As the ancient Romans divided each of the four parts of the year into three other parts, (see Junius's Nomenclator tit. de Temporibus, p. 324,) saying of the spring, "Ver primum, adultum, præcipitatum," so also they rightly wished the piλóλoyos to reach by those gradations the highest point of excellence in philology. In the first department, the most distinguished writers among the Greeks were, Herodian, Trypho, Apollonius Alexandrinus; among the Romans, Scaurus, Donatus, Cæsar, and Pliny the Younger. In the second department, Hyginus, Palæ phatus, Stephanus, and Cæsar excelled. In the third, which was the noblest of all, and truly worthy of a philosophical mind, these were the most celebrated Greek writers,— Crates, Aristophanes, Aristarchus, who was therefore generally called Kpirikos, (and whose authority decided on the genuineness of Homeric verses, as Calliopius in respect to the Comedies of Terence,) and among the Romans, Varro, Sisenna, Ælius Jurisconsultus, and others. An ancient tragedy was called the Achilles of Aristarchus, because it was corrected by him. Jos. C. SCALIGER'S Opuscula Varia, p. 409. XIV. "YEAOE, Glass.-As far as I know, Aristophanes is the earliest writer who makes mention of glass, Acharn. 74. It is mentioned also in the Timaus of Plato. The glass of the ancients was made from sand, soda, and flint. It must have been in very general use about the Christian æra, and afterwards; for we find Dioscorides giving directions to keep certain medicines in glass-vessels, and Actuarius commends pots de chambre of glass as facilitating observations on the urine. It further appears from Lactantius de Opif. Dei, c. 8, that glass was likewise used in windows, and accordingly glass has been found in the windows of many houses in Pompeii. 2. The term was also applied to rock-crystal. F. A. XV. XPYZOKO ́AAA, Chrysocolla.-Dr. Kidd states that there were two substances to which the ancients gave the name of chrysocolla; the one an artificial preparation made use of in soldering other metals to gold,—the other, a native carbonate of copper, called malachite. The latter is called common copper-green by Jameson. See Agricola de Nat. Foss. 592, and Cleaveland's Mineralogy, p. 570. Pliny 33, 29, describes the mode of preparing the artificial chrysocolla from copper, soda, and the urine of a boy. It therefore bore no resemblance to the modern borax, (borax soda,) except that it was used by the ancients in soldering in the same manner as the latter is by the moderns. F.A. XVI. YYXH'.--" The verse, Ημισυ μὲν ψυχῆς ἔτι τὸ πνέον, is translated by Porcius Licinus, an ancient poet, 'Aufugit mî animus, credo, ut solet, ad Theatimum." He has only changed the boy's name, which in the Greek is Knpioods, Οὐκ εἶσ ̓ εἰς Κηφισσόν ; So we read. If Gellius N. A. 19, 9, who compares the Latin and Greek poets, had known the fact of the translation, he would never, in extolling the genius of the Latin poets as compared with the Greek, have produced a piece, which claims Greece for its origin. Jos. C. SCALIGER'S Opuscula Varia, p. 464. DEATHS OF SCIENTIFIC TRAVELLERS SINCE 1830. We cannot, without pain, reflect on the number of individuals who have distinguished themselves for a zeal in promoting knowledge, and in their ardour became victims. Many have died of late in foreign countries, where they went to make researches for extending our knowledge of the various branches of philosophy. Some died from the various influences of the climate, or by plague prevalent at their destinies, or upon their routes; some from fatigue and incident hardships, some by accident, and others have been drowned inland or by shipwreck. We will here enumerate the names of several who have been lost to science since 1830: M. M. Beyrich and Frank* died in South America. The former had completed his journey over the Brazils; and the latter was enriching our country and his own from the Flora of the Ohio; his collections of specimens were exceedingly abundant. M. Schiede, an indefatigable collector in the Mexican Flora, died in Mexico of typhus fever; Mr. Drummond in the island of Cuba; M. M. Zippelius and Van Raalten in the Moluccas; M. Brocchi died at Dangola, in Nubia; and M. Raddi in Egypt; another eminent person died of pestilence in Cairo. M. M. Michaelis, Berger, and Decker, all naturalists of Bavaria, became victims to malignant fevers; the first two in Greece, and the other in Palermo. M. Jacquemont, after travelling during three years across the high plateaus of Asia and Hindostan, ceased to exist when at Madras, and at the moment he was to have returned to Europe. M. M. Mertens, Eschholz, and Rengger, after having nearly traversed the known world, died from long endured fatigues, almost immediately after their return home; and the same fate befel M. Montbrett, who had visited the oriental countries. Several died by accident :-Mr. Sellon was drowned in the river San Franseco; the enterprising M. Bertero was shipwrecked on the Atlantic; Mr. Douglas, who discovered in California, and brought away from thence, many beautiful plants now flourishing in Britain, fell into a pit