There are many practices and ceremonies in use amongst us at the present day for the existence of which we are at a loss to account. The change which takes place in circumstances, as well as in the opinions of men, as time rolls on, causes us no longer to see the origin of numberless institutions which we still possess, and which we retain with respect and affection, although we no longer know their cause or their meaning, and in which we often unconsciously celebrate that of which we might not approve. Of such is the ceremony of tolling the bell at the time of death, formerly called the passing-bell, or the soulbell, which seems to be as ancient as the first introduction of bells themselves, about the seventh century. Venerable Bede is the first who makes mention of bells, where he tells us that, at the death of St Thilda, one of the sisters of a distant monastery, as she was sleeping, thought she heard the bell which called to prayers when any of them departed this life. The custom was therefore as ancient as his days, and the reason for the institution was not, as some imagine, for no other end than to acquaint the neighbourhood that such a person was dead, but chiefly that whoever heard the bell should put up their prayers for the soul that was departing, or passing. 66 In Bourne's Antiquitates Vulgares there is this passage on the subject, which goes to show that at times the custom had been disapproved :- In a vestry-book belonging to the chapel of All Saints, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, it is observable that the tolling of the bell is not mentioned in the parish accounts from the year 1643 till 1655, when we find it ordered to be tolled again at a vestry holden January 21st, 1655. The order stands thus :'Whereas for some years past the collecting of the duty for bell and tolling hath been foreborne and laid aside, which hath much lessened the revenue of the church, by which, and such like means, it is brought into dilapidation, and having now taken the same into serious consideration, and fully debated the objections made by some against the same, and having had the judgment of our ministers concerning any superstition that might be in it, which being made clear, it is this day ordered, that from henceforth the church-officer appointed thereunto do collect the same, and bring the money unto the church wardens, and that those who desire to have Of the reason for calling it the soul-bell, Bishop Hall says: We call them soul-bells because they signify the departure of the soul, not because they help the passage of the soul.' Whatever its origin and meaning, as it remains to us at present, it is a ceremony which accords well with our feelings upon the loss of a friend, and when we hear the tolling of the bell, whether at the hour of death or at the hour of burial, the sound is to us like the solemn expres sion of our grief. In the northern parts of England, it is still believed that if a person, on the eve of St Mark's day, watch in the church porch from eleven at night till one in the morning, he will see the apparitions of all those who are to be buried in the churchyard during the ensuing year. The following illustration of this superstition is found among the Hollis manuscripts, in the Lansdowne Collection. The writer, Gervase Hollis, of Great Grimsby, in Lincolnshire, was a colonel in the service of Charles the First, and by no means one who could be termed a superstitious man, even in his own day. He professes to have received the tale from Mr Liveman Rampaine, minister of God's word at Great Grimsby, in Lincolnshire, who was household chaplain to Sir Thomas Munson, of Burton, in Lincoln, at the time of the incident. In the year 1634, two men (inhabitants of Burton) agreed betwixt themselves upon St Mark's eve at night to watch in the churchyard at Burton, to try whether or no (according to the ordinary belief amongst the common people) they should see the Spectra, or Phantasma of those * Strutt's Manners and Customs. ST MARK'S EVE. persons which should die in that parish the year following. To this intent, having first performed the usual ceremonies and superstitions, late in the night, the moon shining then very bright, they repaired to the church porch, and there seated themselves, continuing there till near twelve of the clock. About which time (growing weary with expectation and partly with fear) they resolved to depart, but were held fast by a kind of insensible violence, not being able to move a foot. About midnight, upon a sudden (as if the moon had been eclipsed), they were environed with a black darkness; immediately after, a kind of light, as if it had been a resultancy from torches. Then appears, coming towards the church porch, the minister of the place, with a book in his hand, and after him one in a windingsheet, whom they both knew to resemble one of fly open, and through pass the apparitions, and their neighbours. The church doors immediately then the doors clap to again. Then they seem to hear a muttering, as if it were the burial service, with a rattling of bones and noise of earth, as in the filling up of a grave. Suddenly a still silence, and immediately after the apparition of the curate again, with another of their neighbours following in a winding-sheet, and so a third, fourth, and fifth, every one attended