March 21.

Aries.

The remarks on theVernal Equinox, immediately following, are communicated by a respected scientific friend to the editor.

This is a day of great consequence in the year, and one that must excite many associations in the mind of the astronomer, and of every one who entertains a due reverence for our sacred records. The sun on this day passes the imaginary line in the heavens, called the equator, or equinoctial; it being the middle circle equally distant in every part from the north or the south poles. The line is passed to an observer on Greenwich hill, at ten minutes past nine in the morning; and, consequently, when it is on the meridian, or its highest point at noon, it will appear to every observer in the united kingdom at some distance from the equator. It is commonly said, that at this time the day is equal to the night all the world over; but this is a vulgar error. The day is not equal to the night in this country; that is, the sun appears for more than twelve hours above the horizon, and, consequently, a less time than twelve hours elapses before it shines again to us in the morning. Besides, the fallacy of this common saying is perceived at once by any one who considers, that the inhabitant of the north pole, if there is any inhabitant there, has already seen for some days the sun above his horizon, and it will not set to him for above six months. The day then is not equal to the night, either in the united kingdom, or at the north pole. We will leave to the astronomer to determine at what part of the earth this circumstance really takes place; in the investigation of the problem he may encounter some difficulties, of which at present he is probably not aware. The sun crosses the equinoctial line at ten minutes past nine; it was therefore at its rising south of that line, and at its setting it will be north of that line. The line it marks out in the heavens is an arc of a spiral; but had it risen and set in the equinoctial line, the arc would have been circular.

To leave, however, the circumstances peculiarly relative to astronomy, let us consider this day in another point of view. The sun and the moon are the regulators of days, and months, and years, and times, and seasons. Every nation in the world pays some regard to their motions; and in this country they are the subjects of legislative enactments—enactments which have been laughed at by our makers of almanacs; disregarded by the church, though sanctioned in its rubrics; and set at naught by courts of justice, whose openings at certain periods depend on prescribed appearances in the heavens. Of this, hereafter, sufficient proof will be given; and, in thus noticing the errors of past times, there is a chance, that a statute of importance, certainly, as it has been thought worthy of legislation, should not be hereafter violated without the interposition of the legislature.

Our ancestors began their year about this time, and not without reason; for they had for it the sanction of a divine command. To the Israelites it was commanded, that this should be the beginning of their sacred year, on which the great festivals prescribed by their law should depend. Their civil year begins in September, and they continue to observe the command, having an almanac founded on the complicated motions of the sun and moon, whose calculations are of a very subtle nature, and whose accuracy far exceeds that of the polished nations of Europe. That the year should begin either at the vernal or the spring equinox, or at the autumnal equinox, good reasons may be given; but for our taking the first of January for the commencement of the year, nothing more can be said, than the old theme,

Sic volo, sic jubeo, stet pro ratione voluntas.

—Such is my will, the sun and moon may move as they please.

Except for the refraction of the atmosphere, the inhabitants of the equator would have at all times twelve hours’ day and twelve hours’ night; the sun being north or south of this circle not causing any difference, for the equator and ecliptic being both great circles of the sphere, the two points of intersection must be in the same diameter.

By the almanac it will be found, that there are nearly eight days more in the interval between the vernal and the autumnal equinox, than between the latter and the return of the vernal equinox. As, therefore, from the vernal to the autumnal equinox, the sun is on the northern side of the equator, our summer occurring during this period, gives us an advantage of nearly eight days, in this respect, over the southern hemisphere. This difference arises from the oval or elliptical form of the earth’s orbit. The earth, therefore, being at different distances from the sun during the year, it is found to move with different velocities; moving slowest when furthest from the sun, and quickest when nearest to that luminary. It happens to be at its greatest distance just after our Midsummer, and moving consequently slower duringourspring and summer months; our summer is about eight days longer than that of the southern hemisphere, our winter eight days shorter than theirs.

The annexeddiagramwill exhibit the equinoctial condition of the earth; the sun’s rays at their noon falling vertically to the inhabitants of the equator.

equinox

Care Sunday; care away,Palm Sunday, and Easter day.

