do so, but usually drop a courtsey at the same time ; and formerly the influence of the Moon was considered so very extraordinary, that few persons would kill their hogs but when the planet was on the increase : nor would any one scarcely dare to cut the corns on his feet, or to pare his nails, at any other period. It was the Moon that regulated the growing of the hair, the fulness of shell-fish, the effects of medicines : and it was that planet which caused steeples and pyramids to incline from their perpendicular ! the third day of the week, was called by the Ro- mans Dies Martls, feria tertia, from its having been dedicated to MARS. JOHNSON derives its name from Tuesdceg, Saxon, and that from Tuv, the Saxon for MARS ; but he is not supported in the latter etymology by any other authority than SKINNER : and the figure of the idol is not war- like. Some think MERCURY to have been im- plied by Tuisco, from the strong analogy there is between the alleged attributes of the Saxon deity, and the Roman MERCURIUS, who presided over highways and travellers. VERSTEGAN states: 115 f tfje nept unto tije ffcote of rtie tfoo mo.st apparent planetg ttag tfje giDol of Ctl^OCO, tlje mo^t antient and peculiac 0o& of all tlje i5erman^, in iji.^ garment of gfein, accorDing to tije mo^t antient manner of flje * clothing.'* And it appears by that author, that Tuysco, or Tuyscon, was " fyt fatijec and conDuctet of toljo, after |)i^ name, etoen unto I 2 ne fcoe in fljctt otone tongue call rt)em?'en)eg Ctt|>tjB&. ant* country of t^e manner fyto lie toa maoe, |)i^ picture 123 &otf) declare. 3%\i great reputed 4>od, being of more estimation tfjan man? of tije rest of tfje lifee sort, tijougb of as little tnortij as anp of tije meanest of tfjat rabble, teas majestically placed in a berp large and spacious ijallt and tijere Set as if be b*& reposed bimSelfe upon a cobered bed. ^ !)*to 3 feinglp Sceptre, i^e teas of tije Se^ Duced pagans belicueo to be of most marvelous potoer and wig^t; pea, and t!jat tijere toere no people rtjrougbout fyt insole toorld, t!jat toere not Subjected unto fjim, and Did not OVDC fjim dibine ijonour and sertoice. Cijat t^ere toas no puissance comparable to ijiS. tfiS dominion of all others niost farthest extending itselfe, botlj in Beaten and eartf). Cijnt in tije aire Jjc goberned tlje toinds, and t]je cloudeS; and being displeased, did cause lightning, tljunder, and tempest, toitij erceSSibe raine, ijaile, and all ill toectjjer : 25ut being toell^pleaSed, bj; tlje adoration, Sacrifice, and Serbice of fjijs suppliants, be tfjen bestotoed upon t;bem most faire and Seasonable toeatber; and caused corne abundantly to grotoe ; as all Sorts of fruits, $e* and fccpt ato^n t'fjc plague, and all otijer ebill and infer tious di^easses. up a to^eele, an& in ty$ ti$t $t cartieU a paile of inater, toijerein toere ftotoerg and fruited ^i.^ long coate toag gicdcd unto fjim toitij a totoel o tobite Imnen, W Standing on fyt ^??acpe finnsS of a C.*b (tbe pearcb) toa^ to ^ignifie, tljat tjbe ^aponsS, foe tfcefc Cubing |jim, ^jjoulo pa^e j?teofa^tlp, and 129 ijarme ijTt>at!Stroug-aiT& Difficult ptaeeg. 25p tf)e to^telt ttra- betcfcfctietr tfj'e fcnTt unity anD conjointti concorD o rtje >aran, anti tf)ett conrurrinjj together in rtje running one conrget 25p tt fftrolt, tofiiri) toitj) tfje toinb ^tfeanieD from ijinr, toa# ^tgniffcD tijt jdjcbn?' freeDcnti 25? tije paile tortfj tlj'f r flotwr#- andfrint.^, toa^ DectarcD, tfjiat, toitlj feinDlp ratnt Ijr tooutb nonr^ij tije eartlj, to feting fortfj b ticf) fruited enf ffotoer^." The seventh' day wa^ dedicated by the Romans to Saturn, and called, in honour of him, " fries Satufni, ferict se'ptima" from which cause the Saxon Seater, and the Roman Saturn, have been considered by many as the same Deit^ ;* but whe- ther such conclusion be correct, or that "&C8tt altafCrOtlO, toti? mfStaKtn for ^aturmisJ, ndtratt* 0atD o an?' gaturnicall qttalrtjii but'becau^e fji#- name tfeinnbet) gomttobat neereit, ant iji fcgttoalt Uan feH jump toitf) tfjat of ^jaturnc," must remain in doiibt ; the arguments upon either side, are founded upbn ap- parently equal and plausible reasoning; and at this remote distance from the first introduction of such heathenish idolatry, it is not probable any further information will be obtained, whereby to reconcile' these different opinions. The two first ^days in the week, were' indisputa- bly dedicated, by hot h the Romans, and the Saxons, to the worship of the same orbs, which they re- gfefded as gods, varying merely in' name from the difference of their orthography ; though nothing- conclusive can be deduced from that coincidence, al to thie idols of the other Jive dctys; The 1 su^rf VOL. i. K 130 and moon are in their appearance pre-eminently conspicuous ; and they became from that cause the principal objects of adoration, among most of the untaught nations, as well as among the antient Romans and Germans : And it is a fact not to be controverted, that even to this time, those glori- ous luminaries are held in peculiar veneration, in almost all instances where mankind have been dis- covered in a savage state, though neither the Southern nor the Northern mythologies can pos- sibly be known to them. The Romans, ambitious of dignifying their deities as much as possible, would faih have considered them as the source from whence arose the German idols ; and the close affinity there appears to subsist between some of the alleged attributes of each, would seem, in some degree, to warrant such assumption, which " perhaps:! ome oE fyt Germans?, for t^eir tDoh' more Concur, toere afte:toar& content to afloto ;" but nothing of a definitive nature can be adduced from such near affinity of powers ; both nations were peculiarly addicted to warfare, licentious as to females, and swayed by superstition ; both were alike conscious of the benefits derived to mankind from the influence of the seasons ; and both equally sensible of the tremendous effects of storms, and other elementary operations of na- ture ; from which causes they might each very reasonably be expected to bestow upon their idols, powers and influences of the like tendency : While in addition it is to be noticed, that although 131 the idols of each have had assigned to them nearly a similar superintending controul, they no only differ in their names, and in one instance in the day allotted to their worship, but that our forefa- thers have transmitted to us the Saxon appellations of the duys of the week, in preference to those of the Romans, notwithstanding they continued the Roman titles of the planets in our sphere, by which the Roman days received their names. AN HOUR is that 'portion of duration, which consists usually of a twenty-fourth part of a mean natural day, though a day is sometimes reckoned, in this country, by two divisions of twelve parts, or hours each : the one of which divisions is called equal, from its being an exact twenty-fourth part of the time, or the twenty-four hours occupied by the earth in its diurnal rotation, as shewn by well- regulated clocks or watches ; while the other di- vision does not perfectly accord with the former precision, owing to its being reckoned by the sun's daily return to the meridian, which differs, though inconsiderably, by reason of the obliquity of the cliptic, and the sun's unequal motion in it. K 2 Wi The Romarvs* were perfectly sensible of this ine- quality, but unable to apply such knowledge to the regulation of theip Clepsydrae; and although there are many passages^ in their best authors al- luding to this r difference, it is to be. remarked, tha,t their expressions of Su&imer and Winker/ hours are generally to be taken, in a. Military sense, as allusive to the time, it was light, viz.: From sun-rise to sun-set, which being divided., - into four watches, the Summer hours consisted each of about a 12th part of fifteen hours, and those of Winter of only about a 12th part of eight hours ; and so, of course, in proportion for all in- termediate periods. VEGETIUS, in his Treatise on Military Institutes, addressed to the emperor VALENTINIAN, which may be adduced as one in- stance, remarks, " That the, soldiers ought to be drjlled to march in order-, and with the military, step, at the rate of 20 miles in. five Summer hours; and at the quickest pace, 24 Jn the satne space of time." The following Equation Table, adapted to the . second year after every Leap-year, and thereby; taking the medium, shews to the nearest full mi- nute, how much a clock should be faster or slower than an accurate sun-dial ; viz. 133 Equation Equation -in "in Minutes ^ Minutes. January 1 , 4 August 10 5 >s 3 5 15 4 & 5 6 .50 3 *g. - 7 10 7 8 24 2 K* 1 1 ' * 12 i i 9 if* 31 J? JO 18 1U * September 3 1 g .0 SI 12 c ** 25 13 ^ 9 3 I 14 ~> If 4 r February 6 91 15 3. 14 3 fs 18 5 6 27 21 7 March 4 8 12 15 12 | 11 fr 10 r 24 27 30 October 3 '6 8 9 10 11 19 32 25' 8 3 7 10 m 13 M ! 19 15 & 1 April 1 4i 4 3 27 November 8 15' is r ' !- J ID , 1] 1 20 14 g 15 24 91 13 r 12 JT 30 11 g 3 24 1 2 ft Decetaber S : 10 = 30 3 1" 5 9 May 14 39 June 5 10 4 '** 3 on jr 2 I 1 "i 7 9 11 13 8 7 '6 6 15 M 4 18 8 20 1 20 2 24 29 | 22 24 1 July 4 4 T 26 """"i ^~ 11 5 S? 28 2 X 86 6 * 30 o 2 The origin of the term HOUR has been differ- ently explained, some authors deriving it from Hora, a sur-name given to the sun, the parent of 134 Time, and called by the Egyptians Horus, v\ hence, through the Latin, comes our expression of horologe, for an instrument to measure dura- tion, and the French Heure for an Hour, Hor- loge for a clock, &c. : others derive the term from the Greek wifciv, to terminate or distinguish; while it is generally believed to have been intro- duced by TRISMEGISTUS, from an observation made by him, that an animal named Cynocepha- lus, was accustomed to void its water twelve times each day, and as often each night, at equal inter- vals, and therefore originally called ugov, the Greek word for such secretion. The antient Hebrews did not at first divide their days into hours, though they appear to have adopted that usage for some time prior to the In- carnation of our LORD, and to have made the day consist of twelve parts : " Are there not," says St. MARK, c. xiii. v. 35, " twelve hours in the day ?" From the Hebrews the Greeks borrowed this partition of time, and the Romans from the Greeks, but not until some period subsequent to the first Punic war : whether the Jews adopted such regulation from the Egyptians, as is com- monly supposed, or the Egyptians from them, cannot be determined. The unequal hours are in general distinguished by the epithet of Planetary, from a supposition of the antient Astronomers, that the seven planets in our system, the only ones then known to them, alternately presided over the several hours : the 135 Jlrst hour of the^r.9/ day of the week, was con- sidered to be under the rule of the Sun, the se- cond under that of Venus, the third of Mercury, the fourth of the Moon, the jift h of Saturn, the sixth of Jupiter, and the seventh of Mars ; and the Sun after such regular rotation governed the eighth hour, Venm the ninth, and so on through the whole twenty-four hours. As the Sun was presumed to be the guardian of the first hour of the first day, the whole of that day was placed under his peculiar care, and accordingly named Dies Soils, or the day of the Sun, a Dij, comformably to a superstitious be- lief, that the planets (see page 100) were gods; and as the first hour of the second day came to the Moon* that planet was presumed to rule the second day ; Mars the third, and the other Jive in regular succession, as shewn by the two fol- lowing Tables : the first formed upon the princi- ple of the division of the day into two portions of twelve parts each, as was the practice when the planets had their several hours assigned to them ; the other, according to the modern method of computing, by equal divisions consisting eadi of a precise twenty-fourth part of the Nychtheme- ron, or day and night combined. . S- e.e-^ , 3fi -3 r: -: -o a - S ^ ^c ; o a I J ifa .S g J .3 J 3 . Nfc 5 co > . = , c I' 2 'E. g e a S 5 & s (> S Cft * 2 '?- '' u >ls1~" i * I 8*2.* a 3 llll -.o! |'|.S| g - 3 , f* fc s P *> c? 137 s^or5ACcoowo^ - ti 0* . r- j -. "r" i J "S 5 138 JWtnute, When mankind had so far regulated the mea- sure of Time, as to establish the partition of the Day into Hours, they endeavoured further to di- vide and subdivide the hours into periods of shorter duration, so as to meet all the uses and conveniences of common life, as well as to aid them in scientific researches : the hour was con- sequently portioned out into four points, each consisting of ten parts denominated Moments, these latter into twelve others called Uncias, and those Uncias into forty-seven Fractions called Atoms, making by such regulation, each Hour to contain 4 Points, 40 Moments, 480 Uncias, or the vast number of 22,560 Atoms. This mode was subsequently exploded, to make way for the division of the Hour into four Quarters answering to the four Points, each of which was made to contain fifteen Minutes instead of ten Moments, and of those Minutes into sixty , or which caused the hour to consist of 4 Quarters, 6*0 Minutes, or 3600 Moments, Seconds, or In- stants, as at present in use; below wliich latter fractional subdivision it was not deemed requisite to descend : and as it is the flight of Time in- tended to be distinguished, and only one idea can possibly operate within so short a space, it would be inconsistent to attempt any further reduction. The three different terms that have been given to the most minute fractional part of duration, however synonymous in their meaning when ap- plied to that express purpose, are not in ordinary usage considered as of the same signification. We generally understand an Instant to imply a more direct and immediate operation than a Second, while a Second is used in preference to a Moment, whenever celerity of execution is expected. It appears, therefore, more proper, though perhaps it may not be really so, to say, we shall perform any. act in an instant, than that we shall do so in a second, which latter seems to denote that some small consideration must be allowed; while a mo- ment has a yet further latitude conceded to it, probably from that term hzv'mg formerly denoted a much more extended portion of Time than it now correctly signifies. Thus we have reflecting Moments, but never reflecting Seconds, or In- stants : Moments are commonly used in a figura- tive sense ; Seconds only so applied occasionally ; and Instants always made to convey their direct^ positive, and literal definition. Circumcision* (IST JANUARY.) This festival was instituted by the 'Church, -in grateful commemoration of our LORD 'having era the eighth day of Jiis nativity, first shed his sa- cred blood for the redemption of OUT fallen nature, when he received the name of JESUS, as foretold by the angel, ST. LUKE, c. i. v. 31, "And be- hold thou shalt conceive, &c. &c. and shalt call his name JESUS." See $amt of 3N" By the prescript of the old law, Gen. xvii. 12, it was strictly enjoined, that he who " is eight days old shall be circumcised, &c." ; and this rite was annexed by the ALMIGHTY himself, as the seal to that covenant renewed with ABRAM, and to dis- tinguish his descendants from the rest of man- kind, so long since as the year of the world 2178, when ABRAM, whose name upon this occasion GOD changed to ABRAHAM, was himself circum- cised at the age of ninety-nine, with all the males of his family. The first instance of our SAVIOUR'S submitting to the law, holds out the most powerful induce- ment for the pious observation of every divine or- dinance. Born under that law, and while it was in force upon all the descendants of ABRAHAM, nothing could be more conducive to forward the grand and inestimable blessing intended for the whole of the human race, than such condescend- ing, and conciliating attention and adherence to the rites of the Mosaic dispensation : and we have to trace with awful wonder, and with the purest gratitude, the meek and passive acquies- cence of our heavenly Redeemer, throughout the whole of his benign efforts for our eternal salva- tion. Now that this rite has been abrogated, and, by the Holy Sacrament of Baptism-, we are ad- mitted upon less severe conditions into all the be- nefits of the Christian Church, it is our duty to bear in thankful remembrance the sufferings of our blessed LORD, and to endeavour, by a strict attention to his mild and amiable doctrine, to ob- tain the blessings which his merits and sufferings have afforded us the means of securing. The first day of January having been observed by the Heathens as a day of extreme rejoicing, and for offering up prophane and superstitious sa- crifices to their idol JANUS, the primitive Chris- tians held it as a. fast, to avoid even the semblance of joining in their abominable customs ; and the first 'mention of this day a* a festival among Christians, was during the Pontificate of FfcLix the Third,' A: D. ; 487,' who denominated it the Octave of Christmas'. Under its present title of " CIRCUMCISION/' the festival is only to be traced from about the year 1090;' and it was not gene- rally so observed until included in our Liturgy ia the year 1550. The Popish Legends inform us, that the first of January was held in such esteem by the Hea- thens, that they would not "even sully the joy of it with martyring the Christians, so that, whereas there were in CONSTANTINE'S time the feast of 5000 saints for every other day in the year, there were none for this." The antient, friendly, and benevolent custom of 4 flUtefjiitfi; a Ijappp Beta gear, is so generally exploded, that a person must be blessed with the favours of fortune, or well known as a man of talent, to venture his consequence by now offering so familiar an address : Few, there- fore, above the lowest class of society, attempt to intrude any good wishes for the happiness, or success of his neighbour ; lest, if they escape the imputation of unlicensed freedom, they be deemed vulgar, and ignorant of what is called fashionable life. Even the modern expression of the Compliments of t&e Swon, which, for many years, was substituted for the former more expressive and better understood mode of salutation, has given way before univer- sal refinement, real or affected ; and is now sanc- tioned only in family circles, among intimate friends, or from a person who is either an acknow- 143 / kdged superior, or at least upon equality with the one whom he addresses. In like manner, Beat's have fallen into such disuse, that they are scarcely known except in some trifling instances, where such marks of affection are offered to children just emerging from the nursery. That nothing con- tributes more to virtue than cheerful and friendly intercourse, has often been pointed out by the best moral writers: surely, therefore, every re- flecting mind must lament, that any cause should operate to interrupt the diffusion of any part of the concord and harmony, acknowledged to be so requisite for the comfort and happiness of all classes of society. How far the abolition of these opportunities for one fellow-creature to testify in words, or to offer by some trifling token, his respect and esteem to another, has or has not been productive of moral good to society at large, need not be argued ; the prejudices of fashion are not by such means to be counteracted. Mankind, in the savage state, havu ever been found melancholy and unsocial, which, occasional necessity for outrage, to support even existence itself, has tended to confirm ; while it is a well-known fact, that brutality diminishes in proportion to the progress of social intercourse, until, arriving at what is falsely called refinement, the nobler objects give place to stiff, formal, and distant etiquette, not to be justified from one hu- 144 man being to another. These customs so nearly* obsolete, must therefore certainly have had their good effect ; the interchange of civilities and kind offices among friends and acquaintances, naturally created the most pleasant sensations, and led 'to* that hilarity and good humour, so conspicuous in the character of our ancestors, and so necessary to keep up the spirits and resolution in this most gloomy season- of the year; and n6twithstanding their now almost total abandonment, they -will still be held in esteem by those, read in the usages of antiquity, who can trace their origin' from the 1 remotest periods: / During- the' progress of upwards of eighteen Centuries, the peculiar modes of keeping up th'e r interchange of civilities between man and man, have altered with the usages and customs of the times : still, however, something of reciprocal at- tention' and benevolence of heart marked this fes- tive season ; and it is most ardently to b hoped that refinement, notwithstanding the prodigious strides it has already taken, may never be able wholly to overthrow that sacred hospitality and cordiality, which originated with the Apostles, when all Christians were regarded as brethren, and all shared alike the same tables at this season of rejoicing, as they alike bore the same toils and the same dangers. The Grecians, at the commencement of every year, had festive meetings, to celebrate the com- pletion of the Sun's annual course, and to 1 rejoice' 145 that he had again commenced his wonted vivifying progress : from that people, the Romans, in the earliest state of their empire, borrowed this cus- tom, which continued until its downfall; and from the Romans our ancestors received it. The antient Roman festivities, fraught with superstition, were carried on in riot and de- bauchery; while our Christian forefathers, blessed with the light of truth, rejected, until Papal Rome gained the ascendancy, the superstition and the excesses of the heathens, merely retaining those interchanges of good wishes, and of pre- sents, which had accompanied the pagan celebra- tions : but it is to be observed, that however er- roneous the Romans were in their sentiments of religion, they began their celebration of this sea- son with such sacrifices as to their unenlightened minds appeared appropriate, and never closed the day without visiting and congratulating each other, and offering up vows to their deities for their mutual preservation. The presents given by the Romans at the origin of these solemnities were called Strence, which are thought to have taken their name from the following circumstance. TATIUS, king of the Sabines, who, to terminate the war between that people and the Romans after the Sabine rape, was appointed joint sovereign with RoMULUS,considered asagoodomen, a present he had received on the sixth day of the new year, of some branches of vervain, gathered from the wood consecrated to STRENUA, the god- VOL. I. L 146 dess of strength : at first, gifts among the Romans and Sabines were confined to these strenae ; but they soon extended to honey, figs, dates, &c. and, by degrees, to other things of greater value. In the earliest times, the clients used to carry small presents to the senators under whose pro- tection they were severally placed ; though these afterwards increased to offerings of gold and silver medals, and other valuable articles ; and in the time of the emperors the people used to flock in im- mense numbers with such presents, each according to his ability. Under AUGUSTUS CJESAR, even the senate joined in such gifts to him. Some of his successors abolished this custom, though others restored it ; and among the people it continued without molestation. Upon this day of festivity, the Romans, though indulging in excesses, yet never failed to begirt, their respective employments, the men of letters their books, poems, &c., the mechanics, some of their works of labour. And so particular were they in their observation of this day, that the most inveterate enemies refrained from passing the slightest reflection upon the character or con- duct of each other. The Romans who settled in Britain soon spread this custom among our forefathers, \vho after- wards getting into the habit of making presents to the magistrates, some of the fathers of the church wrote against the immoralities committed under the protection thus purchased, and the 147 magistrates were forced to relinquish their advan- tages. The nation however continued the custom through all ranks in social life, from age to age ; while it is also to be remarked that TOKENS, con- sidered as a more respectable term than Gifts, were continued to be received and bestowed by our monarchs and nobles, until the reign of James the Second. Bishop Latimer sent to Henry the Eighth a New Testament, richly illuminated, with an inscription on its cover, expressive of what he wished to impress upon his royal mas- ter's mind, though perhaps under no other li- cence dared he to have offered it: The words were, " Fornicatores et adulteros judicavit Domi- nm ;" of the intended application of which, Henry was but too conscious. Sir William Pa- get, afterwards Lord Paget, in the same reign, presented to the Duke of Somerset a new year's token, accompanied by a letter couched in terms of advice, which he thought imperiously requisite, though beyond such evident yet disguised reproof, nothing offensive appeared. It was emphatically worded : " Deliberate matureloe in all ti)ing : Ejrecnte qut'cfo Ipe tfje Determination^ : <&o justice toitfjout regpsete ; mafte a^ureb anD gtapeD ta#e men nwniter under pou : j&armftamte tlje mpnigtertf in fljeit office; pun# np$be tjje Di^nbetrient arc oroing to rtjeir oe^ertg : <3fn tfje fting'g cauje^ gite comia^^ton in tfce ftingV name ; te^ toaroe tjje fting'jJ toort!)pe jSertant^ liberalise ana <0ibe your obm to nouc oto.ne, anD tljc 148 to tfje ftmtj'ji franfctye ; ^igpatdje upter jHjorttye : frr affable to tije good, and gtcrn to tin- ebt( : folloto abtirc in coungaill. afie fee or retoarDe of tije ftmg onlpe : fteepe youc mpni^terjS about you incorrupte. ;bug all men How far presents to those who had to decide between contending parties, (which first stopped these x presents, and with them such occasional seasonable reproof), was fraught with danger, me- rits perhaps some consideration : there have been instances of judges having been bribed, though certainly not by the trifling presents usually sent as new-year's gifts : and therefore it were uncan-, did to charge that innocent custom with such gross turpitude. The mere possibility of a suspi- cion of prejudice in a judge ought, no doubt, to be avoided, and, so, wisely thought the great, but unfortunate Sir Thomas More. When Mrs. Croaker had obtained a decree in Chancery against Lord Arundel, she availed herself of thejirst new- year's-day after her success, to present to Sir Thomas, then the Lord Chancellor, a PAIR OF GLOVES, containing forty pounds in angels, as a token of her gratitude ; the gloves he received with satisfaction, these could not perhaps, as the offering of the heart, be refused, but the gold he peremptorily, though politely returned : " It would be against good manners to forsake a gen- tlewoman's new-years-gift," said that eminent wan, " and I accept the gloves ; their lining you 149 will be pleased otherwise to bestow." Of present^ t>f gloves many other instances might be adduced, some with linings, as Sir Thomas termed his proffered compliment, some without ; and proba- bly we may from thence account for the term " Glove-money," to be found in old records, as well as the expression still in use of " Giving a pair of Gloves"- This article of dress does not appear to have been introduced into England un- til near the close of the 10th century, when, by a Law of Ethelred the 2nd, five pair of Gloves formed an important part of a duty imposed upon some German Merchants : And it was for many subsequent Centuries before they were used, by any but the most opulent in the Kingdom : They were consequently, originally, a present of consi- derable value. Of the venality of Judges, in the earlier pe- riods, our history unfortunately affords many ex- amples. In the year 1290, Sir RALPH HENGHAM, the Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench ; Sir JOHN LOVET, Chief Justice of the Lower Bench, Sir THOMAS WEYLAND, and Sir WILLIAM BROMPTON, with the whole of their clerks, were sent prisoners to the Tower, and afterwards fined for bribery and injustice : after which the King commanded that all judges should swear, " that they would not take pension, fee, or gift, of any man, except a brealtfast, or some such small kindness" It is proper, however, to remark, that the Judges in former times, were very differently cir- cumstanced to what they are at the present day ; their offices were temporary, dependent upon the will of the King or his Ministers, and always be- came vacated at the demise of the Crown : and yet, under all these disadvantages, they frequently displayed an integrity, and magnanimity of con- duct, which cannot but attract our respectful ad- miration, particularly when contrasted with the culpability of others. Our present most gracious Sovereign, conscious of the high importance of the Judicial character, nohly resigned a preroga- tive tenaciously retained by his predecessors ; and, by thejirst ACT of his reign, rendered the Judges independent of the Crown ; continuing them in their offices for life, unless removed by an im- peachment for improper conduct; and securing to them the enjoyment of their full salaries : A wise and considerate attention to the welfare arjd protection of hjp people, which demands from them a return of the most devoted Loyalty, and which will transmit his name, in grateful remem- brance, to the latest posterity, as one of the best and most patriotic Monarchs who have swayed the British Sceptre. Among other presents, formerly common at this season of the year, may be noticed PINS, which, when first introduced about the beginning of the sixteenth Century, were found so extremely in comparison to the wooden skewers before 151 in use, as to make them truly acceptable to the ladies, however trifling such friendly offerings might now appear. From these donations, Pin-r money became a familiar expression for small pre- sents in general ; and from the like cause, that term is now sometimes used for the settlements made on females, either through a necessary cau- tion of their parents or guardians, or the justice of their consorts. When we calmly reflect upon the short space allotted to mortals in this state of probation, and upon the few solid comforts the happiest are ena- bled to enjoy, intermixed as they are with afflic- tions, or as they are emphatically and beautifully termed, " blessings in disguise ;" how is the bene- volent mind weaned from the jarring and contend- ing interests and follies of mankind ! how forcibly are we admonished to endeavour, by every effort in our power, to soften the rugged path of life, and to render our progress through it as sociable and cheerful as possible ! It is our duty, with calm resignation, to submit to those evils incident to our nature ; but we are vicious, if we add to them by, any misconduct of our own. The gra- dations of civil life are necessary for the well re- gulating of society ; but placed by the Almighty uppn an equality as to our ultimate hopes and destination, these distinctions of worldly prece- dence, which ought never to be. displayed with too proud an affectation, should at times be ren- dered so little perceptible, as to harmonize with 152 and soothe the feelings even of the most lowly. In this important point of view, therefore, the discontinuance of customs, whereby the great and the little had alike the opportunity of testifying their good wishes towards each other, must be re- garded as unfeeling, impolitic, and unnatural. This change of custom may, in many instances, interrupt and disturb the comfort of valuable individuals, who, by one act of kindness and condescension, might have felt a solace through- out every portion of the year, until they again could receive a similar cheering encouragement, on the next day of general and reciprocal inter- change of kind offices ; But, ^slaves as we are to present and prevailing customs, little can be done beyond lamenting that encroachments have been made, upon usages established in policy and humanity ; which, besides having some claim to our respect on account of their antiquity, possessed moreover a general tendency towards creating that friendly and social intercourse, which Christianity requires, and benevolence will cheer-.- fully bestow ; and at the same time afforded an op-.- portunity for reproving the immoralities or impn> prieties of such, whom censure could not otherr vise reach, nor admonition reform. 153 , (6m JANUARY.) This day, distinguished in our almanac by the term EPIPHANY, from the Greek En-Kpavsia, sig- nifying appearance or apparition, is kept as a festival in commemoration of the " Manifesta- tion" of the Saviour of mankind to the Gentiles ; and appears to have been first observed as a sepa- rate feast in the year 813. The primitive Chris- tians celebrated the feast of the Nativity for twelve days, observing the first and last with the greatest solemnity ; and both of these days were denomi- nated Epiphany, the first the greater Epiphany, from our Lord having on that day become In- carnate, or made his APPEARANCE IN " THE FLESH;" the latter, the lesser Epiphany, from the THREE-FOLD MANIFESTATION of his Godhead; . the^r.^, by the appearance of the blazing star which conducted MELCHIOR, JASPER, and BAL- THUZAR, the three magi * or wise men, out of the * Among the Persians, a MAGICIAN signified a person who devoted himself to the study of the occult sciences, and was synonymous with a Sophist among the Greeks : hence each is in English denominated a learned or " wise man." Pytha- goras, about 571 years before Christ, declining the title of and taking that of Philo- sophist, declared that he 154 East, to worship the MESSIAH, and to offer him presents of " Gold Frankincense and Myrrh," MELCHIOR the Gold, in testimony of his royalty as the promised King of the Jews, JASPER the Frankincense, in token of his Divinity, and BALTHUZAR the Myrrh, in allusion to the sorrows which, in the humiliating condition of a man, our REDEEMER vouchsafed to take upon him ; the se- cond, of the descent of the Holy Ghost in the form of a Dove, at the Baptism ; and the third, of the first miracle of our LORD turning water into wine at the marriage in Canaan ; all of which three manifestations of the divine nature hap- pened on the same day, though not in the same year. To render due honour to the memory of the antient Magi, who are supposed to have been kings, the monarch of this country himself, ei- ther personally or through his chamberlain, offers annually at the altar on this day, Gold, Frankin- cense, and Myrrh; and the kings of Spain, where the Feast of Epiphany is likewise called the "Feastoftke Kings,'" were accustomed to make the like offerings. \ was indeed a lover of wisdom, as the compound word expresses, though he could not arrogate being actually a wise man ; and succeeding Sages, following his modest example, generally adopted that unassuming appellation j while it is to be re- marked that Magician, from the arrogance of that term, and from the nature of the studies among those so denominated, has by degrees become a term in our language, expressive of a person supposed to possess some diabolical ait. 155 From the circumstance of this festival being held twelve days after Christmas, it is vulgarly called Ctoelftfi-Dap i and the cake, which in most families forms an im- portant part of the entertainment, is known by ho other name than that of TWELFTH-CAKE. Au- thors differ in their accounts of the origin of the festive practice of drawing for King and Queen, &c. when the Twelfth-cake is divided; ome maintain it to have been derived from the custom observed by the Roman children, who, at the end of their Saturnalia, drew lots with beans, to see who would be King ; while others, with more ap- parent reason, consider it as allusive to the offerings made by the magi, or kings, to the infant JESUS. In our Universities, where the custom of drawing for king and queen was formerly common, the classical origin would appear to have been favoured, as the lots were decided by beans found in the di- vided cake. The old calendars stated, that on the vigil of this day, " Kings were created or elected by leans ,-" and denominated the day itself the " Fes- tival of Kings" which is still retained in Spain. At present the honours of king and queen, and others of a festive nature, introduced to heighten the jollity, are determined by the drawing of folded slips of paper, on which are inscribed these ephemeral distinctions, though the practice of 156 drawing beans is yet preserved in some few dis- tricts. To which of these conjectures the origin of this practice is properly attributable, must be left undecided ; though it is not improbable, that the Heathen custom was the first observed, and that of the Christians engrafted upon it, as has been a frequent usage. England was-not, howe- ver, singular in the observance of the day ; nearly the whole of Europe have had the like custom, differing only in some particular points, arising from national, political, or religious propensities or prejudices. Hucfan* (Sra JANUARY.) LUCIAN, a native of Syria, the first named Romish Saint in the calendar, appears to have been a learned presbyter of Antioch, and to have suffered martyrdom on the rack, by order of the governor of the city of the Nicomedians, for having recited an able eulogy on the Christian re- ligion, of his own composition, before the empe- ror MAXIMINIANUS GALERIUS. Whether LUCIAN was, as some authors affirm, tainted with what was in after ages denominated the Arian Heresy, cannot now be ascertained ; 157 .ATHANASIUS, in his Synopsis, has taken consider- able pains to defend him in this point : Be this as it may, it is universally admitted that he was a man of superior excellence, and that his exertions, were most strenuously employed in promoting the cause of Religion : hi* labours in correcting and circulating the Septuagint translation of the Bi- ble, thereby extending the knowledge, and facili- tating the study, of those sacred writings, are par- ticularly deserving of being remembered. These corrected translation! of that holy record, some of which were extant in the time of ST. JEROME, are known by the title of " Lucianian Copies,'' and were esteemed at Constantinople, and as far as Antioch, in preference to the two great editions by HESYCHIUS and ORIGEN. When our second Reformers under Queen ELIZABETH, felt it expe- dient to restore to the calendar the names of se- veral of the canonized persons, which had been expunged in both the Books of EDWARD the Sixth, a consideration was, no doubt, paid by them to this claim of LUCIAN ; though it is to be noticed, that this day and others, so restored to the calendar, were not only not expected to be kept as holy days, but actually prohibited from being so observed ; for while those who had been most eminent for their exertions in the sublime cause of Christianity are deserving to be remem- bered as such, there would be evident impropriety in placing them upon an equality in that respect with the EVANGELISTS and APOSTLES, who were 158 :' < Selected by our LORD himself, for the express purpose of promulgating and establishing our faith. The history of Lucius, the Proto-CnRisxiAN KING of Britain, who founded and dedicated to ST. PETER the first church erected in London, has, from that circumstance, been confounded . with the legend of the SAINT, who is stated by some antiquaries to have been a disciple of ST. PETER, and expressly deputed by him to preach the Gospel in France with ST. DENNIS: and hence, probably, we are told in the Popish breviaries, of several pious labours of the king, who, instead of the saint, is recorded to have travelled over the Continent, converting several nations, especially the Grisons, and to have suffered martyrdom at Coire, in Switzerland ; from which cause, the histories of both have become so much blended together, as to render it difficult, at this distant period, to distinguish them by precise facts. As king Lucius appears to have sent to Rome, be- seeching Pope ELEUTHERIUS to depute Missiona- ries to instruct him in the Christian doctrine, and in every way to have submitted to the authority of that Pontiff he naturally became a considera- ble favourite with the Monks, who, desirous of honouring his memory, not only made him the possessor of his own virtues, but of many of those of the Saint, whose memory consequently has been handed down to posterity with fewer. 