earth below, sounds heavy and monotonous: its awakening spirit is gone; the orchestras, even at the minor theatres, may surpass it'.

1.-SAINT PHILIP AND SAINT JAMES THE LESS. Philip was born at Bethsaida, near the sea of Tiberias, the city of Andrew and Peter. He was one of the first disciples, and an apostle. James the Less, called also James the Just, and, by the apostle Paul, James, the Lord's brother, was the son of Joseph, afterwards husband to the Virgin Mary, as is probable by his first wife. The first of these martyrs was stoned to death, and the second, having been thrown from a high place, was killed by a fuller's staff.

3.-INVENTION OF THE CROSS.

The Romish church celebrates this day as a festival, to commemorate the invention or finding of a wooden cross, supposed to be the true one, by Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great.

*5. 1760.-EARL FERRERS EXECUTED

For the murder of his Steward. Lord Orford, in his letters, thus notices the event. "The extraordinary history of Lord Ferrers is closed: he was executed yesterday. Madness, that in other countries is a disorder, is here a systematic character: it does not hinder people from forming a plan of conduct, and from even dying agreeably to it. You remember how the last Ratcliffe died with the utmost propriety; so did this horrid lunatic, coolly and sensibly. His own and his wife's relations had asserted that he would tremble at last. No such thing; he shamed heroes. He bore the solemnity of a pompous and tedious procession of above two hours, from the Tower to Tyburn, with as much tranquillity as if he were only going to his own burial, not to his own execution. He even talked of indifferent subjects

1 See a well-written article on May-Day, in Baldwin's London Magazine, vol. i, p. 489, and the Indicator, No. xxix, p. 225, to both of which we are indebted.

in the passage; and if the sheriff and the chaplains had not thought that they had parts to act too, and had not consequently engaged him in most particular conversation, he did not think it necessary to talk on the occasion. He went in his wedding-clothes; marking the only remaining impression on his mind. The ceremony he was in a hurry to have over. He was stopped at the gallows by a vast crowd; but got out of his coach as soon as he could, and was but seven minutes on the scaffold; which was hung with black, and prepared by the undertaker of his family at their expense. There was a new contrivance for sinking the stage under him, which did not play well; and he suffered a little by the delay, but was dead in four minutes.'

6. JOHN EVANGELIST, A. P. L.

John the Evangelist, so called from the Greek term Evάyyελos, the messenger of glad tidings, was a Galilean by birth, the son of Zebedee and Salome, the younger brother of James, but not of him that was surnamed the Just, and who was the brother of our Lord. His brother James and he were surnamed by Jesus, the Sons of Thunder, meaning the principal ministers of the gospel, and John was more endeared to him than any of his disciples. He was condemned to be thrown into a cask of burning oil, Ante Port. Lat., before the gate of Latina; hence the letters added to his name. He lived to the reign of Trajan, and died about ninety years of age.

*10. 1819.-HELSTON FLORA DAY.

On the above day this antient annual festival was celebrated at Helston in Cornwall, with more spirit than has been remembered for many years. The town was crowded with strangers, who arrived from all quarters during the whole of the morning. About one o'clock the ladies and gentlemen, to a very great number, wove the furry-dance through the streets and houses. The street dancing was most gaily kept up by all classes, the whole of the

afternoon and evening; and about seven o'clock the ladies and gentlemen, in their ball dresses, again assembled, and lightly danced the fadé through the streets to the ball-room, where the evening was spent in the greatest glee, by a very numerous assembly of beauty, elegance and fashion, whom even the charming goddess of the day could not excel.

