1 the staves. Which staves, brought out of the toll-house, and placed upright on the opposite sides of a coach, in such situations as would stretch the attached cord tight, over or close by the side of the highest parts of the luggage, would, without more than two minutes detaining of the coach, give the means of seeing, whether the luggage was within the statutable height, by its passing freely under the level whip-cord (at ten feet nine inches above the road), or, the means of measuring with the rule, any inches of excess of height which might appear; and, of which latter fact, notes should be taken by various of the passengers, who should not hesitate in giving their addresses; which combined proceedings, would soon awe coach-proprietors and drivers into a respectful compliance with this useful law. The vans, or caravans, established a few years ago for carrying parcels of goods only (and no passengers,) with similar regularity, dispatch, and safety, as by the stage-coaches, between the metropolis and the chief manufacturing and trading towns, are an excellent relief, to the stage-coaches, from a mass of heavy and cumbrous packages, which, before these vans came into use, impeded these coaches, and greatly endangered the lives of passengers. It has been with concern, therefore, that the writer has of late noticed various newspaper attacks on these vehicles (merely because one of them had the misfortune to overturn in the Strand), which ought to receive the support of the public, as the mode of sending all heavy and cumbrous goods; reserving, at the same time, to the stage and mail coaches, the small and light parcels, as the means of enabling them to extensively carry passengers and their luggage at reasonable rates. In the autumn of 1819, Mr. Henry Burgess proposed a plan for more expeditiously conveying of letters between the metropolis and the chief manufacturing and trading towns, in light two-wheeled carriages, drawn by pairs of horses, the particulars of whose scheme is fully detailed in our 48th volume, p. *385; but, as the conveyance of passengers, on which it has been mainly our present purpose to treat, formed no part of Mr. Burgess's plan, and the same having been laid aside, after a trial which has cost the public several thousand pounds, we shall not enlarge further thereon. MONTHLY MAG. No. 373. In pursuance of the new Turnpike Act, every stage-coach carrying passengers at separate fares," has since the 1st of the present month (September) borne a number, furnished from the stamp-office in Somerset-house, on each of its doors; the penalty for neglect of which, is 201. per day! These numbers will prove very useful to a traveller for identifying the particular coach by which he may have taken or booked a place, especially if, as in Scotland, a ticket (containing the number, sum paid, and time of starting,) were given by the book-keeper to the traveller, to be by him afterwards produced to the coachmen or bookkeepers on the road, as occasions might require; or useful to them, or the public, in case of over-loading, or any criminal misconduct by the coachman. The names given to stagecoaches, since they multiplied so much, have had their use towards identifying these vehicles, although less perfectly so than the numbers in conjunction therewith will now do: one of the earliest named coaches which the writer recollects, was "the Hope," running to Sheffield, something more than thirty years ago. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, MANY ANY a would-be wit, who has Joe Miller constantly on his lips, might probably be induced to make a pilgrimage to his grave, if he knew that it was as near to him as the place called the Green Church-yard, or burying-ground, in Portugal-street, Lincoln's Inn fields, belonging to the parish of St. Clement Dane, and close by the once celebrated Lincoln's Innfields Theatre, where Garrick became so famous, and now as celebrated for being Spode's depôt for china, &c.Miller's epitaph, by Stephen Duck, is on a handsome stone, on the left-hand side as you enter the burial-ground, nearly under the windows of the workhouse; which inscription was originally on another stone, but time had taken such liberties with it, that in the year 1816 the churchwarden for the time being, greatly to his credit, as I think, caused the present one to be erected. He certainly has tacked himself to Joe Miller by his explanation at the bottom of the stone; and probably hopes, and in some degree deserves, to share a little of his immortality; though at present he is on this side the Ff grave a facetious companion, and an excellent comedian. He departed this life the 15th day of August, 1738, aged 54 years. If humour, wit, and honesty, could save The hum'rous, witty, honest, from the grave, The grave had not so soon this tenant found, Whom honesty, and wit, and humour, crown'd. Could but esteem and love preserve our breath, And guard us longer from the stroke of death, The stroke of death on him had later fell, From respect to social worth, mirthful qualities, and histrionic excellence, commemorated by poetic talent in humble life, the above inscription, which time had nearly obliterated, has been preserved, and transferred to this stone, by order of Mr. Jarvis Buck, churchwarden, A.D. 1816. