permitted him), to leave a certain sum* for the preaching of a sermon on the day on which it occurred. The tradition states, his prayer was heard, the lion looked on him and passed him: he shortly after had the gratification to see a vessel approach; he was taken on board, arrived in London, and fulfilled his vow. At the parish church of St. Catherine Cree, in Leadenhall Street, what is called the Lion Sermon is preached, on the day of the aforesaid miraculous

escape.

Mighty monarch of the forest

Noble Nature beats through thee;
All thy actions prove thee honest,
Courageous, merciful, brave, and free.

MAY-POLES.

The May-pole is up

Now give me a cup;

I'll drink to the garlands around it;

But first unto those

Whose hands did compose

The glory of flowers that crown'd it.

Herrick.

London in former times abounded with May-poles, they were called shafts. Jeffrey Chancer, writing of a vain boaster, hath these words, alluding to a shaft in Cornhill near to the church of St. Andrew Undershaft.+

"Right well aloft, and high you bear your head,

*

*

*

*

*

* * *

* *

As you would bear the great shaft of Cornhill "+

This shaft, or May-pole, was kept in an alley in the vicinity, called Shaft Alley; and on the 1st of May was brought out, dressed with flowers and birds' eggs, and reared up near unto the church, amid the shoutings and rejoicings of the lookers on

At Gisor's Hall (Gerrard's) also, was a long shaft, and which was supposed by the ignorant to be the staff of one Geraldus a giant, but which in fact was nothing more than a May-pole, that was wont to be yearly brought out on the 1st of May, and placed before the door. §

A processional engraving, by Vertue, among the prints of the Antiquarian Society, represents a May-pole, at a door or two westward beyond

"Where Catherine Street descends into the Strand "

66

Washington Irving says, I shall never forget the delight I felt on first seeing a May-pole, It was on the banks of the Dee, close by the picturesque old bridge that stretches across the river from the quaint little city of Chester. I already had been carried back into former days by the antiquities of that venerable place; the examination of which is equal to turning over the pages of a black letter volume, or gazing on the pictures in Froissart. The May-pole on the margin of that poetic stream completed the illusion. My

* 208, to the Minister-2s. 6d. to the Clerk-1s. to the Sexton.
+ See St. Andrew Undershaft.

Formerly Cornhill extended thus far.

Stowe.

fancy adorned it with wreaths of flowers, and peopled the green bank with all the dancing revelry of May day.

"The mere sight of this May-pole gave a glow to my feelings, and spread a charm over the country for the rest of the day; and as I traversed a part of the fair plains of Cheshire, and the beautiful borders of Wales, and looked from among swelling hills down a long green valley, through which the Beva wound its wizard stream,' my imagination turned all into a perfect arcadia. One can readily imagine what a gay scene it must have been in jolly old London, when the doors were decorated with flowering branches, when every hat was decked with hawthorn; and Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian, the morris dancers, and all the other fantastic masks and revellers were performing their antics about the May-pole in every part of the city."

The May-pole is of Roman origin, and formed part of the Games of Flora, but it is mere conjecture as to the period when it was first introduced into this country.

WHIPPING OF APPLE TREES.

There are various customs still prevalent in honour of the goddess Pomona, whom it was said presided over fruit. Among others, is that of whipping the apple trees, in order that they may produce a plentiful crop. This custom is still observed at Warkingham in Surrey. Early in the spring the boys go round to several orchards in the parish, and having performed the ceremony, they carry a little bag to the house, when the good woman gives them some meal or oatmeal.

EATON MONTEM.

"But weak the harp now tun'd to praise
When fed the raptur'd sight,

When greedy thousands eager gaze,
Devour'd with deep delight.

When triumph hails aloud the joys

Which on those hours await;

When Montem crowns the Eaton boy's

Long fam'd triennial fete."

The triennial custom of the Eton scholars parading to Salt-hill, and distributing salt, originated in the early days of monkish superstition, when the friars used to sell their consecrated salt for medical purposes.

SWEARING BY BELL BOOK, AND CANDLE.