Care Sunday is the fifth Sunday from Shrove Tuesday, consequently it is the next Sunday before Palm Sunday, and the second Sunday before Easter. Why it is denominatedCareSunday is very uncertain. It is also calledCarleSunday, and in some partsCarlingSunday. A native of Newcastle-upon-Tyne[33]observes, that in that town, and many other places in the north of England, peas after having been steeped a night in water, are fried with batter, given away, eaten at a kind of entertainment on Carle Sunday, and are called Carlings, “probably as we call the presents at fairs, fairings.” To this he attaches a query, whether Carlenmay not be formed from the old plural termination inen, as hosen, &c. The only attempt at a derivation of the wordCare, is, that “the Friday on whichChrist was crucified, is called in German both Gute Freytag andCarrFreytag;” and that the wordkarrsignified a satisfaction for a fine, or penalty.[34]The inference is corroborated, by the church of Rome anciently using rites on this day peculiar to Good Friday, whence it was also calledPassion Sunday. It is noted in an old calendar, that on this day “a dole is made of softbeans,” which was also “a rite in the funeral ceremonies of heathen Rome.” This “dole” of soft beans on Care Sunday, accounts for the present custom of eating fried peas on the same day. No doubt the beans were a very seasonable alms to help out the poor man’s lent stock of provision. “In Northumberland the day is calledCarling Sunday. The yeomanry in general steep peas, and afterwards parch them, and eat them on the afternoon of that day, calling themcarlings. This is said by an old author, to have taken its rise from the disciples plucking the ears of corn, and rubbing them in their hands.”[35]Hence it is clear, that the custom of eating peas or beans upon this day, is only a continuation of the unrecollected “dole” of the Romish church. It is possible, however, that there may have been no connection between the heathen funeral rite of giving beans, and the church donation, if the latter was given in mere charity; for there was little else to bestow at such a time of the year, when dried pulse, variously cooked, must have been almost the only winter meal with the labourer, and a frequent one with his employer.

The couplet at the head of this article Mr. Nichols says he heard in Nottinghamshire. There is another,

Tid, Mid, Misera,Carling, Palm, Paste Egg day.

The first line is supposed to have been formed from the beginning of Psalms, &c. viz.Te deum—Mi deus—Miserere mei.[36]

But how is it thatCare Sundayis also calledCarl SundayandCarling Sunday; and that the peas, or beans, of the day are calledcarlings?Carle, which now means a churl, or rude boorish fellow, was anciently the term for a working countryman or labourer; and it is only altered in the spelling, without the slightest deviation in sense, from the old Saxon wordceorl, the name for a husbandman. The older denomination of the day, then, may not have beenCarebutCarl Sunday, from the benefactions to thecarles or carlen. These are still the northern names for the day; and the dialect in that part of the kingdom is nearer to Saxon etymology. But whether the day were calledCarleorCare Sundayit is now little known, and little more can be said about it, without the reader feeling inclined to say or sing,

“Begone dullCare.”

Dog’s Violet.Viola Canina.Dedicated toSt. Wulfran.

[33]Mr. Brand.[34]Brand’s Pop. Antiq. from Marshal on the Saxon Gospels.[35]Gentleman’s Magazine, 1786.[36]Brand’s Pop. Antiquities.

[33]Mr. Brand.

[34]Brand’s Pop. Antiq. from Marshal on the Saxon Gospels.

[35]Gentleman’s Magazine, 1786.

[36]Brand’s Pop. Antiquities.

St. Benedict, orBennet, Abbot,A. D.543.St. Serapion, called the Sindonite,A. D.388.St. Serapion, Abbot.St. Serapion, Bishop, 4th Age.St. Enna, orEndeus, Abbot, 6th Cent.