with the same circumstances as the first. These all having passed away, there ensued a serenity of the sky, the moon shining bright, as at the first; they themselves being restored to their former liberty to walk away, which they did sufficiently affrighted. The next day they kept within doors, and met not together, being both of them exceedingly ill, by reason of the affrightment which had terrified them the night before. Then they conferred their notes, and both of them could very well remember the circumstances of every passage. Three of the apparitions they well knew to resemble three of their neighbours; but the fourth (which seemed an infant), and the fifth (like an old man), they could not conceive any resemblance of. After this they confidently reported to every one what they had done and seen; and in order designed to death those three of their neighbours, which came to pass accordingly. Shortly after their deaths, a woman in the town was delivered of a child, which died likewise. So that now there wanted but one (the old man), to accomplish their predictions, which likewise came to pass after this manner. In that winter, about mid-January, began a sharp and long frost, during the continuance of which some of Sir John Munson's friends in Cheshire, having some occasion of intercourse with him, despatched away a foot messenger (an ancient man), with letters to him. This man, travelling this bitter weather over the mountains in Derbyshire, was nearly perished with cold, yet at last he arrived at Burton with his letters, where within a day or two he died. And these men, as soon as ever they see him, said peremptorily that he was the man whose apparition they see, and that doubtless he would die before he returned, which accordingly he did.' It may readily be presumed that this would prove a very pernicious superstition, as a malignant person, bearing an ill-will to any neighbour, paid to Alnwick. Having been 'laired' in this pool, he punished the inhabitants for their bad roads by imposing upon them, in the charter of their common, an obligation each to subject himself, on his entry, to the same filthy ablution. Born.-King Edward II., of England, 1284, Carnarvon; Oliver Cromwell, Protector of England, 1599, Huntingdon; Sir Mark Isambard Brunel, engineer of the Thames Tunnel, 1769. Died.-Torquato Tasso, Italian poet, 1595, Rome; James Hay, Earl of Carlisle, statesman, 1636; Dr Henry Hammond, theologian, 1660; Dr John Woodward, naturalist, 1728; Samuel Wesley, the elder, 1735, Epworth; William Cowper, poet, 1800, East Dereham; Dr Patrick Colquhoun, writer on police and social improvements, 1820. THE BIRTH OF EDWARD OF CARNARVON, Weep, noble lady, weep no more, Fear not, thy time of dread is o'er, And thou hast borne a son! Then ceased the Queen from pain and cry, The tear stood still within her eye- 'Now bear him to the Castle-gate!' They met another lord to claim, Anno Di CROMWELL'S BAPTISMAL REGISTER. 'Our King shall breathe a British birth, 'God save your Prince!' King Edward said, 'Twas strange to see! so sternly smiled Nor knew they then how proud the tone R. S. H. The Protector, as is well known, was born at Huntingdon, April 25, 1599, the son of Robert Cromwell, a gentleman well-connected in that county. Through the favour of an obliging correspondent, there is here presented a facsimile of the entry of his birth and baptism in the parish register. Thus extended and translated:-'Anno Domini 1599 1599 Oliverus filius Roberti Cromwell generosi, et Elizabethæ uxoris ejus, natus vicesimo-quinto die Aprilis, et baptizatus vicesimo nono mensis.' In the year of our Lord 1599, Oliver, son of Robert Cromwell, gentleman, and Elizabeth his wife, born on the 25th of April, baptized the 29th of the same month. It will further be observed that some zealous cavalier has inserted, under the year of our Lord, the words England's Plague for five years,' which have subsequently been erased. 6 DR HAMMOND.-NAT. CROUCH. Dr Henry Hammond must be held as a somewhat notable figure in the history of English literature, if it be true, as is alleged of him by Hearne, that he was the first man in England that had copy-money, i.e., a price for the copyright of a literary work. He was paid such a sum of money (I know not how much) by Mr Royston, the king's printer, for his Annotations on the New Testament. One naturally feels some curiosity about a man who was the first of the long list who have written for booksellers' pay. He was one of the most noted of the many divines who lost their benefices (his was that of Penshurst, in Kent) under the Cromwellian rule. He was devoted to the monarchy, and bewailed the martyred Charles with bitter tears. His activity was thereafter given to the investigation of the literature and antiquities of the Bible, in which he had in his own age no rival. There could not be a more perfect ideal of a student. He ate little more than one meal a-day; five hours of his bed sufficed; he read in walking, and had books read to him while dressing. Finally, he could compose faster than any amanuensis could transcribe-a most serviceable quality at first sight for one who looked to be paid by the sheet. Five sheets a-day were within his range of power. It is related of him that, on two several occasions, he sat down at eleven at night, and composed a pamphlet for