159 marks of veneration, than otherwise it would have received. The effigies of the KING, and of Pope ELRU- THERIUS, are still to be seen on the high South, window over the choir of York Minster. The dates of birth, death, &c. of the Saint, cannot now be satisfactorily ascertained. (13TH JANUARY.) PLOUGH, or, as t^ie almanacs erroneously spell it, PLOW Monday, always happens on the first Monday after the Epiphany; and received this appellation from its having been fixed uppn by our forefathers, as the period when they returned to the duties of agriculture, after the festivities of Christmas ; Festivities which, in those days, lasted generally until the Epiphany or Twelfth-day, and even until Candlemas among the commonalty, who strove to retain for their regale, on this con- cluding day of the annual season of Joy, some part of their much-prized Christmas cheer. The Plough therefore being the fundamental instru- ment of husbandry, was not unaptly made the typical expression of the renewal of their labours: 160 ^ The morning of this day was devoted to the examination of their Ploughs, and other imple- ments of agriculture, after which they were in- dulged with a farewell holiday, and a free recur- rence to the sports and pastimes of Christmas, to which a freedom was given, but ill according with the church solemnities appropriated to that holy season. Time, and the progressive refinement of man- ners, have now nearly worn out this antient usage, though the various observances of Plough-Mon- day in the North, yet bear so close a resemblance to the rites of the Feast of Fools (see April), kept in old times on the 1st of January, and pro- longed throughout the Christmas vacation, as justly to be attributable to that source. The Roman SATURNALIA, of which the FEAST of FOOLS was the counterpart, gave free licence to every species of absurd profligacy ; and, as a cloak to unbounded licentiousness, particularly encouraged men being disguised in the attire of women, and the women in that of men. In some places in the North, the young rustics yet enjoy dancing on Plough Monday, each clad in the dress of the opposite sex ; Morisco Dancers, with a boy in girls cloaths, as the Maid-marion, still exert their agility in other villages. In some dis- tricts Mab and his ivife continue to lead the fes- tive throng ; and the Fool and Bessy in other places: Dancers with swords, or wood -cut in the form of that weapon, perform various feats of 161 activity around thefoolplough in other townships ; while the more common mode of passing the ho- liday, is to drag a plough from door to door, soli- citing plough money, wherewith to defray the expences of a feast, and a dance in the evening. This last and most innocent custom, it would appear, was introduced by degrees after the abolition of the feudal system ; before that happy event took place, the great barons who held the land, employed their dependants, then in a state of villeinage, in its cultivation, and fed them in common with their other numerous retainers : at first, the vassals commuted with their Lords by the payment of a tribute stiled plough silver ; and at length, when labour was remunerated by pe- cuniary payments, it became usual, and not un- natural, for the poor and newly emancipated la- bourers, to bespeak the consideration of the opu- lent, by shewing them their plough, which could not then be used, especially in the North, from the inclemency of the weather incident to such season. (13TH JANUARY.) St. JIiLARY, or St. HILARIUS, was born at Poktiers, in France, about the latter end of the third century, though the particular year is no VOL. I. M 162 where mentioned. He was one of those pious and learned men, so justly held in veneration as " Fathers of the Christian Church;" a title given to all those eminent Christian theologists who wrote prior to the 1 3th century. When it is considered that the historical facts recorded in the New Testament, have been not only expressly communicated by those holy per- sons, who were eye-witnesses of the important truths they disclose; but that these fathers of the church commenced their testimony, from the very period at which that of the inspired writers ceased; and have transmitted to us those truths through all the subsequent ages, when the Gospel had to contend against the most inveterate prejudices and errors, to those times when good sense and enlightened reason tri- umphed over all opposition ; we cannot but reflect with wonder and gratitude upon the goodness and condescension of the Deity, who has afforded such means to confirm the sacred truths of Reve- lation, as to obviate every possibility of doubt, from all but the ignorant or wilfully blind. The very numerous quotations made by the Fa- thers from the New Testament, prove beyond contradiction that, during the several periods in which they wrote, the works of the inspired writers were then in existence, in the precise state they now appear; and by that concurrent evi- dence, tend to confirm the verity of what the Evangelists themselves have set forth. 163 ST. HILARY, descended from parents of distin- guished rank, was educated in the Pagan reli- gion, and appears to have been converted to Christianity, by the attentive perusal and study of the Holy Scriptares, after he had attained the age of maturity. From the period of his conver- sion, he became an able and indefatigable advo- cate of the doctrines his good sense had taught him to embrace; and in the year 355 he was elected bishop of the place of his nativity : In the following year he was sent to assist at the sy- nod at Beziers against Saluminus, the bishop of Aries, who had been excommunicated ; but his opponents proved too subtle, and in the end caused him to be banished to Phrygia, where he remained four years. His twelve books upon the Trinity, and his much admired treatise upon Synods, were composed during his banishment; and thus the temporary disgrace and humiliation of St. Hilary, became instrumental to his more effectually serving the great cause in which he had embarked. Upon his being recalled, he passed to Seleucia, to defend the Gallican bishops from the charges of Sabellianism imputed to them by the Arians ; but he found in the council as- sembled, too many of those heretics to admit of his interference being effective. The Gallican bishops having afterwards recovered their influence under Julian, styled the apostate, Hilary assem- bled various councils, and thus for a time sup- pressed the erroneous tenets of the Arians. He M 2 164 _ . challenged to public disputation, Auxertius, bi- shop of Milan, and compelled him publicly to renounce the errors of that sect: Auxertius, however, who continued an Arian in his heart, never forgave him this triumph ; and in the end retained sufficient influence, to cause Hilary to be ordered from Milan, as a disturber of the peace of the church. At the latter end of the year 36*7, the venerable Saint departed this transitory life, at the advanced age of about eighty years ; nearly sixty of which had been dedicated to the service of the orthodox faith. ST. HILARY is recorded to have been the first who composed HYMNS to be sung in churches, in which he was followed by St. Ambrose ; and it was in his time, and under his direction, that the LITANY was introduced by Mamerius Claudius, of Vienna ; and that the GOLDEN NUMBER, invented by Menon the Athenian, was rectified by Victo- rinus of Aquitaine. St. Hilary gives name to one of the four seasons of the year when the courts of justice are opened, as may be seen more at large under the head of 165 learnt (l8xH JANUARY.) PRISCA appears to have been a Roman lady of great accomplishments, converted to Christianity at a very juvenile period of life. Of this lady little more, however, is known than those facts ; and that she was martyred while yet in youthful celibacy, by the authority of the emperor CLAU- DIUS, A. D. 47- for her steady adherence to the Christian faith, although her constancy was put to .the test by frequent torture. The early conver- $ion of PRISCA, and her unshaken fidelity under the most severe trials, might have induced our second Reformers to restore to the calendar her name, which had been once expunged ; and it is rather extraordinary that the Roman Breviaries, which are generally replete with mysterious and exaggerated accounts of the miraculous acts of early converts, have neglected this Saint ; parti- cularly as there is a church at Rome dedicated to her where her relics are alleged to be preserved which gives title to a cardinal. (20TH JANUARY.) FABIAN or FABIANUS, by birth a Roman, was remarkable for purity of life, and for his steady and unremitting endeavours to promote the knowr ledge of the Christian religion. In the year of our Lord 2%6, he ascended the papal chair ; and W are told that a dove settled on his head during the ceremony of his election, which is the sole miracle recorded in his history ; a neglect of his monkish biographers not easily to be accounted for, when it is considered that he was himself scrupulously particular in paying homage to those who had in his time been canonized, and that he carefully sought out the spots where the remains of martyrs were deposited, and built churches to their remembrance. He was the lth bishop of Rome ; and having held that dignity nearly fifteen years, was martyred at the commencement of the persecution under Decius ; an account of which is given by letter to the Roman clergy, in t. Cyprian and other antient authors. Before the time of Fabianus, the chrism, or holy unction, was used from year to year until quite expended ; or rather, as some authors as- sert, from the inauguration of one bishop to that of his successor, and was sure to last that period, 167 were the original quantity ever so small, and however long the supremacy of the bishop. FA- BIANUS ordained that a fresh chrism should be prepared annually, and the old one be burnt in the church ; a practice still persevered in at Rome. (21 ST JANUARY.) This Saint is so considerable a favourite of the Romish Church, that her festival is celebrated with especial solemnity and pomp ; it is difficult, however, to assign any reason for her having been restored to the Protestant calendar, considering that few particulars are to be found in her legend ; except those relating to her having suffered in the cause of Christianity, as was the melancholy fate of thousands whose histories are not so much heightened as hers, by statements too marvellous for general credence. ST. AGNES was descended from a Roman family of rank and opulence, and endowed by nature with great personal beauty : she was decapitated at the early age of 13, in the tenth general persecution under the emperor DIOCLESIAN, in the year of our Lord 306 ; before execution, she was sen* 168 tenced by her judge to be violated in a public stew ; but at her earnest supplication, as her le- gend asserts, was providentially saved from such ignominy " by thunder and lightning sent from " heaven for that express purpose" ever since which memorable event, the Roman ladies wor- ship her as a Saint of the most exalted chastity and purity : nor do they pay much less homage to another young lady, ST. EMERENTIANA, who was stoned to death while praying at her sepul- chre. The sufferings of ST. AGNES, are stated to have been most excruciating, from the agitation of her executioner, who wounded her head and shoulders in divers places, before he could per- form his office ; but that she nevertheless con- tinued stedfast in her faith, and sang hymns with the greatest composure during the whole of her endurance. The parents of ST. AGNES, who escaped her fate, were, after her decease, blessed with a vi- sion while praying at her tomb, in which she ap- peared to them in a garment of glory, and a LAMB standing by her side of the purest WHITE : a companion which the painters have very appro- priately given to her, not only from that cause, but upon a consideration of a lamb being the uni- sally- acknowledged emblem of innocence, with which her name so fortunately accords ; and to preserve which coincidence she was, no doubt, so miraculously saved from all impurity. 169 On the fast held on ST. AGNES DAY, two of the whitest lambs that can be procured are presented at her altar, and afterwards carefully fed and at- tended to, until they are in a fit state for being shorn, when they are deprived of their fleecy coat, which being hallowed and converted into white cloth of the finest texture, is every year conse- crated by the Pope himself, for the PALLS sent to the several newly appointed Archbishops, who are compelled to purchase them at the most exor- bitant price, before they can exercise any ecclesi- astical authority. Since the Reformation, ST. AGNES has, by de- grees, lost her consequence in this country as su- perstition has subsided ; though our rural virgins in the North, are yet said to practise some singu- lar rites, in keeping '* what they call ST. AGNES* Fast, for the purpose of discovering their future husbands." tncent (22ND JANUARY.) VINCENT was born at Saragossa in Spain, and having very early discovered a pious disposition, was placed under the care of VALERIUS, the bi- shop of that city, who ordained him a deacon, and deputed to him the charge of preaching, which the good bishop felt himself unequal to continue, owing to a natural impediment in his speech, which increased as he advanced in age. The constant attention paid by VINCENT to the duties of his station, and his amiable exemplary conduct, gave considerable weight to the doctrines he preached, and gained over many of the most violent of the heathens : but he was soon doomed to feel that affliction, which was so amply heaped upon those who distinguished themselves in the early ages of Christianity : DECIAN, the governor of the province of Tarragona, about the close of the year 303, caused VINCENT and his patron VALERIUS to be brought in irons to Valentia, where VINCENT, refusing to abandon his faith and sacrifice to the pagan deities, was put to the tor- ture, and afterwards ended his life over a slow fire, on the 22d of January 304 ; adding one more vic- tim to the horrid cruelties committed under the persecution of the emperor DIOCLESIAN. VALERIUS was banished, and died of grief* Cerms* (230 JANUARY.) The four seasons of the year in which the courts of justice are open for determining controversies 171 and suits in law, are denominated TERMS ; the first, called HILARY or LENT TERM, commences on the 23d of January, unless it happen on a Sunday, and then on the 24th, and lasts until the 12th of February, if not a Sunday, or if a Sunday, on the succeeding Monday; the second styled EASTER TERM, begins on the Wednesday fort- night after Easter Day, and ends the first Mon- day after Ascension Day; the third, TRINITY TERM, takes place on the Friday immediately following Trinity Sunday, and continues to the Wednesday fortnight from that period, unless it happen on the 24th of June, the feast of St. John the Baptist, which is not a court day, when it is adjourned to the next day ; and the fourth, named MICHAELMAS TERM, commences on the 6th of November, except it occur on a Sunday, and in such case on the succeeding Monday, and termi- nates on the 28th of the same month, except it be on a Sunday, and then on the Monday, or 29th of November: forming in the whole less than a fourth part of the year. But sittings at Nisi Prius are held both during, and after the Terms, by the several Courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer, owing to the business of those Courts having so much increased in modern times : and by Statute 24 GEO. II. cap. 18. the period for such sittings extends to fourteen days after Term : while it is also to be noticed, that the Exchequer is open eight days before any Term begins, except Trinity, before which it is open only four days. In each of the TERMS there are several days called Returns, or Days in Bank) on some one of which all original writs are made returnable, and therefore they are generally called the Re- turns of the Term ; wherein Crastino, signifies the morrow after the day annexed. Octavis, three days after inclusive. Quindena, fifteen days after. Trees, three weeks after. Mense, that day month ; and Quinque, that day five weeks. While there is one day in three of the Terms in which not any business is transacted, namely : Candlemas Day, in Hilary Term ; Ascension Day, in Easter Term ; and Midsummer Day, in Trinity Term ; These days are called Grand Days in the Inns of Court ; Gaudy Days at the two Univer- sities ; and Collar Days at St. James's. There are FOUR INNS OF COURT in which Terms can be kept by Students in the Law, for the pur- pose of being called to the Bar : these are Lin- coln's Inn, Inner Temple, Middle Temple, and Gray's Inn. The mode of keeping Terms is different in all these Inns ; but there are two general rules in all, viz. that twelve Terms must be kept ; and that a Student must be Jive years on the books of 173 the Society, before he can be called to the bar, unless he can produce a certificate of his having taken the degree of M. A. or B. L. in one of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, or Dublin ; and, in such last case, he may be called as soon as he has kept his Terms, In all the four Inns, one day in each term is called Grand Day, as already mentioned ; and this day is of more or less consequence, as it af- fects the keeping of the Term. In Lincoln's Inn, a Term may be kept in either of the following ways : 1. By attending Commons in four days pre- ceding Grand Week, and the Sunday in Grand Week, if the whole week in which the four days are kept form part of the Term. 2. By attending the last day in Grand Week, Saturday, and the four succeeding days, if Term continue the whole of the ensuing week. 3. By attending any two days before Wednes- day, and any two days after Wednesday, with any one day in Grand Week, if the whole week in which the four days are kept form part of the Term. In the Inner Temple : by attending Commons two days in each of any two weeks of the Term. In the Middle Temple : by attending one day in Grand Week, and one day in each of two dis~ tinct weeks. In Gray's Inn : by attending Commons on any three days in whole weeks. 174 The Terms kept by the Students at the UNI- VERSITIES, vary from those observed by our Courts of Judicature, and from each other as to their times of commencement and termination, though not in their titles, viz. OXFORD. Begins. Ends. Hilary or Lent Term. 14th January, Saturday before Palm Sunday. Easter Term, 10th Day after ThursdaybeforeWhit- Easter, sunday. Trinity Term, Wednesday after Soon after the Act,ac- Trinity Sunday, cording to the de- termination of the ViceChancellorand Convocation. Michaelmas Term, . . 10th October, 17th December. CAMBRIDGE. Begins. Ends. Hilary, or LentTerm. 13th January. Friday before Palm Sunday. Easter Term, Wednesday after TheweekbeforeWhit- Easter Week. suntid e . Trinity Term, Wednesday after Friday after the com- TrinitySunday. mencement. Michaelmas Term, . . 10th October, 16th December. In SCOTLAND, the TERMS disagree with the whole of the preceding, as well as in the periods of their being held, except in one out of the four, as in the denominations of all of them, viz. Begins. Ends. Candlemas Term, 23d January, 12th February. Whitsuntide, 25th May, 1 5th June. Lammas, 20th July, 8th August. Martinmas, 3rd November, 29th November. 175 forming what are called in England the Cross Quarter Days ; on which most of the land-rent* in this country are still settled. The early Christians had not any particular stated seasons for hearing and deciding upon civil causes ; every day throughout the year, Sunday not excepted, was alike open to appeals ; a prac tice stated to have arisen from the the desire of differing as much as possible from the Romans, who, out of a superstitious conceit, deeming some days ominous and less propitious than others, enacted, that some should be Fasti wherein they attended to business, and others Ne Fasti, on which all legal proceedings were suspended. The Fasti of the Romans answer to our terms, and their Ne Fasti to our non-terms, Vacations, or, as they are sometimes otherwise yet called, " Days of the King's Peace." The inconveniences attending the antient usage of the Christians, as to the settlement of their fo- rensic concerns, and the encroachments it made on the duties of the church, as well as on the af- fairs of husbandry, gave rise to progressive modi- fications and indulgences, whereby to afford un- interrupted leisure for devotion, and for due at- tention to the ingathering of the several harvests. From the Advent and Christmas solemnities, arose the Winter Vacation ; from those of Lent and Easter, the Spring Vacation ; and from Pente- cost, the third; while the Long Vacation, be- tween Midsummer and Michaelmas, derived its origin, and extended duration, from a considera- tion of the approaching harvest and other agricul- tural pursuits, which at that season require par-, ticular attention, and are of too great general im- portance to admit of interruption from any cause whatsoever. The Sundays throughout the year were first exempted from the Term in 517, though all other days were retained, whether festivals or otherwise, and the Sunday considered as commencing from three o'clock on the Saturday afternoon. AJDout 845, Easter Week, commonly called the Octaves, was exempted from law proceedings, and this precedent led to the exemption of Pen- tecost, the Feast of St. Michael, the Epiphany, &c. which were subsequently honoured with Oc- taves. In 932, the Council of Ertford, in Germany, enacted further regulations with regard to Law Days, that were soon enforced upon all Chris- tians, and are regarded as the foundation of the Terms as they are now observed ; though several alterations, some still retained, and others abro- gated, were made by CANUTE ; EDWARD the Con- fessor, who first ordained four Terms in each year ; WILLIAM the Conqueror ; WILLIAM RUFUS ; STEPHEN ; HENRY the Second; HENRY the Eighth ; CHARLES the First ; GEORGE the Second ; and GEORGE the Third. '77 Cotttoer0ton of jfri. -patil. (25TH JANUARY.) PAUL, or SAUL as he was originally called, was by birth a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, and by privilege a Roman citizen, from the circumstance of his having been born at Tarsus, the metropolis of Cilicia, to which city AUGUSTUS CAESAR had granted the freedom of Rome. His Hebrew name SAUL, refers to his Jewish descent ; that of PAUL, by which he is now generally called, was given to him as a Roman citizen. The Scriptures speak of him by both names ; by that of SAUL, when alluding to him as conversant among the Jews in Syria, and by that of PAUL, when he left those parts, and dwelt among the Gentiles. The Apos- tle also calls himself by the latter name in all his Epistles to the Gentiles. Having been well versed in the knowledge of the Mosaic ritual at Tarsus, SAUL was sent to Jerusalem to study under GAMALIEL, a doctor of the Jewish law, the most learned man of his time, where he soon distinguished himself for the strength and extent of his natural and acquired powers: at an early period of his entrance into life, he became an opposer of the Christians, and in that character exhibited so warm a zeal, that he is recorded by ST. LUKE, as the person who kept the raiment of the suborned, witnesses, who tripped themselves as the law directed, before VOL. L N 178 they cast the first stone at ST. STEPHEN, the proto-martyr. The part SAUL took in the mur- der of ST. STEPHEN, raised him in the estimation of the Jews, who, in order to extirpate the Chris- tians, promoted a violent and general persecu- tion, appointing SAUL the Inquisitor Haereticse, an office he filled with unrelenting and cruel vigi- lance, not only exerting his utmost talents at op- pression in Jerusalem, where his duty expressly lay, but evincing a solicitude to extend his power to other places. Accordingly we find him tra- velling towards Damascus, with a determination to overwhelm all who should dare to avow their belief in our SAVIOUR'S mission : the ALMIGHTY GOD, however, whose ways are inscrutable, or- dained that this very person, who had hitherto so particularly distinguished himself as an inve- terate enemy to the Gospel, should ultimately prove the greatest of its supporters : arrived near the end of his journey, SAUL and his companion* were encompassed by a supernatural light from Heaven, so far exceeding the splendor of even the then glowing meridian sun, that overcome with terror and dismay, they cast themselves prostrate on the earth, " when he heard a voice saying unto him, SAUL, SAUL, .why persecutest thou me ? And he said, Who art thou, LORD ? And the LORD said, I am JESUS whom thou per- gecutest : it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, LORD, what wilt thou have me to do ? And 179 LORD said unto him, arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do ?" SAUL, who had been struck blind by the overpowering resplendency of this supernatural light, was restored to his sight by ANANIAS at the divine command ; after which, he preached at Damascus those doctrines which had before call- ed forth his utmost power* to refute and extermi- nate. This great and important event is thought to have taken place in the year 37, from which period, to the 29th June in the year 68, when he was beheaded by the order of NERO, he continu- ed successfully to propagate Christianity in all its natural and sublime purity, leaving behind him fourteen Epistles to different nations and persons, replete with argumentative learning, doctrinal and practical instruction, and with other informa- tion invaluable to the students of sacred history. These Epistles have been placed by the antient church in the order they stand in reference to the churches and individuals for whose benefit they were penned : those to churches, the first in the series (with the exception of the one to the He- brews) out of respect to whole congregations, and among those congregations the precedency was assigned to that of Rome, then the mistress of the world ; the Epistle to the Corinthians has the next station, Corinth having been the capital of Greece ; the one to the Galatians the third, be- cause addressed to the several churches establish- ed among that people ; the Epistle to the Ephe- N 2 180 sians immediately following, Ephesus having been the capital of pro-consular Asia ; that to the Phi- lippians next, out of compliment to Rome, to which Philippi was a colony ; and those to the Colossians and Thessalonians complete the num- ber : the Epistles to Timothy stand first among those to individuals, from the circumstance of TIMOTHY having been of high rank, and the par- ticular friend and disciple of the apostle ; and the one to TITUS before that to PHILEMON, because TITUS was a preacher, and PHILEMON only a private person : the Epistle to the Hebrews, al- though always acknowledged as apostolical, was not at first attributed to ST. PAUL ; but when the church was satisfied as to that fact, it was added to his inestimable writings ; and, not to disturb the order in which the other Epistles had been placed, it was made of necessity the last in the series, instead of being placed before those to in- dividuals, and in the pre-eminent station it other- wise would have been entitled to. In all pictures and statues, ST. PAUL is known by bearing a sword, indicative of the manner of his death ; and in the convent of La Lisla, near Toledo, in Spain, is shewn what is stated to be the identical sword-blade with which this eminent apostle was decollated: it is thought to be composed of cop- per, its length is 25 inches, its greatest breadth about 3 J inches ; on one side are vestiges in Ro- man capitals of ' Paulus Capite," and on the other " Mucro." Of the miraculous conversion of ST. PAUL, se- veral of our ablest writers have treated much at large, deducing from it such powerful arguments in favour of the truth of the Christian Religion, as are irresistibly convincing ; and eminently dis- tinguished for soundness of reason, and peculiar gracefulness of composition, ought particularly to be noticed a small. Treatise by the elegant and pious lord LYTTELTON. The festival of ST. PAUL was instituted in the year 813, and he is commemorated by his Con- version, not only from the miraculous circum- stances attending that event, indisputably the most extraordinary of his life, and the source of all his subsequent exertions, but on account of the peculiar and extended benefits which ensued from that intervention ; for while other apos- tles had their particular and distinct charges, his care was extended to the whole of the churches, and he was emphatically styled " The dpostlc of the Gentiles :" though it is to be observed, that this festival was not adopted in the Ritual of the Church of England until the year 166-2. As ST. PETER suffered on the same day as this eminent apostle, though by a difierent mode, the anniversaries of both are kept on the 2<)th June in the Romish church ; but in thia country we omit the anniversary of ST. PAUL'S death, and merely celebrate the martyrdom of ST. PETER oh the 29th June. 182 (2(>TH JANUARY, 1812,) Is a Sunday dependent upon Lent, as that season is upon Easter. It is to be considered as the com- mencement of, or rather the preparation for, the great and solemn fast of Lent ; and its observation was instituted by pope GREGORY the Great, in- sensibly to withdraw the minds of the Christians from the festivities of Christmas, and by degrees to qualify them for the fasting and humiliation enjoined during Lent. Although Ash Wednesday be actually the be- ginning of Lent, the Sunday immediately follow-? ing is called Quadragesima Sunday, or the first Sunday in Lent * ; not that it is exactly, but about the fortieth day before Easter, and thereby expressive of the number of fasting days of which Lent consists. According to the antient canons of the church, the Sundays throughout Lent are exempt from fasting, as indeed were all the * This fast received its title of Quadragesima, because our SAVIOUR was under the dominion of death about forty hours, (see page 229) ; and when it was settled to keep the fast as many days as at first hours were appropriated, the name was considered still applicable. Quadragesima, by contraction was called Quaresme, Caresme, and Careme, by the latter of which Lent is still expressed in French. 183 other Sundays throughout the year in former ages, and are even at this time, in order that nothing which bore an allusion to mortification or sadness, might intrude upon the celebration of the glorious and happy event of CHRIST'S Resur- rection, on a Sunday : deducting, therefore, the six Sundays, the number of fasting days from Quadragesima Sunday to Lent will be reduced to about thirty-six ; to which, if the four pre- ceding days to that Sunday be added, inclusive of Ash Wednesday, the number of forty days will be found complete. The name of the first Sunday in Lent having been distinguished by the appellation of Quadra- gesima, and the three weeks preceding having been appropriated to the gradual introduction of the Lent fast ; it was consistent with propriety to call ~the three Sundays of these weeks by names sig- nificant of their situation ; and reckoning by De- cades, the Sunday preceding Quadragesima re- ceived its present title of Quinquagesima, the second Sexagcsima, and the third, of which we are now particularly treating, Septuagesima. 184 tf)e (30TH JANUARY.) THE various circumstances connected with the tragical death of the monarch, styled in our book of Common Prayer, " KING CHARLES THE MAR- TYR," are amply detailed by our several historians ; and the magnanimity and pious resignation dis- played by that unfortunate, yet accomplished prince, from the moment he was in the power of his enemies, to the termination of his earthly ca- reer on the scaffold, are universally admired even by those otherwise most hostile to his reputation : It would therefore be superfluous to enter in detail upon those circumstances ; though it may prove interesting to adduce some facts, which are not generally known, nor readily to be collected. That the death of the king was not originally designed, would seem to be generally admitted, while some of those causes which at least accele- rated, if they did not actually determine, his fate, have been but partially attended to : Hy- pocritical in the extreme, as the conduct of Cromwell proved him to be, it is not, for a moment, to be imagined, that his ideas at first extended to that vast height to which bis am- 185 bition at length attained ; much less can it be considered that in the outset of his public life he contemplated the murder of the king. The fol- lowing fact in particular does not appear to have been noticed in the historical account of this prince's reign, though it rests upon unquestionable authority : Lord Broghill, afterwards created Earl of Orrery by Charles the Second, received from Cromwell, when riding with him and Ire- ton, after the execution of Charles, a direct con- fession, that the king would not have lost his life, but for his disingenuousness, and that he was surrounded by servants who for interested motives betrayed his confidence : " We had our- selves," said the Usurper, " at one time almost come to the resolution of acceding to the terms the king had offered ; Ireton was to be lieutenant of Ireland ; I commander of the forces : Provi- dence however ordained it othenvise ; for while we were considering the matter, one of our party, who belonged to the king's bed-chamber, sent us a letter, assuring us our doom was fixed, and that we might learn the particulars, with which he was unacquainted, by intercepting a dispatch Charles was forwarding to the queen, which was sewed in the skirt of a saddle. Ireton and I, disguised as troopers, took horse from Windsor, where we then were, and proceeded to the Blue-boar Inn, Holborn, from whence the dispatch was to be forwarded to Dover. At ten o'clock the man who had accompanied us, and 186 whom we had placed in the gateway, gave us notice of the arrival of a person with a saddle. Not doubting this to be the messenger we sought for, we suffered him to engage and equip his horse ; but just as he was quitting the inn, we attacked him sword in hand, and insisted upon searching him, as we informed him was our duty : while Ireton and our domestic amused the man, I searched and found the wished-for letter in the skirts ; and then pretending to consider all to be correct, we allowed the messenger to proceed, who, not being in his master's secret, did so, thinking himself happy in his escape. In this letter the king informed the queen that he de- signed to close with the Scotch, and then she should see what he would do with the Rogues, meaning us. This determined us ; and, by the aid of the Almighty Power, the evil the king intended for us, he has experienced in his own person." The original of this dispatch, to which the Usurper alluded, had been often seen by Lord Bolingbroke, and others ; and its contents appear to have been pretty accurately narrated. It was written in reply to a letter the king had received from his royal consort, wherein she reproached him for having made too great concessions to the army. ' ~ r, . ;, . The insults and indignities' theBoyal Sufferer experienced from the miscreants placed over him, are. universally admitted to have been excessive ; 187 while " it is confessed, that the king's behaviour, during this last scene of his life, does honour to his memory, and that, in all his appearances before his judges, he never forgot his part, either as a prince, or as a man. Firm and intrepid, he maintained, in each reply, the utmost perspicuity and justness, both of thought and expression : mild and equable, he rose into no passion at that unusual authority which was assumed over him. His soul, without effort or affectation, seemed only to remain in the situation familiar to it, and to look down with contempt on all the efforts of human malice and iniquity. The soldiers, in- stigated by their superiors, were brought, though with difficulty, to cry aloud for justice : Poor souls, said the king to one of his attendants, for a little money they would do as much against their commanders. Some of them were permitted to go the utmost length of brutal insolence, and to spit in his face, as he was conducted along the passage to the court. To excite a sentiment of piety was the only effect which this inhuman insult was able to produce upon him." A conduct so truly noble, and becoming a Christian, would, it is reasonable to conclude, have deprived malice itself of a desire to offend ; there is no length, however, to which depravity mav not extend : it did indeed make some tern- v porary impression, but Cromwell rendered it abortive ; he successfully opposed fanaticism to the noble feeling excited among the soldiery, and 188 seduced them into a belief that they were serving Heaven by murdering their Sovereign. Every advantage was taken by working on the baseness and degeneracy of the times; they were encou- raged to the grossest prophanity. Not satisfied with the indignities offered to fallen greatness, which they found invulnerable to their infamoui attempts, they treated with levity even the name of his and their heavenly Creator ; a sure way to wound his heart. " You had better have hum- bled yourself to those appointed to try you," tauntingly vociferated the leader of his guard. < Not to them, but to God alone am I account- able," was the dignified and pious reply, which prompted the villain to add, " Then to God we shall soon send you for that purpose." Cornet Joyce, who, from having been a tailor by profession, had become an active member of the military committee, was the instrument employed by Cromwell to seize the person of the king, and place him in the custody of the army. When the Monarch was first told of his being made cap- tive, through the base and cowardly avarice of the Scotch, into whose protection he had thrown himself, but who sold him for ^.400,000. he was sitting at chess : " Go on with your game, Sir," said he to his companion, without rising from his seat, and to prove that his spirits were not subdued by his hard fate, after an hour's play he won the game ; " and now, Sir, I attend you," was all he vouchsafed to Joyce. 