The accounts of distinguished persons of the Romish church written by its ecclesiastics are exceedingly curious. The rev. Alban Butler states of St. Benedict, that he was born in Umbria about 480, sent to school at Rome, and afterwards being determined to leave the world, “therefore left the city privately, and made the best of his way to the deserts.” Here he remained secreted at a place called Sublacum, till a “certain pious priest,” whilst preparing a dinner on Easter-day, heard a voice say to him, “you are preparing for yourself a banquet whilst my servant Benedict at Sublacum is distressed with hunger.” Then the priest found out Benedict, and invited him to eat, “saying it was Easter-day, on which it was not reasonable to fast.” Bennet answered, he did not know it; and Alban Butler says, “nor is it to be wondered at that he should not understand the Lunar cycle, which at that time was known by very few.” Soon after, some shepherds found him near his cave, and “took him for a wild beast; for he was clad with the skins of beasts, and they imagined no human creature could live among those rocks.” From that time he began to be known and visited, and the devil came to him “in the shape of a littleblackbird.” After this, Benedict rolled himself in briars and nettles, till he was covered with blood; and his fame spreading still more abroad, several forsook the world to live with him; and he became an abbot, and built twelve monasteries. In one of these, a monk becoming slothful, St. Benedict said, “I will go and correct him myself;” and Butler, says, “such indeed was the danger and enormity of this fault, as to require the most speedy and effectual remedy;” wherefore St. Benedict coming to the lazy monk “at the end of the divine office, saw a little black boy leading him by the sleeve out of the church,” and applied the “speedy and effectual remedy” to the monk’s shoulders, in the shape of a cudgel; and so “the sinner was freed from the temptation” of the little black boy, who was the devil. Then by Benedict’s prayers a fountain sprung up; and a monk cleaving wood with a hedging bill, and the iron falling into the water, by holding the wooden handle in the water, the iron miraculously swam up to it of its own accord. Such growing fame brought to Benedict “many who came clad in purple with gold and precious stones.” “He seemed,” says Alban Butler, “indued with an extraordinary power, commanding all nature, and foreseeing future events; he baffled the various artifices of the devil, with the sign of the cross; rendered the heaviest stone light; by a short prayer raised to life a novice who had been crushed by the fall of a wall;” and after other wonders died, about the year 543, aged 63.[37]

Pope St. Gregory, of whom some account is given on his festival, (seeMarch12,) wrote the life and miracles of St. Benedict.[38]This work of many chapters relates how Benedict dispossessed a certain clerk of the devil; how he miraculously discovered the hiding of a flagon of wine; how in a scarcity two hundred bushels of meal were miraculously brought to his monastery; how a boy marvellously cast out of his grave, was miraculously kept in it by St. Benedict putting the host on his body; how a glass bottle cast down on the stones was not broken; how an empty tun was filled with oil by his prayers; how he gave another monk a slap in the face and drove the devil out of him; how he saw the soul of his sister in form of a dove; how he foretold his own death; how he performed miracles too many to be here related; all which, however, may be seen in the said life of St. Benedict, by the said pope St. Gregory, who it will be remembered is called by way of distinction St. Gregorythe Great.

St. Benedict founded the order of monks under his name. A reader who desires to be acquainted with its rules may consult Mr. Fosbroke’s “British Monachism,” who remarks, that monkery is an institution founded upon the first principles of religious virtue, wrongly understood and wrongly directed. He then proceeds to remark, that, “If man be endowed with various qualities, in order to be severely punished for using them, God is made the tempter of vice, and his works foolish. If voluntary confinement, vegetable eating, perpetual praying, wearing coarse clothing, and mere automatical action through respiration, be the standard of excellence, then the best man is only a barrel organ set to psalm-tunes.”

1556. Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, was burnt for heresy at Oxford, between Baliol college and St. Mary’s church.

