parties were agreeable, it was renewed. The children, (if any) were kept by the inconstant.

BIDDENDEN CAKES.

Hasted, in his History of Kent, speaking of Biddenden, tells us that "twenty acres of land, called the Bread and Cheese land, lying in five pieces, were given by persons unknown, the yearly rents to be distributed among the poor of this parish. This is yearly done on Easter Sunday, in the afternoon, in 600 cakes, each of which have the figures of two women impressed upon them, and are given to all such as attend the church; and 270 loaves, weighing three pounds and a half a piece, to which latter is added one pound and a half of cheese, are given to the parishioners only at the same time. There is a vulgar tradition in these parts, that the figures on the cakes represent the donors of this gift, being two women, twins, who were joined together in their bodies, and lived together so till they were between twenty and thirty years of age. But this seems without foundation. The truth seems to be, that it was the gift of two maidens of the name of Preston, and that the print of the women on the cakes has taken place only within these fifty years, and were made to represent two poor widows as the general objects of a charitable benefaction."

KISSING THE POPE'S FOOT.

This custom, and that of kneeling to sovereigns, was introduced by Dioclesian. Thence also the custom of a vassal kneeling to his lord in homage. Kissing the hands of great men was a Grecian custom.

CROSS BUNS.

While seasons keep rolling, and ages glide by,
Like clouds in their circuit, beneath the blue sky,

Shall the proud sons of wealth bid the poor man begone,

Whom the sunbeams of luxury never shone on?

Oh, no! nor the cry, howe'er simple it runs,
The cry on Good Friday of "Buns, hot cross buns.”
The bun, like a relic of truth, brings to mind,
How the mighty REDEEMER once died for mankind!
Like a record portrays where the sceptic waves toss,
How he bled, and for man, on the soul-saving cross!
Oh! blame not the cry, then, though simple it runs,
The cry on Good Friday of "Buns, hot cross buns.”
The infidel shudders that ne'er shook before,
When death points the dart that proclaims he's no more,
To that God prays for help he had dared to deny,
And calls for forgiveness with life's latest sigh!
Oh! blame not the cry, then, though simple it runs,
The cry on Good Friday of "Buns, hot cross buns."

There's a balm in that voice which endearingly cries,
"The soul shall exist when mortality dies!"

There's a sweet in that thought like the rose's sweet breath,
Which tells and makes certain a triumph o'er death!
Oh! blame not the cry, then, though simple it runs,
The cry on Good Friday of "Buns, hot cross buns."

UTOPIA.

This custom was supposed to originate from the fast of Good Friday, but it is also in remembrance of the apostolic custom of breaking bread from house to house; and it does not appear at all improbable, that buns or cakes, something like those in use at present, were employed in this manner in the early ages. It is to be observed also, that if four persons divide a bun among them, each taking a division, they will naturally stand in the form of a cross, and the bun will break at its partitions. Thus, both the position of the parties, and the figure to which the bun breaks, as well as the act of breaking, are emblematical of the crucifixion.

Bryant says, that boun was the sacred bread anciently offered to the gods. The Jewish women ask, in allusion to this custom, "Did we make her cakes to worship her?"—(Jer. chap. xiv. v. 18). Hutchinson says, we still retain the name and form of the boun, or bun; the sacred uses are no more.

CHRISTMAS BOXES.

The Athenian Oracle derives the origin of Christmas Boxes from this: the Romish priests had masses for almost every thing; if a ship went to the Indies, a priest had a box in her, under the protection of some saint; and for masses, as their cant was, to be said to that saint, &c., the poor people must put something into the priest's box, which was not opened till the ship's return. The mass at that time was called Christ-mass; the box called Christ-mass-box, or money gathered against that time, that masses might be made by the priests to the saints, to forgive the people their sins of that time; and from this, servants had the liberty to get box money, that they too might be enabled to pay the priest for his masses, well knowing the truth of the proverb, "No penny, no pater-noster." The practice of giving presents at Christmas, was undoubtedly founded on the pagan custom of New-year's gifts, with which in these times it is blended. Fosbroke says, the Roman Paganalia were instituted by Servius Tullius, and celebrated in the beginning of the year. An altar was erected in every village where persons gave money. The apprentices' boxes were formerly made of pottery; and Aubrey mentions a pot, in which Roman denarii were found, resembling in appearance an apprentice's earthen Christmas-box.

PANCAKES.

A kind of pancake feast preceding Lent, was used in the Greek church, from whence we may probably have borrowed it. Mr. Fosbroke is decisive in the opinion, that pancakes, such as is the custom to eat on Shrove Tuesday, were taken from the heathen Fornacalia, celebrated on the 18th of February, in memory of making bread before ovens were invented, by the goddess For

nax.

BRIDE CAKE.

The custom of having Bride Cakes at marriages among the Christians, derives its origin from the Jews. At the marriage ceremony of the latter, they scatter corn on and about the bride and bridegroom, repeating at the same time the Scripture phrase, crescite et multiplicamini, that is, increase and multiply. The custom is allegorical of an increase both in children and substance. Its first origin was from the Roman custom called Confarreation.

TWELFTH CAKES.