189 This wretch, who rose to the rank of a Lieute- nant Colonel, is likewise believed to have acted the part of executioner, though many able writers contend, and adduce some proofs, that Richard Brandon was the miscreant who performed that act of atrocity ; and as a visor was worn by the regicide who struck the fatal blow, and by him who held up the bleeding head, to screen the vil- lains from general execration, it is improbable that the truth will ever be unfolded. " The block is too low,'' said the King, as he stooped to receive his doom. " Perhaps so," was the brutal answer, " but we will make it do." When Louis THE 16*TH, who, in our own times, fell a victim to the brutality of usurped power, was about to suffer death, SANSON, the public executioner, had the resolution to refuse the dreadful office : " Say not so, your own life will be the penalty of your unwise disobedience," urged one of the regicides, who brought him his orders. " Be it so then," instantly replied San- son ; " do with me as you please ; I will never be the murderer of my King." One of this man's relatives performed that execrable deed ; and it is to be regretted, that, having the same name, the odium of that act has been attributed to a person meriting a better fame. The forti- tude displayed by this unhappy monarch has been a subject of frequent eulogium ; like Charles, he supported his dignity to the latest moment : . the same meek and Christian spirit upheld-each 190 under their awful sufferings ; and it should be remembered, that Louis partook of the blood as well as the magnanimity of our martyred Charles, being one of his lineal descendants through a daughter who was married to the Duke of Or- leans. What became of the remains of the unfortunate Charles has never been satisfactorily ascertained : that they were buried in the Chapel Royal at Windsor, is the prevalent belief ; and the follow- ing particulars of the interment are taken from a manuscript of that period : " Wednesday, the 7th of February, 1648, the corpse being brought to Windsor Castle, in a hearse, by Mr. Murray the King's coachman, accompanied with the Duke of Richmond and Lenox, the Marquis of Hart- ford, the Earl of Lindsay, the Earl of Southamp- ton, and Bishop Juxon ; and being placed in the Dean's Hall, the aforesaid Lords sent for a plum- mer, to open the coffin and lead. They being fully satisfied it was the King, his head was sewed to his body. They gave orders to the plummer to cast a piece of lead some two feet long, with this inscription, ' This is King CHARLES the FIRST, 1648,* and solder the lead cross the roof of the coffin. This being done, the coffin was nailed up, and remained two days in the hall, being darkened with a velvet pall, and two lighted tapers upon the coffin. After which time the corpse was carried, by twelve soldiers of the garrison, into the chapel, the Lords above-named bearing- 191 up the pall ! Bishop Juxon, and the governor of the castle, whose name was Whithcot, and the officers of the garrison, with others, follow- ing the corpse ; which corpse, with the velvet pall, was placed upon two trussels, in a vault in the middle of the choir, by King Henry VIII. and his queen Jane. The governor commanded some of his officers to see the workmen close up the vault. The governor would not suffer the bishop to bury the King after the Church of England manner, neither would the Lords allow of his way. There was nothing read at the grave ; the bishop's lips were observed to move. They were all full of tears and sorrow. The soldiers had twelve-pence a-piece for carrying the corpse to the grave." That Charles was buried at Windsor seems novr to be generally admitted ; but it is to be re- marked that his remains were never found there, though frequently sought after. This want of confirmation has given rise to much speculation, and has afforded to the enemies of the Restora- tion an opportunity of circulating a report, which although not noticed by our historians, on account of the honour of the nation, is said by foreigners to have been acceded to by them. It is stated, that when the presumed remains of Cromwell were dug up, dragged through the streets, and exposed on a gallows, the persons who executed that disgraceful and impotent piece of revenge, discovered, that the head had been separated 192 from the body, though they never mentioned the circumstance, until they had carried into effect the order they had received for its complete in- tended degradation ; and that it was from that cause, and others subsequently brought to light, clearly ascertained, that, instead of Cromwell, all this ill-judged revenge had been exerted on Charles the First, whose body had been removed in a secret manner from Windsor, and deposited in Westminster-abbey. ^urtftcatton* (2ND FEBRUARY.) This day is kept in the Reformed Church as a solemn festival, in memory of the HUMILIATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN, who submitted to the injunction of the law under which she lived, and presented the Infant JESUS in the Temple. To render the first-born Son holy unto the LORD, it was a precept of the Mosaical ordinance, Levit. ch. xii. that attendance should be given in the temple ; or otherwise that an offering should be made of money or sacrifice. The mother was also considered impure, and as such, forbidden to join in any act of public worship, during forty days for a male, and eighty days for a female child; at the end of which, she was to carry a 'Lamb, if in opulent circumstances, or two young Pigeons or Doves if poor ; the Lamb as being the least liable to choler of all the animal crea* tion ; and the Dove, among birds, as being not only unarmed with offensive beak or talons, but remarkable for fidelity arid affection ; having justly been esteemed emblems of innocence : and it was in conformity with that command, the Holy Virgin attended in 'the Temple on the fortieth day, and presented a pair of Doves, an offering suitable to her indigent circumstances. From this pious submission to the law, arose the present religious rite of " CHURCHING" in this country after child-birth, though, as the old Mo- saical Institution has been abrogated, not any other sacrifice than that of the heart is now en- joined, nor is any determinate or stated period, fixed when that act of piety shall take place ; though " the Month" which is at present used to express the period of a female's confinement after child-birth, answers to the forty days under the old Judaical dispensation ; and it is to be ob- served, that notwithstanding this ceremony of churching has been practised from the earliest pe- riod of the Christian aera, it is no where recorded to be requisite from any presumed continuance of impurity in the female ; our SAVIOUR, as the great anti-type of all the Jewish sacrifices, having by his atonement as " the Lamb slain," made full expiation for original sin ; although; as an act of grateful sensibility, the usage of Churching, VOL. i. o 194 after the danger of parturition, cannot be too highly commended : The birth of man is awfully miraculous ; and every means should be adopted to prevent the innumerable instances of Divine mercy shewn to the woman, from diminishing our sense of Almighty goodness. By the most antient accounts we have of eccle- siastical rites, it appears, that this festival was celebrated in the Christian churches with an abundance of lights, in allusion, as was affirmed, to the prophetic words of SIMEON, who, when the Infant JESUS was brought into the Temple, pub- licly exclaimed, " LORD, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace ; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people ; A LIGHT TO LIGHTEN THE GENTILES, AND THE GLORY OF THY PEOPLE ISRAEL :" a prophecy which our Lord, in the most direct manner, has applied to himself; " I am come a LIGHT into the world." John xii. 46. ; and to which the beloved Evangelist has likewise borne his express testimony, " That was the true LIGHT which LIGHTETH every man that cometh into the world" John i. 9. This feast therefore, was originally, and not unappro- priately, called CANDLE-MAS DAY, as well as the DAY OF PURIFICATION ; and although the practice of lighting the churches has been discon- tinued in this country, since the second year of EDWARD the Sixth, A. D. 1548, yet in the Romish church, the original term, and all its attendant 195 ceremonies, are still retained, and a mass actually performed for the Caudles ; the several heads of the church in their respective dioceses, and the Pope himself, at Rome, not only bestowing a solemn benediction upon those then used, but also upon such as are to be expended during the en- suing year, which are carried in procession about the streets. That the ignorant and superstitious multitude should place a confidential reliance in the protection of the consecrated candles, cannot greatly surprize, when it is considered that the priests, to whom they looked up with reverential awe, were themselves guilty of originating such trifling and silly usages: In their ceremony of the consecration of the candles, they addressed the Deity, and our Saviour in fixed and formal prayers, imploring that the (f Creature of Wax" might receive the heavenly benediction; and, as the climax of such absurdity, they even offered up petitions to the Waxen Creatures themselves, that they would, " in the name of our Lord and the Holy Trinity, &c. &c. repel, extirpate devils," and so forth. When the Christian Bishops instituted this festival, there can be little doubt but that they substituted it in place of the Pagan Lupercalia, which had been before kept on the 15th of Fe- bruary. To ensure success in the primitive church, it became absolutely necessary to have recourse to some policy ; the great body of the people were ignorant and profligate in the x- O 2 196 treme, and it would have been impossible to have overthrown their long-established and much-loved usages, without affording them some other means of indulging themselves in relaxation. By insen- sible degrees, therefore, for almost every Pagan ceremony, some Christian rite was introduced, bearing, as near as circumstances would admit, and religion at all justify, an apparent affinity to the old customs. The people in general, wanting only revelry, hesitated not ,in conforming to the new establishment, provided they were not de- prived of their accustomed .holiday ; to change the name of any species of relaxation could not be much regretted, n,or : was, i{ probable that a lit- tle difference in the observation would be opposed, while a total aboljtion would have been imprac- ticable. Instead,; therefore, of the more gross ob- servation of the Lupercalia,, which was regarded as a feast of Purification, and intended to render the females fruitful, the Christians offered up thanksgivings, ,on this day, .in commemoration of the ceremony of the Purification of the Holy Vir- gin ; and, adverting to the expression of SIMEON, they adorned their churches with numerous lights, and paraded about with flam,beaux and candles, in close imitation of the Pagan custom of brenning, in honour of FEBRUA, or JUNO, who, in heathen mythology, was deemed to preside over the purification of women. In this instance, therefore, there is a strict conformity with the old Pagan superstitions , while in the Reformed 197 church we have gradually dropped most of these absurd practices, which, although justifiable, and perhaps almost necessary at the time of their ori- ginal introduction, would of course be exploded, when mankind became so far enlightened, as to be capable of reflecting properly upon the attractive and majestic simplicity of the Christian religion. By abolishing the old usages which were en- grafted upon the superstitions of the Heathens, we have in this kingdom happily attained such a clearness of intellectual perception and soundness of understanding, that superstition of every kind seems nearly to have lost its power ; while in those countries which still persevere in the antient mode of worship, few except the most enlightened cha- racters are free from its degrading influence. It is true, that some ignorant and timid persons in this country still light candles as a charm against thunder and lightning, in the efficacy of which there was in former times a belief almost univer- sally prevalent, " Provided that the Priest had given them his benediction on the day of Purifi- cation" while on the Continent that practice is not only retained, but the candles which have re^- ceived such benediction are considered as possessed of a virtue, sufficiently powerful to frighten away devils, and are accordingly often placed in the hands of persons while in the agonies of death, to protect them from all the spirits of darkness, who are considered as not daring to intrude, while this holy light is shining around them. 198 Antiently this day was likewise called Chris fs Presentation, the Holiday of St. Simeon, and the Wives" Feast. (2ND FEBRUARY, 1812.) See ^eptuagegima, page 183. (3RD FEBRUARY.) ST. BLASE, BLAIZE, BLASUS, or BLASSIUS, ap- pears by some of his legends to have been bishop of Sebasta, or Sebask, in Cappadocia ; according to others, of Sebastia, a city of Armenia, of which he is considered the tutelar saint, and where in honour of him a Military Order was formerly in- stituted. He was a learned and good man, and a zealous supporter of the oppressed Christians un- der the reign of DLOCLESIAN, and for that cause alone is said to have suffered martyrdom by deca- pitation i the year 280,, after having been cruelly 199 whipped with scourges, and his flesh lacerated with " Combed of $ren*" The monkish historians, who have been very concise in their accounts of this saint in matters of fact, have attempted to remedy that deficiency by attributing to him numerous miracles of a most extraordinary nature : some actually profane, others, if we can pardon their fabrication, puerile and ridiculous. Just prior to his decease, he earnestly prayed to our LORD, that " J^o^oefcer Desired ])$$ tylyt fro tfjp infprmpte of tije rtjrote, or required an&e for an? otfjer efcene or infgrmpte, fljat be tooto fjere fym ano migijt fcegerfoe to be quartf^jd and tyltb :*' and they add, that " tijer cam a bopg fro $ebene to f)?m, ^ap* en0, tljat ty$ petition toa.s grauntcd, and ^ol& be oonn flj fje IjaD prapD." After which solemn assurance, all those of course who prayed to him for help were restored to health, let their complaints have been either mental or bodily, recent, or of long duration, of which many astonishing instances are on legendary record. Before this saint's mar- tyrdom, his exertions were chiefly confined to of- fices of a more humble nature, such as saving ' O from death the son of a devout woman, who with- out his aid would have been choaked h!y a fish bone, forcing a wolf to return to another a pig which that voracious animal had stolen ; with others of the like ridiculous tendency. In honour of St. BLAZE, there formerly were offered to him candles, which after receiving be- O nediction were considered holy, and became 200 highly serviceable to all pious uses ; and even un- til very lately, or perhaps in some places in Eng- land at this time, fires were kindled upon diffe- rent eminences on the day of his anniversary. Whether these customs had any allusion to the saint's life, or merely originated from a reference such lights or blazes bore to his name, does not any where appear. ST. BLAZE was once a very popular Saint throughout this country; and there are accounts extant, which state him to have first procured such favour by visiting our isle, and converting many of our barbarous forefathers. St. Blazy, a village in Cornwall, , is alleged to have been the place where he commenced his pious labours; which from that circumstance bears his name. The WOOLCOMBERS still esteem bishop BLAZE as their patron saint ; and regardless of propriety, make him the inventor of their useful art: while his being elected to that peculiar office would seem merely to have arisen from the circumstance of the " tomb; OE ptsn>" with which he was tor- tured previously to his martyrdom. Wool, either in a raw or manufactured state, has ever been held one of the principal staple commodities of this kingdom ; and so far from this saint having been the inventor of wool-comb- ing, there were establishments for the manufacture of cloths made from that " most excellent fleece of our sheep" during the times of our first Roman conquerors. Popular error is not, however, to 201 be easily eradicated ; and to this day the effigy of ST. BLAZE is annually carried by the artificers in procession about many of the great towns in which wool is manufactured in the North of England ; though, forgetful of their reputed founder having been a Christian Martyr, the ceremonies of the day bear a closer analogy to Pagan history, than is quite consistent, as will appear by the fol- lowing account of a recent festival of this kind. " The procession was led by JASON, as the champion and protector of the golden fleece, who was followed by shepherds and shepherdesses ; a beautiful girl elegantly dressed, carried a lamb upon her lap, with a bouquet of flowers made of wool in her bosom ; next followed the venerable bishop, his mitre with the keys of ST. PETER gilt in front were formed of wool ; and he had a large wig of the same material, which reached down to the saddle ; his bridle was held on each side by a page, and another was at the stirrups carrying a Bible in one hand and a wool-comb in the other ; his followers dressed in white, with sashes, scarfs, and high caps, carrying two large flags, all made of wool, and wands ; two persons elevated on a stage were at work shewing the manner in which the wool is combed." f 1 1 i -. i i The importance of our woollen manufactory cannot be too highly appreciated ; it has ever been one of the most important branches of our commerce ; and our annual exports are estimated generally to amount to the vast sum of from 4 to 202 ^,5,000,000. From time immemorial down to the present day, the TWELVE JUDGES in the House of Lords sit on woolsacks covered with crimson cloth, to remind the legislature that in all their deliberations it is their most prominent duty to have an especial regard to the prosperity of the manufactures, of which wool forms the most essential branch : and not only does every historical account concur in the importance of this commodity, but it has also been kept in remem- brance by many old proverbial sayings to the like import, among which may be particularly noticed the very common one " that London Bridge was built upon wool-sacks ;" that is, the expense of the fabric which was intrusted to the care of " PETER," the minister of St. Mary Cole- church, about the end of the 12th century, was defrayed by an impost, expressly laid for the pur- pose, upon the wool brought to the metropolis. And it is particularly worthy of notice that by the statute, 35th George the Third, " all those who have served apprenticeship to the trade of a wool comber, or who are by law entitled to exer- cise the same, and also their wives and children, may set up and exercise such trade, or any other trade or business they are apt and able for t in any town or place within this kingdom/' 203 (STH FEBRUARY.) St. AGATHA appears to have been born in Sicily, where she is chiefly honoured ; but her history is not preserved with the accuracy that might have been expected for so considerable a Saint. The general outline of her life and sufferings is, how- ever, to be collected from various antient authors ; some of whom not being satisfied with a de- scription of her vast endurances, which are too probable to be doubted, have, in their extreme zeal, favoured us with some miracles attending her which are not entitled to so implicit a belief. QUINTIANUS, the praetor or governor of Cata- nia, smitten with the beauty and extraordinary accomplishments of AGATHA, in vain attempted, by the most artful and animated expressions of regard, to seduce her from the paths of virtue : but, not being able to effect his detestable design, his ardent love is stated to have been converted into an inveterate hatred, which prompted him to cause her to be first publicly scourged, and then cast into a loathsome prison. Unmoved by cruel and degrading punishment, as she had be- fore been by temptation, AGATHA virtuously per- severed in repulsing the addresses of the praetor, 204 whose vindictive resentment finally led him to determine upon her destruction, for refusing to sacrifice to the pagan deities ; thus making his false doctrine the ostensible plea for inflicting that pu- nishment, wriich his own private and individual malice had prompted. Upon being questioned as to her religious te- nets, AGATHA nobly persevered in her profession of Christianity, and was, in consequence, put to the rack, burnt with hot irons, and deprived of her breasts ; still, however, continuing stedfast amidst her agonies, the cruel tyrant remanded her to prison, to be reserved for future tortures : but Providence here benignly interfered, bestow- ing on her spiritual comfort, and even throwing down the walls of her prison, and destroying two of the praetor's servants, as they were executing their master's orders for her confinement ; nor was she ever after suffered to be tortured; for upon being again summoned to sustain a repeti- tion of the rack, she prayed to heaven to release her from her enemies, and instantly expired with- out a pang, on the 5th of February 252, or 253, in the 3d consulship of the emperor DECIUS. In CATANIA, where AGATHA was martyred, a church was built and dedicated to her, and her sacred VEIL placed in it to defend that antient city from the eruptions of Mount JEtna, and the earthquakes so frequent in Sicily: but whether through the sins of the people, or from the Saint having been taken by surprize (which is not re- u 205 corded), certain it is, the city has often been overwhelmed by lava, and overturned by earth- quakes, without excepting the church itself. In the last earthquake, which happened in 1693, near 20,000 inhabitants were destroyed: still, however, the ( fertility of the adjoining soil has in- duced the rebuilding of the city ; and ST. AGATHA is yet regarded as^its sure defender against any future similar disasters. Her most miraculous f-if . . veil, which is said to have been recovered, is yet shewn, and not only considered as possessing in itself complete dominion over the mountain, but the faculty also of bestowing a like power to every thing that touches it, " provided it be afterwards sanctified by the bishop's blessing ;" so that there can never be any further danger to be dreaded, as the several bishops have, from time to time, en- couraged the faithful so liberally, that few Cata- neans are without one or more of these sovereign protections from evil. utuquageisima, at (9TH FEBRUARY, 1 8 1 2.) This Sunday is distinguished by two appella- tions, one QUINQ.UAGESIMA SUNDAY, (see p. 183); 206 the other SHROVE SUNDAY, as introductory to the season of which the following Tuesday was the commencement. The term Shrove is the pret*r tense of the Saxon verb to shrive, i. e. to confess ; hence the TUESDAY governing the title of this Sunday, having been the most solemn period of confession, was also called CONFESSION TUESDAY, or SHROVE TIDE, confession time ; Tide or Tid being the Saxon word for time, which is yet ap- plied in this country to particular periods, such as Whitsun-tfzWe, &c. In the North the word " tide" and its derivatives are also still in common use to signify duration ; astite, i. e. as tide, ex- presses the almost obsolete term of anon, or as soon ; and tider, or titter, sooner : " the tider you come, the tider you'll go, &c. &c." This season was formerly called FASGUNTIDE or FASTINGTIDE, and also FASTENS and FASTMASS, by all of which titles it is still denominated in different parts of the North, from its being a sea- son of extreme fasting. Besides the use still made of the old Saxon Shrive, as applying to this day, and to the Tues- day following, there is a word yet retained in our language, though now almost exploded, spring- ing from the same root, " beshrew," which, al- though at this time signifying to curse or rail at, &c. and consequently somewhat diverted from its original meaning, still inclines to the like import; a " beshrevved" person, formerly, having been one- 207 who looked like a confessed or shrived culprit, or sinner doomed to heavy penance. In the reformed church, the antient practice of shriving or confessing at this season, is only known by name; but in the Romish church, confession, with its accustomed formalities, is continued to the present time, as a preparation for the more religious observance of Lent, which commences on the following day : prior to the Reformation, every communicant throughout the kingdom was obliged individually to confess to his parish priest ; the great bell which summoned the parishioners early in the morning to this duty, is yet rung in some parishes on this day, to give notice of the commencement of the service of our reformed church, and still retains in some parts of the country its old name of the PANCAKE BELL, a title evidently derived from the custom, which though gradually declining continues to exist, of mating pancakes and fritters, at this season. In the year 1446*, SIMON EYRE, the Lord Mayor of London, gave a pancake-feast, on Shrove Tuesday, to the apprentices of the city ; which hospitable repast was continued by several succeeding persons who held that honourable office. 208 (HTH FEBRUARY, 1812.) c._ The origin of the term Shrove, which applies equally to the preceding Sunday, as to this Tues- day, having already been given, it may be requi- site to observe, that the one should be regarded as a continuation of the other. After the people had made the confession, require.d at this season by the discipline of the antient church, they were per- mitted to indulge in festive amusements, although not allowed to partake of any repasts beyond the usual substitutes for flesh; and hence arose the " it . custom yet preserved of eating Pancakes and Fritters at Shrovetide, which has given this day the vulgar appellation of Pancake Tuesday; while it is to be remembered, that the Monday preceding was, by the vulgar, called Collop Mon- day, a name it even yet retains in some places, from the primitive custom of regaling with eggs on collops or slices of bread, which the less scru- pulous and more luxurious moderns have extended to collops of meat. On these days of authorized indulgence, the most wanton recreations were tolerated, provided a due regard was paid to the abstinence com- manded by the church ; and from this origin sprang the POPISH CARNIVAL, and all its attend- 209 ant profligacy, appropriately derived from Carni Vale, i. e. farewell to flesh, in allusion to the Lenten season which was to commence on the succeeding morning :< From the loose pastimes of the age in which the Carnival originated, are also to be traced the nearly exploded diversions of COCK-FIGHTING and COCK-THROWING, as well as the discontinued custom of WHIPPING TOPS, ROASTING of HERRINGS, JACK of LENT, &c. &c. which three last named sports were evidently meant as types of the rigor of church discipline. The cock-fightings and cock-throwings in Eng- land, which, much to the credit of the present generation, have been of late sinking into disuse, were formerly general throughout the kingdom, and their progressive decline is to be attributed, in some measure, to the vigilance of our Magis- trates, who have refused licences to those publi- cans who promoted assemblages of persons for such cruel diversions, and still more, it is to be hoped, to the increased morality of the people. For many years our public diaries, and' monthly publications, took infinite pains to impress upon the minds of the populace a just abhorrence of such barbarities; and, by way of strengthening their arguments, they failed not to detail in the most pathetic terms the following fact, which for the interest it contains is here transcribed, from the Obituary of the Gentleman's Magazine for April, 1789. "Died, April 4th, at Tottenham, JOHN ARDESOIF, Esquire, a young man of larg VOL. i. P 210 fortune, and in the splendour of his horses and carriages, rivalled by few country gentlemen. His table was that of hospitality, where it may be said he sacrificed too much to conviviality. Mr. ARDESOIF was very fond of cock-fighting, and had a favourite cock upon which he had won many profitable matches. The last bet he laid upon this cock he lost, which so enraged him, that he had the bird tied to a spit, and roasted alive before a large fire. The screams of the miserable animal were so affecting, that some gentlemen who were present attempted to interfere, which so enraged Mr. ARDESOIF, that he seized a poker, and with the most furious vehemence declared, that he would kill the first man who interfered : but in the midst of his passionate asseverations, he fell down dead upon the spot /" The origin of the barbarous practice of cock- fighting has been attributed to the Athenians, with whom it was partly a religious, and partly a political institution, though afterwards abused and perverted to a common sport throughout Greece, and in subsequent ages among the Romans also, who introduced it into this country. When THE- MISTOCLES led his army against the Persians, he beheld two cocks engaged in furious combat, which he instantly made the means of inspiring his soldiers with warlike ardour : " Behold these birds," said he, " my gallant countrymen ; they fight not for the monuments of their ancestors, neither do they endure the strife for glory, for li- 211 berty, nor for their children ; but merely because the one will not yield to the other." This im- pressive harangue had its desired effect; the Greeks rushed to the battle with incredible fury^ and obtained a decisive victory; in honour of which, -cock fighting was ordained as a public spectacle among the Athenians, and its expence defrayed by the state. This does not, however, prove, that the custom of fighting cocks origi- nated among the Athenians ; they were indisput- ably the first, and perhaps the only people who sanctioned it by public ordinances ; but that con- tests between cocks, and other pugnacious birds, were usual at periods more remote, seems every way to be concluded : It has been time out of re- cord the favourite amusement of the Eastern na- tions, where it is yet practised to an extent per- haps seldom exceeded in Europe. WILLIAM FITZ-STEPHEN, who wrote the life of BfiCKET in the reign of HENRY the Second, is the first of our writers who mentions " cocking" de- scribing it as a school-boy's amusement on Shrove Tuesday, which it was also with the boys at Rome. Various nations have encouraged this fe- rocious sport; but it is to the reproach of our own country, that not only the brutality of such contests has been augmented by fastening artificial spurs, made of steel, to the heels of the gallant cocks, but by a recourse to other aggravations. Not satisfied with the sight of two birds engaged together in deadly encounter, the BATTLE ROYAL P 3 212 was invented, wherein twenty or thirty of these devoted victims of cruelty, were placed in general strife, from which only one could escape ; and what was still more brutal, they have been made to fight what were denominated, WELSH MAINS, in which any given numbers were placed in contest, according to the following rule : Suppose, for ex- ample, what was very common, sixteen pair of cocks were pitted together; of these the sixteen conquerors were forced to a second trial, the eight survivors of these to a third, the four of these that escaped to a fourth, and the two last to a fifth trial ; so that out of the thirty-two originally pitted, only one was suffered to escape, and that of course in too wounded and injured a state, to admit much chance of his recovery! COCK THROWING, the other amusement of the day, was even yet more barbarous than that of Cock-fighting. In the latter diversion, the con- tending birds were prompted to destroy each other, by their natural propensity for fighting, and by that invincible spirit which upheld them, throughout the severity of their sufferings, while they had likewise some chance of surviving the almost general slaughter: but in Cock-throwing, the poor sufferer could not receive any such natu- ral and invigorating stimulus ; he had no rival bird to inflame his jealousy, and call forth his powers, but fastened to a stake, he was compelled to endure the batterings of sticks and other mis- siles, until, by repeated bruises, or broken limbs, 213 he lay prostrate before his savage tormentors, writhing in agonies, from which he could onlv be relieved, by some lucky blow, that terminated at once his sufferings and his life ! This savage and disgraceful sport is thought to be of more modern introduction, in this Island, than that of Cock- fighting, from the circumstance of FITZ-STEPHEN having alluded to the one and not to the other. The meaning of the custom has been thus ex- plained : " In our wars with France in former ages, our ingenious forefathers invented this emblematical way of expressing their derision of, and resent- ment towards, that nation. Poor Mounsieur at the stake, was pelted by men and boys, in a very rough and hostile manner. The brawny arm that demolished the greatest number of the enemy, gained the honour of being the hero and champion of his country. The engagement gene- rally continued great part of the day, and the cou- rageous brave English always came off con- querors. " It will reasonably be asked, why I fix upon the French, rather than the Scotch, the Spanish, or any other nation ? And why should the enemy be represented by a Cock rather than by a Hen, a Goose, a Dog, or any other animal ? The rea- son is evident : a Cock has the misfortune to be called in Latin by the same word which signifies a Frenchman : so that nothing could so well re- present, or be represented by, the one as the 214 other. The Frenchman is ingeniously ridiculed and bastinadoed in the person of his namesake. This naturally accounts for the cruel and bar- barous treatment poor Chanticleer has undeserv- edly met with. It was an ingenious politic con- trivance to exasperate the minds, and whet the re- sentment, of the people against the enemies of their country." CRANESTEIN, an old German author, gives to the usage a more distant and different origin : " When the Danes," says he, " were Masters of^England, and lorded it over the natives of the island, the inhabitants of a certain great city, grown weary of their slavery, had formed a secret conspiracy to murder their tyrants in one bloody night, and twelve men had undertaken to enter the city guard-house by stratagem, and seizing the arms, to surprize the centinels, when their followers, upon a signal given, were to come from their houses and sacrifice all opposers ; but, when they were attempting its execution, the un- usual Growings and flutterings of the cocks about the place they strove to enter, discovered their de- signs ; and the Danes, thus preserved, doubled their vigilance, and much augmented their cruel- ties. Soon after, the English were relieved from the Danish yoke, and to revenge themselves on the cocks for the misfortune they had involved them in, instituted this custom of knocking them on the head on Shrove Tuesday, the day on which it happened. This sport, though at first only 215 practised in one city, in process of time became a national divertigement, and has continued ever since the Danes first lost this island." Other authorities account for the custom in a still different manner: They state it to have been instituted in allusion to the indignities offered to our SAVIOUR, by the Jews before the Crucifixion ; and they argue, that the church would never have suffered such abominable cruelty, without it had actually borne some such reference. That many absurd, and.even wicked practices, have been tole- rated by the Popish clergy, in past ages, stands on mournful record: but it should be remem- bered, that our church historians have perhaps too readily admitted assertions calculated- to fix odium on the body of the Catholic clergy, which at the worst could only attach to some leading indivi- duals: For the honour of Christianity, we must therefore hesitate in giving credence to the cleri- cal origin assigned as the introduction of this cus- tom ; and, for the honour of human nature, we must hope, that from whatever source it actually did spring, it will never more disgrace our national character. That our forefathers devised this savage mode of shewing ^their detestation of the French, seems every way the most probable ; and farther, that it was introduced in the reign of our Third EDWARD (the Sixth of that name), when the two kingdoms were mutually exasperated against each other; the cock, not only from the near affinity 216 of his Latin appellative to that which in the same language expresses a Frenchman, is always called the Gallic Bird, and considered to be one of the emblems of France, as the Lion is that of Eng- land ; and it was under such impression, and to hold out our rivals as objects of contempt, that the VANE by which the changes of the wind are shewn, has been fashioned into the shape of a cock ; thus typifying the levity and inconstancy with which we have charged that nation, every individual of whom, like the Weather Cock, we believe to be " Changing, " Ranging, " Whirling, " Twirling, 61 Veering a thousand times a day ;" and it is from this cause, that the " Weather- Cock" has superseded the true and original word Vane, so far as to render the latter almost obsolete. The boys at school now throw at a wooden in- stead of a living cock ; and near the metropolis, even the vulgar have long disused this brutal cus- tom, substituting in its stead oranges, tobacco- boxes, &c. &c. placed on sticks; all of which, out of compliment to the original, are denomi- nated cocks, and as such, thrown at with blud- geons, by those who are tempted to strive for their possession. 217 (12TH FEBRUARY, 1812,) Stands conspicuous in the history of the antient church, for the severity of discipline exercised on that day : penitents appeared before their bishops with naked feet, and merely a slight covering over their bodies, consisting of the coarsest sack- cloth, ready to submit to such penance as should be imposed upon them ; those who were deemed deserving of exemplary punishment, were first amply sprinkled with the ashes of the palm tree, or other ever-greens, burnt on the Palm Sunday of the preceding year, and then driven out of the church door, the whole of the clergy assembled upon the occasion, following them, repeating the words of the curse denounced against our first pa- rents, " In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat thy bread ;" a degradation they had again to un- dergo on the succeeding Sunday : But such as had sinned in a less degree, were merely marked on the forehead with the sign of the cross, and admo- nished to continue in the fair course they had be- gun : " Memento homo quia pulvis es, et in pul- verem reverteris :" " Remember, man, that dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return," was the awful and salutary lesson impressed upon the hu- 218 man mind, whereby to mortify vanity and hum- ble pride. That the prelates, however, who pre- sided at these solemnities, occasionally forgot in themselves the pious and meek doctrines they so rigorously enforced upon the penitents, there are several memorable instances, some too gross and absurd for recital, others merely affording a painful proof that intemperance of conduct some- times bursts forth, where it ought least to be ex- pected. When BONIFACE the Eighth was about to sprinkle the accustomed ashes on the archbi- shop of GENOA, he was too much irritated by former contentions with that prelate, strictly to abide by the common usage ; he not only varied the customary admonition of " remember, &c. &c." to an invective against the Gibines, to which sect the archbishop was attached, but, unable to restrain his passion, actually cast the whole con- tents of the dish in the face of his prostrate ad- versary. The primitive Christians did not commence their Lent until the Sunday now called the first in Lent. Pope FELIX the Third, in the year 487, first added the four days preceding the old Lent Sunday, to complete the number of fasting days to forty, of which it actually consists, as hath already been observed, page 183. Pope GREGORY the Great introduced the sprinkling of ashes on the first of the four additional days, which gave it the name of DIES CINERUM, or ASH WEDNESDAY ; and the Council of Beneven- 219 turn, in the year 1 091, strictly enjoined the ob- servance of this ceremony, which continued from that period to be invariably practised by the Christian Church until the Reformation, when it was abolished, " as being a mere shadow, or vain shew," and a suitable office was substituted in its stead, in addition to the ordinary service, styled the COMMUTATION ; a service which, however ap- propriate to Ash Wednesday in particular, ought also, according to our liturgy, to be used at other times, ll as the ordinary" may determine, and not on the first day of Lent only, " com- monly called Ash Wednesday," as is now prac- tised. That ashes have usually been considered as an appropriate type of mortality, the following anec- dote may be thought a forcible illustration : ISA- BELLA of Spain, who possessed all the haughty spirit of that nation, was not less conspicuous for her good sense; and the great and magnanimous XIMENES knew well how to take advantage of such prominent features of character : The Cor- deliers, of which order he was principal, having acquired an excessive influence, which the cardi- nal was resolved to diminish, even if he should fail in effecting a thorough reform, he boldly de- termined upon an expedient well calculated, though fraught with danger, to obtain success : With an assumed insolence and contumely, he first excited the indignation of Isabella, against the whole order of which he was the ostensible 220 intemperate head; and that effected, he nobly urged the vanity of all earthly pride. " Recollect, sir," said the astonished fair one, who you are, and to whom you speak," " Yes, madam, re- plied XIMENES, " I am aware I speak to the queen of Spain, a being like myself, and all my order, sprung from the ASHES, to which we must alike return." The rebuke was felt ! The queen ac- quiesced in the doctrine, and the cardinal suc- ceeded in the radical reformation of his turbulent brethren ! Among the antient customs of this country, which have sunk into disuse, was a singularly ab- surd one, continued even to so late a period as the reign of George the First. During the Lenten season, an officer denominated the King's Cock Grower, crowed the hour each night, within the precincts of the Palace, instead of proclaiming it in the ordinary manner of watchmen. On the first Ash Wednesday after the accession of the House of Hanover, as the Prince of WALES, af- terwards GEORGE the Second, sat down to supper, this officer abruptly entered the apartment, and according to accustomed usage, proclaimed in a sound resembling the shrill pipe of a cock, that it was " past ten o'clock." Taken by surprise, and imperfectly acquainted with the English language, the astonished prince naturally mistook the tremu- lation of the assumed crow, as some mockery in- tended to insult him, and instantly rose to resent the affront : nor was it without difficulty that the 221 interpreter explained the nature of the custom, and satisfied him, that a compliment was de- signed, according to the court etiquette of the time. From that period we find no further ac- count of the exertion of the imitative powers of this important officer; but the court has been left to the voice of reason and conscience, to re- mind them of their errors, and not to that of the cock, whose clarion called back PETER to repent- ance, which this fantastical and silly ceremony was meant to typify. In the antient church, this day had two titles, the Head of the Fast, and the Day of Ashes; the former, because Lent commenced on that day ; the latter, from the ceremony already de- scribed, of sprinkling ashes, &c. from whence our Ash Wednesday. grt. SSalenttne* (FEBRUARY 14.) THE practice of " choosing a Valentine," as it is called, on this day, is too well known to need much explanation; yet the expression, and the principal part of the usage, are much at variance, 222 as the first person of the opposite sex who is seen, is generally esteemed the Valentine for the year, whether consonant to " choice," or not. Some young gentlemen and ladies, in order to remedy this uncertainty, contrive to be brought together blindfold ; but such deviation is not considered correct; and it must be still more so to obtain by the chance of first sight, one Valentine, and, ne- vertheless, to send letters usual in such cases, to another, as the object of choice. The origin of this custom has been much con- troverted ; which is to be regretted, considering the interest the subject demands ; though it is indisputably of very antient date. VALENTINE was a presbyter of the church, and, as some authors affirm, a Bishop; while others assert that he renounced his creed, because he was not made a Bishop ; but all agree in assigning to him the palm of martyrdom under CLAUDIUS the Second, at Rome, A. D. 271. Being placed for future punishment under the custody of ASTERIUS, he was resolved, say his legends, " to exercise the power his piety had given him ;" and he accord- ingly prayed to Heaven, and restored to sight one of the daughters of ASTERIUS, who had been blind from her infancy ; a miracle so extraordinary and unexpected, that the whole family were in- stantly converted, and "joyfully suffered death" amidst the greatest torments. VALENTINE himself, who was kept in prison for about a twelvemonth. 223 was beheaded ; and it was, as we are assured, for the sake of perpetuating his virtue, and miracu- lous power, that he was enrolled among the first martyrs of the church. " To abolish the heathen, lewd, superstitious custom of boys drawing the names of girls, in ho- nour of their goddess Februata, or Juno, on the 15th of February, several zealous pastors substi- tuted the names of saints in billets given on that day," says a respectable writer ; and Valentine is alleged to have been conspicuous in overthrowing this custom ; while others contend, that ST. FRAN- CIS DE SALES was the first and principal person, who so successfully combated the pagan error: certain it is, that in the papal dominions patron saints are chosen on this day, and hence, perhaps, our less absurd custom, of choosing lovers or va- lentines, for the year. While authors in general accede to the above statement, some are of opinion that Valentine, who, as before observed, abjured his religion, be- cause he was not elected bishop, used to call toge- ther the male proselytes to his new and heretical doctrines, on the 14th of February, when each chose a female to instruct in religious, and even in worldly affairs, during the year, and from thence deduce our present innocent custom. Another Valentine, the ninety-ninth bishop of Rome, who died in the year 827, is by some con- sidered as the first who changed the heathen prac- 224 tice of drawing for girls, &c. ; and as he esta- blished the annual usage of the poorer clergy drawing lots for their patron for the ensuing year, he seems to have some claim for the honour as- signed to him. It is difficult to come to any probable conclu- sion, even if the matter were worthy of further re- search : our custom might have sprung from ei- ther of the before-mentioned sources, or we may merely have continued, with proper alterations, from our superior religious advantages, the Lupercalia of the Romans. St. Valentine's day being the one immediately preceding the antient Feast of the Lupercalia, or Februata, as it was at first called, the practice may very easily have changed its title, as it had in part its rights : and even the most strict of our religious ancestors may have submitted without repining to a change from a barbarous pagan ceremony, to one that seemed consonant to nature ; which, at this sea- son of the year, prompts the feathered tribe to choose their mates, particularly in warm climates where the substituted custom arose; and gives as it were fresh animation to the renovated world. 