A correspondent,Lector, communicates that there is against the south wall of Camberwell church, an inscription commemorative of “Bartholomew Scott, esq. justice of peace in the county of Surrey,” in which he is said to have married “Margaret, the widow of the right reverend prelate and martyr, Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterburie.” Strype, (Life, p. 418. b. iii. ch. xxviii.) says, that the name of Cranmer’s last wife was Ann; and that she survived him, was living towards the latter end of archbishop Parker’s time, and “for her subsistence enjoyed an abbey in Nottinghamshire.” He does not seem very sanguine on this head, but gives the passage on authority of “a very angry book, writ against the execution of justice in England by cardinall Allen.” Fox, in his “Actes and Monumentes,” says, that Cranmer’s wife was “a Dutchewoman, kynne to the wyfe of Osiander;” and that Cranmer having “sold hys plate, and payed all his debts, so that no man could ask him a grote,” left his wife and children unprovided. The marriage of “BartholomewScott, esq.” with Cranmer’s widow, was certainly an act of noble disinterestedness. He is celebrated for his never-dying virtues, and described as a “valiant, wise, and religious gentleman,” of “right worshipful and ancient familie.”

Bulbous Fumitory.Fumaria bulbosa.Dedicated toSt. Bennet.

[37]Alban Butler, the English biographer of St. Benedict, and the rest of the saints, died in May, 1773, aged 63.[38]Pope St. Gregory’s labour is translated under the title of “The Life and Miracles of our Holie Father St. Benedict—Permissu Superiorum. Printed an. 1628.” 18mo.

[37]Alban Butler, the English biographer of St. Benedict, and the rest of the saints, died in May, 1773, aged 63.

[38]Pope St. Gregory’s labour is translated under the title of “The Life and Miracles of our Holie Father St. Benedict—Permissu Superiorum. Printed an. 1628.” 18mo.

St. Basilof Ancyra,A. D.362.St. Paul, Bp.St. Lea,A. D.384.St. Deogratias, Bp. of Carthage,A. D.457.St. Catharineof Sweden, Abbess,A. D.1381.

1687. John Baptist Lulli, the celebrated musician, died, aged 54. He was born at Florence, in 1634, and from being page to madame Montpensier, niece to Louis XIV. became superintendent of music to that monarch.

In March, 1665, London abounded in wealth and grandeur, in comparison with its state in former ages. Goldsmiths’ shops shone with plate all along the south-side of the street called Cheapside, then named Goldsmiths’-row. The Strand then united London and Westminster by a range of palaces, inhabited by the nobility, with gardens in the rear reaching to the Thames, from whence through water-gates they descended by stairs to take water. Each of these mansions was named after its owner or occupier; as Essex, Arundel, Norfolk, Salisbury, Worcester, Exeter, Hungerford, Howard, York, and Northumberland. They were built at equal distances from each other, in the grandest style of antique architecture. Such was London in March 1665, when it was visited by the plague, which raged with such unabating fatality, that three, four, and five thousand of the inhabitants died weekly. Deaths increased so fast that the usual mode of interment could no longer be observed; large pits were dug at Hollywell-mount, and in other suburbs of the city, to which the dead were carried in carts, collected by the ring of a bell, and the doleful cry of “Bring out your dead.” The bodies were brought out of the houses, and placed in the carts with no other covering than rugs or sheets tied round them, and were thrown into the pits in promiscuous heaps. Trade was at a stand, the shops were shut up, every day had the appearance of a sabbath; grass grew on the Royal Exchange, and most of the public streets; and Whitechapel might be mistaken for green fields.

Dr. Forster observes, in his “Perennial Calendar,” that about this time spiders begin to appear in the gardens, for in winter, they are only seen in houses; and that the species which inhabits our dwellings, is quite distinct from the garden spider. These are a very interesting tribe of insects, in spite of their ugly appearance, and the general dislike which most persons, especially females, attach to them, in common with earwigs and other unsightly insects. Naturalists have found out this curious propensity in spiders, that they seem remarkably fond of music, and have been known to descend from the ceiling during concerts, and to retire when the strain was finished; of which the following old verses, from the “Anthologia Borealis et Australis,” remind us:—

To a Spider which inhabited a Cell.In this wild, groping, dark, and drearie cove,Of wife, of children, and of health bereft,I hailed thee, friendly spider, who hadst woveThy mazy net on yonder mouldering raft:Would that the cleanlie housemaid’s foot had leftThee tarrying here, nor took thy life away;For thou, from out this seare old ceiling’s cleft,Came down each morn to hede my plaintive lay;Joying like me to heare sweete musick play,Wherewith I’d fein beguile the dull dark lingering day.