The custom of making merry with Twelfth Cakes, is derived from the feasts of Saturn, called Saturnalia. It was a sacrifice to Janus, from whom the month of January takes its name. Our Roman conquerors brought it amongst us, and offered cakes to Cybele, called the Great Mother, because she procured men all the benefits of the earth. A vast quantity of cake is made, and consumed annually on the 6th of January, and all the juvenile branches of families are generally supposed to derive much pleasure and gratification, from the ceremony of choosing King and Queen; but, indeed, persons of all ages join in the childish sport; for, as Dryden says,

"Men are but children of a larger growth;

Our appetites as apt to change as theirs."

DRAWING FOR KING AND QUEEN.

This custom is derived from the Greeks and Romans, who, on the Tabernacle or Christmas festivals, drew lots for kings, by putting a piece of money in the middle of a cake, which, whoever found, was saluted as king. A custom similar to this is now common in this country, with this difference, that a ring is substituted for the piece of money.

MINCE PIES.

These pies were formerly made in the shape of a cradle, or a cratch, or a manger, and were first derived from the practice at

Rome, of presenting the fathers of the Vatican with paste images and sweetmeats. In a tract printed in the time of Queen Elizabeth, or James I., they were called minched pies.

PLACING MONEY IN THE MOUTHS OF THE DEAD.

A Greek traveller going into Egypt, saw the inhabitants of a town bury their dead in tombs that lay on the other side of a lake, and on his return invented the story, and made his countrymen believe it, that Charon ferried the souls of the dead across the river Styx to Hell. This word, Charon, is taken from the Egyptian language, which calls ferrymen, Charons, and the river Styx had its source in Pagan fiction. However, the invention answered better than many equally rational and principled speculations of the present day. Old Charon did the whole of the work, while all the simpletons of that day were anxious to pay to the fabricators, both of himself and the Styx, an imaginary debt due to him for ferrying the souls of their departed friends.

FISH AND THE RING; STEPNEY CHURCHYARD.

In the wall, just below the great eastern window of Stepney church, on an elegant white marble slab, which has been lately repaired and beautified, (adorned with a cherub, urns, volutes, palm branches, and these arms-Paley 6 or, a bend, 3 mullets, Elton, impaling a fish-and in the dexter chief point, annulet, between two bends wavy), is this inscription: Here lyeth interred, the body of Dame Rebecca Berry, the wife of Thomas Elton of Stratford-Bow, Gent., who departed this life, April 26th, 1696, aged 52.

This monument, in all probability, from the circumstance of the arms, has given rise to a tradition, that Dame Berry was the heroine of a popular ballad, called "The Cruel Knight, or the Fortunate Farmer's Daughter;" the story of which is briefly as follows:

A knight passing a cot, hears the cries of a woman in labour. His knowledge in the occult sciences informs him, that the child then born is destined to become his wife: he endeavours to evade the decrees of fate, and to avoid so ignoble an alliance, by various attempts to destroy the child, but which are defeated. At length, when grown to woman's estate, he takes her to the seaside, intending to drown her, but relents; at the same time, throwing a ring into the sea, he commands her never to see his face again on pain of death, unless she shall produce the ring. She afterwards becomes a cook in a gentleman's family, and finds the ring in a cod-fish, as she is dressing it for dinner. The marriage takes place, of course. This story is devoutly believed in the once suburban, but now crowded hamlet of Stepney.

PIN MONEY.

Pins were acceptable new year's gifts to the ladies, instead of the wooden skewers which they used till the end of the fifteenth century. Sometimes they received a composition in money; and hence allowances for their separate use, is still denominated "Pinmoney." Gloves were customary New-year's gifts. They were more expensive than in our times, and occasionally a money present was tendered instead; this was called "Glove-money."

NEW-YEAR'S GIFTS.

Fosbroke, in his valuable Encyclopedia of Antiquities, adduces various authorities to show, that congratulations, presents, and visits, were made by the Romans on New-year's day. The origin, he says, is ascribed to Romulus and Tatius, and that the usual presents were figs and dates, covered with leaf gold, and sent by clients to patrons, accompanied with a piece of money, which was expended to purchase statues of some deities.

"The next to this is Newe Yeares day
Whereon to every frende,

They costly presents in do bring,
And New Yeares Giftes do sende.

These giftes the husband gives his wife,

And father eke the childe,

And maister on his men bestowes

The like, with favour milde."

THE WEDDING FINGER, EMBLEMATICAL OF MATRIMONIAL UNION.

There are few objects amongst the productions of art, contemplated with such lively interest by ladies, after a certain age, as the simple and unadorned annular implement of Hymen, yclept the Wedding Ring; this has been a theme for poets of every calibre, for geniuses of every wing, from the dabbling duckling to the solar eagle. The mouldy antiquary can tell the origin of the custom with which it is connected, and perchance why a ring is round, and account for many circumstances concerning the ceremony of the circlet, on the most conclusive evidence, amounting to absolute conjectural demonstration. Of all that has been said and written in reference to the ring, I believe the more lovely part engaged in the mystic matter, the taper residence of this ornament, has been neglected; now, this is rather curious, as there are facts belonging to the ring finger, which render it in a peculiar manner an appropriate emblem of matrimonial union; it is the only finger where two principal nerves belong to two distinct trunks; the thumb is supplied with its principal nerves from the radial nerve, as is also the fore-finger, the middle