225 ^uatrragestma, or in FEBRUARY, 1812.) Under the article of Ash-Wednesday, an ex- planation has already been given with respect to the actual commencement of the Lent season ; and it is requisite, therefore, only to notice that the Sunday now treated upon, is very properly de- nominated the first Sunday in Lent. The name of Lent is almost universally admit- ted to have had its origin from the old Saxon word, Lenten, Lentrg, signifying the spring of the year, because the fast it is meant to distinguish, usually happens about the, commencement of the spring ; or when the days are increasing in length, which the Saxon word, from which Lenten is derived, implied. The antient Christians abstained wholly from food until the evening of each day throughout this long Fast ; one meal was deemed sufficient for their refreshment and support, and the value of what they saved, by this severe privation, was in all instances given to the poor. The commonalty, sensible of the beHefits thus extended to them, were not backward in perpetuating its remem- brance, by various apt proverbs ; occasionally, VOL. i. a 226 however, they conveyed at the same time some allusions to the contingencies attached to their lowly state, not quite expressive of entire satis- faction. And " La carcel y la quaresma para los pobres es hecha," that is, " The jail and Lent were made for poor folks," may be adduced as a striking instance of the popular feeling in Spain, a country celebrated above all others for the force of its proverbial sayings. The moderate use of either flesh, or fish, was admitted ; and it remained for subsequent inge* nuity to create a religious distinction between the flesh of terrene animals and fish : the object was evidently that the Christians should subject them- selves to self-denial, but the particular taste of each individual ought to have been known, before it could be ascertained whether that were really effected by an abstinence from flesh or fish, &c. These considerations had not, however, any weight at those periods; every bull issued by papal authority, whether of absolute or modified restriction, was most rigorously enforced ; and we find that about the year 1212, upwards of 100 persons were burnt for venturing to assert their opinion that it was lawful for Christians to eat flesh during Lent, and, what was then deemed even more sinful, " for a priest to marry at any time of the year," contrary to ecclesiastical re- gulation, which afterwards absolutely interdicted them from ever entering into the connubial state. 227 BECCARIA, in his Essay on Crimes and Punish- ments, states that in the archives of St. Claude in Burgundy, is preserved the following abominable sentence : " Having seen all the papers of the process, and heard the opinions of the doctors learned in the laws; we declare CLAUDE GUILLON to be fully attainted, and convicted of having taken away part of the flesh of a horse, and of eating the same, on the 1st of March, 1629," being a fish day, for which crime the poor wretch was be- headed on the 28th of July following!! Happily released in this country from the papal yoke, nothing but the most unequivocal and corrobo- rating testimonies can satisfy our minds that such vile proceedings could ever have occurred ; and yet Lewis, in his Patriot King, affords us one in- stance, among hundreds that might be adduced, of the tyranny of our ecclesiastical jurisdiction, so late as the Reformation. " THOMAS FREBURN'S wife of Paternoster-row, London," says that author, " longed for pig. Fisher, a butter-woman, brought lum a pig ready for the spit, but carried a foot of it to DR. COCKS, dean of Canterbury, whilst at dinner. One of the dean's guests was Garter king at arms, FRE- BURN'S landlord, who sent to know if any of his family were ill, that he ate flesh in Lent. All well, quoth FREBURN, only my wife longs for pig. His landlord sends for the bishop of London's apparitor, and orders him to tak(j FREBURN and a 2 228 his pig before STOCKSLY the bishop. STOCKSLV sends him and his pig to Judge CHOLMLY, who not being at home, he and the pig were brought back to the bishop, who committed them both to the Compter. Next day, being Saturday, he was carried before the lord-mayor, who said on Mon- day next he should stand in the pillory, with one half of the pig on one shoulder, the other half on the other. The wife desired she might suffer, as the pig was on her account. A string was put through it, and it was hung about his neck, which he thus carried to "the Compter again. Through Cromwell's intercession, the poor man at last gained his liberty, by a bond of twenty pounds for his appearance. This mischief-making pig was, by order of the right reverend father in God the bishop of London, buried in Finsbury- field, by the hands of his lordship's apparitor. And FREBURN was by his landlord turned out of his house, and could not get another in four years." At the Reformation, abstinence from flesh was still enjoined on all the Fridays and Saturdays throughout the year, as well as other days de- nominated fish-days : Queen Elizabeth renewed these injunctions, though her orders were accom- panied with an express declaration, that it wefs not as believing any religious difference in food, but a mere measure of policy to promote the consump-. tion of sh, as an encouragement to sea-faring men ; and at the same time to spare the stock of 229 sheep. That feasting upon turbot, cod with oyster- sauce, carp stewed in claret, &c. should now be deemed a mortification, and eating of flesh, cer- tainly as easily and more commonly obtained, a luxury, appears too much like^a jest, to be easily reconciled to sober consideration. That the observation of Lent was, originally, established in commemoration of our Saviour's miraculous fasting, and to prepare the mind for the great feast of Easter, seems generally to be admitted by the Romish church, and by many Protestant divines ; but whether its origin can be traced so far back as the Apostles, which the Po- pish writers maintain, has never been determined. IREN^EUS, quoted by EUSEBIUS, adopting the then prevalent idea, that the miraculous fasting was designed to be celebrated, seems to regard it as (e a superstitious and vain conceit, first under- taken as an idle and vicious attempt to imitate the powers of our Lord." The Jews yearly PASSOVER, or feast of EXPIATION, was begun by a solemn humiliation of forty days ; and the pri- mitive Christians, following their example, ap- propriated an annual fast, as a proper preparative for the commemoration of the great expiation of the sins of mankind, though the number of days varied in different churches, as well as the prac- tices of each in its observance ; and, as it is evi- dent that at first only forty hours were enjoined, from about twelve o'clock on Friday when our Lord fell under the dominion of death, to Sun- ' 230 day morning when he arose again, which was subsequently augmented to that number of days, there appears to be reason for concluding that this fast was originally instituted in solemn com- memoration of the period our Saviour lay in the tomb of death, as several eminent critics assert, and not of the miraculous fasting, the imitation of which Irenaeus denominated " a superstitious and vain conceit." And it is worthy of remark, that FORTY has been a memorable number in Sa- cred History : Besides the yearly feast of EXPI- ATION of the Jews, and the time our Lord was under the dominion of death, MOSES, ELIAS, and our Saviour himself, each fasted forty days ; the NINEVITES were allowed forty days for their repentance; the CHILDREN OF ISRAEL did penance in the wilderness for forty years ; forty was the limited number of STRIPES by which MALEFAC- TORS were to be corrected; The ALMIGHTY caused it to rain forty days, when the world was over- whelmed by the general DELUGE ; and, it was forty days after the Resurrection, that CHRIST AS- CENDED into heaven. Pope Telesphonis, in the second centuiy, is the first who is recorded to have instituted days of abstinence before Easter, though they were not enforced as a religious obligation until the third century. Ercombert, king of Kent, first appointed the fast of Lent in this country, in the year 641. , 231 . Succeeding generations marked the distinctions between the various foods : in this country we find flesh to have been early prohibited during Lent, though Henry VIII. published a procla- mation in 1543, allowing the use of white meats, which continued in force, until by proclamations of James the First in 1619 and 1625, and by Charles the First in 1627 an d 1^3 1 > fl esn was again wholly forbidden. On the Continent numerous ordinances have been issued to the like effect ; and by the th canon of the 8th council of Toledo, it was or- dained, that if any persons ate flesh in Lent, they should be deprived of the use of it all the rest of the year, unless compelled by unavoidable neces- sity. Even milk, butter, cheese, eggs, and any composition of which they formed an ingredient, were included in these severe decrees. The butchers could not without a dispensation kill any animal, nor did any person dare to dress flesh, or even boil an egg, without clerical permission. The Earl of Shaftesbury having been indisposed during a tour through Italy, fancied he could eat some veal. The landlady of the inn could not however venture to pro- cure it without authority, and she was com- pelled to apply to the priest. " Is his Lord- ship a catholic or a heretic - 1 " asked the reverend father. " Not a catholic, I believe," said the hostess. " Then let him have the meat," said he, ** Here is the dispensation, and he may eat if he 332 pleases, and be d d." Had his Lordship been a catholic, such dispensation could not have been granted without some more powerful arguments to the ghostly father than the landlady seems to have conveyed ; and if credit were to be given to the tales told of the benefits of fasting, he surely would not have desired it. John Rawlin of the order of Cluny, speaking of this act of devotion in his Sermones Quadragesimales, very amply, but, to our reformed understandings, very im~ pfously, assures his readers, among other similar abominable impertinences, " that as a coach goes faster when it is empty by fasting a man can be better united to God : for it is a principle with geometers that a round body can never touch a plane except in one point ; but God is this sur- face, according to these words, Justus et Rectus Dominus a belly too well fed becomes round, it therefore cannot touch God except in one point; but fasting flattens the belly, and it is then united with the surface of God in all points !" The celebrated HANDEL was the first who in- troduced ORATORIOS, or sacred performances, at our theatres two nights in each of the weeks, during the Lenten season, to the exclusion of historical or prophane representations ; and, originally, the oratorio was accordingly confined solely to sacred pieces, though modern refinement has in some degree changed the usage : To meet the preva- lent innovation of the times, other performances have for some years been occasionally substituted ; 233 and oar popular singers have now in Lent oppor- tunities afforded them of exerting their talents in praise of warriors, antient and modern, as well as at any other season of the year ; or, what is yet more to be regretted, of intermixing, with di- vine and appropriate harmonies, some trifling bal- lads, ill according with the solemnity of the ora- torio, and subversive of what was heretofore deemed consistent with propriety and public de- cency. tnfcrr WLttk. (I)TH FEBRUARY, 1812.) So early as the third century, pope CALIXTUS or- de-ed EMBER DAYS to be observed in the Christian church, to implore the blessing of the Almighty on the produce of the earth, by prayer and fasting; and he appointed FOUR TIMES in each year for exercising these acts of devotion, so as to answer to the four seasons of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, when the fruits of the earth are sown, spring into vegetation, attain maturity, and are appropriated to use. The first, or Spring Ember days, and those for Sum- mer, depend upon the moveable festivals of Quad- ragesima Sunday and Whitsunday ; the other two, upon the antient fixed festivals (now no 234 longer observed in the reformed church, though still noticed in the calendar), of Holy Cross and St. LUCIA. The two firstfjhappen on the Wed- nesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, next following Quadragesima Sunday and Whitsunday, and are consequently variable like those festivals ? while the two latter, depending on thejixed festivals of Holy Cross and St. LUCIA, may also vary a week in the times of their observance, as they are to take place on the Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, after those feasts, so that if either of those holidays happen on a Wednesday, that day week becomes the first of the Ember days ; whereas, if they oc- cur on a Tuesday, they commence on the day im- mediately following. CALIXTUS likewise ordained that these four seasons should be especially devoted to the pre- paration of the clergy before their ordination, in close imitation of the example of the Apostles, (Acts xiii. 3.) At first these days were not uni- formly observed by different churches at the same time : but the Council of Placentia, A. D. 1095, settled them to be generally kept as before ex- plained ; and by the 31st canon of the church of England, it is strictly enjoined, " that deacons and ministers be ordained, or made, but only on the Sundays immediately following these Ember Feasts, or days of preparation ;" though it is^o be observed that bishops dq, notwithstanding, occa- sionally ordain on other Sundays, and even on. holidays not Sundays. 235 There have been various explanations given to the title of these days : some allege it to be de- rived from the Greek 'H/jtsai, i. e. Days, though Dr. MARECHALL, and Sir H. SPELMAN/ conjec- ture that they are so called from the Saxon EM- BRYNE, or IMBRYNE, signifying a Circuit, the latter of which opinions is the one commonly re- ceived, from the circumstance of these fasts re- turning regularly every year in certain courses. As the Saxon word Imbre, however, signifies ashes ; as it was the antient general custom to sprinkle ashes on the heads of the people at these seasons ; and, as these days were kept with such rigid abstinence, that not any thing was permitted to be eaten until night, and then only cakes baked under the embers of ashes, called Panem Sub- cinerinium, or Ember bread ; there appears much reason to give the preference to the explanation afforded by other Antiquaries, that they were called Ember Days, from the causes last men- tioned. By the Canonists, the Ember Days are deno- minated QUATUOR ANNI TEMPORA, or the four cardinal seasons of the year ; and hence HENSHALL considers Ember to have been formed by corrup- tion from femper, of tempora : but this seems much too laboured a definition ; and besides, in the laws of both king ALFRED and CANUTE, these days are called Ymbren. The four weeks in which these days severally occur, are also denominated Ember Weeks. 236 (24TH FEBRUARY.) ST. MATTHIAS was one of the seventy Dis- ciples ; and being eminently distinguished for his devout attention to the discourses of our Saviour, was proposed to the Apostles with JOSEPH, sur- named BARSABAS, and JUSTUS, as one of the candidates to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of JUDAS ISCARIOT; the eleven Apostles having implored the Almighty to direct their choice between these pious disciples : " they gave forth their lots, and the lot fell upon MATTHIAS," who thereupon was considered as the person whom Providence approved of; which was afterwards amply confirmed by his receiving the Holy Ghost, with the other Apostles, ten days after the As- cension : " The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is the Lord's." Prov. xvi.3. CAPPADOCIA and COLCHIS were assigned to ST. MATTHIAS, in which to execute the important du- ties of his ministry ; and he appears to have been active, zealous, and successful, in converting the barbarous inhabitants of those regions, notwith- standing the extreme rude contempt with which he was at first received. 237 About th year 62, travelling towards Jerusa* fern, he was seized in Galilee, and carried before ANANIAS, the High Priest, who had before inhu- manly occasioned the murder of the amiable and pious JAMES THE JUST ; and, like that illustrious Apostle, remaining stedfast in his faith, he was first stoned, and then beheaded with a battle axe; which warlike instrument forms a concomitant emblem of this disciple, in all graphic representa- tions. The festival of ST. MATTHIAS has been differ- ently observed by the Church on Leap years; sometimes on the 24th, and at others on the 25th of February ; and the proper period for holding it, is yet far from being generally understood : but it will be seen by reference to the article under the title of Calendar, page 25, that it is now positively settled, invariably to be celebrated on the 24th of February, as well in Leap as in other years. i&unt Xtatoft, (IST MARCH,) Was the son of XANTUS, Prince of Cereticu, now Cardiganshire, by MALEARIA, a nun ; and, what has tended still more to endear his memory 238 to the descendants of the antient Britons, was un* cle to King ARTHUR. Educated in the famous monastery of Bangor, for the service of the church, St. DAVID early became conspicuous for every qualification requisite for that holy and im- portant duty. He was learned, elegant, zealous, and justly esteemed one of the noblest and most able ministers, who ever preached the Gospel to the Britons. After having been ordained priest, he retired to the Isle of Wight, embraced the as- cetic life, and sedulously studied the Scriptures. From this seclusion he removed to Menevia, a city of Pembrokeshire, on the most western pro- montory of Wales, at which place, and its vici 7 nity, he founded twelve convents for the promo- tion of devotional knowledge. The recluse who were admitted within these sacred edifices, were selected from the most amiable of his followers; and, unlike the lazy usage of such asylums in af- ter-times, they were compelled to maintain them- selves by agricultural labour, and to afford from the profits of their exertions, assistance to all the neighbouring poor. Such, indeed, were the pri- mitive regulations of the greater number of mo- nastic institutions : but the abominable and luxu- rious indulgences into which they afterwards aber- rated, the page of history amply unfolds. About the year 577, the Archbishop of CAERLEON resign- ing his see to ST. DAVID, with liberty to transfer that high office from its original seat, Menevia became the metropolis of Wales, and ST. DAVID 239 its first archbishop ; a dignity which Menevia, or St. David's, as it was afterwards called, en- joyed until the year 1100, when it was again, reduced to a bishopric, and placed under the ju- risdiction of the Archbishop of CANTERBURY. In this great charge our Saint lived with ex- emplary piety for 65 years, during which period he combated, and at length overcame the Pe- lagians, a sect that sprang from PELAGIAS, or MORGAN, a Briton who denied original sin, and held other heretical opinions. In the year 642, ST. DAVID died, after having reached the very advanced age of 146* years, and was buried in the church of ST. ANDREW, sup- posed to have been founded by ST. PATRICK about the year 470 : from which time, not only the church, but the city of Menevia, and the whole diocese itself, were, out of compliment and re- spect, dedicated to ST. DAVID, and called by his name. The Welsh, who are the pure descendants of Jhe antient Britons, regard ST. DAVID as their TUTELAR SAINT, and annually hold festive meet- ings on the 1st of March, which was formerly solemnly dedicated to .his remembrance, with every mark of conviviality. In the year 6*40, the Britons under KingCADWALLADER gained a com- plete victory over the Saxons ; and ST. DAVID is considered not only to have contributed to this victory, by the prayers he offered to Heaven for their success, but by the judicious regulation he 240 adopted for rendering the Britons known to each other, by wearing LEEKS in their caps, drawn from a garden near the field of action ; while the Saxons, from a want of some such distinguishing mark, frequently mistook each other, and dealt their fuiy among themselves, almost indiscrimi- nately slaying friends and foes. From this cir- cumstance, arose the custom of the Welsh wear- ing leeks in their hats on ST. DAVID'S Day; a badge of honour considered indispensible upon the occasion, and to have been established from the very period designed to be commemorated. Several of our oldest authors allude to the usage ; and SHAKESPEARE makes HENRY the Vth acknow- ledge to the gallant Fluellen, his pride of joining in the practice : " I wear it for a memorable honour : For I am Welsh, you know, good Countryman" HENRY V. Act 4. Upon the whole it would appear, by indis- putable authority, that ST. DAVID was a mos{ umiable and virtuous character ; devout and humble to his GOD ; steady in the practice of benevolence and diffusive charity ; and an un- shaken supporter of the dignity of the Britons, to whom he owed his origin, and among whom he had the gratification to be held as a much loved countryman. Tradition and the follies of some monkish writers have, however, ioaded his his- tory with circumstances, ill according with the 241 general assent of the present day ; but it might be regarded as wanting in respect to some of his zealous admirers, were it not to be added that a belief prevailed for centuries, That the birth of this saint was predicted 30 years before that auspicious event took place ; That an angel constantly attended him, to minis- ter to his wants, and to contribute to his edi- fication and relaxation ; That the waters of Bath received their warmth, and salubrious qualities, solely from his bene- diction ; That he healed complaints of all kinds, and even re-animated the dead ; That he was honoured with the descent from Heaven of a snow-white dove, which sat upon bis shoulder while he expounded the Scrip- tures ; That the earth on which he stood was raised frofn its level, and became a hill, from whence his voice was the better heard to an extensive au- * ditory: Together with various other miracles equally as- tonishing, though not sufficiently delicate to be here repeated. VOL. L 242 (2D MARCH.) St. CHAD is also called CEDDE by some authors, while others state them to be two distinct per- sonsj and brothers ; the former, who was the youngest, meant to be celebrated on this day ; the other, for some time bishop of London. Of the history of Chad, that may be depended upon as authentic, only a very concise account is to be traced, and in that litfte there does not appear any thing remarkable to have occasioned the re- tention of his name in the Reformed Calendar. He is stated to have been born, in Northumber- land, of Saxon parents ; to have become early conspicuous for his elose attention to devotional duties; and to have been very instrumental in converting the Mercians, among whom he prin- cipally exercised his ministry ; particularly WAL- PHERE, the king of that district, who had, ac- cording to the legend, a short time before put to death his two sons WALFAD and RUFIN, merely on a suspicion of their having encouraged that faith, of "which CHAD at length made the unna- tural parent a principal supporter. The saint, at the time he worked what the monks termed a Biiracle upon the king, led an hermitical life in 243 a cell at Litchfield, in Staffordshire, on the spot where now stands the church of his name. He had before, for a short period, officiated as arch- bishop of York, by the command of EGFRID king of Northumberland, during the absence of WILFRIDE, who was gone to Paris for consecra- tion ; but on the return of WILFRIDE, he re- signed his temporary office, at the persuasion of THEODORUS archbishop of Canterbury, by whom he was, some years after, created bishop of Litchfield. The antient Mercian Cathedral was taken down in 1129, an d the present elegant pile erected to supply its place, by WALTER DE LANG* TON, who was consecrated in 1296: ST. CHAD'S shrine was translated to the new edifice, and upwards of ^. 2,000, a sum immense for such a purpose in those times, expended in its decora- tions, &c. ; which, with all its accumulated riches by offerings, &c. fell a prey to Henry VIII. CHAD was the third bishop of Litchfield; and the concourse of devotees who thronged to visit his shrine, was the first great cause of the in- crease and flourishing condition of that city. The death of this saint happened on the 3d March, 6*72 ; and we are solemnly assured that flights of angels attended him in the awful mo- ment of his departure, singing hymns for the comfort of his soul. 244 (7TH MARCH,) was a married lady of distinguished parentage, and only in the 22d year of her age, when she was ordered into confinement, by MINUTIUS FIR- MIANUS, the proconsul of Africa, in the fifth general persecution of the Christians, under the Emperor Severus ; who, having in the early part of his sovereignty been favourable to Christianity, proved, in the subsequent period of his detested reign, one of its most unrelenting and bitter enemies. The husband and mother of PERPETUA were reputed Christians : her father was a bigotted heathen : while under confinement, every art which parental authority or affection couM dic- tate, was essayed by the father of PERPETUA, to make her abandon the Christian faith, and save the life of herself and that of the infant which she nourished at her breast : but she remained firm against every effort ; and when under the awful examination, before HILLARIAN the procu- rator, who officiated as Judge, displayed the most heroic fortitude, receiving with magnanimous resignation her sentence to be devoured by wild beasts ; a conduct so truly noble, that it wrought upon HILLARIAN, who afterwards embraced those 245 pious and heavenly doctrines, which he found no reason could refute, or earthly power overcome. In the amphitheatre, where PERPETUA was exposed to the fury of an enraged bull, she re- ceived several bruises from the animal, though none of immediate danger, and was finally dis- patched by the hands of the public executioner, amidst the scoffs and exultations of the brutal spectators, A. D. 205. ST. AI/GUSTIN records that the day of PER- PETUA' s martyrdom was commemorated in his time; but why, after having been expunged from our calendar by the first reformers, it was again introduced, not any reason has been assigned. -5 fa (8xH MARCH, 1812.) This day received its appellative of Midlent Sunday, because it is the fourth, or middle Sunday, between Quadragesima, or the first sunday in Lent, and Easter Sunday, by which latter, the Lenten Season is governed : several of our eccle- siastical writers denominate it DOMINICA REFEC- TIONIS, or the Sunday of Refreshment, a term considered as having been applied to it, from the 246 Gospel of the ^day treating of our Saviour's mira- cuious feeding of the five thousand, and from the first lesson in the morning, containing the rela- tion of JOSEPH entertaining his brethren : while the common or vulgar appellation which this day still retains, is MOTHERING SUNDAY, a term expressive of the antient usage of visiting the MOTHER (Cathedral) Churches of the several dioceses, when voluntary offerings (then deno- minated DENARII QUADRAGEMINALES, now the LENT or EASTER OFFERINGS) were made, which by degrees were settled into an annual composi- tion, or pecuniary payment charged on the pa- rochial priests, who were presumed to have re- ceived these oblations from their respective coiir gregations. The public processions have been discontinued ever since the middle of the 13th century, and the contributions, made upon that occasion, settled into the present trifle paid by the people under the title of EASTER Offerings : but the name of MOTHERING Sunday is still not un- aptly applied to this day ; and a custom which was substituted by the commonalty, is yet prac- tised in many places, particularly in Cheshire, of visiting their natural mother, instead of the Mo- ther Church, and presenting to her small tokens of their 'filial affection, either in money or trin- kets, or more generally in some species of regale, such as frumety, fermety, or frumenty, so called from FRUMENTUM, (wheat being its principal in- gredient,) which being boiled in the whole grain, 247 and mixed with sugar, milk, spice, and some- times with the addition of raisins or currants, form altogether an agreeable repast. This mark of filial respect has long since been abolished in the South, though another custom to which it gave way, of the landlords of public houses pre- senting messes of this nature to the families who- regularly dealt with them, is within the memory of many persons yet living. to f surname* Cije ep told t'm 4 3ngI0j3f)nien :' 4 and jugtty be t^ep ^o tailed/ quot!) fyt, 4 for t^e? Jjabe angeli^e face?', and ?ccm meet to be made coljeir* toitt) tbe angel^ in fjeaben." ST. GREGORY'S works were printed at Rome in the year 1588, and are still in high estimation: After having ably and piously conducted the du- ties of the Pontificate for about fourteen years, he died A. D. 604, sincerely lamented by all t e religious of his time. 250 The present method of chaunting in the church of Rome, commonly called the "plain song? was first introduced by ST. GREGORY, and therefore is frequently called the Gregorian chaunt, as well as the Rowan chaunt, to dis- tinguish it from the Ambrosian song, which was performed by one side of the choir responding alternately to the other. The present practice in England appears to be a medium between the two methods, and admirably adapted for avoiding that confusion which is likely to occur where large congregations are required to join in musical unison, at precise and fixed periods (see p. 302). jftftf) Ihmfcap in (15TH MARCH, 1812.) - This Sunday is merely distinguished in our almanacs as the fifth in Lent, though in the Roman church it has the appellation of PASSION SUNDAY, which latter title the sixth or PALM Sunday bears in the reformed calendar, from the circumstance of the death or passion of our Saviour, being commemorated in the week of which PALM, or our PASSION, SUNDAY is the first day. 251 The Latins are stated to have called this fifth Sunday in Lent, PASSION SUNDAY, instead of the sixth, thereby anticipating its true station a week, because they had established ceremonies for the latter, appropriate to its other name of PALM SUNDAY, which precluded the performance of the rites deemed applicable to the solemn oc- casion, from whence they denominated their PAS- SION SUNDAY : rites which they formerly carried to an excess of superstition, not surpassed by any of their usages. Of late years they have been more moderate, merely covering their crucifixes with black, in token, as they affirm, of our LORD having quitted the Temple and hid himself, and to dispose the minds of the people to a due feeling for the sufferings of the Redeemer. In the North of England, there are yet to be found some vestiges of these superstitious observ- ances of this day, which, befoje the Reformation, were general throughout the kingdom : Among other of the old ceremonies, soft beans were d\- tributed as a kind of Dole, to denote this season of grief, a custom, no doubt, derived from Pagan Rome ; offerings of that species of pulse having been deemed by the Heathens peculiarly propi- tious in appeasing the ghosts of the departed. The Latin Church, however, attributes the cus- tom to an imitation of the Disciples, who plucked the ears of corn, and rubbed them in their hands, &c. Instead of beans, our Northern countrymen (use pease in their repast of this day, especially in 252 Northumberland: in some places they are first parboiled, and then parched ; in other dis- tricts, they are only parched : and the day is still known by "the name of CARE or CARLING Sunday, in Durham and the adjoining counties, a title it once universally bore in England, though now no longer noticed in our calendar, signifying a day of especial care or devotional attention. After the Reformation, when the follies or usages of this day were discontinued, the common people testified their approbation of that relief from mor- tification, by the humble but expressive couplet, still in use in Nottinghamshire, of " Care Sunday, care away, Palm Sunday and Easter-day !" At Newark-upon-Trent, one of the public fairs is denominated " Careing Fair,'* and held the Friday before " Careing^ Sunday, which is the Sunday fortnight before Easter ; and the remem- brance of that Sunday, which governs this fair, and others in Lent, is also preserved in another common saying in the North, of " Tid, Mid, Misera, Carting, Palm, and good Paste- day.'* This saying has been explained, the " TID, MID, MISERA," corruptions of the old Latin service, Te DEUM, Ml DEUS, MISERERE Mei; CARLING and PALM, as already elucidated ; and PASTE-EGG-DAY, allusive to the PASCAL-GG. 253 (17TH MARCH.) ST. PATRICK, from the eminent services he rendered to the Irish in converting them from idolatry, is called the APOSTLE and FATHER OF THE HIBERNIAN CHURCH ; and he has also the honour of being selected as the PATRON or TUTE- LAR SAINT of that Island. The name this saint received at his baptism was SUCEATH, formed from the British language, and expressing " Va- lour in War." His parents, who were Britons by birth, were of great respectability and repute, and resided at the spot now called Kirk-Patrick, near Dunbarton, where it is generally acknowledged this eminent character was born on the 5th of April, 373. But the Irish assert him to have been a Genoese Friar, who travelled on foot through Italy, France, and England, to the coast of Scotland, from whence he embarked and landed at Donaghadee, in Ireland. He received the first rudiments of his educa- tion at the place of his nativity, and was early conspicuous for an ingenuous aud amiable disposition, and for superiority of mental powers. 2S4 Scarcely arrived at the age of sixteen, he was taken prisoner by certain Irish exiles, and con- veyed to that kingdom, where he continued six years in captivity under MILCHO, who purchased him as a slave, and bestowed upon him the name of COTHRAIG, signifying four families, and de- signed to convey the circumstance of his having been purchased from the service of three persons, his masters by capture, to be employed under the fourth who so named him : During this servitude, from which ST. PATRICK contrived to escape, he had made himself a perfect master of the Irish language ; and he rs considered very early after his return to his native spot, to have conceived the wish of converting the Irish from Paganism to Christianity. - The qualifications necessary for this purpose, could not however be attained in Britain, where few only were remarkable for any particular mental acquirement : Passing, therefore, tor the Continent, he studied the Scriptures for thirty-jive years, first under ST. MARTIN, the Bishop of Tours, his mother's uncle, who or- dained him deacon ; and next under the no less celebrated ST. GERMAN, Bishop of Aries, who advanced him to priest's orders, and for reasons unknown, gave the third name by which history speaks of him, of MAWN, or MAGINIM. By ST. GERMAN he wais recommended to the particular consideration of CELESTINE, the sovereign pon 1 - tiff, who consecrated him a bishop, and again 255 changed his name to PATRICIUS, or PATRICK, not only in allusion to the respectability of his de- scent, but to give lustre and weight to the im- portant mission, with which he intended to in- trust him, of converting the Irish : And his re- ceiving this fourth name forms a remarkable coincidence, with the fact of his having been called COTHRAIG, in allusion to the four families, or four masters whom he served ! In the year 441, by most authors, though so early as 432 by others, ST. PATRICK landed at Wicklow, from whence he proceeded to Dublin and Ulster, at which latter place he founded a church ; and after labouring with considerable success for about seven years, he again visited Britain, which he delivered from the then prevalent heresies of PELAGIUS and ARIUS ; established the great church of St. Andrew, at Menevia, afterwards called St David's ; and set- tled the bishopric of the Isle of Man, These important duties executed, ST. PATRICK re- turned to Ireland, nearly the whole of which island he brought to the Christian faith, after the most indefatigable and zealous efforts, of about the further period of thirteen years, j when he once more visited Rome, to render an account of the happy success of his mission, which he liad executed with so much discretion, as not to oc- casion the martyrdom of even one of his compa- nions, nor of any of those for whose salvation he had go strenuously exerted his noble faculties. 256 About the year 472, he founded the arch- bishopric of Armagh, between which place and his church at Ulster, afterwards the famous ab- bey of Saul, he passed the remainder of his long and well-spent life, dying at the latter place on the 17th March, 493, in the 120th year of his a^e. O The most current belief favours his having been buried in the abbey of Saul, in the county of Down ; but there have been arguments ad- duced, in proof of his having been interred at Glastonbury, in England, and many more that his remains were deposited at Glasgow, in Scot- land. CAMBRENSIS positively affirms, that the " bodies of ST. PATRICK, ST. BRIDGET, and ST. COLUMB, were not only buried at Down, but were also there taken up and translated into shrines by JOHN DE COURSEY, about 1185." In the year 1470, being the eleventh of EDWARD the Fourth, an Order of Knights of the Garter was instituted in Ireland ; though, for reasons which have eluded research, this Order was abolished so early as twenty-four years after its establishment. On the 1 1 th of March, 1783, a new Order was instituted, denominated " Knights of the Illustrious Order of St. Patrick," of which His MAJESTY, his heirs and successors, were or*- dained perpetual sovereigns, and to which se- veral of the most eminent characters under the united monarchy of Great Britain and Ireland, have been elected Knights Companions. 257 The miracles attributed to ST. PATRICK are numerous ; some of a nature too much out of the line of modern belief to be repeated ; others too closely bordering on the efforts of other saints to create much interest, such as having swam across the Shannon with his head under his arm, or, as some of the descendants of those converted by him gravely assert, " in his mouth :" while the marvellous blessing HE is said to have be- stowed upon Ireland of never breeding venomous creatures, is too currently credited to admit of serioas refutation ; though several eminent wri- ters, not doubting the fact of reptiles, &c. not being found in that island, have attempted to account for it, from the peculiar salubrity of the air and soil. Innumerable are the other advan- tages imputed by the Irish, to the partiality of ST. PATRICK for their island ; among which may be noticed the INTRODUCTION OF THE LATIN LET- TERS, and with them the ROMAN LANGUAGE, as actually possessing evidences of truth. The Irish have a tradition relative to the land- ing of ST. PATRICK on the eve of the antient Belteine, or Holy Fires, &c. &c. ; but the le- gend is so interwoven with absurdity and super- stition, that the fact is not noticed by the most accredited histories of that saint. The wearing of SHAMROCK on the Feast of St. Patrick, is attributed by some to the following circumstance: .When he first endeavoured to plant the seeds of Christianity in llibenua, he VOL. i. s 258 found great difficulty in inculcating the doctrine of the TRINITY in the minds of his rude and barbarous auditors ; and therefore had recourse to a visible image to illustrate his discourse. Thus when expounding that tritheistical mystery, he held in his hand a leaf of the Shamrock or Trefoil,, as not only representing the divisibility of the Divinity into three distinct and equal parts, but also its junction or union in one stem or ori- ginal : and this ingenious mode of accounting for the wearing of the Shamrock may possibly have truth for its basis ; although it is more pro- bable, that as the Shamrock had been, long be- fore the time of ST. PATRICK, considered the national badge or emblem, it was originally worn on his Anniversary, to mark him as their patron,, or tutelar saint. Hing of tee West MARCH.) EDWARD, styled " The Martyr,** had accord- ing to some historians reached the 15th, by others only the 12th year of his age. when he was crowned at Kingston-upon-Thames, by the cele- 259 brated archbishop DUNSTAN, who had warmly espoused his cause, in opposition to ELFRIDA, his step-mother, whose ambition prompted her to strive for the succession of his half and younger brother, ETHELRED. " EDWARD lived four years after his accession, and there passed nothing memorable during his reign. His death alone was memorable and tragical. This young prince was endowed with the most amiable innocence of manners, and as his own intentions were always pure, he was in- capable of entertaining any suspicion against others ; though his step-mother had opposed his succession, and had raised a party in favour of her own son, he always showed her marks of re- gard, and even expressed on all occasions the most tender affection towards his brother* He was hunting one day in Dorsetshire" (on the iSth March, 978,) " and being led by the chase near Corfe Castle, where ELFRIDA resided, he took the opportunity of paying her a visit unattended by any of his retinue ; and he thereby presented her with the opportunity which she had so long wished for. After he had mounted his horse, he desired some liquor to be brought him : while he was holding the cup to his head, a servant of ELFRIDA approached him, and gave him a stab behind. The prince, finding himself wounded, put spur* to his horse ; but becoming faint by the loss of blood, he fell from the saddle, his foot stuck in 260 the stirrup, and he was dragged along by his unruly horse till he expired. Being tracked by the blood, his body was found, and was privately interred at Wareham by his servants. The youth and innocence of this prince, with his tragical death, begat such compassion among the people, that they believed miracles to be wrought at his tomb, and gave him the appellation of Martyr, though his murder had no connexion with any religious principle or opinion." This foul and wicked murder of the youthful unsuspecting monarch, struck the whole nation with horror and dismay. No man considered himself safe, after so dreadful a violation of hospita- lity ; and every means were resorted to, whereby to testify their detestation of the deed. Hard drink- ing, the then prevailing vice of the people, gave way before the danger attending its indulgence: No man would trust himself in the unguarded posture of drinking, without some security from the much-dreaded stroke of treachery. Hence, as we learn from WILLIAM of Malmsbury, each man required the protection of his neighbour be- fore he would venture, in society, to lift to his lips the much-prized Wassail bowl ; and hence arose, as we are taught by the same authority, the familiar expression of PLEDGING, yet retained in common usage, when one friend passes the compliment to another of Pledging, or desiring himjirst to partake of the social glass. 