imprisonment, either by famine or the sword, on this, or the preceeding day, in the year 312. There is no doubt, however, that St. Lucian was in reality Lucius, the last King of Britain, tributary to the Roman power, who was dignified with the title of Saint for having embraced the Christian religion, although holding his crown under the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. In the "Beauties of England and Wales" is given the following account of this prince: "The zeal of Lucius, who was celebrated as the first Sovereign that embraced Christianity, is enveloped in a mass of legendary fable; and so improbable are the transactions ascribed to him, that not only the relation of his conversion to the christian faith has been denied, but also the fact of his very existence rendered questionable. On this head, however, it has been observed, that hardly any point in our national history is more positively, unanimously, or circumstantially asserted, not less by the Britons themselves, than by the Saxons, and other antagonists of the British writers.* Notwithstanding this evidence, it must be acknowledged, that truth and fiction are so intimately blended in the records which relate to Lucius, that every attempt to separate them is, perhaps, impossible. "The extended sway attributed to this King at a period when the greatest part of Britain was completely subjected to the Romans, is probably, of all the events of his history, that which renders it the most disputable. After his own baptism, and that of his Queen, and greater part of his subjects, by Faganus, or Fugatius, and Duvianus, who had been sent from Rome, for the purpose, by Pope Eleutherius, he is stated to have founded churches in each * To quote the authorities on this occasion, would be almost equivalent to making a list of all our ancient authors, and other ecclesiastical writers, who treat of the period in question.-Dr. Milner's History of Winchester. of the twenty-eight cities, which subsisted in Britain prior to the Roman Conquest, and which had subsequently, according to Dr. Milner, 'been the chief seats of the Flamines, or Pagan priests; settling upon the Christian priests, the revenues that the former had before enjoyed.' "With respect to the hierarchy to be established,' continues Dr. Milner, who supports the history of Lucius to its full extent, it seemed best to Lucius and his prelates, that the same should be observed, which before had obtained amongst the Flamines, according to which, London, York, and Caerleen, became Metropolitical Sees: hence our city of Venta, though the particular object in the regard of Lucius, and probably the capital of his dominions, was, indeed left destitute of that pre-eminence, to which, as the chief city of the west, it was otherwise entitled; but, in return, it was honored with certain distinctions peculiar to itself. Instead of causing one of the Heathen temples in it to be purified, and consecrated, for the purpose of a Christian church, as he did in the other cities,† he built our cathedral from the ground, upon a scale of grandeur and magnificence which has never since been equalled; and he bestowed upon it the right of sanctuary, with other privileges. Moreover as in this city had been the chief school in the Island of the Pagan Flamines, so Lucius annexed to the cathedral here a Monastery, as our historian § calls it, or rather a community of clergy, living together * The ancient name of the city of Winchester. +"Templis Deorum a Paganosa purificatis superstitione uni Deo ejusque sanctis ecclesius dedicantes."—Rudborne's History. This Cathedral is affirmed by Rudborne, on the authority of Moratius, to have been 209 paces, or upwards of 600 feet in length, and ninety-two paces in height. § Rudborne. in common. When the cathedral was completed, it was consecrated in the name of the Holy Saviour; and a religious bishop, by name Denotus, was vested with the spiritual authority and jurisdiction belonging to it.' "The improbabilities of this account, circumstantial as it is, are sufficiently obvious to render it extremely disputable, even to those who are but slightly acquainted with the state of Britain at the period here spoken of; and several judicious authors regard it as altogether fabulous. The ambiguity which attends the time of the deaths of Lucius, as well as the place of his burial, has also been advanced as an argument against the credibility of the events recorded in his history; and it is certain that the obscurity in which these circumstances are involved, is calculated to excite considerable suspicion. A king who had become so famous as Lucius must have been, were the account true that Christianity was established throughout the Island by his means, could hardly have descended to the grave so obscurely, as to leave the period of his decease unascertained, or the place of his interment undecided. Winchester, as well as the other British cities, has been assigned as the scene of the latter; but the German writers report, (according to Milner) that a little before his death, either resigning his crown, or being dispossessed of it by the Romans, he went abroad, and preached the gospel in Bavaria, and in the country of the Grisons.' With the termination of the government of Lucius, the authority of the British Princes in this part of the island is said to have ended. During the latter part of the persecution carried on against the Christians by Dioclesian about the end of the third, or beginning of the fourth century, the cathedral and monastery attributed to Lucius, are said to have been levelled with the ground, and all the ecclesiastics slaughtered or dispersed. 9.-1829.-FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL died, ÆTAT. 57. This eminent writer and lecturer was born at Hanover, in the year 1772, and was apprenticed to a merchant at Leipsig, whilst his brother, A. W. Von Schlegel, was highly distinguishing himself at Gottingen. Frederick, however, evincing a decided distaste for the mercantile profession, returned upon his father's hands, and was permitted to follow the natural bent of his genius, which led him, during his sojourn at the universities of Gottingen and Leipsig, to devote himself to the study of languages with exemplary ardour. He entered the lists as an author at a very early age, attracted the attention of the public by the novelty of his opinions on subjects connected with ancient literature, and acquired no little note by his critical labours in the field of ancient and modern poesy. His first attempts, the History of Poetry among the Greeks and Romans, which appeared in 1792; and the Greek and Romans, which followed in 1797, were very favourably received. At a later period, particularly after his conversion to the Roman Catholic religion, his favourite pursuit was ethics and romantic literature, in which departments his Prelections on German History and History of Literature, are highly creditable to his attainments. His public lectures on Modern History, and on the Literary Annals of all nations, delivered in 1811-12, created a deep sensation throughout Germany, as combining a high degree of literary attainments with much originality of perception. His manner of viewing and treating these subjects, no less than his dramatic compositions and poems, afforded abundant aliment to the new school of the romantesque in that country, soon after its foundation had been laid in contradistinction to the "classical school," and through the chief instrumentality of his brother. An over-wrought impression of the pre-eminent genius and glory of the middle ages strengthened the principles his mind had already imbibed; and, though himself the son of a Protestant clergyman, he scrupled not to pass over to the Roman Catholic religion, within the exclusive pale of which he conceived the regeneration of that golden epocha to be placed. Having prevailed upon his wife, a daughter of the celebrated Jewish deist, Mendelsohn, to follow his example, he had associated himself with Gentz and other converts to the same opinion, and in the year 1808 transferred his residence to Vienna, where he was appointed to the situation of Counsellor of Legation in the Imperial Chancery of Prince Metternich; and for several years conducted the affairs of Secretary to the Austrian Envoy at the Diet of Frankfort, where the fervour of religious feeling does not appear to have rendered him a less useful tool in promoting the machinations of his princely patron. In 1819 he was allowed to retire from official avocations, and zealously embarked in labours calculated to promote the interests of the faith to which he had attached himself: his days were now absorbed by religious studies and speculations, and the fruits of his investigations were exhibited in the lectures he had begun to deliver at Dresden a few days before his decease, in that city. It is a remarkable circumstance, that the intelligence of his death so deeply affected his fellowlabourer and bosom friend, Adam Muller Von Nuterdorf, that he died of grief the day after the tidings reached Vienna. 10.-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. SABBATH EVENING. By Frederic Meller. List! there is music in the air; |