in the Sandwich Islands, designed to entrap wild beasts, and was there killed by a wild bull, which was ensnared soon afterwards; M. Van Hassett lost his life in nearly the same manner-he was trampled to death by a rhinoceros; lastly, Mr. Allan Cunningham was murdered by savages in the interior of New Holland, during the expedition of Major Mitchell-it is conjectured from the informations procured upon the subject, that the unfortunate travellers had all erred in their courses, and separated; that they must have wandered in the wilderness for several days, and then, enfeebled by fatigue and want, yielded to a troop of natives. * The present list is adapted from the scientific annals of the university at Munich. ECONOMY OF THE MONTHS. DECEMBER. Approach of Christmas.-The Queen at Windsor.—The Castle, and its ancient festivities.-Victoria's predilection for the House of Russell.-The Pimlico Palace.Recollections of the departed great.-St. Nicholas.-The Immaculate Conception. -Buonaparte.-Richelieu.—Algernon Sidney and Martial Ney.-The Duke of Wellington.-Pius VI.-Washington.-Charles XII.-Gustavus Adolphus.-St. Lucy. St. Thomas.-Mr. Addington and Buonaparte.-Oliver Cromwell and James 11. Ancient and Modern Whigs.-Lord Strafford and Charles I.-Holy Innocents. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.-St. Stephen.-Horse-bleeding.Boxing Day.-The Queen and the Drama.-St. John the Evangelist.-St. Sylvester —Victoria's first Parliament.-Views of Ministers.—Woodcock Shooting. "CHRISTMAS is coming!" That peace, and joy, and happiness may be its universal concomitants, is every good man's prayer. We rejoice exceedingly that our young, and lovely, and beloved Queen has determined on passing her Christmas at Windsor Castle, the regal and time-honoured hall of her ancestors-the only palace in the empire worthy of the residence of a king or of a queen of England. Windsor-Old Windsor-was honoured with a palace by our Saxon kings. Full many a joyous revel has been there. Edward the Confessor kept his court in the ancient palace, which was occasionally inhabited by our sovereigns till the early part of the twelfth century. Henry the First, for the first time, passed his Christmas at the Castle (which, though built by the Conqueror, owes its magnificence to Edward the Third) in 1105; and his Easter in 1107. Again, at the Christmas of 1096, under William Rufus; and again at the Christmas of 1212, under King John, the royal structure rang with the sounds of princely mirth and revelry. In 1563, Elizabeth, in all her pomp, and pride, and power, and gorgeous display, celebrated the national festival of St. George at Windsor Castle. How dear, how deservedly dear, the noble structure was to our last three sovereigns, George the Third, George the Fourth, and William the Fourth, must be full in the recollection of most of our readers. Her present Majesty, Victoria, is said to have been little satisfied with the Pavilion at Brighton. A palace on the sea-shore without a marine view, or even a distant glimpse of the ocean! Monstrous anomaly! Yet, if report speak with the voice of truth, she will revisit Brighton next year; having, to supply the deficiencies of the Pavilion, engaged the Bedford Hotel for her own special delectation, that she may, at pleasure, behold "the sea, the sea, the glorious sea!" Her selection of the Bedford arose, no doubt, from her Majesty's predilection for every thing reminding her of the house of Russell-or from some other cause. Nous verrons. At all events, Victoria seems to have been glad to get back to London-back to Buckingham Palace. Yet, if she possess true taste, of which we find no cause for doubt, she must have been more glad to get to Windsor from Pimlico, than to Pimlico from Brighton;-glad to get away from the dark rooms of Buckingham Palace, with their low-pitched ceilings, without apparent support, and seeming as though they were about to fall upon our heads;-glad to escape from its harlequin-jacket suite of state apartments, where pillars and pilasters are DEC. 1837. 2 S jumbled together promiscuously, without architectural or any other order; where the fiery glare of porphyry contends with the sober tints of verde antique, and those again with the mild brilliancy of the golden-veined lapis lazuli-all fiercely contrasting, none chastely harmonizing with the other. Buckingham Palace and the National Gallery, noble triumphs of art, splendid specimens of Britain's architecture of the nineteenth century, what a pity that ye cannot be gazed upon and admired, side by side! "Sure such a pair were never seen!" Touching are the recollections of Windsor and its Castle! The royal vaults-Henry the Sixth-Edward the Fourth-Henry the Eighth-Queen Jane Seymour-the Charleses. "Let softer strains ill-fated Henry mourn, And palms eternal flourish round his urn. The grave unites; where ev'n the Great find rest, And the Georges, and William the Fourth; and, in the Chapel royal, that gem of modern sculpture, Wyatt's monument to the memory of the Princess Charlotte of Wales-once, alas! the cynosure of every eye. What an ice-bolt to the