be enumerated lands at Hitchin in Hertfordshire, given to them by Bernard de Ballolio, in the presence of the King of France, and an illustrious assembly, which was afterwards confirmed by King Stephen. The manor of Hampton granted to them by Joan, relict of Sir Robert Gray. The manor of Sandford in Oxfordshire, granted by Sir Thomas de Sandford. The lands and preceptory which they possessed at Balsalle in Warwickshire, was the grant of Roger de Mowbray. They had also lands at Leicester and Buckland, granted to them by Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and William de Erlegh. There was at this period in the realm, scarcely a nobleman or person of wealth, but what esteemed it an honour to add to their possessions, but the family to whom they considered themselves under the greatest obligations to, was that of Mowbray, to whom they granted the power of liberating any Knight of the Order, put to public penance for any offence that he might have committed. The Kings of England here enumerated, viz. Stephen, Henry II, John, Henry III, were great benefactors to the Templars, the last of which exempted the fraternity from all tolls and taxes, and granted them a right of free warren, with power to hold fairs and markets, in various manors and towns. Richard the First also granted to them similar privileges. In the year 1309, after the commission before related was held in France to examine into the conduct of the Templars, the Pope sent his Bull into England to order the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the prelates of the kingdom to hold the like inquisition, which commission was accordingly held in the hall of the Bishop of London, October, 1309, before whom the Knights of the Order appeared to answer the accusations preferred against them for their impieties; at the enquiry nothing appeared of magnitude sufficient to deserve the abolishing of the Order. The commission also sat at York, where no further proofs were adduced to criminate them than at London. However, shortly after these fruitless examinations had taken place, they were all seized on throughout England, and incarcerated in prison, their possessions being seized into the King's hands. The decree of the council of Vienna issued in 1311, before stated, put an end to the Order in England as well as the other countries of Europe, by condemning and perpetually annulling it, with an inhibition that none after should take that Order on pain of being excommunicated. The helpless state of the Templars within the diocese of York, was so extreme, that the Archbishop, moved to compassion by their miserable state, placed them in several monasteries in the county, with orders for their maintenance during their lives. Thus fell the Order of the haughty Templars, after an existence of nearly two centuries: the occasion, according to some writers, was their atrocious crimes; by others, it has been ascribed to the almost unbounded wealth which they possessed. Until disgrace overwhelmed them, their company to kings was accounted an honour, and their valour was held up as an example to be followed by those whose profession was arms. Fuller says, “there is but little doubt, but what they were notorious transgressors of human laws, yet if a candle had been taken to search into the vices of other Orders, as much dust and dirt would have been found amongst them as was found among the Templars ;' and he likewise observes, "that the chief cause of their ruin was the vastness of their wealth. They were feared of many, envied of more, and loved by none, so as Naboth's vineyard was the chief ground of his blasphemy, so was their wealth the principal evidence against them, and the chief cause of their overthrow." And, ઃઃ we may believe that Philip of France would never have taken away their lives, if he might have seized their lands without putting them to death; but the mischief was, that he could not obtain the honey, unless he burnt the bees." The Badge of the Order was a patriarchal cross, enamelled red, and edged with gold, worn at the breast, pendant to a ribbon. R. J. The leek worn by Welchmen on this day is said to be in memory of a great victory obtained by them over the Saxons ; they, during the battle, having leeks in their hats, to distinguish themselves, by order of St. David. Shakspeare alludes to the custom in Henry V. Act 5, Scene I, where Gower in converse with Fluellen the Welch sol: dier, asks him, "Why wear you your leek to-day? Saint Davy's day is past." The king, it is said, is so complaisant as to bear them company. An old distich respecting St. David's day, relating probably to some ancient legendary story, says: "Taffy was born on a moonshiny night, placed an horizontal chase, a shelf of marble or iron, the size of a sheet of paper, moveable before and behind, on which is placed the sheet of paper which With his head in a pond and his heels up is to receive the writing. As each line right." SINGULAR CUSTOM AT SHAFTESBURY. Water is so scarce in this Town, that it used to be brought from Motcomb, a village at some distance, by horses; until the year 1718, when William Benson, Esq. one of its representatives, caused at his own expense, engines to be constructed, of power sufficient to raise the water of a well about two miles off, to the height of above three hundred feet, and conveyed it to a large cistern in the middle of the town. These engines are no longer used, the inhabitants having dug pits at the doors of their houses for preserving the rain-water, which not being sufficient for a constant supply, the poor get their living by bringing water in pails, or upon horses, to the town from Motcomb! and as an acknowledgment to the Lord of