To a Spider which inhabited a Cell.

In this wild, groping, dark, and drearie cove,Of wife, of children, and of health bereft,I hailed thee, friendly spider, who hadst woveThy mazy net on yonder mouldering raft:Would that the cleanlie housemaid’s foot had leftThee tarrying here, nor took thy life away;For thou, from out this seare old ceiling’s cleft,Came down each morn to hede my plaintive lay;Joying like me to heare sweete musick play,Wherewith I’d fein beguile the dull dark lingering day.

Pilewort.Ficaria verna.Dedicated toSt. Catharineof Sweden.

St. Alphonsus Turibius, Abp. of Lima,A. D.1606.Sts. Victorian, &c.A. D.484.St. Edelwald,A. D.699.

This was an English benedictine monk of Rippon, who became a hermit, and was buried by St. Cuthbert in St. Peter’s church, at Lindisfarne.

1801. Paul, emperor of Russia, was strangled at St. Petersburg.

Peerless Daffodil.Narcissus incomparabilis.Dedicated toSt. Alphonsus.

Cambridge Term ends.

St. Irenæus, Bp. of Sirmium,A. D.304.St. Simon, an Infant Martyr.St. Williamof Norwich.

TheJewsare said to have murdered this infant in 1472. After having deliberated at their synagogue in the holy week, on the preparations for their passover, they came to the resolution of crucifying a child on Good Friday, and having stolen Simon, they made him the victim, and sung around his body while elevated. Whenever an act of cruelty was to be perpetrated on the Jews, fables like these were forged, and the brutal passions of the mob let loose upon the life and wealth of fugitive Israelites.

Was another of these pretended martyrs to Jewish hatred. Weever states, that “the Jews in the principal cities of the kingdom, did use sometimes to steal away, and crucify some neighbour’s male child,” as if it were a common practice. Since protestantism, no such barbarities have been imputed to the Jews.

1580. The first bombs were thrown upon the town of Wachtendonck in Guelderland. The invention is commonly attributed to Galen, bishop of Munster.

1726. Daniel Whitby, the learned commentator on the New Testament, died. He was born at Rushden, Northamptonshire, in 1638, and was eminent for ability and honesty throughout his life.

Golden Saxifrage.Chrysosplenum oppositifolium.Dedicated toSt. Irenæus.

Lady Day.Holiday at the Public Offices, except the Excise, Stamp, and Custom.

The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.St. Cammin, Abbot,A. D.653.

The Roman Catholic festival of the Annunciation is commonly called in EnglandLADY DAY, an abridgement of the old termOur Lady’s Day, or theDay of our blessed Lady.

This is a “gaudy day” in the Romish church. Deeming the mother of Christ an intercessor and mediatrix, it offers innumerable honours and devotions to her.Hail Mary!resounds in the masses to her praise; and the worshippers of her shrines and resemblances, are excited to a fervour of devotion which would astonish, if it were not known that sculpture, painting, poetry, vocal and instrumental music, have been added to revive the recollection of monkish fables, and early impressions in her behalf.

In theGolden Legend, a book formerly read instead of the New Testament, but now, in degree, supplanted by Butler’s more voluminous and almost equally miraculous “Lives of the Saints,” there is a story in honour of the virgin, concerning a noble and ignorant knight, who, to amend his life, entered an abbey, but was so incapable of learning, that he could say nothing butAve Maria, which words he continually repeated wherever he was. When this knight died he was buried in the church-yard of the abbey, and there afterwards grew out of his grave a fairfleur de lis, and in every flower grew, in letters of gold, the wordsAve Maria; and at the miracle, the brethren marvelled, and opened the sepulchre, and found the root of thefleur de liscame out of the mouth of the said knight; and then they understood that he was to be honoured for his great devotionto the virgin, by using the wordsAve Maria.

