in the amusements which ushered in the the month of flowers, a train of youths emselves at a place to this day called the

From thence, with wands enwreathed os, they walked in procession to the Mayted to the west end of the town, and that morning with every variety in the тa. Here, uniting in the wild joy of young , they struck together their wands, and, around the cowslips, testified their thankthat bounty, which, widely diffusing its bled them to return home rejoicing at the of the opening year.-(Weir's Sketches of 2.)

a singular species of festivity at Padstow ll, on the 1st of May. This is called the rse; from canvass being extended with d painted to resemble a horse. Being cargh the streets, men, women, and children, d it, when they proceed to a place called ool, about a quarter of a mile distant, in hobby-horse is always supposed to drink; head being dipped into the water, is inken up, and the mud and water are sprinke spectators, to the no small diversion of all. ing home, a particular song is sung, that is I to commemorate the event that gave the orse birth. According to tradition, the n a former occasion effected a landing at a ve in the vicinity; but seeing at a distance r of women dressed in red cloaks, which took for soldiers, they fled to their ships, and a. The day generally ends in riot and dis.-(Hitchins's History of Cornwall.)

INT PHILIP AND SAINT JAMES THE LESS. › was born at Bethsaida, near the sea of Tithe city of Andrew and Peter. He was one first disciples, and an apostle. James the alled 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.

*1. 1820.-MISS RICHMAL MANGNALL DIED. She was the author of some very useful educational works; among these is 'Miscellaneous Questions,' a very popular school-book. She also published a volume of poetry, entitled Leisure Hours.'

*2. 1821.-H. L. PIOZZI DIED, ÆT. 82.

This lady long held a high station in the literary and fashionable circles, of which she was a distinguished ornament. An author herself, and an admirer of learned men, her friendship with Dr. Johnson was alike honourable to both. An independent fortune, a mind richly stored, a lively wit, and pleasing manners, rendered her a most desirable friend and companion. In 1763, she married Hen. Thrale, Esq. an eminent brewer in Southwark, and M.P. for that borough; in the following year, Dr. Johnson was introduced to their society by Mr. Murphy, and continued, for fifteen years, an almost constant inmate of their country residence at Streatham. That the Doctor was fully sensible of the kind attentions paid to him in this hospitable mansion, and of the attrac tions of Mrs. Thrale, is evident, from the following elegant Impromptu, addressed to this lady on com pleting her thirty-fifth year :

Ladies, stock and tend your hive,
Trifle not at thirty-five;

For bowe'er we boast and strive,
Life declines from thirty-five.
He that ever hopes to thrive,
Must begin by thirty-five;

And all who wisely wish to wive,
Must look on Thrale at thirty-five.

the death of Mr. Thrale in 1781, his widow t (as she asserted) extremely perplexing and to live in the same house with the Doctor, antage of a lost law-suit, to plead inability of r remaining longer in London, or its vicinity, red to Bath, where she knew he would not er. She continued, however, to correspond - Johnson till near the time (July 1784) of riage to her second husband, Sig. Piozzi, a of Florence, and a music-master of the city ; when a very warm expostulation on the the Doctor, against this step, dissolved their ip. About this time, it was reported that a wished to unite himself with the rich widow, cording to Mr. Boswell, there was no foundathe rumour:-several imaginary odes, howom the Doctor to Mrs. Thrale appeared in the apers; one of them commenced with the folcurious stanza :

Cervisial coctor's viduate dame,
Opin'st thou this gigantick frame,
Procumbing at that shrine;
Shall catenated by thy charms,
A captive in thy ambient arms,
Perennially be thine?

other Ode from Dr. Johnson to Mrs. Thrale on pposed approaching Nuptials' began in this

er:

If e'er my fingers touched the lyre,
In satire fierce, in pleasure gay;
Shall not my Thralia's smiles inspire?
Shall Sam refuse the sportive lay?

is afterwards made to say, that he will super

M

intend the brewing tub, as well as write grave essays;→ that he will no longer praise Porter, and that he is himself Thrale's Entire!"*

Mrs. Piozzi has published a volume of 'Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson,' which have been severely criticised, and also a Collection of Letters to and from Dr. Johnson from 1765 to 1784,' in 2 vols. 8vo, which, according to Mr. Boswell, she sold for five hundred pounds. Her British Synonymy' is an entertaining work; but her Travels, Florence Miscellany,' and Retrospection,' (the last in 2 volumes quarto) are almost forgotten.

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. 1821.-NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE DIED, ET. 51. Napoleon Buonaparte, once the terror and the Scourge of Europe, is now no more. He was the inveterate enemy of this country, it is true: but he paid the full forfeit: and if he did us much injury by his hostility, it was also the means of calling forth so many energies, and producing such a display of patriotism on the part of the country, that it may be fairly doubted, whether he served or injured us most by his enmity. But he is dead; and the hatred which he excited when alive is buried in the grave which incloses his remains. Whatever shall be said of him henceforth will not be marked by vindictive feelings: an exception may occur here and there; but the generous and high-minded will mark it with indignation. The towering height to which he ascended; the self-possession which he displayed during his meteor-like ascent; the humble level from which he darted; and the presence of mind, or rather perfect

ch he displayed, when he alighted on that nd giddy summit, evidently proved that his as of the eagle kind. He rose by the na ngth of his wings; and when he soared at stance above the ordinary region of huma→ that keen air where mortals can scarcely -it was plain that he was in a congenial ele→ But if he had powers more than mortal, he the amiable qualities of human nature: he oved nor pitied-he took no part in their and he never stopped a moment to conmen he was rushing upon one of those enterhich astonished the world by their grandeur, the rapidity with which they were executed, schief he might occasion in consequence. s apparently unmoved by human sufferings, probably participated as little in their joys. sensibility was one of the causes of his wonuccess; and it was, no doubt, one of the reahis rapid descent. He had nothing to arrest is ascent. Pleasure called to him in vain to d refresh himself in one of her bowers, whilst bounding up the steep and rugged hill of amThe Charities implored him to no purpose k his furious pace; and when we consider the strength of his genius, without any thing to it in its course, we are not astonished at the to which he mounted. Yet he could act the a man of feeling when he pleased; but the cion had always a theatrical appearance and He also never had, perhaps, a real friend; he never felt sympathy, he never inspired it. mmanded admiration; he inspired the greatest his service; he controlled the minds of his ads; and he exercised an empire over them, which reality astonishing, and almost unparalleled. e created no attachment; and the noble fidelity, some of his followers showed to him in his ad