This originated in the manner of the Pope's blessing the world yearly, from the balcony of St. Peter's at Rome. He holds a wax taper lighted, a Cardinal reads a curse on all heretics, and no sooner is the last word uttered, than the bell tolls, and the Pope changes the curse into a blessing, throwing down his taper among the people.

EASTER.

Easter-day is distinguished by its peculiar name, through our Saxon ancestors, who at this season of the year held a great festival, in honour of the goddess Eastor, probably the astarte of the Eastern nations. The French call this festival paques, derived from the Greek pascha, and Hebrew pesech, i. e. passover, and whence we have the English paschal, as applied to the lamb in the last supper. The earliest possible day whereon Easter can happen is the 22d

of March. It fell on that day in 1818, and cannot happen on that day till the year 2285. The latest possible day whereon Easter can happen is the 25th of April.

"Going a mothering," is from the Roman Catholic custom of going to the mother church on Mid-lent Sunday, to make offerings at the high altar; and that custom of the Roman church is derived from the hilaria, or heathen festival, celebrated by the ancient Romans, in honour of the mother of the gods on the ides of March.*The offerings at the altars were in their origin voluntary, and became church property. At length the parish priests compounded with the church at a certain sum, and these voluntary donations of the people have become the dues known by the name of Easter offerings.

Easter offerings, says another, are derived from the gifts of the wise men of the east at Bethlehem; a custom which the church of England would do well to consider would be more honoured in the breach than the observance. The following clever and amusing satire on the subject will not be misplaced :

"A few years ago there lived in Lambourne Woodlands one of the Society of Friends. One day just after Easter, the clerk of the parish called upon him for the Easter offerings. The quaker received the clerk very graciously, invited him to eat, drink, and smoke, which was accepted, and the evening was spent very convivially. The clerk was now about to depart, and again asked for his Easter offering, when the quaker replied- An Easter offering! I have never read of such in the Old or New Testament. I have read of the meat offering, the drink offering, and the burnt offering, all which I have made to thee for a peace offering. If thou art not satisfied, friend, there is one more, which I will make for a trespass offering an offering of bitter herbs," casting a most significant look at a bundle of ground ash which was placed upon the bacon-rack, when the clerk, laying his hand on the latch of the door, was glad to make a precipitate exit, without even conferring his official blessing.

TANSEY PUDDING ON EASTER DAY.

The eating of tansey pudding at Easter, and particularly on Easter Sunday, is derived from the Romish church. Tansey symbolized the bitter herbs used by the Jews at their paschal; but that the people might show a proper abhorrence of the Jews, they ate also from a gammon of bacon at Easter, as many still do in several country places at this season, without knowing from whence this practice is derived.

KEEPING EASTER AFTER THE ROMAN MANNER.

Whitby, in Yorkshire, was anciently called Streanshall, and has been always proverbial for its legends. Oswy, king of Northumberland, held a council here in the year 663, to determine on the controversy between those who kept Easter after the British manner, and those who kept it after the Roman, which the monk Augustine had introduced. After the party for the first had spoken, the other insisted in answer, that they kept Easter after the manner

Fosbroke.

of Saint Peter, on whom Christ promised to build his church, and who had the keys of Heaven. Upon which the king asked, if it was true that Christ had spoken to Saint Peter?-which the adverse party allowing, the king swore a great oath, that he would not disoblige this porter of Heaven, lest when he came to the gates he should remember him ;-and so established the celebration of Easter after the Roman manner.

CHANTING IN CATHEDRALS.

The practice of singing in Antiphony, i. e. by change or course, now on one side, and now on the other, which is still preserved in cathedrals, was the practice of the churches in the earliest ages of Christianity, and was no doubt derived from the usages of the Jewish ritual.* In the reign of Theodosius, towards the latter end of the fourth century, St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan,† introduced into the churches at that place what is called the Ambrosian chant, in order to rectify the practice of ecclesiastical chanting, which was then falling into great confusion; and St. Augustine, when speaking of his first entrance into the church there after his conversion, says"The voices flowed in at my ears, truth was distilled in my heart, and the affection of piety overflowed in sweet tears of joy." That splendidly sublime composition the Te Deum, is generally attributed to St. Ambrose, though the Benedictine editors of his works do not describe it as his; whilst by Cave and Stillingfleet it is said to have been composed by him in conjunction with St. Augustine; and Usher ascribes it to Nicentius. The method of singing and chanting was, according to Eusebius, first established by St. Ambrose at Antioch, where he had long resided.