There is another story in the “Golden Legend” of “another knyght.” “He had a fayre place bisyde the hye waye where moche people passed, whome he robbed,” and so he did all his life; yet he had “a good custom” of saluting the virgin every day, by sayingAve Maria, and so he went on committing highway robberies, and saluting the virgin day by day, till his people having put “a holy man” in bodily fear and robbed him, the said “holy man” desired to be brought before their master, the knight, and seeing him, required him to summon all his attendants, which the knight did; but the “holy man” objected that one of them was not present. Then the knight perceived that his chamberlain was not there, and called for him; and when the holy man saw the chamberlain, he conjured him to declare who he was, and the chamberlain being so enforced answered, “I am no man, but am a devil in the form of a man;” and he acknowledged that he had abided with the knight fourteen years, and watched him night and day, hoping the knight might leave off saying the salutationAve Maria, that so he might strangle him, “and brynge him to hell,” because of his evil life; but, because there passed no day without the knight sayingAve Maria, the devil could not have him for all his long waiting. Then the knight fell down at the feet of the holy man, and demanded pardon of his sins, and the “holy man” commanded the devil to depart; wherefore says the “Golden Legend,” “let us pray to the gloryous virgyn Mary, that she kepe us from the devyll.”

The festival of the annunciation is kept at Rome by sumptuous shows. The author of “Rome in the nineteenth Century” relates the pope’s proceedings on the occasion: “We drove through streets lined with expecting crowds, and windows hung with crimson and yellow silk draperies, and occupied by females in their most gorgeous attire, till we made a stop near the church before which the pope’s horse-guards, in their splendid full-dress uniforms, were stationed to keep the ground; all of whom, both officers and men, wore in their caps a sprig of myrtle, as a sign of rejoicing. After waiting a short time, the procession appeared, headed by another detachment of the guards, mounted on prancing black chargers, who rode forward to clear the way, accompanied by such a flourish of trumpets and kettle-drums, that it looked at first like any thing but a peaceable or religious proceeding. This martial array was followed by a bareheaded priest, on a white mule, bearing the host in a gold cup, at the sight of which every body fell upon their knees. The pope used formerly to ride upon the white mule himself, and all the cardinals used to follow him in their magnificent robes of state, mounted either on mules or horses; and as theEminentissimiare, for the most part, not very eminent horsemen, they were generally fastened on, lest they should tumble off. This cavalcade must have been a very entertaining sight. Pius VI., who was a very handsome man, kept up this custom, but the (then) present pope (Pius VII.) is far too infirm for such an enterprise; so he followed the man on the white mule, in a state coach; at the very sight of which, we seemed to have made a jump back of two hundred years at least. It was a huge machine, composed almost entirely of plate-glass, fixed in a ponderous carved and gilt frame, through which was distinctly visible the person of the venerable old pope, dressed in robes of white and silver, and incessantly giving his benediction to the people, by a twirl of three fingers; which are typical of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; the last being represented by the little finger. On the gilded back of this vehicle, the only part that was not made of glass, was a picture of the pope in his chair of state, and the virgin Maryat his feet. This extraordinary machine was drawn by six black horses, with superb harness of crimson velvet and gold; the coachmen, or rather postillions, were dressed in coats of silver stuff, with crimson velvet breeches, and full bottomed wigs well powdered, without hats. Three coaches, scarcely less antiquely superb, followed with the assistant cardinals, and the rest of the train. In the inside of the church, the usual tiresome ceremonies went on that take place when the pope is present. He is seated on a throne, or chair of state; the cardinals, in succession, approach and kiss his hand, retire one step, and make three bows or nods, one to him in front, and one on the right hand, and another on the left; which are intended for him (as the personification of the Father,) and for the Son, and for the Holy Ghost, on eitherside of him; and all the cardinals having gone through these motions, and the inferior priests having kissed histoe—that is, thecross, embroidered on his shoe—high mass begins. The pope kneels during the elevation of the host, prays in silence before the high altar, gets up and sits down, reads something out of a great book which they bring to him, with a lighted taper held beside it; and, having gone through many more such ceremonies, finally ends as he began, with giving his benediction with three fingers, all the way he goes out. During all the time of this high mass, the pope’s military band, stationed on the platform in front of the church, played so many clamorous martial airs, that it effectually put to flight any ideas of religious solemnity.”