the Manor of Motcomb, the Mayor and Burgesses of Shaftesbury used to go in procession every year on the Monday before Holy Thursday, with a kind of Garland resembling the May Garlands that used to be carried about by the Milk Maids of London, which consisted of plate borrowed from the neighbouring gentry, and adorned with peacocks' feathers. This Garland, which is here called a prize besom, (more commonly the Bizant,) was carried to a green below the hill, whence the water is taken, and presented, together with a raw calf's head, and a pair of gloves, to the Lord of the Manor, who received the present by his Steward, and at the same time distributed twelve penny loaves, and with beer among the people. After the ceremony is gone through, the prize besom is returned to the Mayor, and carried back to the town by one of the officers with the same so lemnity as they observed on setting forth. Science and Art. PRINTING. M. Conti has contrived what, he calls a tachygraph and tachytype; the former enables a person to print with facility, almost as quickly as speaking, even without the aid of the eye, on paper, wax, and soft metals, with all sorts of characters and punches, regularly fabricated. The tachygraph consists chiefly of a portable case, in the midst of which is is printed, the moveable shelf advances a space equal to the interval which separates the lines. Above the marble table is suspended a kind of round box, moveable from left to right, in which are disposed all round, and in a certain order, characters of tempered steel, in sufficient number to express all the parts of the writing. Each of these characters or punches answers to a key (like the keys of a harpsicord) which is placed before the box and the moveable table. Upon each key is engraved the character corresponding to the punch. All these keys are so disposed that they can be played upon without displacing the hand. At each pressure of a key, the corresponding punch moistens itself with ink, and places itself in the centre of the box, by the action of a little spring, which suddenly presses it, and as promptly retires to make way for the other punches, and so on. The cost of one of these machines, it is stated, would probably be 603 francs, or about £25. Anecdotiana. ALEXANDER THE GREAT Whilst on one of his marches, was overtaken by a storm of snow, which compelled him to halt. Being seated near a fire, he chanced to perceive an aged soldier so benumbed by the cold as to be almost deprived of animation. At this discovery, he rushed hastily to the spot where the sufferer was, took him up in his arms and brought him to the seat he had lately occupied and placed him therein, at the same time observing that what would have been death by the laws of Persia (meaning the act of sitting on the king's throne) should to him be life." THE THREE VOWS. The vows of the knights of Malta were three in number, namely, poverty, chastity, and obedience; but it rarely happened that either of them were punctually observed. It was therefore customary to say, that these knights made their vow of poverty, in the church; that of chastity, at table; and that of obedience, in bed. The same would apply to the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, the Templars, and the Teutonic. MARCH. MARCH is the third month of the year, according to our reckoning, but with the Romans it was the first, and called Martius from Mars, the God of war, because he was the father of their first prince. This month was under the protection of Minerva. It is only since the edict of Charles IX, issued in 1564, that they have in France reckoned the year from the beginning of January; for before, March was the first month of the year with the French. Astrologers also make it the first, because it is then that the sun enters Aries, by which they begin to reckon the signs of the Zodiac. The calends of this month was anciently very remarkable; they began with the Feast of Shields, or Sacred Bucklers. Ancylionum dies, which continued three days, whereat the Salli carried small bucklers. The festival terminated with grand feasting and merriment, which is the reason of giving the name of Cana Saliaris to sumptuous entertainments. On the sixth day, which is the day before the nones, solemnities were performed in honor of Vesta: and on the seventh, was celebrated the anniversary of the Dedication of the Temples, consecrated to Ve-Jupiter in the Wood of the Asylum, a wicked Deity to whom the Romans, offered sacrifices to prevent his doing them mischief. The Junonalia was a feast to Juno, held on this day; and on the thirteenth there was horse-racing near the Tiber. On the fifteenth, or the Day of the Ides, was held the feast to the nymph Anna Perenna, which was celebrated by rejoicings, dancing, and feasting, on the banks of the Tiber; the day was also termed Parricidium, from the assassination of Julius Cæsar, by Brutus and the other conspirators. The sixteenth was the feast of the Liberalia, when the children assumed the Virile Robe; and on the same day was made the processions called Argei, to the places that was consecrated by Numa, in commemoration of certain Grecian princes that had been buried there. On the twenty-fifth day was held the feast called Hilaria, instituted in honor of the Mother of the Gods, and of Atys. On the twenty-sixth came on the feast of Washing the Grandmother of the Gods, Lavatio Matris Deum, which feast was instituted in commemoration of the day wherein she was brought from Asia, and washed in the river Almo. There were several feasts kept on the thirtieth, viz. :-to Janus, to Concord, to Salus, and Pax, and on the last day was held one to the Moon, or Diana, when a bull was