attle are compelled to submit to this assing through the fire, that good luck their dairies, and that neither blight nor destroy their ensuing crops. The bonwall are evidently of the same original, y are unattended with these ordeals, and at present of all ominous power. We iew them as the continued emblems of = in which the Druid sacrifices were once The victims have disappeared, but the tinues occasionally to glow; though the which it was originally lighted is nearly ven at the present day, when the bonfires up in Cornwall, and the spectators have ne been assembled round them, it is custhe youths of both sexes to display their er in running through the fire, or in jumpe glowing brands, as the flames decline. actices they awaken a spirit of emulation er; and that person is thought to be the ate or lucky, who can brave the fiercest ss through it with the least inconvenience. crificing of beasts, some solitary memorials ; and in the following barbarous instance y Mr. Hitchins, to whom we are indebted urious information) the perpetrator of the assign no other reason, than that it was neprocure good luck. An ignorant old farmer 1 having met with some severe losses in his at the year 1800, was much afflicted with his s. To stop the growing evil he applied to s in his neighbourhood, but unfortunately in vain. The malady still continuing, medies failing, he thought it necessary to urse to some extraordinary measure. Acon consulting with some of his neighbours, norant with himself, and evidently not less ›, they recalled to their recollections a tale dition had handed down from remote anti f quity, that the calamity would not cease until he had actually burned alive the finest calf which he had upon his farm; but that, when this sacrifice was made, the murrain would afflict his cattle no more. The old farmer, influenced by this counsel, resolved immediately on reducing it to practice; that, by making the detestable experiment, he might secure an advantage, which the whispers of tradition, and the advice of his neighbours, had conspired to assure him would follow. He accordingly called several of his friends together, on an appointed day, and having lighted a large fire, brought forth his best calf; and, without ceremony or remorse, pushed it into the flames, The innocent victim, on feeling the intolerable heat, endeavoured to escape; but this was in vain. The barbarians that surrounded the fire were armed with pitchforks, or pikes, as in Cornwall they are generally called; and, as the burning victim endeavoured to escape from death, with these instruments of cruelty the wretches, pushed back the tortured animal into the flames. In this state, amidst the wounds of the pitchforks, the shouts of unfeeling ignorance and cruelty, and the corrosion of flames, the dying victim poured out its ex piring groan, and cwas consumed to ashes. It is scarcely possible to reflect on this instance of superstitious barbarity, without tracing a kind of resem blance between it and the antient sacrifices of the Druids. This calf was sacrificed to fortune, or good luck, to avert impending calamity, and to ensure future prosperity, and was selected by the farmer as the finest among his herd. (History of Cornwall.). But besides the sacrifice of beasts, which was common to the Druids, they also offered human victims at the polluted shrines of their imaginary gods. At these shrines their enemies were sacrificed, and their friends were offered. Sometimes the vigorous youth and graceful virgin were immolated on these sanguinary altars: and sometimes the smilina infant and w cries just in of the instan Sarth given cause Sorce P is w frau liter Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood nan sacrifice, and parents' tears, h for the noise of drums and timbrels loud, mains of this dreadful superstition have But this plan failing, he consulted one e men' of the village, who after looking in atened the farmer with new calamities, and hat his wife and children would die in a that the only remedy was to force the ' undo the work of fate;' and, in order to that he must be put in the fire, and held was accomplished. The man pointed at, mechanic of the village, was accordingly held in the fire for a considerable time, I have been burnt alive, had not his piercing med some neighbouring rustics, who arrived e to save him from the diabolical ferocity mer and his companion. Another similar lately occurred in the department of the here a man who was accused of having small-pox to the infant of another, and e death of his sheep,-was murdered as a *27. 1820.-J. VON HAGER DIED, sor of the Oriental Languages at Pavia. He nown by his discovery of a curious literary ne years ago, and by his writings on Chinese and language. 29.-SAINT PETER. Peter's original name, Simon, was not abolished by Christ, but that of Cephas was added to it, which in Syriac, the vulgar language of the Jews, signifies a stone or rock; hence the Greek IIérpos, and our Peter. The apostle's father was Jonah, probably a fisherman of Bethsaida. His brother Andrew, being first converted, was said to be an instrument of Peter's conversion, John i, 40, 41. St. Peter lived at Capernaum. He was a married man, and his wife's mother lived with them. Christ seems to have frequently lodged or sojourned at his house. See Luke iv, 31-38, and Bp. Hall's Contemplation on the Tribute Money. 6 Ast THE SU gof the 2 the follo Of the Su June 1st, *—. 1821.-DR. JOHN TRUSLER DIED, ET. 85. This wholesale dealer in compilations was one of the most laborious and useful book-makers of the last century. Nearly thirty different publications have been attributed to him. A new edition of one of his most attractive works, Hogarth Moralized,' is in course of publication ;-a fine copy of this work, from its extreme scarcity, having lately sold for seven guineas. His Synonymous Words,' in 2 vols., a very useful and entertaining work, full of anecdote, and now scarce; his, Chronology' and 'Habitable World Displayed' are well known. In 1770, Dr. Trusler started a project, peculiar to himself, of abridging the Sermons of eminent divines, and printing them in the form of MS., so as not only to save clergymen the trouble of composing their discourses, but even of writing them. From the profits of this scheme, and a lucrative printing and bookselling business, he purchased an estate at Englefield Green, where he died. Dr. Watkins, in the last edition of his Biographical Dictionary,' having mentioned that Dr. Trusler abridged sermons, says, His compilations are too numerous and contemptible to deserve further notice; and then adds, the best are, his Hogarth Moralized and ChronolocT?! 6th, 11th, 16th, 21st, 26th, As the the time, at the sa gree wi ren ep directed Satur Thu Tue Sun Frid We Fu La N |