261 Many authors attribute the origin of this term to the Danes, who, when they had subdued Eng- land, were in the abominable practice of assassi- nating the natives, while in the act of drinking ; but the best antiquaries lean to the former opi- nion. Pope INNOCENT the Fourth, A. D. 1245> ap- pointed the day of the martyrdom of this prince, to be kept as a festival. " ELFRIDA built monasteries, and performed many penances in order to atone for her guilt ; but could never, by all her hypocrisy or remorses, recover the good opinion of the public, though so easily deluded in those ignorant ages ;" nor could she ever after enjoy one moment free from inquietude. The universal execration in w,hich she was held by the people, wounded her proud heart ; her ferocious spirit became subdued, and giving way to a dreadful despair, her guilty con- science pictured to her imagination, a monstrous fiend always on the watch to drag her to punish- ment : Her days were passed in sullen and over- whelming remorse, her nights in the most tre- mendous horror; then would the dreaded fiend attempt his deadly grasp ; then would she shriek in agonizing dread within the armour she had procured, which, made of Crosses, could alone, she vainly thought, secure her from the phantom that pursued her ! 262 Benetuct / (MARCH 21 ST.) This saint, surnamed BENEDICT THE GREAT, was born at Narsia, in the dukedom of Spoleto, in Italy, about the year 480 ; and received a libe- ral education at Rome, until the age of fourteen, when he retired to Subloca, and shut himself up in a cavern, to avoid interruption in his studies. One friend only, St. ROMANUS, a monk, is said to have been permitted to approach him, and he only at such periods as BENEDICT approved of. After a seclusion of three years, his fame for wisdom and sanctity, became established through the favourable reports of his friend ; and he was appointed abbot of a neighbouring monastery ; though being, as it is said, disgusted with the manners of the monks, he once more retired to his cave, and there resumed his studies. * The good offices of St. Romanus soon procured him numerous followers, by whose assistance, joined to his own ample fortune, he was in a very short time enabled to build and people twelve religious establishments, for the government of which he formed such regulations as to him ap- peared suitable for their guidance. Whatever motives St. BENEDICT might origi- nally have had for his early seclusion from 263 i worldly intercourse, he seems to have been a man of most consummate prudence in the form- ation of his plans, and of much moderation in their subsequent regulation. The Eastern monks were at that period possessed of great power and influence, while those in the West were few in number, and of the most humble condition. St. BENEDICT, roused to enthusiasm by the glow- ing statements of the opulence and power of the Eastern monks, "at an early period formed a plan for raising those in the West to the like eminence; and the success of the Benedictines, or Black Friars, who sprang from his institution, most amply realized his wishes. In the year 529, Benedict, with a few select devotees, proceeded to Monte Cassino, where idolatry still existed ; and taking possession of the temple of Apollo, he broke into pieces the image of that heathen deity ; converted the surrounding inhabitants to Christianity ; laid the foundation of the famous monastery of Mount Cassino; and instituted the order of his name, which, rapidly increasing in numbers, very soon extended over the whole of Europe. The original establishment of the Benedictine, or Black Friars, as they were styled from the colour of their habit, was founded on the most pious and virtuous principles; the monks were allowed seven or eight hours sleep, at two inter- vals of the night, and an hour and a half for two meals a day, while the remainder of the twenty- 264 four hours was appropriated to devotion, the in- struction of youth, and the cultivation of the earth. Subsequent times witnessed a total per- version of these excellent and liberal regulations, which gave way to ambition and avarice, two of the most deadly sins ; and in the end compelled the higher clergy, to unite with the crown and the nobles, to humble and impoverish those powerful and haughty monks ; who, otherwise, as an emi- nent author affirms, " would have become a so- ciety, every way more dangerous and formidable to France, than that of the Jesuits had been to any state in Europe." In the ninth century this order had absorbed all others ; but from that period numerous other societies were branched off from it, and the power and influence of the old institution became of course less formidable. St. BENEDICT'S REGULA MONACHORUM, is spoken of by St. GREGORY, as the most sensible and best composed work of that kind ever published. The manner of this saint's death is no where mentioned : but it is stated to have happened on the 21st March, 542, and must have been easy and natural, if we are to believe the miracles re- corded of him by St. GREGORY ; who, among other instances, asserts, that " the Goths, when they invaded Italy, came to burn his cell, and being set on fire, it burnt round him in a circle ; not doing him the least hurt: at which the Goths, being enraged, threw him into a hot oven, stop-r ping it up close: but coming the next day, they 265 found him safe, neither his flesh scorched, nor his clothes singed." Another St. BENEDICT, surnamed BISCOP, who was tutor to the renowned St. BEDE, and abbot of Were, united the Benedictine, or Black Monks of this island in one body ; and is therefore ve- nerated as the chief patron of the English monks. He died in 690, and has often been confounded with St. Benedict the Great. (22D MARCH, l8l2.) PALM SUNDAY (Dominica Palmarum) is the Sunday next preceding Easfer, or the last Sun- day in Lent. It is also called PASSION SUNDAY, though the Latins give this latter title to the fifth Sunday in Lent (see page 250.) In the antient church, Palm Sunday with the whole of the week was held in strict devotion, and observed with greater rigour as to fasting and humiliation than any other part of the Lent season. In the old Breviaries, this Sunday had also the other titles of DOMINICA COMPITENTIUM, because on that day the Catechumens obtained leave of the bishop to be baptised on the succeeding Sunday ; DO- MINICA CAPITILUVIUM, the Sunday of washing 26(5 the head, those who were to be baptised on the following Sunday, having been prepared by the washing of their heads on this day ; and INDUL- GENCE SUNDAY, from the gifts and favours be- stowed by the emperors, &c. who were used to put a stop to all legal proceedings during the week, and to set prisoners free. While the week was called the " GREAT WEEK," in token of the inestimable blessings bestowed upon mankind, through the merits and sufferings of our Saviour; the HOLY WEEK from the extraordinary solem- nities practised throughout its continuance; and PASSION WEEK, which it is still styled, from our Lord's Passion. When our Lord had determined no longer to avoid the fury of the Jews, he left Bethany, and proceeded to Jerusalem, to present himself in the temple. When he arrived at Mount Olivet, about a mile from Jerusalem, he sent two of his disciples to an adjoining village, telling them that at a place where two ways met, they would find a she ass, and a colt with her, that had never been ridden, which they were to bring to him. Upon this colt our LORD rode to Jerusalem, thereby accomplishing the prophecy of ZACHARIAH, " Be- hold thy King cometh, meek and lowly, riding upon the foal of an ass ;" and received from the multitude who attended this simple though so- lemn procession, every mark of respectful adora- tion ; they cast their garments in the way, spread branches of palm and olive trees in his path, as 267 was usual at the triumph of the greatest poten- tates, crying, " HOSANNAH, salvation, and glory," &c. In commemoration of this glorious event the church has from the earliest period held this duv i.i the highest respect. Among our super- stitious forefathers the palm tree, or its substi- tutes box and yew*, were solemnly blessed and * " The BOX was substituted at Rome, the YEW in Eng- land, and from the latter circumstance some authors account for there being yet one yew tree at least, in all the antient church-yards throughout the kingdom. Caxton, in his Di- rectory for keeping the Festivals, printed so early as 1483, has a passage which fully confirms the verity of the yew hav- ing been our substitute for the palm ; his words are, " 2Jut for cndjeaan, tfoat toe !>abe non ol^e tfcat Beritf) eramet) lerf alcate therefore toe raftc etoe insteau of palme ant) oltebc," As the yew tree is one of the most hardy and long-lived of all the evergreens, and always affords abundance of branches within the reach of an ordinary sized man, its selection may be fairly deduced from those qualities ; and after such preference had been given, it was natural that our forefathers should plant, for ready appro- priation, one tree at least in each of the church-yards. Many good writers, however, affirm that yew trees were planted in these sacred and secure places for the purpose of furnishing bows, the once formidable and successful weapon of our an- cestors ; but there does not appear any legislative order for their being so propagated, and the quantity thus produced would indeed have been insignificantly small, when military archery was in existence j and besides, English yew is so very full of knots, and consequently liable to break, that not only our forefathers, but modem archers, found it ill adapted to that purpose, and obtained their bow staves from the continent. English yew was, however, used for the bows of boys, and other weak shooters j but even in Elizabeth's reign it was settled by statute, that when a bow of English yew sold for 268 some of their branches burnt to ashes, and used by the priests on the Ash Wednesday in the fol- lowing year ; while other boughs were gathered and distributed among the pious, who bore them about in their then numerous processions ; a practice which was continued in this country un- til the second year of EDWARD VI. when that and other usages, considered as having been car- ried to an improper and superstitious extent, were abolished ; though the youth in many places yet preserve some vestiges of the customs of the day, and gather willow flowers or buds, or such others as happen to be in a forward state of vegetation. In the Roman Church these customs are still retained, with some others, which, to those of the reformed religion, must appear still less con- sistent with true devotion. Among the Latins, not only a representative of our LORD himself is led about in procession mounted on an ass, but the animal so ridden is distinguished upon the oc- casion by every mark of respect, and even of wor- ship ; after being relieved of our SAVIOUR'S repre- sentative, he is led from place to place, and the people kneel before him, exclaiming, " O happy ass ! O ass of Christ, &c. &c." Deplorably ab- surd and impious, however, as this practice must two shillings, a bow of foreign yew might be sold for six and eight pence. It is also worthy of remark that, by the Statute of the thirty-fifth of Edward I., the planting of yew trees in the church-yards, would seem to have been, at least in part, " to defend the church from the force of the wind!" 269 Appear to those not bred from their earliest in- fancy in such errors ; other customs, now happily discontinued, were formerly encouraged, of still greater superstitious extravagance, which it would be truly painful to record. The PALM TREE, from the spreading of whose branches before our SAVIOUR, this Sunday re- ceived, and yet retains its name, has been made the emblem of VICTORY : not, however, as some erroneously have supposed, from that circum- stance, but from its peculiar nature : it shoots up- wards ; and though depressed by weight on its branches, or agitated by the winds, immediately recovers its original altitude ; and besides, like other evergreens, does not drop its leaves. The Hebrews call it "TCH, or the rising tree ; and the Rabbies derive their term for the rising of smoke, from the resemblance a column of that vapour bears, in a calm day, to the figure of the palm tree, in its most flourishing and vigorous state. From a mistaken reverence antiently paid to this tree, one of the numerous descriptions of Popish Pilgrims, used to obtain from it the staves with which they supported themselves in their weari- some journies : Hence they received the title of PALMERS; and, to obtain THE PALM became a figurative expression for triumph over Sin ; as it before denoted complete victory in temporal con- cerns. 270 Stommctatton, or SUfcp (25TH MARCH.) The Church of England, and the whole Christian world, celebrate on this day, under the title of " The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary," one of the most important festivals connected with our religious system. When the ALMIGHTY GOD, in pity to our fallen nature, was about to fulfil the promise he had vouchsafed to Abraham, that in him, and in his seed, he would bless all the families of the earth, he sent his mi- nistering spirit to the holy Virgin, to declare to her, that she, an immaculate maiden, should be the mother of the Redeemer of the world ; thence verifying the solemn and sacred promise of God, as explicitly foretold by the prophet Isaiah,' "Be- hold ! a virgin shall conceive, &c." The annun- ciation of the glad tidings of the miraculous in- carnation of our Lord, upon which rests the very basis of our faith, and consequent hope of re- demption, naturally claimed the minute attention of the primitive Christians : and most happy has it proved for succeeding generations, that through the inspired writings of the holy Evangelists, and from other numerous corroborating testimonies, 271 every ground for doubt, or scepticism, has been removed ; and that we have now only to reflect, with awful admiration, on the goodness of God, and to join our humble efforts for the fulfilment of the only blessing that can be justly deemed valua- ble to mankind. The Lord of Hosts, in mercy, deigned to commiserate our sinful nature, and promise a blessing to all the earth : the divine af- flatus inspiring the prophets, enabled them to de- clare the means of our redemption : and the Son of God, co-equal with the Father, forsaking his heavenly and exalted state, vouchsafed to become man, and the means of propitiation for our sins. In the Reformed Church, this day is held as a joyful festival, from the immediate connection that subsists between the circumstances comme- morated, and the mystery of the incarnation ; but the tenor of the Protestant faith admits of its being held sacred in no other light. The Church of Rome, however, observes this day as a festival in direct honour of the Virgin herself, to whom personally and individually they address their supplications. Both churches worship one God ; but while the Protestant acknowledges only one Mediator, Jesus Christ, between God and man, the Catholic admits of intercessors without num- ber : in the power of the Virgin, in particular, they place the most perfect confidence ; and there is a proverb yet preserved, which was made after the Reformation, holding out a menace of her vengeance against the Protestants, for having deprived her of the worship they considered as her due ; " When our Lady falls in our Lord's lap, Then, England, beware of mishap ;" Or, " When our Lady falls in our Lord's lap, Then let the Clergyman look to his cap ;" that is, when Lady-day, the Virgin's great festi- val, happens on tke same day with that of our Lord's resurrection, some mark of her severe dis- pleasure would ensue ; though it is worthy of no- tice that, in this threat, they seemed to abate some of their accustomed confidence in the Virgin's power, by admitting its having been requisite for her to wait such conjunction, to procure the ad- dition of her Son's assistance. This festival appears to be of great antiquity, most critics agreeing that it was instituted in the seventh century, while authorities not easily to be controverted date its origin so early as the year 350. The common, or vulgar, name, by which this day is known is, " LADY-DAY," or the one conse- crated to the honour of the Virgin heretofore universally, and now in some countries generally, denominated our Lady ; and it is one of the pre- sent quarterly divisions of the year. (See 273 (26*TH MARCH, l8l2.) Two etymologies have been assigned to the title of MAUNDY applied to the THURSDAY before Easter, and both of them have met with strong support from our ablest Antiquaries. Maund was formerly a general name for a hand- basket in this country, derived by some from the antient Saxon COant) ; by others from the Latin Manus, a hand ; and it is still in use in some parts of Yorkshire, and other of our counties. Hence Maundy Thursday, was considered to be expressive of the day, when baskets containing provisions were distributed by the different Chris- tian Potentates, and by the heads of the Clergy in their several dioceses, to alleviate the necessi- ties of the poor. The French had, and perhaps still retain, their maund, or hand-baskets, for si- milar praiseworthy purposes. This explanation of the name of the day, seems now to be almost totally abandoned; the maund, or hand-basket, is regarded as having received its appellation from, instead of having given the title to, the day cele- brated ; and it is to be remarked, that in our old dictionaries, Maundy is explained as a small pre- sent on solemn occasions ; thus making the con- VOL. I. T 274 * tents take name from the basket in which it was carried, as the basket itself had, according to such derivation, received its appellation from the day. MAUNDY THURSDAY, conformably to the latest and most approved etymology, is to be re- garded as merely a corruption of Mandate Thurs- day, Dies Mandate, so antiently called through- out the Church; but still it is a matter of doubt whether it was so named from the COMMAND- MENT, which our Saviour gave to his Apostles, to commemorate his last supper, instituted by him, on this day, after the celebration of the pas- sover ; or from the NEW COMMANDMENT which he gave them to love one another, after having washed their feet, in token of his affection towards them : but it is far from improbable that both commandments were jointly alluded to ; the Church service being particularly appropriate to the holy sacrament of the Lord's-supper ; and the benevolent custom of distributing alms to the poor being a practical obedience to the new com- mandment of reciprocal love : in like manner as the usage of washing the feet is a practical appli- cation of our Lord's humility, enforced by his own affectionate precept and example. EDWARD the Third, in the year 1363, appears to have been the first English monarch who in- troduced into this country the practice of feeding, clothing, and distributing money to indigent per- sons on Maundy Thursday ; and many successive Sovereigns used also, in order to shew their hu- 275 mility, to wash the feet of those selected as the proper objects of their beneficence. The Kings of most other Christian countries likewise distri- buted alms on this day; and many of them, as weft as the British Sovereigns, washed the feet of a certain number of their poor subjects. In this kingdom, the custom of bestowing provision, clothes, and money, has continued without inter- mission to the present period ; and yearly on this day the Lord Almoner, or in his absence, the Sub-Almoner, attends for that purpose in White- hall Chapel, when, after the religious service has been completed, as many poor men, and as many poor women, as the king has reached years of age, receive the royal bounty, consisting of woollen cloth, linen cloth, shoes, stockings, five three- penny loaves each, beef, salt salmon, cod and herrings, wooden cups of ale and wine, and lastly, a piece of gold, for which, recently, a one pound note has been substituted, with as many^silver pennies to each individual as the monarch has numbered years. The custom of washing the feet of the poor has, however, been long abolished in this country. The Eastern nations not wearing any covering to their legs, and few, only, to the soles of their feet, it naturally became an act of hospitality to bring water to their guests, for the purposes of cleanliness and refreshment; and it was esteemed as a mark of particular respect, when the host himself condescended to relieve his visitors of the T 2 276 trouble of such ablution: the instance our Sa- viour afforded of his humility and affection to the Apostles, was therefore in strict conformity to the usage of the time and people among whom he had passed the period of his sojournment upon earth ; but, in countries where such attentions were no longer necessary, from a difference of climate, and progressive improvements in the de- fence of the person from weather, or fatigue, an imitation of that illustrious example of humi- lity, would necessarily bear more the appearance of affected than of real piety ; and occasion its abandonment. MARCH, IS 12.) The painful and ignominious death to which our LORD submitted, for the expiation of our sins, is so fully recorded in the Scriptures, and the inestimable advantages which accrued to mankind from that awful event, have been so ably enlarged upon by our greatest and most pious Divines, that it might be justly deemed an unnecessary act of conceit, were any admoni- tion of a devotional nature to be here oifered ; and this essay will therefore be confined to the 277 general circumstances appertaining to the day, and to such other points of information as appear to claim particular attention. From the earliest records of Christianity, this day, emphatically called GOOD FRIDAY, has been held as a solemn fast, in awful remembrance of the CRUCIFIXION of our Saviour ; but its appella- tion of Good, applied in relation to the blessed effects which sprang from that important event, is of no very remote origin, and appears to be pe- culiar to the Church of England. Our Saxon forefathers denominated it LONG FRIDAY, from the length of the offices and fastings on that day ; but its antient and appropriate title was HOLY FRIDAY, by which it is still distinguished ; as is also the week in which it happens, by that of Holy, or Passion IVeek. The cross upon which our LORD offered him- self for the atonement of our sins, was formed of a massive perpendicular beam, nearly at the top of which was fastened at right angles, a transverse piece, of less dimensions. The feet of our Sa- viour being placed one over the other, a large nail was driven through both, transfixing them to the upright beam, while through each hand was driven another nail, keeping the arms ex- tended on the transverse piece. According to ST. MARK and ST. MATFHEW, the Crucifixion took place at the third, and ended at the sixth Jewish hours, answering to our twelve and three o'clock, though ST. JOHN declares this dreadful 278 tragedy to have begun at the sixth hour ; a dif- ference between these evangelical writers to be reconciled by the supposition that ST. MARK and ST. MATTHEW used the Jewish mode of com- putation, and ST. JOHN that of the Romans ; or, what is still more probable, that our present copy of this passage of ST. JOHN is erroneous, and ori- ginally expressed the third, and not the sixth hour, as indeed appears actually to be the reading in the Cambridge copy. The correctness of this important Cambridge manuscript is corroborated by Nonnus's Paraphrase, by PETER of Alexan- dria;- by the author of Chronicon Paschale, who refers to the original copy then preserved in the church of Ephesus, in proof of the fact ; and by other great and learned authorities. To whatever cause may be imputable the difference in ques- tion, it is settled past dispute, and with mathe- matical precision, that the true account is that in which ST. MATTHEW and ST. MARK agree. Offices called TENEBRJE (i. e. Darkness) are sung on the Holy Fridays, and on the preceding and succeeding days, by those belonging to the church of Rome ; the lights are extinguished, in reference to the supernatural darkness which overspread the earth at our LORD'S passion ; and to heighten the ceremony, nearly at the end of the service, a solemn silence is observed through- out the church, when, suddenly, a tremendous noise ensues, in token of the rending of the veil of the temple, and the disorder in which the 279 whole frame of Nature was involved at that awful and momentous crisis. In this country a similar custom formerly prevailed ; and we even to this hour retain throughout, or nearly throughout the kingdom, a fragment of one of the old supersti- tions of our forefathers, in the cakes made for the day, which are called from the mark imprest upon them, CROSS BUNS. In the metropolis and its immediate vicinity, these buns form the gene- ral breakfast on Good Friday, but are not any fur- ther noticed ; while, in some of the distant coun- ties, the matrons preserve a stock of them, to be used as an infallible cure for the faithful through- out the succeeding year. ! Whether the practice of making Cross Buns,' originated simply in the desire of marking on the only food allowed on this antient solemn fast, a symbol of the Crucifixion, as is generally supposed, must be matter of doubt. The usage is of too long standing to be traced to its first introduction ; but there can be no hesitation in believing that the retaining some of those cakes as a panacea for maladies, is a rem- nant of the like old superstitious attention to the sacramental wafer, or housell, so much repn>- bated by the ecclesiastics, before the church of Rome had tarnished our religion with the sha- dowy formalities subsequently introduced. AEFRICKE, abbot of ST. ALBAN'S and MALMES- BURY, in an epistle to Bishop WALSINE, thu s censures the folly and impiety practised by some priests in his days, now nearly eight centuries 280 past : " 4bome $ri#te#," says he, as translated from the Saxon by the author of " A Testimony of the Antiquity of the Church of England," published in 1567, " ficepe tlje $oueH (i. e. tije #acramental torn* for) tfjat f# Ijalfotoeti in pfc0 Speit- 25"t ttjep too sreeatlpe ampstf e, bj cau^e it teajcertj |)orp0. Cfiat ifou^eU i but aster 3Bap> or Caster (29TH MARCH, 1812,) is a moveable festival held in commemoration of the Resurrection ; and being the most important and most antient in observance, governs the whole of the other moveable feasts throughout the year. In the Greek and Latin Churches, it is called PASCHA, derived from an Hebrew word, signify- ing a passage, which was the name given to the great feast of the Passover, held by the Jews : Formerly in this country it bore the same title; in Yorkshire it is still denominated PEACE, evi- dently a corruption from Pascha : and there is yet preserved in the Northern counties a practice directly applicable to this old title of the day ; PASCHE, vulgarly called PASTE EOGS, are presented 281 as gifts at this season, and are no doubt the re- mains of an antient superstition of the Roman Church, adopted from the Jewish rites, in like manner as the title of the festival. "Bless, OLoRD, we beseech thee," says one of their prayers, " this thy Creature of Eggs " &c. &c. In the Greek Church, likewise, Eggs still continue to form a part of the ceremonies of the day ; and there also, presents of Eggs, from one individual to another, are considered as pious attentions. The custom of presenting Eggs is generally supposed to have been introduced by the Monks, typically to ex- press the Resurrection ; a chick being, as it were, entombed before it bursts the shell, and is brought into life. EASTER, which this festival is now generally denominated in England, has not any relation to the solemnity of the period ; but took its rise, as is generally admitted, from Eastre, a Saxon deity or goddess of the East, whose festival was celebrated in the month of April. CLELAND, however, affirms it to have been derived ' from the word East, to eat; whence, with the pros- thesis of the f to feast, it had its name Easter, from the liberty restored of eating animal food," after the tedious season of Lent. And other An- tiquaries contend, that Easter, in its primitive sense, signified to Rise, and thence was used as expressive of CHRIST'S rising from the dead. Whether Easter was first kept by the Apostles, as is by many contended, or by their immediate 282 successors, about the year 68, cannot be satisfac- torily proved ; that it is of very antient origin is not disputed, though the period of its celebration has been various in different churches. Some ob- served it every year on a Jtxed day ; others kept it with the Jews on the fourteenth day of the Moon, following the vernal equinox, on what day soever of the week it happened, thereby making, say some authorities, good, holy, or long FRIDAY, by which several titles, that day was known, to be kept on a Sunday, Monday, or other day, as it accidentally occurred ; but there is more of in- genuity than of propriety in this remark, the title of the day having been solely called at that period, and in the Asiatic Establishment, QUARTO DE- CIMANS, expressive of its being the fourteenth day after the Moon's appearance: other churches postponed the festival of Easter until the Sunday following nearest to the fourteenth of that Moon. In the year 314, the Council of Aries decreed, that all churches throughout the world should ce- lebrate the Pascha of the Resurrection, on the Sun- day after the fourteenth day of the March moon ; and the Council of Nice confirmed that ordinance in 325 : neither Council, however, fixed any pre- cise method of calculating the return of this festi- val, which depended upon an intricate considera- tion of the course both of the Sun and Moon; and a disagreement in its observance naturally again occurred. In the years 387 and 577, some churches kept the Pascha on the 21st of March, 283 some on the l8th of April, and others on the 25th of April. The churches in general adhered to the antient Cycle invented by the Jews, of 84 years ; while the Roman Church thrice changed its Cycles, in 455, 457, and 525. In the year 1582, Pope GREGORY the Thirteenth, finding that the calen- dar had advanced ten days beyond the real time, made the famous alteration in the mode of reckon- ing, afterwards adopted in this country, and throughout the Christian world, Russia alone ex- cepted, as shewn under the article Calendar, page 28 ; by which Easter-day is now made to agree with the ordinance of the Council of Nice in 325, and accordingly always happens on the first Sun- day after the full moon immediately following the 21st of March. The Irish nation, it would ap- pear, from the Venerable Bede, were not quite so conforming in the time of their celebration of Easter, as he, who was so much attached to the Latin Church, deemed proper ; for, although he acknowledges that they were " conspicuous for piety and learning" he nevertheless more than implies, that their sanctity and acquirements would prove unavailing, as they kept their Eas- ter at the wrong time of the year. In the calculation of this festival, it is particu- larly to be noticed, that Easter-day is to be the first Sunday after the first full moon ; and that accordingly, if the Moon should happen to be at the full on a Sunday, Easter is on the following 284 Sunday, and not on the day of the full moon, By the solar calculation our days begin at mid- night, while the lunar day is computed to com- mence from twelve o'clock at noon, or middle of one solar day, and to last until the same hour on the succeeding solar day. If, therefore, the Moon become full after twelve o'clock of a Saturday, it is regarded as happening of a Sunday ; and the second nominal Sunday, though the first in reality, according to such computation, after such Moon, becomes the proper period for cele- brating Easter: In like manner, should the Moon any time before twelve o'clock be at full on the <2Ist of March, such Moon does not govern Easter, but the one next succeeding. In the year l8lO, the Moon was at full at three o'clock in the morning of our solar day, of the 21st of March, though according to the lunar computa- tion it was full on the 20th; consequently, not being on or after the 21st, as the act decreed, Sunday the 22nd of April, and not Sunday the 25th of March, was Easter-day. By these regulations, Easter-Day cannot fall earlier*tjian the 22d of March, nor later than the 25th of April, in any year; and hence those two days have obtained the, appellation of the " EASTER LIMITS." The custom of eating TANSY-PUDDINGS and CAKES at Easter, now confined to some few places distant from the metropolis, was introduced by the monks, whereby symbolically to keep in re- 285 membrance the bitter herbs in use among the Jews at this season ; though, at the same time, BACON was always part of the Easter fare, to de- note a contempt of Judaism. The Jews them- selves, however, long since contrived to diminish the bitter flavour of the Tansy, by making it into a pickle for their Paschal Lamb, from whence we borrowed the custom, of taking MINT and SUGAR as a general sauce for that description of food. EASTER SUNDAY was also, antiently, called the GREAT DAY, and the FEAST OF FEASTS. Caster (30TH AND 3 IST MARCH, lSl2,) Have still appointed to them, in the Reformed Church, particular and appropriate services, which are strictly attended to, by some of the more de- vout part -of the community ; while, in general, these days are merely regarded as times of recrea- tion, in which a free indulgence is given to all those pastimes, which constitute the pleasures of the lower classes of society. Formerly the feast of Easter, styled for pre-eminence the QUEEN OF FEASTS, was solemnized for fifty days in succes- 286 sion ; by degrees, this very long period became abridged to a week of religious observance, and finally to the two days next succeeding the joyful period of CHRIST'S resurrection. Among the various superstitious customs yet remaining, it may not be improper here to ex- plain the import of a practice, chiefly now con- fined to the Northern counties, of LIFTING on Easter Monday and Easter Tuesday. On the first of these days the men lift the women, by taking hold of their arms and legs ; and on the Tuesday, the women use the like ceremony with men ; which is repeated three times by each party. The Resurrection was originally designed to be ty- pified by this indecent usage ; and we have much to lament that so abominable a violation of Chris- tian purity and simplicity, should have triumphed over such a considerable lapse of time. In some places, this low and depraved custom has given way to one of a similar nature, though less inde- corous, particularly in Durham, where the men take off the women's shoes, and the women the men's, retaining them until redeemed by some token of amity and forgiveness; and it is to be re- marked, that by this alteration, the impiety of the allusion in the other no longer exists: While another custom is yet continued, termed BLAZ- ING, which still alludes to our SAVIOUR'S rising from the tomb of death, though without the gross profanity of lifting. 