Rogation Sunday obtained its name from the succeeding Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, which are called Rogation Days, and were ordained by Mamertus, archbishop of Vienne, in Dauphine; about the year 469, he caused the Litanies, or Supplications, to be said upon them, for the deliverance from earthquakes, fires, wild beasts, and other public calamities, which are alleged to have happened in this city; hence the whole week is called Rogation Week, to denote the continual praying.*

RESTORATION DAY.

This day (May 29th) is so called from its being the anniversary of the day whereon king Charles II. entered London, in 1660, and re-established royalty, which had been suspended from the death of his father. It is usual with the vulgar people to wear oak-leaves in their hats on this day, and dress their horses' heads with them. This is in commemoration of the shelter afforded to Charles by an Oak, while making his escape from England, after his defeat at Worcester, by Cromwell, on the 3rd of September, 1651. This day is appointed in the liturgy of the English Church as an anniversary festival in commemoration of the restoration of the monarchical form of government in these realms.

BLACK BARTHOLOMEW.

Mr. Audley says, there is a shocking propriety in the epithet given to this day (August 24th) for the horrid massacres of Protestants, which commenced in the reign of Charles IX. In Paris only, ten thousand were butchered in a 'fortnight, and ninety thousand in the provinces, making together one hundred thousand. This at least is the calculation of Perefixe, tutor to Louis XIV., and archbishop of Paris: others reduce the number much lower.

SICILIAN VESPERS.

This is another of those bloody massacres which so much disgrace history. It occurred on the 30th of March, 1282, when the Sicilians rose on the French, and destroyed in cold blood eight thousand of them. The signal was the sounding of the vesper, or evening prayer bell; and from whence came the term of the Sicilian Vespers.

PALM SUNDAY.

So called in commemoration of boughs, or branches of Palm Trees, being carried in procession before Christ when he rode into Jerusalem.

* Butler.

TRANSLATION OF SAINTS.

Of the origin of the translation of Saints, a great deal has been written; it is, however, generally supposed to take its data from the following:-In the year 359, the emperor Constantius, out of a presumed, and perhaps not inconsistent, respect, caused the remains of St. Andrew and St. Luke to be removed from their ancient place of interment, to the Temple of the Twelve Apostles, at Constantinople; and from that example, the practice of searching for the bodies of saints and martyrs increased so rapidly, that in the year 386, we find almost the whole of the devotees engaged in that pursuit. Relics, of course, speedily became of considerable value; and as they were all alleged to possess peculiar virtues, no expense or labour were spared to provide such treasures for every public religious foundation.

Ameruth Peyral, in his manuscript Chronicle of the Popes, says, that England is remarkable for its number of saints, whose bodies it has preserved from corruption. He observes, there is no soil so adapted to preserve corpses from corruption, as the soil of this country. Upon this ground, it is supposed, popish writers might imagine relics more plentiful than otherwise.

CARLING SUNDAY.

Carling Sunday is so called by the lower orders in the north of England, because it is their custom to eat immense quantities of small peas, called carlings, fried in butter and pepper and salt, on the second Sunday before Easter. This is said, by an old author, to take its rise from the disciples plucking the ears of corn, and rubbing them in their hands.

SHROVE OR PANCAKE TUESDAY.

Pancake Day is another name for Shrove Tuesday, from the custom of eating pancakes on this day, still generally observed. A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1790, says, that Shrive is an old Saxon word, of which Shrove is a corruption, and signifies Confession. Hence Shrove Tuesday means Confession Tuesday, on which day all the people in every parish through the kingdom were obliged to confess their sins, one by one, to their own parish priests, in their own parish churches; and that this might be done the more regularly, the great bell in every parish was rung at ten o'clock, or perhaps sooner, that it might be heard by all. Since the Reformation the custom of ringing the great bell in our ancient parish churches, at least in some of them, still remains, and obtains in and about London the name of Pancake-Bell: the usage of dining on pancakes or fritters, and

suchlike provision, still continues. In Pasquin's Palinodia, 1634, 4to, it is merrily observed, that on this day every stomach, Itill it can hold no more,

Is fritter-filled, as well as heart can wish;

And every man and maide doe take their turne
And tosse their pancakes up for feare they burne;
And all the kitchen doth with laughter sound,
To see the pancakes fall upon the ground."

ASH WEDNESDAY.

The name of Ash Wednesday proceeded from a custom in the ancient Church, when, on the first day of Lent, the penitents presented themselves before the Bishop clothed with sackcloth, and in the presence of the clergy, who were to be judges of the sincerity of their repentance. After the seven penitential psalms and prayers had been repeated, the penitents were conducted to the church-doors, the clergy following after, and repeating the curse upon Adam, "In the sweat of thy brows shalt thou eat thy bread." The English Church, in her service for this day, laments the disuse of this discipline, and has supplied the want of it by the office called Commination.

AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, VEGETABLES, FRUITS, PLANTS,
FLOWERS, BEVERAGES, &c.