*18. 1818.-PRINCE OF CONDE DIED, Æt. 82. He was a Prince, in the highest degree brave and polite, affable, generous, and pious. He commenced his military career in the first campaign of the seven years' war, in which he obtained great distinction. At the battle of Hastenbeck, being solicited by M. de Touraille, his first gentleman and aide-de-camp, to move ten paces to the left to avoid the direction of a battery, which was making dreadful havock round about him, he replied, "I find no such precautions in the history of the great Condé.' The victory of Johannisberg, gained over the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick, in 1762, was his atchievement; and Louis XV, to reward his valour, gave him part of the cannon taken on that occasion. The Duke of Brunswick afterwards visited the Prince of Condé at Chantilly, and not finding these pieces of cannon, which, from genuine delicacy, the Prince had kept out of sight, he observed You have contrived to vanquish me twice in war by your arms, and in peace by your modesty.' The mind of this estimable Prince had, since the murder of the Duke d'Enghien, his grandson, the last scion of a family so productive of heroes, imbibed a deep tinge of sadness; but from this affliction he took refuge in habitual piety, looking for comfort where the best comfort is to be found,—in the exercise of those religious duties to which he devoted a large portion of the latter years of his life.

19.-SAINT DUNSTAN,

Dunstan was promoted to the see of Worcester by King Edgar; he was afterwards Bishop of London, and Archbishop of Canterbury. He died in 988, in

the 64th year of his age, and in the 27th of his archiepiscopal dignity. His miracles are too commonly known to be repeated.

26. AUGUSTIN, or Austin.

This English apostle, as he is termed, was commissioned by Pope Gregory the Great to convert the Saxons. He was created Archbishop of Canterbury in 556, and died about the year 610.-See a fuller account of him in T. T. for 1815, p. 174.

27.-ROGATION SUNDAY.

This day takes its name from the Latin term rogare, to ask; because, on the three subsequent days, supplications were appointed by Mamertus, Bishop of Vienna, in the year 469, to be offered up with fasting to God, to avert some particular calamities that threatened his diocese.

27.-VENERABLE BEDE.

Bede was born at Yarrow in Northumberland, in 673. His grand work is the Ecclesiastical History of the Saxons. Bede has obtained the title of Venerable for his profound learning and unaffected piety, and not on account of any celebrity for miraculous and angelic operations.

*28. 1808.-BISHOP HURD died, Æt. 88.

As a writer, Dr. Hurd's taste, learning, and genius have been universally acknowledged; and although a full acquiescence has not been given in all his opinions, he must be allowed to be everywhere shrewd, ingenious, and original. Even in his Sermons and Charges, while he is sound in the doctrines of the church, his arguments and elucidations have many features of novelty, and are conveyed in that simple, yet elegant style, which renders them easily intelligible to common capacities. Dr. Hurd's private character was in all respects amiable.

29.-KING CHARLES II RESTORED.

On the 8th of May, 1660, Charles II was proclaimed in London and Westminster, and afterwards throughout his dominions, with great joy and univer

sal acclamations. In some parts of England it is customary for the common people to wear oak leaves, covered with leaf gold, in their hats, in commemoration of the concealment of Charles II in an oak tree, after the battle of Worcester. An account of the king's escape to France, extracted from his own Narrative, will be found in T. T. for 1815, p. 176. See also an account of his entry into London, in, T. T. for 1820, p. 137; and of his coronation, at pp. 108-110 of the present volume.

*30. 1744.-ALEX. POpe died.

A short time before his death, Mr. Pope said, 'I am so certain of the soul's being immortal, that I seem to feel it within me, as it were by intuition.' When Mr. Hooke asked him, whether he would not die as his father and mother had done', and whether he should not send for a Priest?-he said, 'I do not suppose that is essential; but it will look right; and I heartily thank you for putting me in mind of it.' In the morning, after the Priest had given him the last sacraments, he said, 'There is nothing meritorious but virtue and friendship; and, indeed, friendship itself is but a part of virtue.' His departure was so easy, that it was imperceptible even to the standers by 2.

So fails, so languishes, grows dim and dies,

All that this world is proud of. From their spheres
The stars of human glory are cast down;

Perish the roses and the flowers of Kings,
Princes and Emperors, and the crowns and palms
Of all the mighty, withered and consumed.
31.-ASCENSION DAY.

From the earliest times, this day was set apart to commemorate our Saviour's ascension into heaven: all processions on this, and the preceding rogation days, were abolished at the Reformation. In London, on this day, the minister accompanied by the churchwardens, and a number of boys, with wands, walk in procession, and beat the bounds of the parish. But I Pope and his parents were Catholics. 2 Spence's Anecdotes, by Singer.