wise, it is prevalent. The Aurea Legenda informs us, that the Devil was driven away by the production of the good Saint Francis's unmentionables. We would, doubtless, have found the same superstition in belief among the numerous nations of Celtic origin, but, unluckily, the Celts had no breeches. CURIOUS COINCIDENCE.-When William the Norman was stepping from his bark to land on England, his foot slipped on the wet pebbles, and he fell at full length with a clash upon the beech. A cry arose among the soldiers that it was a bad omen. 66 Nay, by the splendour of God," cried William, "it is not so! See ye not that I have taken possession of the land without challenge?" Julius Cæsar, when landing on the shores of Africa, stumbled in like manner, and a like cry arose among his troops that it was an evil augury."Teneo te, Africa!" cried Cæsar. The legend of Brutus and the sons of Tarquin at the shrine of the Delphian oracle, gives us a third accident of a similar nature, and interpreted in a similar manner. THE WITCHES CAULDRON.-In the vestry of Frensham Church, Surrey, hangs a huge cauldron, hammered out of a single piece of copper, supposed by Salmon to be a remain of the ancient parochial hospitality at the wedding of poor maids. Aubrey supposes it to have been used for the Church ales. Tradition reports it to have been brought from Borough-hill, about a mile hence; if any one went to borrow any thing, he might have it for a year or longer, provided he kept his word as to the return. On this hill lies a great stone, about six feet long; the party went to this stone, knocked at it, declared what was desired, and when they would return it; and a voice answered appointing a time when they would find the article wanted. This kettle, with the trivet, it is said, was so borrowed, but not returned at the time fixed; and though afterwards carried, it would not be received, and all sub. sequent applications have been fruitless. Another tradition ascribes the places whence it was borrowed to have been the neighbouring cave called Mother Ludlow's Hole. Customs of Warious Countries. ORIGIN OF THE Decorating ChurCHES WITH HOLLY AT CHRISTMAS.Phillips, in his Sylva Florifera, states that French naturalists have made this tree the emblem of foresight, because they say that the foresight of nature is admirably exemplified in this beautiful tree, which, when growing in its natural forest, protects itself by numerous leaves bristling with thorns, until it arrives at about the height of ten feet, when the leaves cease to be thorny, and are perfectly smooth and even, because it has no longer occasion to arm itself against an enemy who cannot reach higher; but we revere the holly-branch with its spiry and highly varnished foliage, which reflects its coral berries, as an emblem that foretells the festival of Christmas, and the season when English hospitality shines in roast beef, turkeys, and the national pudding. Tradition says, that the first Christian church in Britain was built of boughs; and that the disciples adopted the plan, as more likely to attract the notice of the people, because the heathens built their temples in that manner, probably to imitate the temples of Saturn, which were always under the oak. The great feast of Saturn was held in December; and as the oaks of this country were then without leaves, the priests obliged the people to bring in boughs and sprigs of evergreens; and Christians, on the twenty-fifth of the same month, did the like; from whence originated the present custom of placing holly and other evergreens in our churches and houses, to show the feast of Christmas is arrived. CURIOUS SICILIAN CUSTOM.-A curious custom prevails in Sicily ;-when a couple is married, the attendants place honey in the mouths of the bride and bridegroom, which is accompanied with an expression of hope, that their love will ever be as sweet to their souls as that honey is to their palate. C. C. SINGULAR TENURE OF CASTLE GUARD.-Much land in Kent, and other counties, is held of Rochester Castle by the tenure of perfect castle guard. On St. Andrew's Day, old style, a banner is hung out at the house of the receiver of the rents, and every tenant neglecting then to discharge his proper rent, is liable to have it doubled every time the tide passes the adjacent bridge during the time it remains unpaid. Anecdotiana. SIR H. CROMWELL and THE MONKEY.