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, July, on during the night. The same amusing paper contains also a small etymological error concerning the word wassail. The Anglo-Saxon was hale, was thu hale, be hale, be thou hale, is from the regular verb wesen, to be, which in English is used only in the preterit tense. T. For the Monthly Magazine. ALEXANDER SUZZO. (Concluded from our last, p. 116.) VEN the peasant cannot be E persuaded to quit the spot that gave him birth without the prospect of some great advantage; and it is with the utmost difficulty that a well-bred female is prevailed upon to marry out of the island; and, even then, she never sells, but reserves her patrimony, in the hope of enjoying it some future day. In this island neither Turks, nor Jews, or Armenians, are to be seen. The Latin Catholics are inferior in number to the Greek Christians; and the inhabitants form three classes,— the nobles, the citizens, and the peasantry. The first class, full of pride and hauteur, disdains the other two; the second is distinguished by its mildness and urbanity; and the third, with the manners of the lower classes, still possesses some civility and politeness in their babits. The women of Tinos generally live to a greater age than the men, who, notwithstanding, preserve their strength and vigour to a considerable period. The fecundity YOUR correspondet and Diver of the teanale is remarkable; mothers sions of the British People, seems to have been led into a mistake by Spelman, in supposing that our country wakes were derived from apparently an unknown Saxon word vak, which signified drinking. Our wakes and fairs corresponded with the Latin vigilia and feria. The Saxon wacian is the Gothic waka, to wake, to watch; and a wake was originally a sitting-up with a corpse until it was interred, or a passing the night previous to some religious festival in mirth and feasting, which is the French veille, from Latin vigilia. The Gothic vauk, Anglo-Saxon vac, væc, signified a vigil, and also a watch or guard; and produced the Swedish bewak, German bewach, literally be awake or on the watch, which the French pronounce bivouac, now a military term for remaining on guard suckle their own children. Here are few unnatural births: on the contrary, the kindness of nature is such, that there are no professed accoucheurs in the island. A few ignorant women, very proud of their profession, answer all the purposes for which they are wanted. The clergy of both churches are numerous, and parishes of sixty-six villages are served by their curates, whose salaries are very trifling. The young people, till the period of their marriage, remain in absolute dependance upon their parents, who never permit them to drink wine or spirits before they are twenty or twenty-five years of age. Cards and other games are also severely prohibited; their education in general, however, is badly managed, and of course fails is in its object. When a child cries or is unruly, they threaten him, or endeavour to intimidate him; for instance, they say, if he is not pacified, the Turk will come and carry him away. As the children have seen their parents themselves tremble before the Turk, they of course look upon him as a most formidable object. The terror on these occasions is so great, that when a Turk has by chance landed on the island, the children are alarmed, and flee to conceal themselves. Besides a large school at Ximara, there are what are called half-boarding schools in the villages, where the children of the neighbouring hamlets attend, and bring with them every morning their food for the day. Here they read several religious books; as the Psalms of David, the Offices of the Virgin, the Holy Week, the Lives of the Saints, &c. These they read continually, without ceasing, from the beginning to the end of the year; and, without comprehending them, learn them by heart. After several years thus passed, when these children are taken home, it frequently happens that they are not perfect in any rule of grammar, and unable to write a letter correctly, or go through the simplest rule in arithmetic. Notwithstanding the most profound ignorance reigns throughout the Archipelago, and even all through the Levant, the Greeks of Fanel, one of the quarters of Constantinople, are a striking exception. The dogmas of religion are not excluded in the education of these Greeks; but they have excellent masters, who carefully instruct them in ancient and modern Greek, rhetoric, history, geography, and the useful sciences in general; so that men may frequently be found among them, who would do honour to the most enlightened countries, and even rival their celebrated ancestors. Relative to diet, it may be observed that eating mutton and beef is entirely confined to the great festivals; but, as almost every villager breeds pigeons, a great quantity are killed in the course of the year. Fresh fish is also eaten; but these islanders have an astonishing aversion to salt or smoked fish. They make little use of their goat's milk; less that of the sheep and cow's milk. The bread, in almost all the islands of the Archipelago, is made of barley-meal, sometimes mixed with wheat or rye: good white bread is only employed as offerings at the altars, or to be found upon the tables of the nobles. In the course of a day such a quantity of pure water is drank, as would appear astonishing to a stranger, if it did not serve to promote a most abundant perspiration, indispensably necessary for health; and, notwithstanding the quantity and quality of the wines in the island, the inhabitants are never guilty of excess at meals. The