287 Cf)e Our almanacs generally, until about a century since, and many of them to a much later period, used to distinguish the first of April by the appel- lation of " ALL FOOLS' DAY." Our present alma- nacs have discontinued that notice of the day ; but the custom which gave rise to it, however ab- surd, still remains in force ; and it will therefore be expected, that it should not pass wholly disre- garded. In England, the joke of the day is, to deceive persons by sending them upon frivolous and non- sensical errands; to pretend they are wanted when they are not, or, in fact, any way to betray them into some supposed ludicrous situation, so as to enable you to call them "AN APRIL FOOL:" a term considered as carrying with it an apology. for the freedom of its use, and by no means convey- ing any offence, as would naturally be the case, were the name of the month omitted when the joke is passed. In some of our Northern coun- ties, and in Scotland, the practice is pretty gene- rally the same as in the South, though sometimes, instead of being denominated " an April Fool," the person, whose good-nature or simplicity, puts him momentarily in the power of his facetious neighbour, is called " a Gowk ;" and the sending 288 upon nonsensical errands, " Hunting the Gowk," or in other words, metaphorically, a Fool, and Hunting the Fool ; Gowk being a common Northern expression for a CMC/TOO, which is reck- oned one of the most silly of the feathered tribe. In France, the person made the butt upon these occasions is styled " UN POISSON D'AVRIL," that is, " an April Fish," or in other words, by implication, " an April Fool ;" " POISSON D'A- VRIL" being also applied by that nation to the MACKAREL, a fish easily caught by deception, singly, as well as in great shoals, at this season of the year. Some persons, therefore, consider our April Fool to be nothing more than an easy substitution of that opprobrious term for Fish, and that our ancestors, who borrowed the custom of the day from France, must have considered POISSON to have meant FOOL, although allegori- cally expressed a FISH. This explanation, how- ever, appears more founded in ingenuity than in fact; and besides, as the French had formerly fools of other seasons, and indeed for almost all great festivals, it is hardly to be credited that our forefathers would be satisfied with copying them in only one of their absurdities, while so many of the like nature, and abounding with equal pleasantry, courted their attention. Co- RIAT, in his CRUDITIES, published in 1607, gives the following account of the Whitsun Fool : ''About two miles this side of Montrel, there was a Whitsuntide Foole, disguised like a foole 3 289 wearing a long coate, wherein there were many several pieces of cloth of divers colours, at the corners whereof there hanged the tails of squir- rels ; he bestowed a little piece of plate, whereon was expressed the effigies of the VIRGIN MARY, upon every one that gave him money, for he begged money of all travellers for the benefit of the parish church." Even a similar day of foolery is kept among the HINDOOS, attended with the like silly species of witticism practised here on the 1st of April. In this country we read that FOOLS were consi- dered as necessary personages not only at Court, but in most families of consequence : it was the pride, perhaps, of our ancestdrs in general to be able occasionally to triumph over their less acute or less enlightened fellow-creatures : they there- fore felt much pleasure, from the continual pre- sence of these objects of derision. The COURT FOOLS were authorised characters, who used, with-' out regard to persons or circumstances, to afford amusement by,their wit ; and there are numerous well-authenticated instances, some of which are occasionally noticed in this work, where they gave reproofs to the Sovereign, upon foibles at which no other subject dared even to hint. Prince CHARLES, afterwards the first king of that name in this country, was sent to Spain, as was alleged, to improve himself at that court, though his de- sign on the Infanta was the actual motive ; and the Protestants, fearful that his mind might be- VOL, i. u 290 come tainted by the Catholic religion they so much dreaded, highly disapproved of the Prince's tra- vels : no person, however, except the Fool, would venture to make such feelings known to king JAMES : while ARCHEE, who held that situation, hesitated not at doing so : taking therefore a fa- vourable opportunity, he solemnly proposed to the monarch to change caps, as a measure of ab- solute propriety : " But why ?" asked the king : " marry," said ARCHEE, " because thou sent the prince into Spain, from whence he is never like to return !" " Say you so ?" replied the king, " and what wilt thou do when thou seest him come back again ?" " Oh, marry," said ARCHEE, " that would be surprising ; and I should have to take off the fool's cap, which I put upon thy head, for sending him thither, and to place it on the king of Spain's for letting him return ; so that either way I shall part with it where it will fit/' These Fools, or appendages to grandeur, have been long discontinued : KILLIGREW, termed the KING'S JESTER, in the reign of CHARLES the Second, is the last on record. Certain it is that such whimsical jesters, or fools, were actually re- tained for ages : and it is not improbable that, as such authorised wits had the license of passing their jokes without ofTence at all times, the peo- ple might also consider themselves free to exer- cise their jocular faculties upon one another with* out exciting anger, and thence to have estab- 291 lished an "All Fools Day/ or a day upon which every one had equal liberty to exert his powers of mockery, deception, and every species of waggish drollery : be that as it may, from time imme- morial " April the first stands mark'd by custom's rules, A day of being, and for making FOOLS." Though it is rather to be regretted, as the poet hints, that not any custom or rule " supplies A day for making, or for being WISE I" The most generally received origin of this custom of "All" Fools Day, now April Fools Day, is, that the ALL is a corruption of AULD, or OLD, thereby making it OLD FOOLS DAY ; in confirmation of which opinion, the following observation is quoted from the Roman calendar, respecting the 1st of November: "The Feast of Old Fools is removed to this day ;" though it is, at the same time, acknowledged that the "Old Fools Day" is different from the " Feast of Fools," which was held on the 1st of January ; but by a removal which was often convenient in the crowded Roman calendar, it was applied to the 1st of April : this last observation, however, it would seem, instead of strengthening, refutes the well- received, but certainly circuitous and far- sought explanation, of All being a corruption of Auld, and Auld the synonymous term for Old, 90 as to make the day Old Fools, instead of All u 2 292 Fools, as it is noted in the oldest almanacs extant. The " Festum Fatuorum, Feast of Fools, or Fools Holiday," which, as above explained, is stated not to be the " Feast of Old Fools," was introduced with the intention of ridiculing both the old Roman " Saturnalia," and the Druidical rites, each of which superstitions the early Chris- tians found in existence when they commenced the task of conversion in this country. It was at first kept on of about our present New Year's Day ; and if, as alleged, it was not the same with the " Old Fools Day," now " April Fools Day," it w r ould appear to have been removed to the 6th of December (see article ST. NICHOLAS) ; a circum- stance that may be considered the more probable from this " Feast of Fools" having, among many other of its titles, been called " LIBERTAS DE- tEMBRIA." Two remarkable instances, out of numerous others on record, may here be noticed, of the ju- dicious display of the powers of those privileged persons styled Fools, who appear to have been constant attendants on foreign courts, as well as upon royalty and nobility in this country. PETER ALEXOWITZ, Emperor of Russia, justly charac- terized the GREAT, used to afford his Buffoon full opportunities for exerting his talents, which that keen censor, fully aware of his master's design, most ably and judiciously forwarded. Among other customs, a mock Sovereign was, on certain 293 occasions, seated on the Imperial throne, before whom the Czar used to appear, personally to give an account of his actions ; when the Fool, who was placed in the most honourable station, rose up, and freely made his remarks. What ap- peared to have been well executed, he amply dis- cussed with suitable commendations : and where there was the slightest opening, he as freely re- probated; generally concluding by telling the Czar that " preferment in that government was only to be attained by merit *, and that conse- quently he must be circumspect in his conduct, otherwise he would deceive himself if he expected advancement : a regulation," said the wily rogue, (f not now confining myself to you, sir, that will be equally the rule here for all other competitors for favour." Admirable precept this ; and calcu- lated like all the public acts of that wise and politic sovereign, to draw around his person, ministers who, while they sought their own advancement, contributed at the same time to the welfare and stability of his dominions. The other anecdote, taken from the History of the Court of BAJAZET, the dread sovereign of the * O Turks, is not less extraordinary, but different in its consequences : PETER made his Fool, in play- * That this was the general principle in the Russian em- jrire, is completely exemplified by the fact that, Peter entered his own name in the army as a private man, that no other person might expect to receive promotion, but by the like gradual advances he restricted for hirns:lf. 294 ful admonition, shew what in reality was expected in his government ; while the Tyrant BAJAZET, whose history is replete with crime and dreadful successes against the Christians, suffered his Fool to obstruct the determined murder of judges, but at the same time sullied the act, by affording the royal sanction to a continuance of the very bribery for which he had before condemned them. SINAM, the Tyrant's Fool, availing him- self of a favourable moment, procured the dress of an ambassador, and in that capacity desired to be sent to the Greek Emperor. " For what pur- pose ?" said BAJAZET. " To request some of his poor miserable bare-footed friars for us to make judges of, now my dear lords are sent to prison." " I can," replied the sultan, " supply their places with my own subjects." " We have none as learned in our realms," answered SINAM. " Well, well, you loved them," cried the sovereign, " but they took bribes, and I will have their heads to- morrow." "'Tis just for that reason," said the Fool, " that I am going to fetch those silly Chris- tians hither ; none but such as they, who take an oath to starve themselves, will forbear the receipt of fees, where no adequate salary be al^ lowed." " The child is right," rejoined the Turk, after a moment's pause, " 'tis a false prejudice ; I '11 make my Cadis a handsome appointment in future ; and till I have done so, they may take the fees : bring the lords here again !" 295 (3RD APRIL.) RICHARD, surnamed DE WICKB, from the place of his nativity in Worcestershire, was de- scended from such humble parentage, that he was compelled to assist in manual labour for support. Being a youth of uncommon promise, he was sent to the University of Oxford, and from thence to that of Paris, at both of which he much distinguished himself for diligent and suc- cessful application to his studies. From Paris he went to Bologna, to perfect himself in the canon law, and in a few years was promoted to the office of public reader. EDMUND, archbishop of Canterbury, afterwards appointed him his chancellor, and he was, through the archbishop, strongly recommended to the attention of pope INNOCENT the Fourth, who, on a vacancy hap- pening in the see of Chichester, caused him to be chosen bishop by that chapter, notwithstand- ing king HENRY the Third opposed his elevation. He discharged the duties of that diocese with piety, and strict attention to justice ; and was uni- versally admired and esteemed, particularly by the laity, whom he always protected from the impositions of the clergy. He departed this life on the 3d of April 1253, an( l was canonized by 296* pope URBAN the Fourth in 126*2, in return for the strict homage he had paid to the papal power, even in defiance of the authority of his Sovereign. The stories told of him, by the monkish wri- ters, are numerous, and, in some instances, im- - pious. Our Saviour, by a divine miracle fed the multitude from five loaves and two little fishes ; but ST. RICHARD is alleged to have blessed only one loaf, and instantly augmented it so as to sa- tisfy the hunger of upwards of 3,000 persons ! (APRIL 4TH,) Who was descended from noble parentage, wag born in the palace of his father at Aries, the capi- tal of Gallia Narbonensis, of which district he was praefect. While AMBROSE was in his cradle, " a swarm of bees," as Paulinus affirms, " settled on his lips," a prognostic of future eloquence similar to that related of PLATO, " and thereby foretold the future powers of oratory, for which he was remarkable/' At a very early period he had perfected himself in the study of the civil law, and practised as an advocate at Rome, where being noticed for his superior talents, he was ap- 297 pointed governor of Liguria andAemilia. Upon the decease of AUXENTIUS the bishop of Milan, where he had settled in the year 374, a severe contest arose between the orthodox and the Arians, concerning the election of a successor to that holy office ; and Ambrose felt it his duty to endeavour, by every exertion of his authority and ability, to compose the tumult. In his address to the peo- ple, he displayed so much wisdom and modera- tion, that he was unanimously solicited to accept the holy office, of which he alone was declared worthy, and was accordingly compelled, though apparently reluctant, to accede to their determi- nation. Having been before only a catechumen, he was immediately baptized, and, out of gratitude to the people, settled the reversion of his immense estate on the church over which he presided. From being conspicuous as a civil governor, he soon became equally so, in his new and more import- ant office ; and both by his preaching and his practice rendered himself eminently conspicuous. ST. AMBROSE indeed seems in most cases to have been above the silly pertinacity which so much characterised the early bishops ; and there is yet in common usage, a saying in favour of a due conformity to established customs, which originated from this good ecclesiastic's docile and winning disposition. It was the custom at Milan to regard the Saturdays as festivals ; while at Pome, those days were observed as fasts. ST. 298 AUGUSTINE, who was anxious to follow that re- gulation which was regarded as most consistent with the orthodoxy of the times, consulted St. AMBROSE, upon this knotty point, and received from him an explanation every way deserving of commemoration : " In matters of form only," said AMBROSE, " and where not any fundamental principle of rectitude be violated, it is proper to be guided by general usage: when I am here, I do not fast on Saturdays; but when I am at Rome, I DO AS THEY DO AT ROME." To the latter part of this judicious observation has been attributed the well-known precept of, " When you are at Rome, Do as they do at Rome." To which has been since added, " When you are elsewhere, Do as they do there." When the Pagans, encouraged by the intestine troubles at Rome, attempted to restore their ido- latrous worship, which, by the good sense of mankind, had much declined, AMBROSE was op- posed to, and defeated in argument, the famous orator Q. AURELIUS SYMMACHUS, respecting the repairing the altar of Victory ; and he was alike successful in resisting the attempts of the Arians, though openly supported by the empress JUSTINA. After the defeat of the Tyrant Maximus, and while THEODOSIUS his conqueror remained in Italy, an insurrection broke out at Thessalonica, 299 in which several of the magistrates were stoned to death. THEODOSIUS, in a too eager desire to re- taliate the violence, commanded u certain number of citizens to be sacrificed without regard to age or sex, or to the circumstance of their hav- ing been guilty of joining in the insurrec- tion: many innocent persons, therefore, fell victims to this blind and unjust rage, among whom were two sons of a merchant who had but just arrived in the city, and had not even heard of the tumult. When these two young men were seized, their father thrust himself between the soldiery, and offered the whole of his vast property to save them from their fate; vain were his efforts, vain all the energetic pleadings of a parent,-r-the ut- most he could procure, was, the choice to libe- rate one, more could not be granted, as numbers were yet wanting to complete their rage : In so awful and afflicting a situation, what could the father do? How could he make so dreadful a se- lection? How himself doom one son to destruc- tion? He stood transfixed with horror! casting first an agonizing look at one, then at his other son, and, nature refusing to decide, both youths were butchered in his sight! AMBROSE, who had heard of these cruel and barbarous deeds, wrote to THEODOSIUS, boldly reproaching him for his enormity ; and when the emperor afterwards ventured to enter the church of Milan, met and refused him ad- 300 mittance. " You do not, I believe, consider, O emperor," said he, tc the guilt of the massacre which you have committed; and though the vio- lence of your passion be now over, yet your reason has not suggested to you the full extent of your crime; perhaps your imperial dignity may prevent you from perceiving it, and cast a cloud over your understanding : however, you ought to reflect upon the constitution of human nature, which is very weak and obnoxious to mortality, and that we are derived from dust, and must necessarily be dissolved into dust again ; be not so far deceived by the splendour of the pur- ple that invests you, as to forget the infirmity of the body which it covers ; they are men of the same nature as yourself, nay, -they are your fel- low-servants, whom you govern; for there is one LORD and Sovereign over all he who created the universe; with what eyes will you, there- fore, view the temple of our common sovereign; and with what feet will you tread the sacred pave- ment; how can you stretch out those hands which have been defiled with so much innocent blood ; 'how can you receive the holy body of our LORD in such polluted hands, or touch with your lips his precious blood, when you have com- manded in your passion the blood of so many persons to be unjustly shed ; depart, therefore, and do not aggravate your former guilt by new provocations ; receive the bond which GOD the 301 Lord of all nature approves and recommends, for it contains a salutary power." Awakened to a sense of his enormity, the em- peror retired to his palace, and by severe repent- ance sought to appease the good and manly bi- shop, who at length again admitted him to join in devotion to the deity. THEODOSIUS, whose ge- neral character for virtue would appear to be un- sullied almost in every other action of his life, was not insincere in his repentance ; the burst of passion which seduced him to the massacre, once subsided, he became truly penitent, and strove by every effort in his power to render compensation. Hence the wise, the feeling, and irrevocable law, he established, that no execution should take place until four weeks after sentence was pro- nounced. Among other relics preserved at Mi- lan, were " the very gates of the church which," says a modern traveller, " St. AMBROSE shut against THEODOSIUS." Such firmness of soul rendered AMBROSE the adoration of the church : no wonder then, that he was afterwards canonized as a brilliant exam- ple for human imitation : no wonder that our Reformers again introduced him to our calendar, from which, with others less worthy, he had been once expunged : The abandonment of all his earthly possessions, for the general benefit of the church, and the exemplary discharge of the sacred duty committed to his guidance, were the universal themes of enthusiastic gratitude. ST. AMBROSE died at Milan, on the 4th of April, 397, and was buried in the great church. His works continue to he held in much respect, par- ticularly the hymn of "Tfi DEUM," which he is said to have composed when he baptized St. AU- GUSTINE, his celebrated convert. By some highly respectable authors, St. AMBROSE is considered as the first who introduced the antiphonant method of chaunting ; or one side of the choir alternately responding to the other ; from whence that parti- cular mode obtained the name of the Ambrosian chaunt, while the plain song introduced by St. GREGORY, still practised in the Romish service, is called the Gregorian, or Roman chaunt : The chaunt of the English cathedrals appears to be nearest the last, though it still partakes of the Ambrosian practice. It was a maxim of St. AU- GUSTINE, that music should never be encouraged in places of public worship to an extent that might endanger a due and proper attention to divine ser- vice. " I always," said he, " think myself blame- able, when I am drawn more to the singer than to what is sung;" and queen ELIZABETH, although she strongly enjoined the practice of singing in churches, endeavoured to guard against the pro- bability of too great a display of skiH in music, ren- dering the Service less significant and impressive : she, therefore, ordered that the Common Prayer should be sung in so plain and distinct a manner, that the pronunciation might be equally well heard as though it were read; but allowed an anthem to be 303 sung at the beginning and ending of the Service, for the gratification of such as were particularly attached to a more scientific performance. The metrical psalmody thus introduced, is still practised in our parochial churches. (5TH APRIL, 1812,) Or the Sunday next succeeding Easter-day, took that appellation from a custom in the antient church, of repeating in an abridged, or as it was then termed, lower degree of solemn observance, part of the service appropriated to the joyful com- memoration of CHRIST'S resurrection ; or, in other terms, this Sunday received its distinguishing title, because its ceremonies were not of so grand and pompous a nature, as the high festival of Easter. Quasi modo is another name for this Sunday, which frequently occurs in old records ; Festi Quasi Modo Geniti, being the first words of the antient introit, or hymn for mass on that day: and it is to be remembered that in former ages, all Sundays throughout the year, not high festi- vals, had names assigned to them from the like cause. 304 Dominica in Albis is also a further title of this Sunday, which took its origin from the chrisoms, or white robes, considered as emblems of inno- cence and purity, having been then laid aside, which had been placed upon those christened on Easter-eve. These chrisoms, which received their name from the chrism, or holy ointment antiently used in baptism, were solemnly deposited in the church, ready to be produced as evidences against such as might violate the faith professed at their baptismal font. The adults attended themselves with their vestments ; but the chrisoms of infants were part of the offering of the mother at the time of her purification, or churching, as it is now de- nominated. (See page 193.) In case an infant died before the mother was able to attend to this important ceremony of churching, it was custo- mary to cover the deceased child in the chrisom r and to commit it to the grave, wrapped in that " robe of grace," instead of a shroud. The word cht*isom, from that now almost forgotten cause, is still used to denote a child that dies within the first month after birth : but the term, like many others of long standing, has totally changed its primitive signification, and is applied to those children who have not, instead of to those who have, by the sacrament of Baptism, been admitted into the bosom of the Christian Church. 305 learnt (19TH APRIL.) ST. ALPHEGE, ST. ALPHAGE, or ST. ELPHEGE, would appear to have been retained in the Re. formed Calendar, more in order to preserve the " memory of an English Saint, than for any thing peculiar in his life," beyond what may be found in the general history of the tens of thousands of persons who were canonized by the see of Rome. The parents of our saint, who were of noble rank, gave him an education suitable to his birth ; but he is stated to have abandoned, at an early period, all worldly pursuits, and to have dedicated himself to the service of the Church. He retired to a monastery at Derherste in Gloucestershire, where his ardour for the study of theology in- creased ; though finding that he could not pro- secute his studies with the steady and unremitting attention he desired, he built a cell near the ab- bey of Bath, in which he lived in total seclusion. From this solitude he was withdrawn, by the ear- nest entreaties of several eminent persons who de- red his instruction, and at length was induced to accept of the important trust of principal of that abbey. Upon the decease of ETHELWOLD (bishop of Winchester) in the year 9,84> our saint, then VOL. I. X 306 in the thirtieth year only of his age, twelve of which he had been abbot, was promoted to that see, which he filled with extraordinary piety and ability, until the year 1006, when he was trans- lated to the archbishopric of Canterbury. King ETHELRED, the weak, wicked, and tyrannical son of the base ELFRIDA, who had prompted the murder of his half brother EDWARD, surnamed the Martyr, to make room for his succession, having, by a cowardly and horrid plan, caused all the Danes who had settled in England, to be massacred, that barbarity was soon afterward se- verely retorted upon his own subjects, by SWEYN the monarch of Denmark, who invaded this country, defeated ETHELRED, and spread carnage over the whole of the Western parts of the king- dom, until the pusillanimous ETHELRED pur- chased his mercy and departure by a tribute of the then enormous sum of ^.48,000. In a short time after, the Danes made another visitation on this island, and having satiated themselves with the blood and treasure of the West, marched into Kent, and laid siege to Canterbury, from whence no inducement could prompt the good archbishop to retire. He accordingly fell ,into their hands, on storming the city, and was cast by them into a filthy and unwholesome dungeon, from whence he was taken, after many months endurance, and conveyed to Greenwich,- at which place offer was made to him of his liberty, upon the payment of a ransom of 3000 marks of gold. " The only so; riches I have to offer," replied the saint, " is that of wisdom, which consists in the knowledge and worship of the true God." Incensed at this appa- parent contumely, they struck him with the backs of their battle-axes, and afterwards stoned him until nearly dead, when one of their number, from a feeling of mercy towards him, cleft his head in twain, and terminated his life and suffer- ings, on the l^th of April, 1012. On the spot where this murder was committed, now stands the Parish Church of Greenwich, on which is still an inscription, expressive, that it was " erected and dedicated to the glory of God, and the me- mory of ST. ALPHEGE, archbishop of Canterbury, there slain by the Danes." learnt George* (23RD APRIL.) The accounts rendered by different authors of the history of ST. GEORGE, have been so various, and some of them blended with such gross absur- dities, that the very existence of this great and popular saint has not only been doubted, but even wholly denied, by several modern writers ; while others have so industriously mixed in one X 2 308 heterogeneous mass, the antient and well-authen- ticated account of GEORGE OF CAPPADOCIA, with that of another GEORGE, an abominable and infa- mous character, who was an Arian bishop, that it has occupied much labour and ingenuity to se-*- parate the histories of the two ST. GEORGE'S, and to shew, divested of the fables too prevalent in former periods, the real and unsullied history of that ST. GEORGE, who is designed to be commemorated on this day; and who, it clearly appears, was born in Cappadocia, of Christian parents, of considerable respectability, though at the period of his birth possessing only a small patrimony. ST. GEORGE was carefully educated in the belief of the Gospel, in the defence of which his father lost his life while the saint was yet of very tender years. Upon the decease of his father, ST. GEORGE accompanied his mother into Palestine, where they came into possession of a large estate. DIOCLESIAN the Ty- rant, who knew not of his being a Christian, and admired his majestic and noble form, appointed him a commander in one of his legions, with the dignity of a seat in the council. In the twentieth year of his age he lost his maternal parent, and wholly dedicated himself to his military duties, in which he became eminently distinguished : but during the height of his reputation, the persecu- tion of the Christians burst forth with increase^ violence and aggravated cruelty ; upon which ST. GEORGE withdrew himself from the service of the Tyrant, whom he had the courage publicly to 309 upraid in the senate, with his barbarities: and openly distributed his vast fortune for the support of those, against whom the persecutors of Christia- nity, headed by the Emperor, were exerting their utmost malice. The Emperor, amazed and irri- tated at the daring boldness of ST. GEORGE, seemed at first determined upon his destruction ; but the many services rendered to him by that great man, induced him to suspend his vengeance, and he endeavoured by every means in his power to continue the hero in his service. Alike un- moved by promises of aggrandisement, and un- awed by threats, ST. GEORGE continued firm in his opposition to the tyrannies of the hardened emperor ; for which, after having several times endured the torture, he was ignominiously drawn through the city of Lydda, and beheaded on the 23d day of April, 290. The surviving Christians buried his mutilated remains, the sepulchre con- taining which remained in tolerable preservation until the year 1180 ; and we find, that his head was solemnly translated to the great church built in honour of him in the eighth century, by pope ZACHARY, who attended the ceremony, accompa- nied by the whole of the clergy, arid most of the laity of Rome. From these facts sprang those fabulous state- ments of the combat of ST. GEORGE with a dra- gon, to preserve the daughter of a king, who otherwise would have been devoured by a mon- ster ; and from that fable, the many others con- 310 nected with the popular belief of past periods, as may be seen by the History of the Seven Cham- pions of Christendom, as well as in various other antient histories and ballads. ST. GEORGE, having been a soldier of superior rank, was not unnaturally depicted on horseback, armed CAP-A-PIE, which appears to have been the costume before the eleventh century ; and when, at a later period, the story of the Dragon's over- throw became a favourite with the multitude, the addition of that monster was a necessary appen- dage, to give consistency to the legend, and make it accord with the new, but erroneous history of the saint. Whether, however, the fabrication of this fictitious part of the saint's life and actions originated in monkish craft, to gain a superstitious power over the ignorant multitude, or whether the whole of that story was meant symbolically to typify, that CHRIST'S SOLDIER and Knight should always be ready manfully to combat against the Dragon or Great Beast, mentioned in the Apocalypse, and all other enemies of the Church, is a matter of doubt. In accounting for the strange introduction of the Insignia of ST. GEORGE, there are not wanting advocates for both these arguments, though the latter has met the most able supporters, who contend, with much apparent historical authority, that the hie^ roglyphical representation of the saint preceded the fable, and not the fable the emblem ; and in.^ deed it is scarcely possible to believe otherwise, 311 RICHARD JOHNSON, who lived in the reigns of ELIZABETH and JAMES, was the author of the Se- ven Champions, the origin of that species of po- pular ballads ; and he appears not to have disfi- gured the history of ST. GEORGE one atom more than he has those of the other champions ; and yet ST. GEORGE'S history alone appears to be dis- puted solely upon that foundation, while those of the other saint-heroes have not been affected by it. One of these popular ballads, apparently the most modern, not only gives the genealogy of ST. GEORGE, and states his having been stolen by a fairy, but assigns to him marks, which have past dispute a direct reference to the Institution of the Garter. 41 frlooi^reb ro.s?toag tmty* arm, Z dragon on ijijs breast : a little Barter all of aolfc, W&$ round ty$ leg en?rejt." That ST. GEORCE was in early times a favourite saint, particularly in England, stands fully cor- roborated by undeniable testimonies ; that he has been selected as the patron or tutelar saint of this and other countries, is equally past dispute ; but that he received such distinguished honours in re- turn for services performed by him in the Holy Wars, in which his spirit appeared, particularly to our RICHARD COEUR DE LION, and led the Christians to victory, must require some stronger faith to give credence to than the present times af- ford : and yet historians have gravely asserted such 312 to be the fact, adding, among other proofs of St. GEORGE'S attachment to Christianity, centuries after he had been martyred in its cause, that when ROBERT Duke of Normandy, son to WIL- LIAM the CONQUEROR, was besieging Antioch, which was attempted to be relieved by a mighty army of Saracens, ST. GEORGE appeared with an innumerable host coming to the Christians assist- ance, clad each in white, with a red cross in their banners, which instantly caused the Infidels to disperse, and leave the Duke to possess himself of that fortress. RICHARD COEUR DE LION is alleged to have been the origin of the most Noble Order of the Garter in this country : and he is stated to have been led by Divine Inspiration in consequence of the apparition of ST. GEORGE, already mentioned, and in close imitation of the antient Romans, 44 Co fcratoe upon fyt lt%$ of certaine ciiopce $ni0t of #, a certaine o&arter or Cacfce of Eeatfjer, *?ucf) ontfg a ijee ad tfjen rea&g at ano, tofjerebp tijeg beeing oi^ tinaui^eo, anD put in minti of future glorp promigefc to tfjem, in cage tijep toonne fyt ttctorp, tijep mij$t bee Stirred up ant protofeefc to performe fytit itftitt brabefy, and figibt more balientlp.^ Whether this device of RICHARD did actu- ally lead to the establishment of the Order, afterwards solemnly founded by EDWARD the Third, must be left undecided. Some of the best historians seem tacitly to admit of such origin; while others, anxious to assign to ED- 313 WARD every possible credit to be derived from that noble institution, pass over all prior circum- stances, and give to the Conqueror of France the honour of having not only established, but originated, one of the most illustrious Orders of Knighthood in the world. Others again not only admit the circumstance of the Thong or Garter, bestowed by RICHARD on his Knights, but even fully allow the Order of the Garter to have been founded, not only in some degree upon that fact, but as being the immediate offspring or revival of King ARTHUR'S ROUND-TABLE; a title given to the institution of ARTHUR, because the Knights, in order to obviate every distinction, took their seats round a circular table, every part of which was equally honourable. In RASTEL'S Chronicle, under the life of ED- WARD the Third, is the following passage : 44 Slbout tije nineteenth pete of tfjig fcjmge, ty ma&e a jsolempne fee.s't at ilDpnDe^ore, anfc a great ^ugteg an& Curnament, toljere ije Detpe^en and perfpteb gubgtane* saUp tfje in 1400 ; GERMANY an Order in 1470, at MILDSTAD, in Carinthia ; in the PAPAL DO- MINIONS, a like Order was established in 1498 ; AUSTRIA formed a similar honorary assemblage of Knights about the same period ; another Order of ST. GEORGE was instituted in the POPE'S DOMI- NIONS at RAVENNA in 1534 ; and a further one at GENOA, time now unknown : In 1 729, the ELEC- TOR OF BAVARIA settled the Order of ST. GEORGE for the Roman empire at MUNICH. CATHERINE the Second founded an t)rder in honour of ST. GEORGE, in RUSSIA ; and there are some others which have eluded research. FOUR of these foreign Orders had the appen- dage to their Ribbands of a George on Horseback, with the Dragon, conformably to the legends then industriously circulated as the true history of the saint : but it is worthy of attention, that those established in the POPE'S DOMINIONS did not adopt this device, although public exhibitions were encouraged representing ST. GEORGE, the prostrate Dragon, &c. which Mr. WORSLEY, in his " State of France," in the year 1806, assures us, were restored after having been abolished 319 during the severest shocks of the recent Revo- lution ; attributing their revival to " the people, who are as fond of foolery as they are of religion, and who would not give much for the proces- sions, if there were riot something comical and amusing, as well as devout and fatiguing in them," and not to the Priests of the present day, whom he states to have endeavoured " to exclude all such extraneous matter." > tf)e (25TH APRIL;) ON this day the Reformed Church holds a FESTIVAL in commemoration of the benefits the Christian religion has received from the pious and exemplary exertions of this Evangelist. The Church of Rome, on the contrary, solemnizes the day as a FAST, or rather as one of ABSTINENCE, between which there is a marked distinction. The regulation whereby the Romanists are governed is ascribed to ST. GREGORY the Great, who is said to have established it as a Fast, in consequence of a dreadful mortality at Rome having, during his supremacy, happily subsided. ST. MARK was descended from Jewish parents, of the tribe of Levi ; and it was at the house of 320 his mother Mary, at Jerusalem, that the disciples of our Saviour usually assembled. His Hebrew name, which he changed, as was customary with the Jews, out of respect to the Romans to whom they were tributary, has not been satis- factorily ascertained, though it is supposed to have been MORDECAI ; but MARK, the Latin ap- pellative assumed by him, and by which he is known to the Christian world, will be held in grateful remembrance and celebrity by the latest posterity. ST. MARK was first brought to the knowledge of the divine truth by the Apostle PETER, who calls him " MARCUS his son," as a testimony of his great affection. It was at Rome that he compiled, from the discourses of ST. PETER, to whom he became a constant .attendant, the wri- tings distinguished by 'the title of THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK, which now form so eminent a portion of the sacred Canon ; and in which this impartial recorder of sublime facts, so far from suppressing the weakness of his Pa- tron, in denying CHRIST, enters more explicitly and at large upon that unhappy circumstance than either of the other Evangelists. Having finished this inestimable composition, which, from having been penned from the discourses of ST. PETER, was styled, by some of the an- tient fathers, the Gospel of that apostle, ST. MARK quitted Italy, to preach the doctrines of Christianity in Egypt, where he converted 321 multitudes, and after establishing a bishoprick at Alexandria, extended his labours westward, successfully preaching in Marmorica, Penta- polis, Lydia, &c. until about the year 6l 9 when he returned to superintend his church at Alex- andria. The Egyptians, jealous of the success of ST. MARK, and exasperated by the mistaken but zealous ardour of some of his converts, who, contrary to the mild tenets he had inculcated, attempted by violence to plant the Gospel and overthrow the heathen worship, broke into the church while the Evangelist was preaching, and tying his feet together, dragged him through the streets, and over the most rugged ways, until his flesh was torn from his body, and he expired in excruciating agony on the 25th April, in the year of our Lord 63 ; which day has annually been celebrated as his anniversary from its first institution in the year 1090. The remains of ST. MARK were entombed at Alexandria, from whence, according to some authors, they were translated to VENICE, over which he, in consequence, presides as the tutelar Saint and Patron. The person and address of ST. MARK are re- corded to have been peculiarly prepossessing; and the most celebrated painters and sculptors have vied with each other, in delineating the graces attributed to this distinguished Saint : Among other such exertions of talent, the statue of this VOL. i. y 322 Evangelist in the church of ST. MICHAEL, at Florence, stands so conspicuously pre-eminent, that MICHAEL ANGELO irn passionately exclaimed, when he first saw it, " If that statue actually re- sembled ST. MARK, credit must be given to him for the authenticity of his writings, merely from a consideration of his physiognomy." In allusion to the invaluable Gospel written by ST. MARK, he is usually depicted sitting with a pen in his hand, in the act of writing ; by his side a lion couchant, winged ; (emblematical the lion, of the nervous solidity of his writings, the wings, of the more than human powers displayed in their composition; ) and, in the back ground, is to be seen a person dragged by the heels, in token of the manner by which his existence was ter- minated. ana |s>atut fames, (IST MAY.) The Church on this day commemorates the sufferings of SAINT PHILIP, and also of SAINT JAMES THE LESS, or, as his eminent virtues caused him more generally to be called, ST. JAMES THE JUST. 323 ST. PHILIP was the first person whom our Sa- viour called to the APOSTOLATE, or deputed to be one of the " CHOSEN MESSENGERS," for such the word implies, to propagate the divine truth of the Gospel ; and he was the means of soon after introducing NATHANIEL, better known by the name of BARTHOLOMEW, to join in the sacred ministry. In the distribution made by the apostles of the several provinces in which they were appointed to promulgate the Gospel, Upper Asia is reckoned, by the best ecclesiastical writers, to have been consigned to PHILIP; where, && we are taught, he executed his pious office with great success ; converting many infidels to the true faith. To- wards the latter part of his life he travelled into Phrygia, and arrived at Hieropolis, now called by the Turks Pambuck Kulasi, where he so ex- asperated the magistrates, by having destroyed the Dragon, which they worshipped, that, being first publicly scourged, he was afterwards put to death in the year 52 ; either by crucifixion, as is generally believed ; or, by being suspended by the neck to a pillar: being the second of the Apostles who suffered martyrdom. His body was removed from the place of execution, and buried by ST. BARTHOLOMEW, who narrowly then escaped a similar cruel fate. The emblem by which ST. PHILIP is distin- guished in pictural representations, is a long staff, the upper end of which is formed into a cross, Y 3 324 such as usually was borne by pilgrims; perhaps to denote the extent of countries which he traversed, though by many it is supposed to have been ex- pressive of the manner of his death. St. JAMES was the son of JOSEPH, the reputed father of our Saviour, by a former wife, for which reason he is styled the brother of our Lord, as the Virgin MARY was called his mother ; though little more is known respecting this apostle until after the resurrection, when our Saviour appeared to him, and breaking some bread, blessed and commanded him to partake of it : " Eat thy bread, my brother, for the Son of Man is truly risen from the dead." A condescension in his heavenly master, to satisfy the vow which JAMES had made, when he drank the last cup on the paschal night, that he would from thenceforth eat no bread until he had seen the Lord risen from the dead. Hierow. de Script. EccL ' After the great event of the ascension, and that the apostles had each taken separate provinces wherein to exeri their pious endeavours for the con- version of mankind, ST. JAMES, on account of his near affinity to otir Saviour, was elected bishop, or superintendant, of the metropolitan church of Jerusalem, where he constantly resided, and stre- nuously, diligently, and ably, discharged the du- ties of his high office. In the year 6*2, during the interval between the death of one Roman governor, and the arrival of his successor, the rulers of the Jews summoned ST. JAMES, with several others, before the Sanhe- drim, when they endeavoured, with great subtilty, to engage him to renounce his belief in the Son of God : taking him to one of the battlements of the temple, they asked him " what they ought to think concerning JESUS ;" to which he firmly and audibly replied, " Behold ! he sits enthroned in heaven, at the right-hand of divine Majesty, as the Son of God, and shall come again in the clouds of the sky." Immediately loud cries arose from the sur- rounding and converted populace of " Hosan- nah to the Son of DAVID !" which so enraged the Scribes and Pharisees, that they declared, " Justus was seduced," and cast him headlong from the eminence. Greatly bruised, the vener- able sufferer, then 94 years of age, contrived to rise upon his knees, in which attitude, and while offering up prayers for the forgiveness of his assailants, he was struck on the head with a club, or pole, by a miscreant named SIMEON, a Rechabite, by trade a fuller, and instantly de- prived of existence. So greatly beloved was this amiable apostle, that regret and commiseration universally pre- vailed throughout the city at his melancholy fate: many even of the unconverted Jews were so sen- sible of his piety and virtue, that they joined in strong appeals against his persecutors to the new governor ALBINUS, and to the emperor AGRIFPA himself; remonstrances which occasioned 326 ANANIAS, the high-priest of the synagogue, to be deposed in about three months from the assas- sination. The Epistle of ST. JAMBS in the New Testa- ment, is addressed alike to the believing and in- fidel Jews, at once to comfort and sustain the former under persecution, and to correct the sinful conduct of the latter : it was written a short time before his death, and is universally allowed to be one of the most valuable of the seven sacred epistles, styled CATHOLIC, or uni- versal, from their being addressed to the people generally, and not to any one particular congre- gation or person : for which reason, and out of respect to the situation he held, as first bishop of Jerusalem, the parent church of Christianity, it has been placed the first in the series of those holy canons. The badge of this saint is appropriately made a fuller's pole, to denote the manner of his death ; and he is depicted, in some of the oldest paintings, with a gold plate or mitre upon his head, as an ensign of the dignity of a priest of the order of Rechabites, which he is stated by some to have held when called to the sacred ministry. 