UNAPPROPRIATED ROOM IN CATHEDRALS.

A person might enquire the use of a large portion of unappropriated room in some of our ecclesiastical edifices-the answer is, at this time, nothing. But in days when Roman superstition and rites were paramount in this country, it was appropriated to crosscarrying, canopy-carrying, censing, chanting, flower-strewing, and all the other accessories and essentials of the grand pageantry, which distinguished Catholic from Protestant worship. The ut most stretch of Episcopal ceremonial in England can scarcely extend to the use of an eighth part of any of our old cathedrals, each of which, in every essential particular as a building, is papal.

SALIQUE LAW IN FRANCE.

The Salique law, or the ancient and fundamental law of the kingdom of France, usually supposed to have been made by Pharamond, or at least by Clovis, in virtue whereof males are only to inherit. Du Haillan, after a critical examination, declares it to have

*St. Ignatius, who was a disciple of St. John, is generally said to be the first who suggested to the Jewish Christians the method of singing psalms and hymns alternately; dividing the singers into two bands or choirs placed on opposite sides.

+ St. Ambrose was constituted bishop of Milan, A. D. 374, and presided over it till A. D. 398.

been an expedient of Philip the Long, in 1316, for the exclusion of the daughter of Lewis Hutin, from inheriting the crown.

Father Daniel, on the other hand, maintains, that it is quoted by authors more ancient than Philip the Long, and that Clovis is the real author of it. This law has not any particular regard to the crown of France: it only imports, in general, that in Salic land no part of the inheritance shall fall to any female, but the whole to the male sex. By Salic lands, or inheritances,, were anciently denoted among us, all lands, by whatever tenure held, whether noble or base from the succession whereto women were excluded by the Salic law; for they were by it admitted to inherit nothing but moveables and purchases wherever there were any males.

VOWS.

Among the ingenious contrivances of papal authority and policy, we learn from Erasmus, that vota or vows had been introduced in the thirteenth century, under the pontificate of Boniface the Eighth. Those who refer the origin of this practice to the council of Chalcedon, speak of vota, of a more simple and dispensable kind; but under Boniface these solemn acts were enjoined on princes, to answer the designs of ecclesiastical policy, and were not only obliga tory, but indefeasable. When the mind of a powerful but bigotted prince was agitated between hope and fear, on the bed of sickness, or on the eve of battle, he was informed that the prayers of the church would be efficacious; but those prayers could only be employed by the priest, or listened to by the saint to whom they were addressed, on certain prescribed conditions A monastery was to be erected for a new order of religious votaries, or an extensive domain was to be alienated to those already established. Such is the origin of most of the convents, abbeys, and other temporalities of the papal church.

COIN OF DORT.

Upon the coin of Dort, or Dordrecht, in Holland, is a cow, under which is sitting a milk maid. The same representation is in relievo on the pyramid of an elegant fountain in that beautiful town. Its origin is from the following historical fact:

When the united provinces were struggling for their liberty, two beautiful daughters of a rich farmer, on their way to the town, with milk, observed, not far from their path, several Spanish soldiers, concealed behind some hedges. The patriotic maidens pretended not to have seen any thing, pursued their journey, and as soon as they arrived in the city, insisted upon an admission to the burgomaster, who had not yet left his bed; they were admitted, and related what they had discovered. He assembled the council, measures were immediately taken, the sluices were opened, and a number of the enemy lost their lives in the water. The magistrates, in a body, honoured the farmer with a visit, where they thanked his daughters for the act of patriotism, which saved the town; they afterwards indemnified him fully for the loss he sustained from the inundation; and the most distinguished young citizens, vied with each other, who should be honoured with the hands of those virtuous Milk-Maids.

ARMS OF THE COBBLERS OF FLANDERS.

The emperor Charles 5th, being curious to know the sentiments of his meanest subjects concerning himself and his administration,