women scarcely drink at all, and any man passionately fond of wine is hated and despised; so that only a few seamen and aged men dare to give themselves up to any thing like excess. The women, and the unmarried in particular, amuse themselves with chewing the mastic of Scio, as they say to preserve the whiteness of their teeth; but the consequent discharge of saliva often produces a lean habit, and sometimes terminates in consumption. Besides the red woollen cap, which conceals the hair, the costume of these islanders differs very little from that of the others in the Archipelago. This red woollen cap is peculiar to the island of Tinos, and some others, and originated in a privilege granted by the Turks, when these places surrendered; hence no other Greeks dare appear before a Turk with this kind of night-cap. The merchants of Tinos who trade to Italy wear hats and neck cloths, in the European fashion; to which they sometimes add a kind of Turkish riding habit, and a mantle called zubee, forming altogether a very ridiculous appearance, different from any nation or people. All the nobles wear the European habit, and in this they are imitated by many of the young men who have served as clerks at Constantinople, or at Smyrna. In the whole island of Tinos neither cottages nor cabins are to be seen; the houses are of stone, and tolerably well built, being composed of a groundfloor and an upper story. The first consists of two divisions: the one looking towards the street sometimes contains the pigs and the fowls; this is called kiela. The second division, separated by a wall, is both a cellar and store-house, and contains the large earthen vessels in which grain, wine, and figs, are preserved. Those that contain wine are covered with a flat stone, which is said to prevent this, as well as grain or figs, from spoiling. In some of the old cellars, caves are found found, which were dug in the time of the Venetians, to conceal their riches from the ravages of the Turks. The upper stories of the houses are always reserved for lodgings, &c. and vary according to the fortune of the proprietors. The anti-chamber, if such it may be called, is always above the store-room; the furniture consists of a small sofa, a table, around which about a dozen persons may sit, and several chairs. The saloon generally contains several large chests, from eight to ten feet long, and three or four feet over; these are used for clothes, &c. Against the walls we saw pictures and images, chiefly representing saints. The tops of the houses are raised like terraces, around which saffron is always planted. Each house, besides these, possesses a large balcony, and a court or yard, before the street-door. The inhabitants observe a custom, throughout the whole island, of placing crowns, called protomaghia, over all the doors of the houses, at a certain time of the year, formed of green ears of corn and various flowers. This is the business of the master of the house, unless he is prevented by the young lovers, who take it upon themselves. It is customary with them to suspend these crowns from the doors of their sweethearts, and sometimes to deposit with them a pot of honey, some sweetmeats, or a nest of granivorous birds; but, if the fair one is supposed to have treated her swain with cruelty, instead of a granivorous nest, he substitutes that of a bird of prey, and most commonly a screechowl. lament over the dead, whose bodies are always seized upon by the priests at the expiration of twenty-four hours, and immediately interred in the church. This ceremony finished, they return to the house of the relatives of the deceased, where they find a table laid out much in the same manner as that after baptism. Hunger and thirst being satisfied, they pronounce a requiem, and, if there be a will, the notary reads it to the family. Mourning is constantly worn one year; after that time the survivors begin gradually to throw off the remembrance of the deceased, especially if he has not bequeathed them any thing. Widows, however, continue in mourning a number of years, during which they are never seen in the promenades, or at any places of amusement. The greatest number never marry again: but it is quite otherwise with the men; they are very slightly affected with the loss of their wives; and yet a second wife is never so much esteemed as the first, whose graces and virtues are made a constant theme. The four Lents in the year are sometimes kept with great precision; but, by way of indemnification, the excesses which follow are pregnant with danger. In the island of Tinos the father of a child always announces its birth by the discharge of a musket. The neighbouring villages being thus warned, on the day of baptism a festival is prepared, more or less sumptuous, according to circumstances, but almost entirely composed of pastry, fruits, and liqueurs of every species. Upon the return of the company from church, they come to congratulate the mother, and wish her the cala saranda, or the perfect enjoyment of her health for forty days; and, as numbers of females here die of puerperal fevers, steps are taken to prepare them for confession, &c. Whenever an inhabitant of a village dies, the bells at the place are tolled; and, if the person is much esteemed, those also of the neighbouring villages. Persons are hired to Some of the inhabitants, especially the women, lay themselves under an obligation to abstain from figs till the 15th of August, in