sacrificed on the Aventine Hill, March, though generally rough, may be considered as beneficial and valuable as any month of the year, from its stormy winds drying up the superabundant moisture of winter, thus restoring us our paths dry and salutary through the verdant meads. Verstegan says that our Saxon ancestors called the month March, Lenct-monat, or according to our present orthography, Lengthmoneth, because the length of the day excelled the night. This month being so named when our ancestors received Christianity, they called the ancient Christian custom of fasting at this period, the Fast of Lenct, because of the Lenct-monat, whereon usually fell the greater part of the fasting, from which circumstance we derive the word Lent, and from it, the Fast of Lent. Among the old proverbs preserved which are explanatory of the blusterous, weather, contained in this month, are the following: The March sun causeth dust, and the wind blows it about. We cannot do better than conclude our notice of the origin of this month, than by giving the following expressive lines by Thomson : "Be patient, swains: these cruel seeming winds That o'er the vast Atlantic hither borne, In endless train, would quench the summer-blaze, Diary and Chronology, DATE. DAYS. DIARY. 6 Thursd St. Baldrede. 7 Friday St. Perpetua. 8 Saturd St. Julian, archbp. of Toledo, died Sun ris 21m af. 6 DATE. MARCH CORRESPONDING CHRONOLOGY. Feb. 29 This year being Leap Year, the Bissextus, or the 1711. Died the eminent French poet, Nicholas Boi- 1788. Died at his native place, Zurich, Solomon Gessner, author of the Death of Abel, ÆT. 58. 1802. Died Francis, Duke of Bedford, the promoter of Useful Science, and the patron of Agriculture, 3 These were Spanish Saints, and famed for quelling hail storms. 1605. Edmund Waller, the poet, born at Coleshill, in Buckinghamshire; some of his poems are elegant; he was a member of parliament, and often delighted the house by his eloquence and wit. 4 St. Lucius I. succeeded Cornelius in the papacy, in 253, and was martyred the year following. 1583. Died the learned and excellent divine, Bernard Gilpin, ÆT. 66. 1650. John Lord Somers, born at Worcester, he was made Lord Chancellor in 1697, and was deprived of the seals in 1700; and impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors, of which the lords acquitted him. He died in 1710. 5 St. Piran, is said to have been born in Ireland, and became a hermit there; he afterwards came to England, and settled in Cornwall, where he died. St. Piran's day is kept by the tinners as a holiday, from a tradition which remains of his having communicated to them many secrets regarding the manufacture of tin. 1778. Died, Dr. Arne, the celebrated musical composer. The music of his opera of Artaxerxes, for depth of science places him as a composer beyond the reach of rivalry. 1827. Died the Marquis de la Place, the eminent French astronomer and mathematician. 6 St. Baldrede was bishop of Glasgow, he died in London, A. D. 608. 1623. On this day Prince Charles (the son of James I.) arrived at Madrid with the Duke of Buckingham, to conclude a treaty of marriage between the Prince and the Infanta of Spain, which, though the articles were agreed on, never took place. In 1625, he married Henrietta, the daughter of Henry the Fourth of France. 7 This saint suffered martyrdom at the age of twentytwo, under the persecution of Severus, A. D. 703. 1702. Expired at Kensington Palace, King William III. ÆT. 52. 1803. Died, the Duke of Bridgewater, the father of canal navigation. 8 On this day was assassinated, the Italian musician, David Rizzio, at Holy-rood house, in the presence of Mary, Q. of Scots, his patroness. 1822. Died Dr. Dl. Clarke, the traveller, ÆT. 54. ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF PUPPET PLAYS IN ENGLAND. FOR the following detail we are indebted to a laughter-moving volume entitled, Punch and Judy, which contains an elaborate account of all that belongs to these mirth creating worthies, the volume although of value in itself, is made still richer by the talented embellishments of George Cruikshank, who is certainly the ablest designer of humorous subjects we have at present. "When we mention than no less a man than Dr. Johnson was of opinion, that puppets were so capable of representing even the plays of Shakspeare, that Macbeth might be performed by them as well as by living actors, it will be evident, from such a fact only, that the inquiry is far from unimportant. In connection with this opinion and confirmation of it, we may add, that a person of the name of Henry Rowe, shortly before the year 1797, did actually, by * See Malone's Shakspeare, by Boswell, xi, p. 301. VOL. I. K wooden figures, for a series of years, go through the action of the whole of that tragedy, while he himself repeated the dialogue which belonged to each of the characters.† "Puppet plays are of very ancient date in England, and if they were not contemporary with our mysteries, they immediately succeeded them. There is reason to think that they were coeval at † He was also called the York Trumpeter, having been born in that city, and having "blown a battle blast" at Culloden. He was born in 1726, and after the rebellion he retired to his native place; where, for about fifty trance of the judges twice a year into York. He years, he graced with his instrument the enwas a very well-known character, and for a long time before his death, in 1800, was master of a puppet-show. In 1797, he published his edition of Macbeth, with new notes and va rious emendations. At his decease, the following lines were written upon him :"When the great angel blows the judgment trump, He also must give Harry Rowe a thump; |