the press before going to rest. Dr Fell, however, who wrote his life, seems to have found that easy writing made rather hard reading, for he speaks of Hammond's compositions as incumbered with parentheses. It is also to be observed that the learned doctor did not thrive upon his assiduity in study, for he died of the stone at fifty-five. In connexion with this article, it may be mentioned that the first book published in England by subscription was a polyglot Bible, prepared under the care of Dr Brian Walton, and published in six volumes in 1657. The learned editor became, at the Restoration, Bishop of Chester, but enjoyed the honour a very short time, dying November 29, 1661. It may also be worth while to introduce to notice the first person who made any efforts in that business of popularising literature which now occupies so broad a space. It was unquestionably Nathaniel Crouch, a bookseller at the sign of the Bell, in the Poultry, London. He flourished in the reigns of William III. and Queen Anne, but very little of his personal history is known. With probably little education, but something of a natural gift for writing in his native language, Crouch had the sagacity to see that the works of the learned, from their form and price, were kept within a narrow circle of readers, while there was a vast multitude outside who were able and willing to read, provided that a literature suited to their means and capacities were supplied to them. He accordingly set himself to the task of transfusing the matter of large and pompous books into a series of small, cheap volumes, modestly concealing his authorship under the nom de plume of Robert Burton, or the initials R. B. Thus he produced a Life of Cromwell, a History of Wales, and many other treatises,* all printed on very plain paper, and sold at an Amongst the publications of Mr Crouch were: Historical Rarities in London and Westminster, 1681. Wars in England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1681. Surprising Miracles of Nature and Art. Life of Sir F. Drake, 1687. Unfortunate Court Favourites of England, 1706. General History of Earthquakes, 1736. This is the last date known, shewing that Mr Crouch's publications extended over a period of fifty-five years. FASTERS. exceedingly reasonable rate. His enterprise and diligence were rewarded by large sales and considerable wealth. He must have appeared as something of a phenomenon in an age when authors were either dignified men in the church and the law, or vile Grub-streeters, whose lives were a scandal to the decent portion of society. John Dunton, a contemporary bookseller, who was pleased to write and publish an account of his own life, speaks of Crouch in such terms as betray a kind of involuntary respect. He says, He [Crouch] prints nothing but what is very useful and very entertaining. .. His talent lies at collection. He has melted down the best of our English histories into twelvepenny books, which are filled with wonders, rarities, and curiosities. Nat. Crouch is a very ingenious person, and can talk fine things on any subject. He is . . . the only man who gets an estate by writing books. He is, or ought to be, an honest man; and I believe the former, for all he gets will wear well. . . . . His whole life is one continued lecture, wherein all his friends, but especially his two sons, may legibly read their duty.' FASTERS. Among the wonderful things believed in by our ancestors were instances of long-protracted fasts. In Rymer's Fædera (vol. vi., p. 13), there is a rescript of King Edward III., having reference to a woman named Cecilia, the wife of John de Rygeway, who had been put up in Nottingham gaol for the murder of her husband, and there had remained mute and abstinent from meat and drink for forty days, as had been represented to the king on fully trustworthy testimony; for which reason, moved by piety, and for the glory of God and the Blessed Virgin, to whom the miracle was owing, his grace was pleased to grant the woman a pardon. The order bears date the 25th of April, in the 31st year of the king's reign, equivalent to A.D. 1357. About the year 1531, one John Scott, a Teviotdale man, attracted attention in Scotland by his apparent possession of the ability to fast for many days at a time. Archbishop Spottiswood gives an account of him. This man,' says the historian, having succumbed in a plea at law, and knowing himself unable to pay that wherein he was adjudged, took sanctuary in the abbey of Holyrood-house, where, out of a deep displeasure, he abstained from all meat and drink the space of thirty or forty days together. Public rumour bringing this about, the king would have it put to trial, and to that effect, shutting him up in a private room within the Castle of Edinburgh, whereunto no man had access, he caused a little bread and water to be set by him, which he was found not to have tasted in the space of thirtytwo days. This proof given of his abstinence, he was dimitted, and coming forth into the street half naked, made a speech to the people that flocked about him, wherein he professed to do all this by the help of the Blessed Virgin, and that he could fast as long as he pleased. Many did take it for a miracle, esteeming him a person of singular holiness; others thought him to be frantic and mad; so as in a short time he came |