AGRICULTURE, AN ACCOUNT OF ITS PROGRESS.

The Romans were great agriculturists, and it is well known they took many of their great generals from the plough. The Egyptians ascribe the invention of agriculture to Osiris; the Greeks to Ceres and her son Triptolemus; and the Italians to Saturn, or Janus. But the Jews, with more reason, ascribe this honour to Noah, who, immediately after the flood, set about tilling the ground and planting vineyards. Agriculture has been the delight of the greatest men. We are told, that Cyrus the younger planted and cultivated his garden, in a great measure, with his own hands. Holinshed says, when Cæsar invaded Britain, agriculture was unknown in the inner parts; the inhabitants fed upon milk and flesh, and were clothed with skins. Julius Cæsar (says his history) was of opinion, that agriculture was first introduced into Britain by some of those colonies from Gaul, which had settled in the southern part about 100 years before the invasion. It appears they were not unacquainted with the use of manures, particularly Marle. Pliny tells us,

that it was peculiar to the people of Gaul and of Britain; that its effects continued eighty years; and that no man was known to marle his fields twice. The establishment of the Romans in Britain produced great improvements in agriculture, insomuch that prodigious quantities of corn were annually exported from the island; but when the Roman power began to decline, this, like all other arts, declined also; and was almost totally destroyed by the departure of that people. Towards the 14th century agriculture revived, and received very great improvements; and in the 15th it seems to have been cultivated as a science, being no less an honourable than a profitable art. The science of agriculture has received great improvements during the last 30 years, not only from the formation of Agricultural Societies and their Annual Exhibitions, but also from an improved method of husbandry, and the introduction of new and highly productive manures, of which Guano is the chief, which is now imported in large quantities from Peru. Guano does not appear to have been discovered till the end of the 16th century. The first mention that is made of it is in a work published at Seville in 1590.

NATIVE FRUITS OF ENGLAND.

It is a curious fact, and but very little known, that the only native fruits of England are, the Blackberry or Bramble, the parent of Raspberry, which is itself found wild in many parts of Scotland and Wales; the strawberry; the crab, the parent of the present immense variety of apples, all of which are of foreign origin, and mostly produced by grafting on crab stocks; the sloe, the parent of the several kinds of plums; the pear is found wild in Britain, and is in its native state a thorny tree; all the varieties of pears, like apples, are of foreign origin. They are raised from seeds, which are afterwards used as stocks. -The cloud-berry, a native of the mountains of Scotland, North of England, and Wales; it is allied to the Bramble or Raspberry. -The Gooseberry is found wild in many parts of Britain. It has several varieties, which have been produced by seed. It is cultivated with greater success in Lancashire than in any other county in England.-Currants are found wild in the North of England and Scotland, but the fruit is small.

PLOUGHING.

Ploughing itself is certainly a singular instance of great skill, acquired by a body of men who scarcely receive the credit due to that skill. A good ploughman will set up a pole a quarter of a mile distant or more, and keeping this mark, almost invisible, steadily in his view, will, on land perfectly smooth, trace up to that goal, until his horses knock it down as they pass on each

side, a furrow so true that no eye can detect any divergence from absolute straightness. If one saw for the first time, a field of short green clover converted in a few hours into a surface of clean brown soil in regular ribs, it would be regarded as a triumph of art. This is important, because in speculative writing the plough is sometimes depreciated and the spade is extolled, though this very operation of preparing our wheat land could scarcely be executed at all by spade, since it is necessary that the existing sward should be perfectly buried.

RIBSTON PIPPIN.

The late Sir Harry Goodricke brought this apple from Italy, and as it was first grown in this country, at his residence, Ribstone Hall, in the county of York, where the original tree was still growing a few years since, it received the appellation of Ribston, or Ribstone Pippin.

CURRANTS.

Currants, or Corinthian Grapes, so called because they came from Corinth. They were first brought into England in 1534, from the Isle of Zant, belonging to Venice; the musk rose, and several sorts of plums, came from Italy the same year; they were brought and planted by Lord Cromwell. The English name of Currant is evidently derived from the small Corinthian grape sold under that name by grocers. The English currant is, however, a different plant, and bears no resemblance to the vine which produces the former.

CHERRIES.

Faulkner says that this fruit was introduced into Britain about the year 53. The Anglo-Saxons are said to have lost it, and Richard Harris, fruiterer to king Henry VIII., to have re-imported it; but good native cherries have been found in Norfolk, and they were known in the thirteenth century.

It appears they were commonly sold in the streets of London, in the time of Lydgate, who mentions them in his poem, called "Lickpenny:"

"Hot pescode own began to cry,

Strawberys rype, and Cheryes in the ryse.”

The "Guardian" of July 2, 1713, mentions, that cherries were sold upon sticks above 100 years ago.

FILBERTS.

The nut, called Filbert, derives its name from Philipert, king of France, who was exceedingly fond of them.