-There are many curious anecdotes on record relative both to the childhood and early youth of Oliver Cromwell. It is stated that on one occasion, when his uncle, Sir Henry Cromwell, sent for him, he being then an infant, a monkey snatched him from the cradle, leaped with him through a garret-window, and ran along the leads. The utmost alarm was of course excited, and a variety of devices proposed, with the desperate hope of relieving him from his perilous situation. But the monkey, as if conscious that she bore the fortune of England in her paws, treated him very gently. After amusing herself for a time, she carried the infant back, and laid him safely on the bed from whence she had removed him. Some time later, the waters had well nigh quenched his aspiring geHe fell into a deep pond, from which a clergyman, named Johnson, rescued him. Many years afterwards the loyal curate, then an old man, was recognised by the republican general, when marching at the head of a victorious army through Huntingdon. "Do you remember that day when you saved me from drowning?" said Cromwell. "I do," replied the clergyman; I wish with all my soul that I had put Says Pat to his Cook, To-morrow I treat you in, rather than see you in arms against your sovereign." Cab. Cye. the consequent prolongation of life. Augustus Cæsar enquired, one day, of an old man, who had attained the age of a hundred, how he had been able to arrive at such an advanced age, with so vigorous a body, and so sound a mind? 66 By oil without, and honey within," replied the veteran. ALPHA. nius. "and DR. ALDRICH.-His excessive love for smoking was well known to his associates but a young student of his college, finding some difficulty to bring a fellow collegian to the belief of it, laid him a wager that the Dean Aldrich was smoking at that time, (about ten o'clock in the morning.) Away went the latter to the deanery; he related the occasion of his visit. The Dean, instead of being disconcerted, replied in perfect good humour, "You see, sir, your friend has lost his wager, for I am not now smoking, but only filling my pipe." Nicotiana, favourite at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and LISTON, in his early career, was a having applied to the manager for a remuneration equal to the increased value of his services, he refused the request, adding, "If you are dissatisfied, you are welcome to leave me; such actors as you, Sir, are to be found in every bush." On the evening of the day when this colloquy occurred the manager was driving to another town, where he intended to carry on the war," when he perceived Liston standing in the middle of a hedge by the road side. "Good heavens, Liston," cried the manager, "what are you doing there?"-" Only looking for some of the actors you told me of this morning," was the reply. FROM PFEFFEL. Six friends here to dinner: we must have some meat, So I'll tell Tom to kill that fine beautiful calf.' 'Twill be nearly all spoil'd this hot weather,'- cause half!' A NEW BATCH. Why is time the best pickle ?-Be"Time cures every thing Why are all lawyers Armenians?Because "They live by Deeds, and not by Faith." Why is a sail-maker like a man beginning an election ?-Because he is about the canvass. Why are my eyes like a severe military flogging ?-Because they have got long lashes. Why were the old watchmen like a part of Scripture ?-Because they were a light unto our paths, and a lantern unto our feet" Why are the London water-carts like a man who pays ready money? Because they are "down with the dust.' What is that which goes from London to Bath without ever moving ?The Turnpike Road. Biary and Chronology. Sunday, Dec. 11. THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT. Lessons for the Day.-25 chap. Isaiah ôl, Morn. Isaiah 26 chap. 62, Evening. Alcyonii Dies. Rom. Cal. The fourteen Halcyon days of the Romans began to-day. The limitation of their number was one of the abuses of the Calendar; but the fact on which was founded their existence, was the calm weather which at this time of year on the shores of the Mediterranean usually succeeds the blustering winds of the end of Autumn. The reason why these calendar days were called Halcyon, requires some further explanation. Alcyone was the daughter of Aeolus; she married herself to Ceyx, who was drowned as he was going to Claros to consult the oracle. The Gods apprised Alcyone, in a dream, of her husband's fate; and when she found, on the morrow, his body washed on the sea-shore, she threw herself Into the sea, and was, with her husband, changed into birds of the same name, who kept the waters calm and serene, while they build and sit on their nests on the surface of the sea, for the space of seven, eleven, or fourteen days. Hence Theocritus, in describing the approach. ing tempestuous weather, says May Halcyonss smooth the wave and calm the sea, And the rough south-east sink into a breeze; The bird in question was supposed to be the Kingfisher, called by Linnæus Alcedo, after the ancients, who so named it because they supposed it to make its nest in mid-winter, during the Alcyon days, agreeably to the above fable. Ilence, in time, quiet and trauquil times were not only called Alcyonii, but also Alcedonia, Cicero and Gordian wrote poems in praise of the Halcyon. The Emperor's is entirely lost; of Cicero's only two lines remain. Monday, Dec. 12. St. Valery, Abb. A.D. 622. Moon's First Quar. 22m after 11 Morn. Dec. 12, 1559.