thus give as it were the first impulse towards the revival of mirth and cheerfulness. This practice lasted till the 17th and in many places till the 18th century. Here follows a specimen of one of these tales, extracted from a truly curious vo. lume, the title of which may be thus rendered:-Moral and Religious Journey to Bethlem consisting of various Sermons for the safe guidance of all strayed, converted, and misled souls, by the Rev. Father ATTANASY, of Dilling. "Christ our Lord was journeying with St. Peter, and had passed through many countries. One day he came to a place where there was no inn, and entered the house of a blacksmith. This man had a wife, who paid the utmost respect to strangers, and treated them with the best that her house would afford. When they were about to depart, our Lord and St. Peter wished her all that was good, and heaven into the bargain. Said the woman, Ah! if I do but go to heaven, I care for nothing else. Doubt not,' said St. Peter, 'for it would be contrary to scripture if thou shouldest not go to heaven. Let what will happen, thou must go thither. Open thy mouth. Did I not say so? Why, thou canst not be sent to hell, where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth, for thou hast not a tooth left in thy head. Thou art safe enough; be of good cheer.' Who was so overjoyed as the good woman? Without doubt, she took another cup on the strength of this assurance. But our Lord was desirous to testify his thanks to the man also, and promised to grant him four wishes. Well,' said the smith, I am heartily obliged to you, and wish that if any one climbs up the pear-tree behind my house, he may not be able to get down again without my leave.' Peter not a little, for he thought that the This grieved St. smith ought rather to have wished for the kingdom of heaven; but our Lord, with his wonted kindness, granted his petition. The smith's next wish was, that if any one sat down upon his anvil, he might not be able to rise without his permission; and the third, that if any one crept into his old flue, he might not have power to get out without his consent. St. Peter said,Friend smith, beware what thou dost. These are all wishes that can bring thee no advantage; be wise, and let the remaining one be for everlasting life with the blessed in heaven.' The smith was not to be put out of his way, and thus

448

proceeded: My fourth wish is, that my green cap may belong to me for ever, and that whenever I sit down upon it, no power or force may be able to drive me away.'

Thereupon our Lord went his way with
This also received the fiat.
Peter, and the smith lived some years
longer with his old woman.
of this time grim death appeared, and
At the end
summoned him to the other world.
Stop a moment,' said the smith; let
you may pick some of the pears on
me just put on a clean shirt, meanwhile
yonder tree.' Death climbed up the tree;
but he could not get down again; he was
and promised him a respite of twenty
forced to submit to the smith's terms,
years before he returned.
twenty years were expired, he again ap-
When the
peared, and commanded him in the name
of the Lord and St. Peter to go along
with him.
Peter too. Sit down a little on my anvil,
Said the smith, I know
a cup to cheer me, and take leave of my
for thou must be tired; I will just drink
old woman, and be with thee presently.
But death could not rise again from his
seat, and was obliged to promise the
smith another delay of twenty years.
and would fain have dragged the smith
When these had elapsed, the devil came,
away by force. Holla, fellow!' said
the latter; that won't do. I have other
letters, and whiter than thou, with thy
black carta-bianca. But if thou art such
a conjuror as to imagine that thou hast
any power over me, let us see if thou
canst get into this old rusty flue.' Νο
the flue. The smith and his men put the
sooner said than the devil slipped into
anvil, and hammered away at the old-
flue into the fire, then carried it to the
one most unmercifully. He howled, and
that he would have nothing to do with
begged and prayed; and at last promised
the smith to all eternity, if he would but
let him go. At length the smith's guar-
dian-angel made his appearance. The
business was

obliged to go; the angel conducted him
now serious. He was
to hell.
terribly belaboured, was just then attend-
The devil, whom he had so
ing the gate; he looked out at the little
window, but quickly shut it again, and
would have nothing to do with the smith.
The angel then conducted him to the
gate of heaven. St. Peter refused to
admit him. Let me just peep in,' said
the smith, that I may see how it looks
within there.' No sooner was the wicket

ence. He fostered his love at Vaucluse, a romantic spot, wherein he had nothing to employ him but recollection of her charms, and imagination of her perfections. These he immortalized in sonnets while she lived; Petrarch survived her six and thirty years.