327 (IST MAY.) From the earliest periods of antiquity, it ap- pears to have been an universal custom in all countries, and among persons of every persua- sion, whether Jews, Pagans, Christians, or others, to celebrate, with marked demonstrations of festi- vity, the return of the joyous and enlivening season of Spring : But the different effects of climate, and the consequent variety of sentiments and feelings, and more especially the diversity of religious and political regulations, have given rise to modes of enjoyment, of a nature so opposite, as scarcely to enable one set of men, to reconcile to their ideas of pleasure and recreation, those pastimes which, in others, constitute their greatest happiness. In the earliest ages of the world the chief delight consisted in hunting and fishing, which had gra- dually become the amusements, as they were be- fore the requisite labours of mankind. When dif- ferent tribes joined in association, their pastimes took a bias from the warlike spirit by which alone society could, in the barbarous ages, be maintained ; and we then find, as among the early Romans, exercises resorted to of the most ferocious nature: Man fought with man, and 328 man with beast, for the diversion of his fellow creatures : but, as society advanced in power and civilization, these sanguinary recreations gradually gave way to athletic sports ; until, step by step, refinement introduced others still less hardy and laborious ; finally almost superseding those of a manly nature. Contrary feelings and powers, however, then governed, and still rule different classes of the community, according to their re- spective stations : those in the higher classes, though they do not now fight like gladiators for public entertainment, nor retain their for- mer jousts and tournaments ; yet do they continue the shocking and abominable prac- tice of personal and deadly encounter, to sa- tisfy private resentment or false notions of ho- nour ; and the common people derive their high- est amusements from boxing and cudgelling matches, cock-fighting, bull-baiting, and other recreations of the like unfeeling nature. In this country, at the present moment, some remnant may be found of almost every separate species of amusement, from those that sprung out of neces- sity, to those of a refined tendency ; and, consti- tuted as man is, something to unbend and relax the mind is absolutely requisite, and it only re- quires the wisdom of government properly to re- gulate public recreation, so as to answer the two- fold purpose of national advantage and individual enjoyment. 329 The customs of the day upon which we have now to treat, chiefly took their rise from the Ro- mans, mixed with the superstitions of their Pagan belief, as indeed may be found to be the case with the major part of those antient usages still in ex- istence, or in traditionary remembrance among us by our several proverbial expressions, &c. On the 4th of the calends of May, the Romans, our first conquerors, held their Floralia, or festi- val in honour of FLORA, the goddess of fruit, flowers, &c. ; when the lowest classes of women giving way to their depravity, danced naked in the streets, and set the example for every other species of lascivious abasement. To this wild and debauched custom may be traced most of the fes- tivities of May, now indeed deprived of their an- tient loose and profligate rites, and modelled, by progressive degrees, more conformably to the de- corum of civilization. In the South, where refinement earliest took rise, and spread most generally, the practices of the day differ very materially from the Northern and Western parts of the inland. The custom of gathering branches of trees and flowers to deck their persons in strict conformity to the Roman Floralia, is yet prevalent in all parts, while in some places remote from the capital the customs assimilate to the more general character of pagan institution, though not quite in their original de- pravity. At Helston,' in Cornwall, tlie annual holiday, held on the 8tU of the month, is'yet 330 called FURRY, evidently corrupted from Floralia ; and the pastimes of the day, of late almost wholly deprived of its former revelries, bear too strong a resemblance to the loose indulgencies of the Roman festival, to leave a doubt as to their origin : until much within the last century, not only the common people, but those of every rank in the vicinity of the place, joined in the tumul- tuous dissipations of the day ; and though they did not expose their persons in perfect nudity, yet gave a free indulgence to every other riotous and disorderly practice, dancing through the streets in wanton attitudes, and drawing by force into the general vortex, all those who at- tempted to evade the riotous excesses of the time. Were any youth discovered inattentive to the summons issued for universal indulgence, he was forthwith seized, conveyed sitting on a pole to the river, and plunged headlong into the stream, without the power of receiving any redress for the assault. The MAY-POLE with all its festivities, still re- tained in most of our villages, sprang from the same source, and was once general in this coun- try. Even the priests, joining with the people, used to go in procession to- some adjoining wood on the May morning, and return in triumph with the much-prized pole, adorned with boughs, flowers, and other tokens of the spring season. And our monarchs themselves bending to the usages of the times, used to make parties of plea- 331 sure called Mayings, even to so late a period of our history as HENRY the Eighth, who assembled his whole court upon one of these festive occa- sions at Shooters Hill. These Mayings are still practised in the West and North of England. The May-pole, once fixed, remained until nearly the end of the year, and was resorted to at all other seasons of festivity, as well as during May. Some made of wood of a more durable nature, even remained for years ; being merely fresh ornamented, instead of being removed, as was the common practice. The last May-pole in London was taken down in 1717, and conveyed to Wanstead in Essex, where it was fixed in the park for the support of an immensely large teles- cope. Its original height was upwards of one hun- dred feet above the surface of the ground, and its station on the East side of Somerset-House, where the new church now stands. POPE thus perpe-> tuates its remembrance : " Amidst the area wide they took their stand Where the tall May-pole once overlook 1 d the Strand*.' 1 * This May-pole is remarkable also for having been the spot where the first HACKNET-COACHES were stationed. About the year 1634, Captain DAILY, an old sea-officer, purchased four carriages, and dressing their drivers in liveries, instructed them what they were to demand for conveying passengers about the metropolis. " Everybody," says a letter in STRAF- FORD'S Collection, dated 1st April in that year, " is much- pleased with it : for whereas before coaches could not be hajji without great rates, now a man may have one much cheaper." 332 Besides the principal May-pole, others of less dimensions were likewise erected in our villages y In the succeeding year, other persons followed the Captain's example, and there were 20 of these coaches that plied at the May-pole, and about the inns of court. In 1637 their number was confined to 50; in 1652 to 200; in 1654, to 300 : in 1661, to 400 ; in 1694, to 700; in 1710, to 800; in 1771* to 1000; and in 1802, to 1100. In imitation of our .Hackney coaches, NICHOLAS SAUVAGE introduced the FIACRE at Palis in the year 1650. Hackney near London was the first place where coaches were let on hire, either by the day, or for a passage to the capital ; and although there were only 20 of these vehicles in the year 1625, their encouragement was so great, that in 1734 they had increased throughout the kingdom to 900, all of which, as tokens of their being Aired, were denominated Hackney Coaches, while also even the horses that drew them, as well as all other hired horses, had the term Hackney applied to them, or by abbreviation, HACKS ; a custom that subsequently extended to every case where money was paid for occasional service. The term Hackney is yet vulgarly retained as expressive of any person who holds a temporary employment as a writer. When, how- ever, the number of coaches that plied in the street, encreased to '50, and seemed likely to meet yet further encouragement, the coaches that passed to and from Hackney were by way of distinction called Hackney stages, and those about London merely retained the name of Hackney coaches, by which they are still known. From the like object of discrimination, all other carriages that quitted the metropolis on fixed journies, were called Bow stages, Greenwich stages, &c. &c. according to the places to which they respectively ran ; and from thenceforward they have retained the appellation of stages throughout the country ; whether they perform only the pri- mitive joumies first called stages, from their capability of being performed without a change of horses, or extended to any distance, be the number of horses employed in reaching 333 to mark the places where refreshments were to be obtained: hence the name of ale stake is fre- quently to be met with in old authors, as signi- fying a May-pole. Bishop GROSSETESTE sup- pressed the May games in the diocese of Lincoln, as partaking of heathen vanity ; and from that period and example, the practices of the day have gradually altered from their original mode of cele- bration. The MAY LADY, MAULKIN, JACK IN THE GREEN, &c. ; all had their origin from the same source, and are merely variations in the mode of representing the goddess FLORA; while the holiday made by the CHIMNEY-SWEEPERS, who in modern times are the principal persons engaged or interested in May sports, can perhaps be at- tributed to no other origin than that, by the com- mencement of Summer, and the consequent de- privation of the major part of their occupation, the poverty incident to their profession was aggra- vated, and they naturally sought to avail them- selves of the customary liberality of festive meet- ings to alleviate their necessities. Innumerable other antient ceremonies of May, now no longer in existence ; such as the Campus Maii, the Beltein or May fires, &c. &c. have other origins, but their disuse renders their in- vestigation here unnecessary. : <] ll> the destined place more or less. A stage however, in its general signification, yet marks the distance which cau be performed without any change of horses. The Roman FLORALIA was changed in its title to MAIUMA, in the reign of CONSTANTINE the Great, and the old licentious indulgences restricted: but, as the reform of manners intended by such altera- tion did not ensue, that emperor, by a subsequent decree, wholly prohibited the festival. HONORIUS- and ARCADIUS each again licensed its revival, in the first year of their respective inaugurations, though they also afterwards abolished it, because it was not observed with the " modesty and honesty" they had enjoined. Since those distant periods, most of the continental nations, as well as this country, have more or less continued the holiday, in direct opposition to statutes of state, church ordinances, and individual reprobation, among which latter may be noticed the meek EVELYN, who condemns the May-pole as impolitic, if for no other reason than being " destructive to fine straight trees." (30 MAY, 1812.) It has been already observed, that in the an- tient church, every Sunday throughout the year had a distinguishing appellation, the more cor- 335 rectly to mark its respective station in the Ca- lendar; the Sundays near the great feasts and fasts were then, as at this moment, named from those solemnities ; the others merely from the introit of the day. ROGATION SUNDAY received, and retains, its title from the Monday, Tues- day, and Wednesday, immediately following it, which are called Rogation days, derived from the Latin ROGARE, to beseech ; the earliest Christians having appropriated extraordinary prayers and supplications for those three days, as a preparation for the devout observance of our SAVIOUR'S ascension, on the day next succeeding to them, denominated HOLY THURSDAY, or AS- CENSION-DAY. So early as the year 550, CLAUDIUS MUMER- TUS, bishop of Vienne in France, extended the object of the Rogation days, before then solely applied to a preparation for the ensuing festival of the Ascension, by joining to that service other solemnities, in humble supplication for a blessing on the fruits of the earth, at this season blossoming forth : whether, as is asserted by some authors, MUMERTUS had cause to apprehend that any ca- lamity might befall them by blight, or otherwise, at that particular period ; or merely adapted a new Christian rite, on the Roman terrninalia, is a matter of dispute. SIDONIUS, bishop of Cler- montj soon followed the example ; and the first COUNCIL OF ORLEANS, in the early part of the ixth century, confirmed its observance through- 336 out the church. The whole weejf in which these days happen is styled ROGATION WEEK ; and in some parts it is still known hy the other names of CROSS WEEK, GRASS WEEK, arid GANG or PRO- CESSION WEEK; ROGATION, in token of the ex- traordinary praying ; CROSS, because antiently that symbol was borne by the priest who offici- ated at the ceremonies of this season; GRASS, from the peculiar abstinence observed, such as sallads, green sauce, &c. then substituted for flesh ; and GANG, or PROCESSION, from the ac- customed perambulations. Supplications and abstinence are yet enjoined by the Reformed Church ; and also such part of the ceremony of the processions, as relates to the perambulating of the circuits of parishes, conformably to the re- gulation made in the reign of queen ELIZABETH ; and one of our church homilies of the day is com- posed particularly for this occasion. " The people shall once a year, at the time accustomed," says the injunction of that sovereign, " with the curate and substantial men of the parish, walk about the parishes, as they were accustomed, and at their return to church, make their common prayers ; provided that the curate in the said com- mon perambulations, as heretofore in the days of rogations, at certain convenient places, shall admonish the people to give thanks to GOD, in the beholding of GOD'S benefits, for the increase and abundance of his fruits upon the face of the with the saying of the hundred and fourth, 337 Psalm, Bene^lic Anima mea, &c. ; at which time also the same minister shall inculcate this and such like sentences, f Cursed be he which trans- lateth the bounds and doles of his neighbour/ or such other order of prayer as shall be hereafter ap- pointed." In FRANCONIA, as with us in England, the bearing of WILLOW WANDS makes part of the ceremony of these parades. Before the Reformation, the processions in this week were observed with every external mark of devotion ; the cross was borne about in solemn pomp, to which the people bowed the ready knee ; with other rites considered of too super- stitious a nature to warrant their continuance ; hence the week was also denominated CROSS WEEK, a name it yet retains on the Continent. During the middle ages, when the Christian Church had departed from its primitive amiable simplicity, many ceremonies, bearing a close re- semblance to the very Heathen ones they were meant to overthrow, were insensibly introduced ; some, no doubt, from the necessities of the times, in order to lessen the difficulty of conversion others, it is to be apprehended, from less pure motives. By degrees the whole of the plain and impressive forms of worship taught by the apos- tles, gave way to innovations ; and to such cause may justly be ascribed, that REFORMATION which perhaps without such glaring extension of abuse never would have been effected. VOL. i. z 338 \Vhether MUMERTUS, led by the fnfatuation of the times, changed or rather extended the object of the Rogation days, to meet the feelings of the then half converted Pagans, must remain in doubt: Certain it is that, like the great bulk of the prac- tices of the old papal church, the ceremony of the processioning, at this season, bears a most remark- able similitude to the rites of the heathen festival of the god TERMINUS, whose name and alleged at- tributes have been transmitted to us in numerous ways, and are yet to be traced in various customs, and common expressions in the English and other modern languages. TERMINUS was considered as the god of boun- daries or land-marks, or rather JUPITER was sacrificed to, under that appellation. Reaving, therefore, the object of MUMERTUS'S alteration in the Rogation ceremony undecided, .it is past dis- pute ; that this Roman deity has occasioned the several divisions of the Island of Minorca to be named Termino, such as die Termino of Ma- hon, &c. &c. answering to our counties ; that the expression of Term, our present title for the period fixed for the Sittings of our Courts of Law, is of the same origin, TERMINUS having been the god of the limits of time as well as of place, and, like JANUS, styled the god of peace, because all limits which have their name of lites, or contentions, were kept in peace and security by the Terminalia : and further, that the com- mon expression of Term as a duration of time, 339 likewise springs from the same source ; we have terms of life, terms of years, &c. &c. all expres- sive of limitations of time ; and even the words in common use for the end or conclusion of any thing, emanate from the same root ; ourjournies terminate, our views terminate, our hopes ter- minate, and lastly, our lives terminate ! % Mention of tfje Cross* (3D MAY.) In the Romish church, this day is observed as a solemn festival, under the title of the " INVEN- TION OF THE CROSS," that is, of the finding of the cross ; to invent, signifying to discover, or bring to light ; though, if we were Bound to believe in, the historical account of this great event, it is to be] lamented, that modern times give a more enlarged, and, as it would relate to this fact, a very different meaning. Were we now in ordinary conversation to say, a man had invented a parti- cular piece of history, we should give him cre- dit for the ingenuity of having fabricated a fictitious tale, not that he had discovered a part of true history before concealed : But many of pur words have wholly lost, and others nearly re- Z 2 340 versed their original signification ; and we should not, therefore, perhaps, suffer the term of Inven- tion of the Cross to affect our sentiments, as to the verity of the circumstances designed to be communicated, because an invention at this mo- ment implies, either a subtle effort of genius, that calls into delusive existence, actions, &c. having no foundation but in the acute mind of the fabricator ; or else of arts, &c. before un- known. ST. HELENA was of British extraction, and by some recorded as the daughter of COEL, Duke or King of Colchester, of which he was the alleged founder, whence its name Coel-caester, or Col- chester. She was married to CONSTANTINE, who had become passionately enamoured of her ; though, after having borne him a son, the after- wards illustrious CONSTANTINE the GREAT, she was for some cause divorced, and sent to Britain. When her son assumed the imperial dignity, ST. HELENA was recalled, and by her virtue and piety prepared the mind of that noble champion of the Christian cause, to receive those mystic truths for which he has been held in just veneration. At the advanced age of eighty she visited the Holy Land, desirous of contemplating the spot which had been sanctified by the death of the SAVIOUR of the World, and by his miraculous Resurrection from the tomb. The chapel that had been built by ADRIAN, and dedicated to the Pagan VENUS, on purpose to prophane that sacred 341 spot, soon was levelled with the dust ; and the eager desire of viewing the original monuments of our redemption, prompted every possible ex- ertion for gratifying that amiable propensity. Deep in the ground, at length three crosses were discovered ; and the fervent piety of those who la- boured in the holy work, instantly recognized them as those on which our SAVIOUR fulfilled the glorious purpose of Salvation, and on which the two Thieves at the same time suffered death. The greatest sceptic may join in belief of the verity of the discovery of this instrument of the passion of our LORD ; but it ought to be remembered that ST. HELENA was not converted to the faith, at the time the Popish historians have stated it had been found ; and it must require a vast extension of Faith to admit, that the true cross was selected by the miraculous power it displayed of restoring the dead to life : The corse of a female some time defunct, was placed alternately upon the three crosses ; the two first that were tried produced not any effect, but the third instantly raised the body in a state of re-animation* Still greater faith will it require implicitly to receive as truth the monkish record, that when this cross was di- vided and subdivided into innumerable fragments, O ' so that the pieces thus distributed amounted to treble the quantity of wood contained in the ori*- ginal cross, yet that, through some holy miracle, it nevertheless remained entire and unimpaired ; this sacred implement possessing not only the vii- tue of restoring life, but being endowed with wonderful power of recovering from the injuries sustained by its division, whereby it afforded " Wood to man's importunate desires, without any loss of its own substance." Over the spot where had been revealed the holy sepulchre, the prudent emperor (CONSTANTINE the GREAT) raised a superb edifice; but the clergy had first taken from the hallowed ground, the nails, the lance, the crown of thorns, the pillar at which our SA- VIOUR was scourged, and distributed them among the devout ; and , as there are numerous sets, at different religious establishments, of each of these instruments, our faith is again called into its greatest exertion, to enable us to account for their encrease, by admitting that they severally, as well as the cross, possessed the vital power of self-augmentation, in proportion to the means taken for their diminution. In proof that each of these holy relics did, however, actually contain such miraculous virtue, there are innumerable instances oil monkish record. ST. HELENA, we are informed by GREGORY, Bishop of Tours, upon the authority of THEODORET and ST. AM- BROSE, " took care that some of the nails of the cross should be artificially enclosed within the emperor's helmet, that thereby his head might be preserved safe from his enemies' weapons ; and others she mingled with the iron of his horse's bit, thereby both to give a safe protection to him, and likewise to fulfil the antient prophecy of 343 Zacharias, saying, ' That which is on the horse's bit shall be holy to the Lord Omnipotent ;' and one she cast into the Adriatic sea during a horri- ble tempest, by which means she saved herse'f and company from shipwreck" And we are assured by other indefatigable writers, that in process of time, and for the more general benefit of the faithful, these relics even communicated their efficacy at working miracles to all other articles that touched them. GREGORY the First is thought to have, been the happy man who dis- covered this extraordinary faculty, which was soon improved upon by his worthy successors. Pieces of cloth, called Brandeum, were enclosed in a box with relics, and forthwith were blessed with a participation of the powers of the relics them- selves. Pope LEO, we are told, once " proved this fact beyond doubt ;" for when some Greeks had impiously ventured to question the virtue of a Brandeum, that Holy Father " cut it through with a pair of scissars, which were instantly co- vered with blood, and convinced them of their error !" That the ignorant multitude should have been easily led into a complete belief of the whole of the mystical qualities and powers attributed to the cross, and other relics of our SAVIOUR'S suf- ferings, can readily be reconciled with our ideas of former periods, even if we cannot now our- selves give similar credit to them ; but that tales invented by monkish craft, without having any thing apparently sacred for their basis, should be equally admitted as truths, must excite our sur- prize and pity. The following ridiculous story, the idea of which sprang, no doubt, from the pre- sumed attributes of the Holy Cross, &c. stands conspicuous in proof of the gross ignorance and superstition into which mankind have been plunged : It is solemnly narrated, that two Chris- tian Pilgrims travelling in Poland were hospitably entertained by RUSTICUS, then a Pagan peasant, but who was afterwards happily converted, and promoted to sovereignty, which he enjoyed to the advanced age of 10 years^ they arrived be- fore the threshold of this noble convert when he was preparing to celebrate the birth of one of his sons; a fat hog killed in honour of the occasion was the fare, and the fatigued and exhausted Pil- grims were made partakers of the humble, but substantial feast. Gratitude warmed the travellers' hearts, and they determined to work a miracle for the salvation of their host; with many a fer- vent prayer, and many a cross, they pronounced a blessing on the half-consumed hog, " which, from thenceforth never diminished in its weight" however freely resorted to, by the wondering fa- mily. RUSTICUS was, of course, withdrawn from heathen errors; his astonished and admiring coun- trymen followed the glorious example, and chus-> ing him for their chief, added to his name PIUSTUS, to denote his virtue! Could invention have been at a lower ebb, or credulity at a higher pitch of silly acquiescence? 345 From the earliest ages of Christianity, the CROSS has very naturally been made the emblem of our holy faith. It was the private mark or signal by which the Christians used to distinguish each other among their Pagan adversaries, during the times of persecution, as it was afterwards their public emblem when their danger became less im- minent; and it is yet the " SIGN" with which all Christian churches, however widely differing in other respects, mark those who are admitted to the benefits of Baptism. Wherever the Gospel was first spread, a pious care caused crosses to be erected as standards, around which the faithful might assemble the more conveniently to hear the divine truths inculcated ; and by degrees those symbols were fixed in every place of public re-, sort. Every town had its cross, at which en- gagements, whether of a religious or worldly in- terest, were entered into. Every church-yard had one whereon to rest the bodies of the deceased, from which the Preacher gave his lessons upon the mutability of life. At the turning of every public road was placed a cross, for the two- fold purposes of rest for the bearers of the pious de- funct, and for reminding travellers of the SA- VIOUR who died for their salvation. The boun- daries of every parish were distinguished by crosses, at which, during the antient perambula- tions, the people alternately prayed and regaled themselves. Every grant from sovereigns or no- bles, every engagement between individuals, was 346 alike marked with the cross; and in all cases where the parties could not write, that emblem alone was deemed an efficient substitute for the subscription of a name. CONSTANTINE the Great first displayed this; symbol, on a shield on the Eagles in the Imperial Arms, by a Greek monogram thus > and subse- quently thus P> expressive of the figure of the Cross, and exhibiting at the same time, the initial letters of the name of CHRIST. This device he had impressed on his helmet, in which ST. HE- LENA had caused " some of the true nails to be enclosed," and on the shields of his soldiers : and so early as the commencement of the fourth cen- tury, the standard of Rome wholly gave place to the Labarum, or banner of the Cross: The Heralds, in after ages, resorted to this emblem as an inexhaustible source, varying it in form and appropriation, too numerous to admit of being particularized: The arms and mottoes of several of our nobles, and other antient families, still re- tain evidence of this fact; some assigned to their ancestors from an actual, others from a presumed exertion in the " Holy Wars,' J or other pious ef- forts in support of the Christian faith. Some of the mottoes of this description of the nobility are, FIDEI COTICULA CRUX. The Cross the Test of Faith. E. Jersey, E. Clarendon, E. Grandison. 347 FORTITER GERIT CRUCEM. He bravely supports the Cross. E. Donough- more. NIL NISI CRUCE. There is no dependence but in the Cross. M. Waterford. SUB CRUCE CANDIDA. Under the white Cross. E. Egmont and Lord Arden. A CRUCE SALUS. Salvation from the Cross. E. of Mayo. CRUCI DUM SPIRO FIDO. Whilst I breathe I trust in the Cross. V. Netterville. SUB HOC SIGNO VlNCES. Under this Cross thou shalt conquer. V. De Vesci. Crosses, in short, were multiplied by every means which the ingenuity of man could invent ; and the people were thus kept in constant remem- brance, both at home and on their jourrties, as well as in every transaction of their lives, of the foundation of the Christian faith. When pride, avarice, ambition, and sensuality became, unhap- pily, predominant features of the ecclesiastical character, superstitions were introduced to over- awe and secure the more ready submission of the laity ; pageantries of a nature as gross as they were ridiculous were instituted, and always pre- ceded by the c"ross; the worship of images of Christ superseded that of the divine original ; and the cross, at first merely the type of Christianity, became the direct object of adoration. Even the very making a sign of the cross, either on the forehead or breast, by the movement of the fingers, was deemed efficacious against the assaults of evil spirits and enchantments. At the Re- formation, all these abuses and absurdities were abolished in this country, and with them the practice of building crosses : several of those edi- fices, however, yet ornament this kingdom; among which stand pre-eminent for their antiquity, three of the many which the affection of EDWARD the First raised to the memory of Queen ELEANOR, one near Northampton, another at Gedding- ton, and the third near Waltham : and we have still in common usage the old saying of, " He begs like a cripple at a cross" when we wish to denote a particular urgency in the pressure of a suit; which has been handed down to us from those times, when the afflicted poor used to solicit alms at the different crosses: It is also yet the practice among those who cannot write, to sub- stitute a cross for their names, though any other mark is equally binding ; but such was the ardent zeal of the newly-reformed, that for a considera- ble time it was the custom of the illiterate Pro- testants to shew their aversion to Catholic cus- toms, by leaving that emblem defective in one of its quarters, making their mark thus T, or I in- stead of thus x, or more generally thus -f, as was the prior usage. In these times of general literary acquirements, 349 few have occasion to make use of any substitutes for their signature: It is, however, to be remem- bered, that Learning was, for many ages, rarely to be found, except among the Clergy, and that to be able merely to READ, formerly, exempted persons from punishment, who otherwise would have been ametiable to the law ; whence our legal expression, now no longer bearing its original meaning, of " BENEFIT OF CLERGY*." But even among the Religious themselves, knowledge was so far from being general, that deeds of Synods were issued, expressive, that " as my Lord the Bishop could not write," at his request others had subscribed for him ; and many Charters granted by nobles, and even by sovereign Princes, bore their mark or SIGNUM CRUCIS, sign of the cross, alone, "pro ignorant Id literarum" on account * EDWARD the First bv statute enacted, " That for the se- curity of the Clergy in the realm of England, to be disposed of in religious houses, or for Priests, Deacons, and Clerks of Parishes, there should be a prerogative allowed to the Clergy, that if any man who could read as a Clerk was to be CODH demned to death, the Bishop of the Diocese might claim him," &c. : And by statute of WILLIAM the Third, " this indulgent consideration, long exclusively enjoyed by the man, was ex- tended to females who might petition after conviction for their Clergy." The test required antiently in our Courts of Justice, was the reading a verse of the Holy Scriptures ; and, by degrees, this test became invariably confined to a certain verse, which consequently procured the expressive title of the " NECK VERSE." The Ordinary of the prison was Arbi- ter of the qualification of the Culprit, and his declaration, that " Legit ut Clericus," he reads like a Clerk, was decisive, 350 of their ignorance of letters. From this custom of making crosses, is derived the phrase of SIGN- ING, now signifying that a person has written his name to an instrument, instead of having sub- scribed it, as well as the term SIGNATURE, the synonime for subscription. ALFRED the Great who could not read at 12 years of age, owed his subsequent knowledge of letters to accident: his attention was drawn to some illuminations on a manuscript, which his mother refused to yield to his solicitation, until he should become competent to its perusal ; WIHTRED, King of Kent, put his cross to a charter granted about the year 700, to which was added the " pro ignorantialiterarum;" HENRY the First, who ascended the British throne in the year 1 1OO, received the honorary title of BEAU- ctERC, because possessed of literary acquirements not usual in that age ; and even the Emperor JUSTINIAN, the restorer of Rome to her meridian grandeur, was compelled to have his hand guided by a secretary, or he would not have been able to subscribe to any of his edicts* When Learning was at its lowest state in this kingdom, few of the engagements between in- dividuals were committed to writing; but the clergy; from their extensive influence, rendered valid all transactions between man and man, by making the parties salute and swear by the cross; and it was only by very slow degrees that obliga- tions of such a nature became legalized in any 351 other manner. The clergy, however, as might naturally be expected, contrived to turn this con- fidential reliance upon conscience, to their own advantage. In all disputed points, they were, of course, applied to; and never failed, in such cases, to become more or less participators in the contested property. This avaricious spirit of the clergy was sometimes resisted; but the laity seldom profited by opposition, and in general conformed. Some, indeed, who were aware of the weakness of their rights, craftily procured the pro- tection of the ecclesiastics, by voluntarily making them parties in the property at issue; knowing but too well, the strong probability they secured of carrying their point, with such powerful coad- jutors, however doubtful might be their claims. With this view, many resigning their estates to monasteries, or other religious establishments, contented themselves with taking leases for their O own lives ; and by these nefarious means the pro- perty of the church so rapidly augmented, that at last it amounted to a third of the actual rental of the kingdom! To this wily and interested con- trivance, of the transfer of property by OATH, has been assigned many of the exclamations, to which the vulgar ignorant still habituate themselves ; to swear by the CROSS, or by the ROOD, its Saxon appellation, was in former times not only admis- sible, but necessary ; and there was also at least a plausible pretext for making these oaths more po- tent in expression, in cases of great importance. 352 The advancement of learning introduced a num- ber of written agreements, proportionate to its progress ; the Reformation, by robbing the crucifixes of their ascribed powers, put a total stop to the antient mode of ratifying private con- tracts; and oaths, or appeals to images, no longer retained their former influence. The people gave free indulgence to the use of terms before held sacred ; they wished even to deride every appearance of their former superstitions ; and, by a too ardent and ignorant zeal, brought into com- mon usage, and. on every frivolous occasion, as- severations of the most solemn nature. Of these, many examples yet remain, some amply expres- sive of their meaning; others so much changed by vulgar usage, or by vicious and altered sounds, as almost to have lost their primitive tendency. By the CROSS; by the ROOD; by the HOLY ROOD ; by the MASS ; by GOD, &c. &c. &c. speak for themselves, each too plain to need comment ; while ZOUNDS, ZOOKS, Z'DEATH, and OONS. re- quire explanation : the three first are contractions of his wounds, his hooks, his death, the Z being only a slovenly mode of pronouncing the S-hard ; and the latter Oons, a still more corrupt and hasty contraction of his wounds; all pointing to the sufferings of our Saviour on the cross; while to these may be added the yet more obscure, but extended oath of ODD SPLUTTER HER NAILS, or GOTS PLUT AND HUR NAILS, signifying God's blood, and the nails which fastened him to the 353 crow ,- with many others, needless to enumerate ; " BY MY FAITH," was also another common oath, which has descended to us; and it went to ex- press that those who used it, Ao longer believed in those superstitious tenets, which before they dared not so much as doubt. Of the cause and progress of this mistaken zeal in the Reformed, and of the excesses they were led into, Sir JOHN HARRINGTON left an expressive epigram : but we must in charity hope the result he has drawn is only poetical. " In older times an ancient custom was, To swear, in mighty matters, by the Mass ; But when the Mass went down, as Old Men note, They swore then by the Cross of this same Groat : And when the Cross was likewise held in scorn; Then by their Faith, the common oath was sworn; Last, having sworn away all Faith and Troth, Only G d D n them is the common oath. Thus custom kept decorum by gradation, That losing Mass, Cross, Faith, they find Damnation." Sir JOHN PERROT, a supposed natural son of HENRY the Eighth, is alleged to have been the first who swore by GOD'S WOUNDS; which queen ELIZABETH adopted as her favourite and usual ex- pletive; the ladies of the count softened it down to ZOUNDS, and the commonalty into the still more obscure term of ZOUTERKINS. There was formerly an expression very current, that " SWEARING CAME IN AT THE HEAD, BUT is GOING OUT AT THE TAIL;" in allusion to its having once VOL. I. A A 354 been the vice of the great, though, from a refine- ment of manners, it had descended to the most low and vulgar of the people ; that the great were addicted to this ^ile custom is past dispute, as may be proved by several of their favourite oaths, still preserved on record against them: WILLIAM the Conqueror, swore by the splendour of God ; WILLIAM RUFUS, by St. Lukes face; Louis the Eleventh, of France, by God's Easter; CHARLES the Eighth, by God's Light; and Louis the Twelfth, of that country, used the vulgar oath still common in France and England, of Diable tri emporte ; or the Devil take me ; the Cheva- lier BAYARD, of celebrated memory, by God's Holiday; while there were few but made so- lemn appeals to Saints, &c. ; so that in those de- graded times, every man of consequence had a peculiar oath. No marvel, therefore, that our forefathers, who were attentive to the manners of their superiors, should have formed the proverbs, of " SWEARING LIKE AN EMPEROR," " SWEARING LIKE A LORD," &c. FRANCIS the First, of France, on the contrary, used to appeal to the truth of his asseverations, " On the IVord of a Gentle- man" a gallant expression, highly characteristic of the times of chivalry, and shows that monarchs used sometimes to value themselves more on no- bleness of conduct, than on their superior rank. HENRY the Fourth of France, used constantly to remind his nobles, that the utmost he or they could possibly boast of possessing, was the pecu- 355 liar opportunity they had of evincing " they were all Gentlemen" and our own HENRY, when he confirmed Magna Charta, bound himself to ob- serve its obligation, as he was a " Gentleman? to which he gave the greatest importance, " a King, and a Knight'"' In modern times mo- narchs have not been charged with any peculiar habit of swearing, unless, indeed, we except the Despot of France, from whom little better might be expected ; and we have -to hope, that as the proverb assures us, that Vice has reached the " TAIL," it may soon " GO OUT" that way, as predicted, and be no longer a disgrace to the mo- rality of the nation. Sfofw, Ctoan, a.fk. ((>TH MAY,) Which still appears in our almanacs, denotes that on this day the church antiently held a fes- tival, in commemoration of the miraculous deli- verance, from a horrid and barbarous death, of " SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST, ANTE PORT. LAT." or ST. JOHN the Evangelist before the Gate of Latina. AA 9 356 After about twenty-seven years passed by ST. JOHN at Ephesus, (see article ST. JOHN, Dec. 27,) it is recorded by some authors of the earliest ages, particularly by TERTULLIAN and ST. JEROME., that a severe persecution was carried ort against the Christians, under DOMITIAN, before whom this Evangelist was accused as an assertor of Atheism, and a public subvertor of the religion of the Ro- man empire and its dependencies ; offences con- sidered of so great a magnitude that ST. JOHN was sent to Rome, and there, before the gate called Porta Latina, cast into a cauldron of burning oil, in presence of the Senate. In this cauldron he is alleged to have remained a con- siderable time, though from Divine interposition he not only escaped without injury, but issued from the cauldron with renovated health and vi- gour. Notwithstanding such miraculous deliver- ance, DOMITIAN continued obdurate, and with- out remorse banished his intended victim to Pat- mos, a desolate island in the Archipelago, where he was sentenced to dig in the mines among the criminals. In this deplorable situation, the Evan- gelist appears to have written his majestic Apo- calypse, though it was not until the 4th century that the church would admit it among the sacred canons, after its authenticity had been settled by the united testimonies of POLYCARP, JUSTIX MARTYR, IREN^EUS, GLEMENT* and TERTULLI.AN. all authors of the second century. 