-Antoine Nimard, President of the Parliament of France, was assassinated by a pistol shot, between five and six in the evening, as he was mounting his mule to return to the Palace.The equipage of Presidents and Councillors of France consisted, at that day, of a single mule. Under the reign of Louis XIV. coaches were invented, and the courtiers and public functionaries proceeded triumphantly in superb carriage. Tuesday, Dec. 13. St. Lucy, Vir. and Mar. A. D. 303. High Water 56m after 7 Morn-31m after 8 After. In the Ephemeris of Nature, to day is called Ruminudia, or Bearbough Day, the leaves by this time being all fallen, and the branches bare. Winter now comes to sway the wauing yeare, Sullen and sad with all his duskie train Of vapours, storms, and clouds, and winde, and raine, With scarcely any sun the hind to cheere, That o'er the aged pilgrim's soul is thrown, From the eternal spirit of the skie; Tokening that thougn now grim and du! is grown The spark of life, the sun will by and by St. Spiridion, bish. and conf. A.D. 318. Sun rises 6m after 8-sets 51m after 3. PRIZE CATTLE SHOWs.- About this time, these exhibitions, which are peculiar to England in the nineteenth century, occur. One of the most unequivocal evidences we have to offer, of the surpassing refinement of the age in which we live, consists in these displays of surpassing gross ness. The alleged beauty of these unhappy victims of their own appetites acting with a view to ours, consists in their being unable to perform a single function of their nature, or enjoy a single moment of their lives; and the value of the meat that they make is in exact proportion to the degree in which it is unfit to be eaten. Thursday, Dec. 15. High Water, 13m after 10 Mor-43m after 10 After St. Eusebius, b. of Vercelli, A. D. 371. Dec. 15, 1650.-Marshal Turenne, beaten at the battle of Rethel. The French Princes having been arrested by order of Cardinal Mazarine, in consequence of the disturbance they had excited in the State. Turenne advanced in open rebellion to liberate them, Marshal du Plessis Praslin appeared the ouly man worthy to oppose him, and he had the honour of defeating Turenne at the battle of Rethel. Friday, Dec. 16 St. Adelaide, empress, A.1). 999. Sun rises 7m after 8-Sets 53m after 3. Dec. 16, 1516.-Jean Tritheme fell a victim to left in France several monuments of his erudithe barbarity of the age in which he lived. He tion. His" Traite de Steganographie," namely, several forms of writing in numbers, is a most laborious and ingenious work. For composing the same, he was accused by bigots of magic, and sentenced to be burnt. Saturday, Dec. 17. St. Olympias, Widow, A.D. 410. High Water Oh Om Morn-0h 11m Aftern. The evergreen trees, with their beautiful cones, such as firs and pines, are now particularly observed and valued; the different species of everlasting flowers, so pleasing an ornament to our flowers in winter, and, indeed, during the whole year, also attract our attention. The oak, the beech, and the hornbeam, in part retain their leaves, while all other trees are entirely denuded. Sunday, December 18. FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT. Lessons for the Day.-25 chap. Isaiah, b. 1, Morn. 26 chap. Isaiah, b. 2, Even. Although few flowers are to now be seen out of doors, the hot house contains many a blooming inhabitant; among these the Rose attracts our notice. This flower, when blown by artificial heat, is more delicate and beautiful than those which ornament our gardens in June, lovely as they are; being usually more free from blight, and those insects which sometimes destroy our garden roses. ERRATUM. In our last, page 356, col. 1, lines 11 and 12, for If he existed at least five hundred years after Lokman,' &c., read If ever there were such a person as Esop, he existed at least five hundred years after Lokman,' &c. Illustrated Article. TALES OF AN IDLER. RUTH MELROSE; OR, THE RESURRECTIONIST. A TALE OF THE CHURCHYARD. For the Olio. WILLOW MERE is a beautiful and secluded hamlet in the southern part of England, on the road to the metropolis, but as primeval in its habits and architecture as if it were a remnant of the pastoral Arcadia. The simple parsonage-house raised its unpretending structure little above the rural tenements around, but the arrangement of its flower-garden, and the picturesque grouping of the fruit-trees of the small