Francis I., who compared a court without ladies to a spring without flowers, caused Laura's tomb to be opened, and threw verses upon her remains complimentary to her beauty, and the fame she derived from her lover's praises.

1803. Colonel Montgomery and captain Macnamara quarrelled and fought a duel at Primrose-hill, because their dogs quarrelled and fought in Hyde-park. Captain Macnamara received colonel Montgomery's ball in the hip, and colonel Montgomery received captain Macnamara's ball in the heart. This exchange of shots being according to the laws of duelling and projectiles, Colonel Montgomery died on the spot. Captain Macnamara was tried at the Old Bailey, and, as a man of honour, was acquitted by a jury of men of honour. The laws of England and the laws of christianity only bind honourable men; men of honour govern each other by the superior power of sword and pistol. The humble suicide is buried with ignominy in a cross road, and a finger-post marks his grave for public scorn; the proud and daring duellist reposes in a christian grave beneath marble, proud and daring as himself.

St. Mary of Egypt, A. D. 421. The Massylitan Martyrs in Africa. St. Eupsychius. The Roman Captives, Martyrs in Persia, year of Christ 362, of Sapor 53. St. Waltrude, or Vautrude, commonly called Vaudru, Widow, A. D. 686. St. Gaucher, or Gautier, Abbot, A. D: 1130. St. Dotto, Abbot. CHRONOLOGY.

1483. The great lord Bacon died, aged 66. He fell from distinguished station to low estate, by having cultivated high wisdom at the expense of every day wis dom. "Lord Bacon," says Rushworth, 66 was eminent over all the christian world for his many excellent writings. He was no admirer of money, yet he had the unhappiness to be defiled therewith. He treasured up nothing for himself, yet died in debt." His connivance at the

bribery of his servants made them his master and wrought his ruin. The gifts of suitors in the chancery rendered him suspected, but his decrees were so equitable that no one was ever reversed for its injustice.

Let him who lacking wisdom desires to know, and who willing to be taught will patiently learn, make himself master of "Bacon's Essays." It is a book more admired than read, and more read than understood, because of higher thought than most readers dare to compass. He who has achieved the "Essays" has a master-key to Bacon's other works, and consequently every department of English literature.

1747. Lord Lovat was executed on

The Empress Octavia's return from Exile.

The popular triumph was of short duration. Scarcely had Octavia resumed her rank, when Nero, under colour of a false and infamous charge, again banished her. Never exile filled the hearts of the beholders with more affecting compassion. The first day of Octavia's nuptials was the commencement of her funeral. She was brought under a sad and dismal roof, from whence her father and brother had been carried off by poison. Though a wife, she was treated as a slave, and now she suffered the imputation of a crime more piercing than death itself. Add to this, she was a tender girl in the twentieth year of her age, surrounded by officers and soldiery devoted to her husband's will, and whom she viewed as sad presages of his ferocious purposes. Almost bereft of life by her fears, and yet unwilling to surrender herself to the rest of the grave, she passed the interval of a days in unspeakable terror. At it was announced to her that she but while she implored that at

least her life might be spared, and conjured Nero to remember the relationship which before marriage they had borne to each other, by descent from a revered ancestor, she only exemplified the utter inefficacy of crouching to a truculent tyrant. Her appeals were answered by the seizure of her person, and the binding of her limbs; her veins were opened, but her blood, stagnant through fear, issued slowly, and she was stifled in the steam of a boiling bath. "For this execution the senate decreed gifts and oblations to the temples; a circumstance," says Tacitus," which I insert with design, that whoever shall, from me or any other writer, learn the events of those calamitous times, he may hold it for granted, that as often as sentences of murder and banishment were pronounced by the prince, so often were thanksgivings by the fathers paid to the deities." Every decree of the senate was either a new flight of flattery, or the dregs of excessive tameness and servitude.