hopes of the nation was the hapless death of that woman-that young, that lovely, that almost worshipped woman! Then, of another order of interest, Elizabeth's Picture Gallery-the Room of Beauties,-of beauties admired, beloved, and adored in their day! and, though last in the order of time, not least in the exalted estimation of the patriot and of the lover of art, the Waterloo Gallery, in which the honours of that unforgotten field live, and will live as long as canvas and colour shall last. For the origin of this proud national monument we are indebted to George the Fourth-for its extension, to his royal brother and successor, William. The very sight of this glorious assemblage might suffice to convert cowards into heroes. But saints demand attention as well as kings and queens, princes and princesses, beauties and soldiers.-First, then, of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of children, of virgins, of mariners, of the Dominican monks, of the Muscovite Laplanders, of the Russian empire, &c. His festival is on the 6th of December. When an infant himself, he was so pious, that upon Wednesdays and Fridays he could never be prevailed upon to receive the natural nutriment of the breast. When two children had been murdered, cut into pieces, salted, and put into a pickling-tub with some pork, the guilt was revealed to the saint in a vision. The saint prayed to the Almighty that he would both pardon the murderer and restore the poor children to life. The saint had hardly finished his prayer, when the mangled and detached pieces of the two youths were, by divine power, re-united, and, perceiving that they were alive, threw themselves at the feet of the holy man, to kiss and embrace them; "but the bishop (Nicholas was then bishop of Myra) would not suffer their humiliation, but exhorted them to return thanks to God, gave them good advice and his bless ing, and sent them in great joy to prosecute their studies at Athens. He was accustomed to throw stockings with marriage portions, into young ladies' chambers ;-subsequently, it was customary, in the nnnneries of the Continent, for the young nuns to place on the eve of St. Nicholas each a silk stocking at the door of the apartment of the lady abbess, with a piece of paper enclosed, recommending themselves to "Great St. Nicholas, of her chamber;" that the next day they were called together to witness the saint's attention, when they never failed to find the stockings filled with sweetmeats, &c., with which they made a general feast. Charles III. of Naples instituted an order of knighthood, called the Argonauts of St. Nicholas; in England, even, numerous churches, at the most ancient sea-ports and elsewhere, were placed under his protection, and enriched by offerings from mariners, fishermen, merchants trading beyond sea, &c.; and in the coffins of their deceased relatives, the Laplanders place little images of St. Nicholas, as one of the most able and strenuous advocates of the dead. Talk of this being a scribbling age-of this being an age prolific in literature! Why, comparatively with the past, it is sterile as the plains of Arabia Petræa. In an early age of the Romish church, one author alone, Peter D' Alva, published forty-eight folio volumes "On the Mysteries of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin," whose festival is celebrated on the 8th of this month She herself, we are told, was conceived and born without original sin. William Godwin has a remark somewhere, to the effect that a man does not write a book upon any given subject because he may happen to be acquainted with the subject, but that he understands the subject because he has written a book upon it. There is more truth in this proposition than might be at first surmised. Now, of course, Peter D'Alva, after the production of his forty-eight folios, understood his subject well-had become thoroughly initiated in all the mysteries of the immaculate conception! This might be exceedingly amusing, were it not at once grossly impious and disgusting. According to vague tradition, it was Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, who first instituted this feast, "in the year 1070, upon occasion of William the Conqueror's fleet being in a storm, and afterwards coming safe on shore.' The legends of the Romish church respecting the Holy Virgin are filthy and abominable. Amongst others, the following are titles by which the Holy Virgin is addressed :-Empress of Heaven; Queen of Heaven; Empress of Angels; Queen of Angels; Empress of the Earth; Queen of the Earth; Lady of the Universe; Lady of the World; Mistress of the World; Patroness of the Men; Advocate for Sinners; Mediatrix; Gate of Paradise ; Mother of Mercies, &c. Again, for a moment, the lofty ones of the earth must become our theme, for the month of December is big with the fate of kings, and statesmen, and heroes.-On the 2nd of December, 1804, thirty-three years ago, Buonaparte, the greatest and the bloodiest of modern conquerors, achieved the imperial crown. Where is he now! Seventeen years afterwards, he died, a prisoner and an exile; and, his |