357 To DOMITIAN, succeeded NERVA, a prince distinguished for his clemency ; and ST. JOHN re- turned from his banishment at Patmos, to Ephe- sus, where he died, apparently so free from pain, as to occasion many of the antient fathers to con- sider that he never actually resigned his breath, but only passed into a sleep, from which he is not to awake until the consummation of all things. And such, indeed, is the interpretation by some antient writers of the words of our Saviour, who, when asked by PETER what death JOHN should suffer, answered, " What if J will that he tarry till I come ?" or to the day of Judgment. Future ages having, upon a close investigation, considered that the historical evidences of the fact of ST. JOHN'S preservation from martyrdom, were of a doubtful nature, our Reformers discon- tinued the observance of this day ; and merely re- tained the festival of that Evangelist on the 27th December. ascension s25a, or (7TH MAY, 1812,) Is the day on which the church celebrates the glorious ascension of the MESSIAH into Heaven, the fortieth day after his resurrection from the 358 dead, during which interval he had appeared to his disciples several times, discoursing with them " of the things pertaining to the kingdom of GOD." This important festival has, therefore, even so early, according to some authors, as the year 6*8, been held on the Thursday next but one preceding Whit-Sunday ; and it has from its first institution been kept with especial veneration, from the positive testimony afforded to the apos- tles and disciples, who were present, to the number of 120, of the truth of the divinity of our Lord, who, the more effectually to confirm their faith in that particular, and to comfort and up- hold them in their future trials, took his flight to the realms of bliss in their presence. aftet ascension (IOTH MAY, 1812.) The church, the better to mark the importance of a proper observance of the FESTIVAL OF THE ASCENSION, has made the Sunday immediately following that feast, to bear a title allusive to the glorious event then celebrated. Informer times, the week of which this Sunday was the commencement, was denominated EX- PECTATION WEEK, in reference to the state of 359 anxiety of the Apostles, to whom our Saviour, at his last interview, had promised to send a com- forter : " It is expedient for you, that I go away ; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you." That such divine promise was fulfilled by the descent of the HOLY GHOST, as commemorated by the church on the next Sunday, PENTECOST, the Scriptures afford us the most ample and sa- tisfactory proof : from that period, filled with the spirit of truth, the Apostles commenced their public ministry; under that gracious guidance and support they established the Gospel, and sealed their testimony with their blood ; thus af- fording a sure hope of redemption to all those who follow their pure and inestimable doctrines. (17TH MAY, 1812.) Our Heavenly Redeemer had frequently, before his passion, promised to his disciples some extra- ordinary gifts ; and at his ascension expressly commanded them to tarry at Jerusalem, until they should be " endowed with power Jrom on high" which he had vouchsafed to assure them they should receive. On the day of the Jewish Feast 360 of Pentecost, when the apostles were all assem- bled together in one place, " On a sudden there came down a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting: and there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, which sat upon each of them : and they were all filled with the HOLY GHOST, and began to speak with other tongues, as the spirit gave them utterance." In commemoration of this extraordinary super- natural endowment, the church very early esta- blished the DAY OF PENTECOST, as a solemn CHRISTIAN FESTIVAL, a name it still retains, though its more common appellation is that of Whit-Sunday, Dominica in Albis, one of the antient names also of Low-Sunday, as explained p. 304. In the early ages of Christianity, Baptism, ex- cepting in cases of urgency, was administered only at the two greaj: festivals of Easter and Whit- suntide ; at the former period from a conceived resemblance between the great events then cele- brated of Christ's death and resurrection, and that part of the service of Baptism which typifies the dying from sin, and rising again unto righte- ousness : while Whitsuntide was deemed also pe- culiarly appropriate for that holy sacrament, not only from the apostles having been " baptized with the Holy Ghost and withjire;" but from their having commenced their public ministry on that day ; and themselves baptized three thousand 361 persons. In token of the spiritual purity obtained by the holy participation of Baptism, the gar- ments of those admitted to that sacrament were made of white linen, and from this cause ensued the synonymous names of WHIT-SUNDAY, WHITE- SUNDAY, WHITIN-SUNDAY, or DOMINICA ALBA. Much ingenuity, however, has been exerted to prove that Whit-Sunday is derived from the French word huiet, which signifies eight, thereby making the affirmed original name, the eighth Sun- day, which Whit-Sunday stands from Easter ; reckoning Easter-Sunday as one of them. Some authors state that it was a custom of former times* for the rich to bestow upon the poor, on this day, all the MILK of their kine, in order to qualify themselves to receive the gift of the HOLY GHOST; and that milk having been denominated white meat, the day was from that cause called White Sunday. Other authorities contend that the ori- ginal name of this season of the year was WIT- TENTIDE, or the time of choosing the WITS or WISE MEN tO the WITTENAGEMOTE, FOLK-MOTES, or conventions of our Saxon ancestors ; that the day was consecrated to HERTHA, the goddess of peace and festivity; that when Paganism gave way to Christianity, the period still kept its pri- mitive title as well as that given to it of Pente- cost ; and that most of the festivities of the WIT- TENTIDE were continued to the people, which they yet enjoy in a manner not much surpassing, in a religious point of view, those they before in- 362 dulged in. Some writers suppose the word to have been corrupted from WIED, the Saxon word for sacred ; but they do not offer any good arguments for such title being bestowed upon this Sunday, in preference to others at least as sacred in their object ; and VERSTEGAN alleges the day to have been called WIED Sunday, from the old Saxon UJiefc or Uliheb, in token of the descent of the HOLY GHOST. PENCAS and PENKAST in the Cornish language, now totally lost, signified Whit-suntide, both evidently corruptions of Pentecost. an* (l8xH AND IO/TH MAY, 1812,) are regarded by the Church as days of much so- lemnity ; and the collects and other offices ap- pointed for them respectively, are extremely ap- propriate to the great and important points com- memorated at this Season. Like the two first days of Easter week, however, the religious cere- monies, except in the example of some amiable individuals, are disregarded ; and these days are become Holidays to the commonalty in the mo- dern sense only ; or, in other words, are so passed 363 that neither business, nor any other concern how- ever important, are suffered to interfere with the general idleness and profligacy of low association. Most of the antient superstitious pastimes of Whitsuntide are now discontinued near the me- tropolis ; but it is to be lamented that one of these abominations is yet retained in Lancashire. In that county it is a common frolic for one per- son to hold a stick over the head of another, and a third slily to strike it, so as to cause a smart blow to the unsuspecting object of their jocula- rity. This custom, now perhaps only indulged in as a species of low fun, took its rise from a less justi6able cause, and was designed to ex- press that at this Season the HOLY GHOST de- scended upon the heads of the Apostles : and it is assuredly one of the most vile remnants of igno- rance and depravity, that has withstood the abra- sion of time. ueen Cfjarlotte born* (IO/TH MAY.) Her present most excellent Majesty, the Quee*, was born on the igth of May, 1744; but the anniversary of the day occurring so very near to that of the birth of the Sovereign, it has been found expedient, from motives of policy and courtly ceremony, and more particularly for the advantage of trade, that it should be celebrated at another season of the year. The very exemplary deportment of Her Ma- jesty, and the exercise of every virtue that could add lustre to a diadem, since she became the consort of our beloved Sovereign, are such as might natwrally be expected from the perfections .of her mind, which early in life .gave strong indi- cations of superior accomplishments : and these more solid advantages first influenced the King's .choice. The following letter, written by her whilst Princess CHARLOTTE of Mecklenburg, ad- dressed to the Prussian Monarch, when he en- tered the territories of her cousin the Duke of Mecklenburg Swcherin, is every way worthy of the high esteem in which it was held ; and it was to the perusal of that epistle, which the King of Prussia sent to His Majesty, that we may princi- pally attribute the happy union, which immedi- ately after its receipt became the object of the King's solicitude. " To THE KING OF PRUSSIA. " May it please your Majesty, *' 1 am at a loss whether I shall congratulate or condole with you on your late victory ; since the same success that has covered you with lau- rels, has overspread my country with desolajtion. " I know, Sire, that it seems unbecoming sex, in this age of vicious refinement, to feel for one's country, to lament the horrors of war, or wish for the return of peace. I know you may think it more properly my province to study the art of pleasing, or to turn, my thoughts to sub- jects of a more domestic nature ; but however unbecoming it may be in me, I cannot resist the desire of interceding for this unhappy people. " It was but a 1 few years since this territory wore the most pleasing appearance ; thg country was cultivated, the peasant looked cheerful, and the towns abounded with riches and festivity : What an alteration at present from such a charm- ing scene ! I am not expert at description, nor can my fancy add any horrors to the picture : but sure even conquerors themselves would weep at the hideous prospects now before me. The whole country, my dear country ! lies one fright- ful waste, presenting only objects to excite terror, pity, and despair. The business of the husband- man and the shepherd are quite discontinued ; the husbandman and the Shepherd are become soldiers themselves, and help to ravage the soil they formerly occupied. The towns are inhabited only by old men, women, and children ; perhaps here and there a warrior, by wounds or loss of limbs rendered unfit for service, is left at his door ; his little children hang round him, ask an history of every wound, and grow themselves soldiers before they find strength ibr the field. 366 But this were nothing, did we not feel the alter- nate insolence of either army, as it happens to advance or retreat. It is impossible to express the confusion, even those who call themselves our friends, create; even those from whom we might expect redress, oppress us with new cala- mities. " From your justice, therefore, it is that we hope for relief: to you, even children and women may complain, whose humanity stoops to the meanest petition, and whose power is capable of repressing the greatest injustice. I am, sire, &c." g>atnt Bunstan, who was descended from a noble family in Wes- sex, was born A. D. 924, being the year before ATHELSTAN, to whom he was related, ascended the throne. He received his education at the abbey of Glastonbury, in Somersetshire, where he attended most sedulously to his studies, and became one of the greatest scholars of his age. He was moreover particularly skilled in every personal accomplishment, was stated to have been an inimitable painter, sculptor, and musician, and a great proficient in the art of refining and 367 forging metals ; qualifications so much above the genius of the age in which he lived, that he first acquired the name of a conjurer or alchymist, and then of a Saint. Among others of his exer- tions he appears to have made two large bells for the church at Abingdon. The ignorant multi- tude considered him as in social intercourse with the infernal powers : while the monks, with more policy, though with no less impiety, exaggerated his qualifications, and attributed what the popu- lace had degraded with the name of magic, to a communion with the Deity. In the British Mu- seum is a MS tract of DUNSTAN'S on the Philoso- pher's Stone : so that there appears some foun- dation for his having been a reputed though un- successful conjurer. Having received some disgust at the court of ATHELSTAN, he withdrew himself, and became a monk : EDMUND, who suqceeded ATHELSTAN, induced him from his retreat, and made him abbot of Glastonbury, which he richly endowed; and he was, in the reign of EDRED, who suc- ceeded EDMUND, made the royal confessor, chief confidant, and prime minister: during the reigns of the two latter princes, he employed the whole of his influence for aggrandizing the monks of ST. BENEDICT, to which fraternity he belonged. EDWI, the successor of EDRED, irritated against him, ordered him into exile, but he was recalled by EDGAR, who wrested the royal power from his brother EDWI, on the North side of the 368 Thames, and afterwards, upon the decease of EDWI, became sole monarch of England, in the year of our Lord 050. By EDGAR, ST. DUNSTAN was promoted first to the see of Worcester, soon after to that of London, and afterwards to the archbishopric of Canterbury, which elevated situation he filled 27 years, and died on the lth May, A. D. 988. ST. DUNSTAN, who had been a zealous pro- moter of the Benedictines, when abbot of Glas- tonbury, found his attachment increase for that order, as he himself advanced in power : accord- ingly, when possessed of the supremacy, he but too successfully laboured to compel the secular cations to repudiate their wives, and to become monks, giving encouragement to none who were not of that brotherhood. It is to this circum- stance we are to ascribe the numerous absurd miracles recorded of him, by the monks of that and other orders. For centuries, this unna- tural prohibition of marriage continued in Eng- land ; and even so late as the year 1539, in the reign of HENRY the Eighth, was passed the odious statute, aptly called " the Bloody Act," which condemned to death even such as should sup* port the doctrine of the marriage of the priests, &c. " We have now hindered priests from having wives," said the duke of Norfolk, upon this occasion, to his confessor ; <( but can your grace prevent wives from having priests ?" retorted his witty and ex- perienced opposer. " The law that restrains 369 them from having wives of their own, naturally gives them a right to the wives of other men." This statute was annulled at the Reformation, and the clergy admitted to their natural rights, as respected their attachment to the fair sex *. In the Romish church, however, priests are yet restricted to a life of celibacy ; but whether they violate such oaths in modern times, as they no- toriously did in former periods, need not be dis- cussed.. " Are you not ashamed of your loose conduct," said a person to an abandoned priestly hypocrite, " to lead the life you do, who should be the lanthorn of light ?" " No," replied the shameless sinner, " I am not ; nor can the clergy continue lanthorns of light, while the laity pos- * It is a remarkable fact that although, by the Reforma- tion, the clergy are admitted to the happiness of the connu- bial state, their consorts are not honoured with any title ex- pressive of their high connexion ; this is perhaps to be attri- buted principally to the moderation of the Bishops themselves, who, finding their antient power in the state still so far re- spected, as to allow of their retaining their rank as peers of the realm, did not press for what might be deemed a too eager desire of worldly grandeur ; and the catholic principles which again had the ascendancy in Mary's reign, and those of a puritanical nature in the reigns of Elizabeth and James the First, were not calculated to promote what, in these times, would only be deemed a proper respect to the wives of our great church dignitaries. At the same time it ought to be remembered, that except in some few instances, see article 9 November, such titles as are official or professional are distinguished from those which are hereditary or personal, by their being incommunicable to the wives' of the possessors. VOL. I, B B 370 sess all the horns : and besides, it is your duty to look at the light, and not to the lanthorn." Authors differ much, as may reasonably be expected, with regard to the character of ST. DONSTAN, some representing him as vain, arro- gant, and superstitious; while others assign to him the most amiable qualities of mind, and for- titude so great, that he hesitated not, in any case, to reprove the follies of the four successive mo- narchs to whom he was Confessor. Whether, however, ST. DUN STAN was really a man of cor- rect and upright conduct (as is mostly agreed), or otherwise, it is past dispute that he was blessed with great abilities and acquirements : and it is much to be lamented, that the monks who have written his life and actions, have disfigured his true history by alleged miracles ; some of which are here related, to shew to what degradation and impiety the mind may be debased, by the errors of superstition. When a boy, he is stated by the monks of his time, to have studied theology so sedulously, as to have reduced himself to the point of death ; when he was suddenly restored by some divine medicine sent to him by an angel in a storm. So extraordinary an interposition of the Deity, could not but demand instant grateful thanksgivings, and DUNSTAN started from his bed, and ran with full speed towards the church : Satan met him in the way, surrounded by numerous black dogs, and endeavoured to defeat his pious intention ; 371 but DUNSTAN was not to be overcome; he in- stantly prayed for ability, and was enabled to cudgel the Devil and his black dogs so effectually, that they vanished in a trice, and left him and the angel together, the latter of whom, finding the church-door fastened, took up the pious youth in his arms, and conveyed him to his devotions through the roof. Another time, the Devil attempted to seduce this chaste saint, while he was amusing himself at his forge ; but here again the evil spirit failed : DUNSTAN knew him immediately, notwithstand- ing he had assumed the appearance of a beautiful female, and suddenly taking from the fire his tongs, which were red hot, he revenged the insult intended, by squeezing with them the nose of the fiend: of this triumph over Satan, there is a painting in Goldsmiths' Hall, London, wherein the heavenly host are displayed as rejoicing at his conquest. Ignorant and impious as were these feigned miracles, they are infinitely defi- cient in folly and blasphemy to another recorded of this saint, whom the monks declare to have been taken up to Heaven to be present at the nuptials of his long-deceased mother, with the Almighty Father of Mankind ! ! ! The JEoLiAN or Wind harp is thought to have been invented by DUNSTAN, and even the pri- mary cause of his being esteemed supernaturally gifted by the Divinity ; for among other miracle* B B 2 372 imputed to him, he is said to have been able to play uporj the Harp without touching it: " &t. untan'g $arp at b? tfje toall, ISJpon a pin triD fjang^a ; #be $ arp itself toitij tp and all, llntoucij'D bp ijanD DiD ttDan^a." That such a then unaccountable circumstance should have created astonishment, is not to be wondered at ; nor that the monks should have availed themselves of it, to introduce other ex- traordinary tales, which would gain but too ready a credence from the evidence of this one fact: The HARP was at that time the general instru- ment of this country ; no person was ranked as a gentleman who did not possess one, and could perform upon it ; while slaves were strictly pro- hibited from attempting to touch a chord ; and even the creditor was deprived of the power of seizing this token of gentility, while every other article was liable to his grasp. A " self-playing HARP," therefore, offered an advantageous op- portunity for working on the ignorance of the people : They readily assigned to supernatural in- fluence what they could hot otherwise account for; and implicitly believed that DUNSTAN had been taught the mystic secret by " Angels whom he heard chaunting an anthem to the tune of Gaudc.nt in Ccc j lis, accompanied by a Harp which played of its own accord." 373 Various other proofs of DUNSTAN'S powers are adduced by his grateful friends, the Benedictines, which do not seem to have had any other cause for having been invented, than to excite admiration, or to overawe the populace : while some miracles are recorded, which may perhaps shew, there was an immediate object in view; such as the sudden falling in of the floor of the room, where the Council was held to debate upon the cause of the Clergy, whom DUNSTAN was depriving of all so- cial intercourse and enjoyment, whereby alt his opponents were destroyed, while he himself re- mained in his chair unhurt, the beam on which it was placed alone sustaining itself. So extraor- dinary an event naturally daunted all future ad- vocates for the Clergy, and their cause was lost : but whether the floor had been previously pre- pared for the working of this wonder, is worthy of consideration : Some other of DUNSTAN'S acts assigned to magic, may readily be reduced to the standard of reason, instead of being placed to those absurd powers attributed to him : When the church at Mayfield, in Sussex, was erected, the architect misiook its proper direction, and DUNSTAN is said immediately to have noticed the error, and, by gently pushing the fabric with his shoulder, to have changed its posit'on. Surely, this can merely go m proof, tiiat DUN STAN was one of the few who could ascertain the Kast point, slightly varying as it does at different sea- 374 sons of the year ; and we may safely give that credit to his head, which superstition assigned to his shoulder! Crtnttp (24TH MAY, 18 12,) Is a festival observed by the Latin and Protestant Churches, on the Sunday next following Pente- cost or Whitsuntide, of which originally it was merely an octave ; and it was instituted as a se- parate feast, the more directly to afford an op- portunity for testifying a devout and reverential adoration of the hypostatic union, of the three divine spirits, the FATHER, the SON, and the HOLY GHOST, in ONE GOD. The term TniNiTY, v by which this mystery is denominated, was first brought into use by THEOPHILUS,' of Antioch, about the year of our Lord 150 ; though the doctrine, that an union of the heavenly powers was comprehended under that expression, as con-substantial, co-eternal, and co-equal, was reserved for subsequent as- sumption. In 270, PAULUS SAMASOTENUS, the Bishop -of that See, suggested to the second Council held there, that our LORD JESUS CHRIST 375 should be acknowledged as of the same substance O with GOD the FATHER, a proposition that was rejected after much dispute, as more calculated to promote altercations and discordance, than to benefit the cause of religion. ALEXANDER, Bi- shop of Alexandria, about fifty years after this, publicly asserted, in a discourse to his Presby- ters, that there was an Unity in the Trinity, which ARIUS, a learned Christian, instantly con- tradicted as unscriptural and prophane; and to this unhappy controversy is to be ascribed, the foundation of innumerable of those schisms, which, in after-ages, so much disgraced and in- jured the Christian religion. CONSTANTINE the GREAT exerted his powerful influence to suppress these dissentions, the evil consequences of which his acute mind readily anticipated ; he chided the Bishop for agitating subtle questions, and ARIUS for replying to them ; alleging, that such hidden mysteries ought never to have been dis- cussed, or, if unhappily touched upon, to have been immediately stifled in the most profound silence. ALEXANDER, however, still persevered ; and convening a Council of Egyptian Bishops, ex- communicated ARIUS and his adherents; while other Councils, espousing the cause of ARIUS, re- stored him to the communion of the church, and declared him perfectly orthodox in his sentiments: Tumults of the most calamitous nature, naturally ensued from these adverse decrees, and Christi- 376 anity was thus exposed to the contempt and ri- dicule of its Heathen opponents, who even car- ried their derision to the extent of making these circumstances of disagreement, subjects for thea- trical merriment! CONSTANTINE, shocked and offended at the contumely to which our holy faith was reduced, instantly summoned a Council to determine the matter in dispute ; and, to avoid all partialities, he collected the Bishops through- out his dominions. At this Council, which was held at Nice, in the year 325, ALEXANDER and Aniuseach personally defended his own opinions; and after due consideration, EUSEBIUS, the most learned of the assembled Primates, formed a Creed, to which it was required both parties should subscribe. To this creed ALEXANDER opposed his utmost influence and talents ; and to appease him and his party, and in the hope of healing all animosities, CONSTANTINE acceded to the introduction of the sentence, which estab- lished as part of the Christian faith, that the Son was of the same substance with the Father. ATHANASIUS, who succeeded ALEXANDER in the See of Alexandria, was not satisfied, even with the altered determination of this general Council, inasmuch, as the Trinity was not made complete, according to his conception of that mystery ; he, consequently, introduced the doctrine of the con- substantiality of the Holy Ghost with the FATHER and the SON, and the unintelligible expressions of one essence to denote the Tri-une GOD, and three 377 Substances to signify the Divinity in the divided and separate capacity of three distinct spirits* This extended construction, of what had before occasioned so much strife, gave great offence even to many of the Bishop's former adherents ; and in the year 339, a Council held at Antioch, drew up a new creed, from which was expunged not only the new construction put upon the Trinity by ATHANASIUS, but even that part of the Nicene creed which had declared the Son and the Father to be of the same substance. ATHANASIUS, who had been deposed from his bishopric for various offences with which he had been charged, ap- pealed from this Council, and the emperor CON- STANTIUS who had convened it, and approved of its proceedings, to JULIUS, Bishop of Rome ; and that proud and haughty Primate, feeling his con- sequence flattered by such admission of superior jurisdiction, espoused the cause of the deposed ap- pellant, and even adopted his opinions, which the Eastern Bishops had condemned. This conduct in the Bishop of Rome is not, however, to be imputed to his conviction of the orthodoxy of the creed of ATHANASIUS, though he chose to give it that colouring: the ambition of JULIUS aimed at paramount dominion, which his suc- cessors afterwards obtained, and thence it was that the See of Rome was ever eager to receive under protection, every complainant against other patriarchs. 378 CONSTANTIUS, who governed the East, hereupon, in conjunction with his brother CONSTANS, the, emperor of the West, summoned an oecumenical or general council of bishops, from both domini- ons; but the pious design of the imperial brothers to adjust the discordances that had arisen, proved unavailing: the Eastern bishops, instead of joining the general council, merely assembled by them- selves, confirming every measure before decided upon by the Council of Aries; while the Western bishops declared all such decisions null and void, and restored ATHANASIUS to the communion of the church. The Eastern prelates excommuni- cated several of the Western, and the Western bishops passed similar sentences upon many of those of the Eastern districts, whereby the minds of the Christians became inflamed, and murders of the most atrocious nature but too naturally en- sued. When CONSTANTIUS, upon the decease of his brother, received under his dominion the Western empire, in addition to his sovereignty over that of the East, he once more summoned a Council ; but to avoid the recurrence of tumult, he merely assembled together, at Aries, the bishops of the West, who passed on ATHANASIUS the like condemnation that had been inflicted by the Council of Antioch. On the death of CONSTANTIUS, ATHANASIUS was, however, once more restored to his see ; but no longer persisting in his former favourite hypo- 379 thesis, he joined in the determination of a Council held in 362, that those who believed there were three substances, in the Trinity, and those who believed there was but one, were nevertheless of the same opinion, because the same words were merely taken in different senses. To accord with this new, and ill understood, decision, the Roman pontiff instantly changed his former ex- pressions to denote the mystery of the Trinity, from one essence and three substances, to one substance and three persons ; which latter mode of describing the Tri-une Godhead, has remained unaltered in the Western Churches, even to this period. Still, however, many learned men re- jected the doctrine ; and the emperor GRATIAN, in consequence, fornied a spiritual court in the year 378, consisting of the bishop of Rome and seven others, by whose advice he issued a mandate, commanding all Christians to adopt an implicit belief in the Trinity, as settled by the council of 362*. Pope GREGORY the IVth, about the year 828, appointed a separate festival in honour of the mystic union, but different churches appropriated * This seems to us, in these days of toleration, an act of extreme oppression; but GHAT IAN cannot be charged with unusual interference in articles of faith . even so late as the " glorious" reign of WILLIAM and MARY, after we were with- drawn from th yoke of popish interference, a law was passed that made it blariphemy, punishable by imprisonment for life, to deny the doctrine of the Trinity. different days for its observance, while some wholly neglected to attend to it. In the year 1260, a Council assembled at Arles^ enjoined that this festival should be solemnized throughout all the Christian Churches ; though some establishments celebrated Jt on the Sunday after Pentecost ; others, on the Sunday preceding Advent; and a few yet persisted in disregarding it altogether. Pope JOHN, in the year 1334, issued a bull commanding a rigid observance of the festival on the Sunday following Pentecost ; but even after that ordinance, it was not univer- sally admitted, as a separate feast. Pope BENE- DICT the XHIth peremptorily ordained in 1405, that all the churches should, without fail, con- form to the solemnization of the Holy Trinity, on the Sunday immediately subsequent to Pen- tecost, which the Western Churches have ever since strictly obeyed, while the Greek Churches have thought proper to adopt for this purpose, the Monday instead of the Sunday after Pen- tecost* The two CREEDS preserved in our Book of Common Prayer, grounded upon these ecclesi- astical regulations, are denominated, one, the NICENE, and the other, the ATHANASIAN : they are not, however, so named, because drawn up by the council of NICE, and by ATHANASIUS, as is erroneously supposed, but merely to mark that the doctrine of the Trinity was first made An article of faith by the NICENE COUNCIL, and afterwards more fully insisted upon, at the instigation of ATHANASIUS. The second general Council at Constantinople added to the first men- tioned Creed, " We believe in the Holy Spirit, the LORD and Giver of life, who proceeded from the Father, and who ought to be adored and glorified with the Father and the Son, and who spake by the Prophets," although directly con- trary to what was settled by the Nicene Council ; and the Athanasian Creed was first produced, worded in its present form, about the end of the fifth century, though by what authority does not appear. How far the inculcation of the Tritheistical Union, and the consequent vain attempt to rea-r son upon the constituent substance of our Al- mighty Creator, have tended to promote the sublime cause of the Christian Religion, has be- come a matter of doubt among several of our ablest Divines, who perfectly accord with Con- stantine the Great, that it is a subject which ought never to have been agitated. Yet is there nothing contrary to reason in such doctrine, though fully to comprehend that mystery, is much beyond the powers of human intellect ; but man, with a conceit ill suiting ttie weakness of his nature, has attempted to exceed the knowledge vouchsafed him by revelation ; and thus tempted all the evil consequences that have ensued. How many. un- happy dissentions lias this presumptuous arrogance 382 occasioned among Christians, without having pro- moted, in the slightest degree, wisdom, piety, or truth ! How many heresies has it given rise to t how distracted the heads, and bewildered the faith, of persons otherwise conspicuous for talents and for virtue ! while a crafty and aspiring priest- hood, has made it the cause of more woe among the Christian world, than every other cause com- bined ; forcing unnecessarily upon minds unpre- pared for such mystery, a belief of what their faculties could not possibly embrace. The his- tory of the Church is replete with these sad truths. " One and two make three," said a per- son to whom Cardinal Richelieu had a private hatred, and to whom he boasted of his power of torturing into heresy, any sentence however in- nocent, " One and two make three ? shocking and horrid!" exclaimed the vile Cardinal: "dare you, thus openly blaspheme the Holy Trinity ? three make but one. Here, Guards, take this fellow to the Bastile, where he will learn a more correct arithmetic." Without presuming either to support or im- pugn the doctrine of the Trinity, which has withstood the shock attendant upon the se- paration of the Protestant Church from that of Rome ; it may not be improper to remark, that although our inability to comprehend the mystic union, may prove the narrow and limited powers of our nature, it cannot possibly affect the verity of such holy incorporation : no man, however 383 vain and obstinate, will venture to deny the exist- ence of facts, merely because he is incapable of accounting for them ; it would be the extreme of folly, for one moment to suppose anything so ex- travagant, as that the belief of each separate per- son should be circumscribed, by his own indivi- dual capacity ; there would, in such case, be no advantages resulting from the talents and exer- tions of our predecessors or contemporaries, unless indeed, by some new act of Providence, all man- kind should be blessed with an equality of talent and intelligence. This observation, while it is indisputable, with regard to all ordinary events and circumstances attaching to worldly interests and actions, becomes indescribably more power- ful when applied to objects of higher considera- tion; few of the most common phenomena of nature, can be reduced within the compass of successful research ; we see effects innumerable throughout the universe, but their causes are to us veiled in impenetrable obscurity ; we cast seed into the ground, and each distinct kind in due time springs up, and progressively arrives at maturity, when we are enabled to procure fresh seed for future generation : here we all see the effect, and admit it without hesitation ; yet is there not any mortal can account for so common, and self-evident a truth ; all we know is, that the earth, with the conjoint aid of air and moisture, does contain such a virtue ; but how only the Deity can explain. Such indeed are the facts con- 384 nected with every other object of nature around us, even of the most simple description ; we are un- able to define the formation of the smallest par- ticle of matter ; and yet, pigmies as we are in knowledge, we become giants in conceit, and at- tempt to fathom mysteries far beyond the reach of mortal compass : Not satisfied with the lights bestowed upon us by divine Revelation, we pre- sumptuously pry into the most hidden secrets of the Godhead, and even attempt to argue upon, and to define, the very essence of our Maker. " He who goes about to speak of the mystery of the Trinity," says a late eminent and orthodox Divine, " and does it by words and names of man's invention, talking of essences and exist- ences, hypostases and personalities, priorities in coequalities, and unity in pluralities, may amuse himself, and build a tabernacle in his head, and talk something he knows not what : but the good man, that feels the power of the FATHER, and to whom the SON is become wisdom, and sanctifi- cation, and redemption, in whose heart the love of the SPIRIT OF GOD is shed abroad this man, though he understand nothing of what is unin- telligible, yet he alone truly understands the Christian doctrine of the TRINITY." Among the numerous wicked and preposterous absurdities, into which superstition has plunged mankind, perhaps none exceed the attempts to define and explain the mystery of the Trinity, by visible representations. The Almighty Framer 385 of the universe has been depicted as an aged mortal, and in such material form held forth for the wondering eye of ignorance : our Common Prayer Books printed before the Reformation, were suffered to contain such improper embel- lishments ; in the one printed in the year 1526*, according to the ceremonial of Salisbury, GOD THE FATHER is drawn in the appearance of an old man with a TRIPLE CROWN, somewhat resem- bling the Tiara of the Popes, and rays about his head ; the SON looks like a young man, and has only one crown ; and the HOLY GHOST, under the form of a dove, spreads his wings over our Saviour's head. In other pictures, the Trinity has been represented in a still more ignorant and blasphemous manner : at Padua there was one, in which the mystery was expressed by an OLD MAN, with three faces and three large beards ! The earliest and most virtuous Christians, im- plicitly following the simply sublime and majestic tenets of the Gospel, satisfied themselves with adoring the Deity, in the humble and devout manner taught by the sacred writings : It was subsequent depravity, grounded upon a vain pre- tence of framing mysteries where none existed, that introduced all those follies and superstitions, which have so much bewildered mankind, and by progressive degrees plunged them into doubt and wretchedness. IMAGES were no sooner intro- duced into the churches, than they became * fruitful source of error ; one public council en- TOL. I. C C 386 couraged their being set up ; another ordered their removal ; others replaced them after having been taken down ; and some repeated their orders for their demolition : thus harrassing the people with decisions and counter-decisions, explana- tions and refutations, until at length idolatry became as completely a characteristic of the Christian, as it had ever been of the Pagan, re- ligion. The IMAGES of SAINTS and MARTYRS led the way, about the end of the fourth century ; that of our SAVIOUR followed soon after ; and the attempt to personify THE ALMIGHTY completed the abomination. The first essays at pourtraying Divinity were, however, merely symbolical : our Saviour was generally depicted in the form of a Lamb ; and it was not, until the year 707, that his likeness was attempted in the figure of a man. POPE STEPHEN the Third, summoned a synod when images of God himself were peremptorily ordered by the assembled prelates : these good men, who could not see any sin in the worship of statues, piously confessed, that the " immor- tal God, whose condition was made worse than that of mortals, merited some consideration." " It is lawful," said they, " to set up statues, &c. and shall it not then be lawful to set up the image of GOD ?" The first representations of our LORD JESUS, even by the symbolical device of a Lamb, were disgusting to the enlightened pastors of the earliest churches: in the year 389, about which time 387 they appear to have been invented, EPIPHANIUS saw one, and destroyed it with a becoming in- dignation ; an instance of proper feeling, which clearly proves that ignorance, and attendant conceit, did not disgrace the clergy of that early period ; nor perhaps ought superstitious abomi- nations, and gross instances of uncultivated intel- lect, to be imputed to that body, until the middle of the fifth century ; from which time, it is to be lamented, until after the long lapse of seven or eight succeeding ages, bigotry, and a want of lite- rary acquirements, were the prevailing characte- ristics of both the Church and State. In the tenth century, Monarchs, and even many of the eccle- siastical rulers, could not repeat the Apostles Creed ; and it is a fact not to be controverted, that the doctrine of the Trinity was discussed at councils, the Bishops composing which could not write their names, and therefore " set their marks, or crosses, to their decisions, which some clerk, paid for the purpose, had previously transcribed !" of