domain, betrayed an intellectual spirit, and a superiority of taste in the dwellers within the patriarchal mansion. Joscelin Melrose, the curate of Willow Mere, to the pure-mindedness of the golden age, united a depth of clasVOL. VIII. 2 B See page 387 sical learning, a fervent knowledge and practice of Holy Writ, with an almost child-like ignorance of the real world, into whose vortex he had never been thrown, from the simplicity ofhis habits, and his unrepining resignation to his humble fortunes; his life had passed away like the waveless mirror of a quiet lake, till the gentle partner of his fate slept with her rural ancestors in the quiet and grassy church-yard of Willow Mere, and the little smiling Ruth remained the only pledge of his departed. Eunice. The fairy time of childhood passed away pleasantly, and her beauty was unfolding into the dawning graces of womanhood; yet to her father she seemed still a lovely child, singing amid the flowers, and tending her birds in the innocent gaiety of her happy heart. A stranger had lately arrived in Willow Mere, whose punctual attendance at church, unpretending charities, and quiet habits, had endeared him to the rustic inhabitants of the hamlet, and after a few meetings with the curate and his daughter in their sylvan wander 221 ings, gathering violets and wood-strawberries for Ruth, and specimens for the herbal of Mr. Melrose, had made himself quite at home in their little parlour, taking lessons in botany, and promising to be as apt a pupil as the curate could desire. On acalm moonlight night his flute was often heard, mingling its enchanting cadences with the clear, sweet voice of Ruth, as she sat with him and her father, in the clematis bower in their little garden, and long before the worthy pastor suspected the stranger to have looked upon his daughter but as a playful child, the wise women of the village had given away the heart of Ruth Melrose to Everard Norman. He represented himself as a gentle man of small but unembarrassed fortune, whose fondness for rural scenery had led him to Willow Mere, and whose admiration for all around him had contributed to fix him as a dweller there. The worthy divine listened and believed, and gave his consent to the union of his daughter and his new parishioner with an almost triumphal sense of having secured her a fond and faithful husband, and to himself a new proselyte to his peculiar system of revealed religion. A halcyon honeymoon passed away, and the young bride felt she had only exchanged the home of her childhood for one more delightfully dear. Everard had taken a pretty house near the parsonage, and united alike by the tender ties of wife and daughter, she dreamt of no bliss beyond her own; but a sudden change in Everard's behaviour-a mysterious air of business, and frequent absences from home at the dead hour of night, alarmed her trusting spirit. At first she wept in silence on her lonely pillow, but at length she ventured timidly to remonstrate, and urge him for his reasons in thus deserting her. He would often break out into fits of rage; call her whining baby, and bid her go home and tell her father; till, finding her overwhelmed by grief and terror, his passionate fondness was redoubled, and he essayed by every art to banish her enquiries and regrets. Strange reports were now in the village of dark and fearful forms seen flitting through the churchyard, and blue lights gleaming by the recent graves; of finding the grassy turf bruised and trampled, and the daisied sods, placed with pious care over the departed, hurled away, as by some fiendish sport. Dismay crept to each fire-side, and in the simplicity of their hearts, they feared to look upon some supernatural visitant, even in the cheerful day-time, when they assembled in the porch of the House of God. There was an an cient prophecy or prediction current in the hamlet, that when the green graves in their churchyard were disturbed, "A deed should be done in Willow Mere, Which all should lament for a hundred year." Man Everard was all kindness and tender care during that mournful day; but as the evening approached, he began to hint that business called him forth, and to wish her to have some female companion to dissipate her sorrow; for Ruth had shut herself up with him after the funeral, in her own house, and seemed to cling to him as her sole refuge in the world. "Dear Ruth," said he, "Grace Hervey, I know, longs to be admitted to soothe and calm you; I shall not long be away, and-" Oh, not to-night-dear, dear Everard, I beseech you!" and Ruth clasped her arms tenderly around his neck, lifting her hazel eyes, radiant with tears, to his. "I know my grief distresses you-I will be more calm-I will, indeed, dear, dear Husband!—my |