In England,Lady Dayis only remembered as the first quarter-day in the year, and is therefore only kept by tenants who truly pay rent to their landlords. A few years ago a country gentleman wrote a letter to a lady of rank in town, and sent it through the general post with the following address:

“To“The 25th of March,“Foley-place, London.”

The postman duly delivered the letter at the house ofLady Dayfor whom it was intended.

1688. Parochial charity schools, for the education of the children of poor persons, were instituted in London and its vicinity.

1748. A fire broke out at one o’clock in the morning in ’Change-alley, Cornhill, London, which raged for ten hours, consuming all the buildings in ’Change-alley and Birchin-lane; and in Cornhill, from ’Change-alley to St. Michael’s-alley, including several celebrated taverns and coffee-houses, and many valuable shops, including five booksellers. There were eighty houses destroyed by this conflagration.

1809. Anna Seward, the friend of Dr. Darwin, and recollected for her life of him, and for her poetry and correspondence, died in the bishop’s palace at Lichfield, aged 66. She was born at Eyan, in Derbyshire. Her poetry is easy, rather than vigorous.

Marigold.Calendula Officinalis.Annunciation of V. Mary.

Oxford Term ends.

St. Ludger, Bp. of Munster,A. D.809.St. Braulio, Bp. of Saragossa,A. D.646.

Now in many situations may be heard the cuckoo. Its distant note intimating dislike to human approach, comes upon the ear as a soft welcome from a shy stranger:—

Hail, beauteous stranger of the grove,Thou messenger of spring!How heaven repairs thy rural seat,And woods thy welcome sing.What time the daisy decks the greenThy certain voice we hear;Hast thou a star to guide thy path,Or mark the rolling year?Delightful visitant! with theeI hail the time of flowers,And hear the sounds of music sweetFrom birds among the bowers.The school-boy wandering thro’ the woodTo pull the primrose gay,Starts—the new voice of spring to hearAnd imitates thy lay.Soon as the pea puts on its bloom,Thou fliest thy vocal vale,An annual guest in other lands,Another spring to hail.Sweet bird, thy bower is ever green,Thy sky is ever clear;Thou hast no sorrow in thy song,No winter in thy year!O! could I fly, I’d fly with thee;We’d make with social wingOur annual visit o’er the globe,Companions of the spring.Logan.

Hail, beauteous stranger of the grove,Thou messenger of spring!How heaven repairs thy rural seat,And woods thy welcome sing.

What time the daisy decks the greenThy certain voice we hear;Hast thou a star to guide thy path,Or mark the rolling year?

Delightful visitant! with theeI hail the time of flowers,And hear the sounds of music sweetFrom birds among the bowers.

The school-boy wandering thro’ the woodTo pull the primrose gay,Starts—the new voice of spring to hearAnd imitates thy lay.

Soon as the pea puts on its bloom,Thou fliest thy vocal vale,An annual guest in other lands,Another spring to hail.

Sweet bird, thy bower is ever green,Thy sky is ever clear;Thou hast no sorrow in thy song,No winter in thy year!

O! could I fly, I’d fly with thee;We’d make with social wingOur annual visit o’er the globe,Companions of the spring.

Logan.

Lurid Henbane.Hyoscyamus Scopolia.Dedicated toSt. Braulio.

St. Johnof Egypt, Hermit,A. D.394.St. Rupert, orRobert, Bp. of Saltzbourg.

Was a hermit, inured to obedience by an ancient holy anchoret, “who madehim water a dry stick for a whole year, as if it were a live plant.” He walled himself up at the top of a rock, “from the fortieth or forty-second to the ninetieth year of his age,” and “drew the admiration of the whole world on him,” says Butler, by “the lustre of his miracles,” and the “fame of his predictions.”

1801. The peace of Amiens between France and England was signed in France.

Palm Sunday.