honour of the Virgin Mary, who they suppose will preserve them from intermittent fevers; but till this period figs are generally unripe, and difficult of digestion. In the winter, both sexes, particularly the villagers, have nightly assemblies at each other's houses; where the young women knit silk stockings, the married women cotton, whilst the aged spin flax, &c. The men during this time recount their adventures in turn, or read some amusing histories. Sometimes the young women sing; or, to vary their amusement, tell stories of fairies, or recite fables. When at the houses of aged or pious persons, they read the lives of saints, or engage in religious conversation. These meetings, which commence about six in the evening, are often continued till midnight, and sometimes till one in the morning and generally continue from the 1st of November till Palm Sunday, when every housekeeper begins to clean the house, and prepare pastry for Easter. During During summer, most people sleep with their windows open, and some even on the tops of the houses, without any other precaution except that of covering the head. In almost all the villages the churches are richly decorated, and most of the inhabitants go there to hear mass, before they commence their daily labours; besides these, there are small chapels in the environs of the villages, in which lamps are kept burning during the whole of Saturday. Mass is performed in these chapels only once a year; but they are mostly used as resting-places, during the processions from one village to another. St. John's Eve is always a festival, when every housekeeper makes a large bonfire of vine-stalks, in his fore-court or balcony. Over this fire every one of the family is expected to jump three times, exclaiming, "Here I leave my sins and my fleas." Even the women perform this ceremony, with children in their arms; and this curious exclamation is generally repeated by the younger branches of the family during two or three days after. This fete concludes with eating roasted heads of garlick and bread, the only indulgence allowed on St. John's Eve, which is considered as a kind of fast, in honour of the saint; but in the evening the young girls go round to all the houses with a vessel half filled with water, into which every one throws a token or pledge. On St. John's Day they all meet again, and a child is selected to draw the prizes or forfeits, when some act of penance is imposed upon each of the winners. The game is called Clydonas. The young men frequently serenade their mistresses, when the songs sung under their windows are accompanied by the lute or guitar. In the concluding couplet the lover always endeavours to introduce his name. If known to the father, he is frequently invited in, with his friends, though his passion may not be approved. Sometimes it happens that a young girl is carried off, when, as her own consent is supposed to be obtained, that of her father soon follows. After an adventure of this kind, no person excepting the lover would marry a young woman who had thus eloped. No women can rival the wives of Tinos in industry. They sometimes assist their husbands in agriculture; generally rising early. Their first duty is to go to mass; on their return they dress the children, give them their breakfast, and then dispatch them to school, with their provision, for the whole day. Dinner is not only prepared, but taken to the husband, when at work out of doors. It is also the business of the wife to look after the pigs, and collect green herbs for their food, and that of the goats; to look after the garden; carry the barley to the mill; feed the silk-worms, &c. ; and, in her hours of leisure, to spin flax, silk, or cotton. On the Monday she washes the linen out of doors, and on Friday and Saturday bakes bread for the consumption of the following week. In all these labours, it is to be understood that the young girls assist as far as may be in their power; and, from such examples of activity, order, and economy, they generally become excellent housewives. As the women are exclusively charged with the care of the silkworms, they are obliged to climb the mulberry trees to gather the leaves: these trees are lofty, and accidents frequently occur which prove fatal. On Sundays almost every family makes a party to go into the neighbouring villages, to visit their friends, or the newly-married couples; and sometimes to keep some Saint's day, or to attend those festivals called paneghiria, always succeeded by dancing, and other sports. Devotion is the pretext, but the principal motive is the desire of seeing and being seen, particularly among the young people; but the islanders in general differ considerably from several others in the Archipelago, in their love of society, and the cheerfulness of their manners. It may be also observed, that, unlike the other islands, no handmills are used in Tinos for grinding corn, by which a great loss of time is sustained. On the contrary, almost all the hills here are crowned with windmills, built of stone, in the form of round towers. From the ill-constructed wood-work, and the length of the sails, which give too much scope to the wind, it is no uncommon thing, during a hurricane, to see the dome, the mill, and its sails, all carried away together; which, besides the damage it occasions, frequently proves fatal to those in the mill at the time. The islanders in general agree in ascribing very extensive power to the dey |