This is the first Sunday before Easter, and is sometimes calledPassionSunday. It is denominatedPalm Sunday, because on this day the Roman catholic church ordains boughs or branches of palm trees to be carried in procession, in imitation of those strewed before Christ when he rode into Jerusalem. In this monkish procession the host was carried upon an ass, branches and flowers were strewed on the road, the richest cloths were laid down, and others were hung up. The palms were consecrated by the priest, and after they were used they were preserved to be burned for holy ashes, to lay on the heads of the people onAshWednesday in the following year, as before-mentioned (seep. 261,) on that day.

OnPalm Sunday, the palm flowers and leaves to be consecrated by the officiating prelate or priest were laid upon the high altar, and those for the poorlaitybeing placed upon the southstepof the altar the priest arrayed in a red cope proceededto consecrate them by a prayer, commencing “I conjure thee, thou creature of flowers and branches, in the name of God the Father,” &c. This was to displace the devil or his influences, if he or they lurked or were hidden in or about the “creature of flowers and branches.” Then followed a prayer wherein he said, with crosses, “We humbly beseech thee that thy truth may + sanctify this creature of flowers and branches, and slips of palms, or boughs of trees, which we offer,” &c. Then the “creature of flowers and branches” was fumed with smoke of frankincense from the censers, and there were other prayers with crossings, and they were sprinkled with holy water with this supplication: “Bless + and sanctify + these branches of palms, and other trees and flowers,” &c. Then the sacrists distributed the palms to the abbots, priors, and nobler persons, and the flowers and leaves to the others. When this was done the procession moved, and afterwards made a stand while two priests brought aPascalin which the crucifix was laid; afterwards the banner and cross-bearers filed off to the right and to the left, and the boys and monks of the convent arranged themselves, and, after a short service, the priests with the tomb, headed by the banner and cross, passed between the monks, who knelt as they passed. When they came to the city-gates they divided again on two sides, and the shrine being put on a table, was covered with cloth. Above the entrance of the gates, in a place handsomely prepared with hangings, were boys with other singers whom the chanter had appointed, and these sang, “Gloria, Laus,” “Glory, praise,” &c. After having made a procession through the city, they returned to the convent-gate, where the shrine was laid on the table and covered with cloth, and a religious service was performed. The monks then returned to the church, and stood before the crucifix uncovered, while mass was performed; and after they had communicated, the deacon first and the rest afterwards, they offered their palms and flowers, at the altar.[39]

It was also an old Roman catholic custom on Palm Sunday, to draw about the town a wooden ass with a figure on it, representing Christ riding into Jerusalem, and the people strewing palms before it. Googe’sNaogeorgussays:—

Awoodden Assethey have, andImage greatthat on him rides,But underneath the Asse’s feete a table broad there slides,Being borne on wheeles, which ready drest, and al things meete therfore,The Asse is brought abroad and set before the churche’s doore:The people all do come,and bowes of trees and Palmes they bere,Which things against the tempest great the Parson conjures there,And straytwayes downe before the Asse, upon his face he lies,Whome there an other Priest doth strike with rodde of largest sise:He rising up, two lubbours great upon their faces fall,In straunge attire, and lothsomely, with filthie tune, they ball:Who, when againe they risen are, with stretching out their hande,They poynt unto the wooden knight, and, singing as they stande,Declare that that is he that came into the worlde to save,And to redeeme such as in him their hope assured have:And even the same that long agone, while in the streate he roade,The people mette, and Olive-bowes so thicke before him stroade.This being soung, the peoplecast the braunches as they passe,Some part upon the Image, and some part upon the Asse:Before whose feete awondrous heape of bowes and braunches ly:This done, into the Church he strayght is drawne full solemly:The shaven Priestes before them marche, the people follow fast,Still striving who shall gather first the bowes that downe are cast:For falselythey beleeve that these have force and vertue great,Against the rage of winter stormes and thunders flashing heate.In some place wealthie citizens, and men of sober chere,For no small summe doe hire this Asse with them about to bere,And manerly they use the same, not suffering any byTo touch this Asse, nor to presume unto his presence ny.For they suppose that in this thing, they Christ do lightly serve,And well of him accepted are, and great rewardes deserve.

When the wooden ass had performedin the church procession, the boys hired him:

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