Quinquagesima. CARNIVAL IN SPAIN. "Carnival," properly so called, according to Mr. Blanco White, is limited to Quinquagesima Sunday,and the two following days, a period which the lower classes pass in drinking and rioting in those streets where the meaner sort of houses abound, and especially in the vicinity of the large courts, or halls, called Corrales, surrounded with small rooms or cells, where numbers of the poorest inhabitants live in filth, misery, and debauch. Before these horrible places, are seen crowds of men, women, and children, singing, dancing, drinking, and pursuing each other with handfuls of hair-powder. I have never seen, however, an instance of their taking liberties with any person above their class; yet, such bacchanals produce a feeling of insecurity, which makes the approach of those spots very unpleasant during the carnival. At Madrid, where whole quarters of the town, such as Avapiés and Maravillas, are inhabited exclusively by the rabble, these "Saturnalia" are performed upon a larger scale. Mr. White says, I once ventured with three or four friends, all muffled in our cloaks, to parade the Avapiés during the carnival. The streets were crowded with men, who, upon the least provocation, eal or imaginary, would have instantly used the knife, and of women equally ready to take no slight share in any quarrel: for these lovely creatures often carry a poniard in a sheath, thrust within the upper part of the left stocking, and held up by the garter. We were, however, upon our best behaviour, and by a look of complacency on their sports, and keeping at the most respectful distance from the women, came away without meeting with the least disposition to insolence or rudeness. The A gentleman, who, either out of curiosity or depraved taste, attends the amusements of the vulgar, is generally respected, provided he is a mere spectator, and appears indifferent to the females. ancient Spanish jealousy is still observable among the lower classes; and while not a sword is drawn in Spain upon a lovequarrel, the knife often decides the claims of more humble lovers. Yet love is by no means the main instigator of murder among us. A constitutional irritability, especially in the southern provinces, leads, without any more assignable reason, to the frequent shedding of blood. A small quantity of wine, nay, the mere blowing of the easterly wind, called "Solano," is infallibly attended The with deadly quarrels in Andalusia. The THE LIEGE ALMANAC. The celebrated almanac of "Francis Moore, physician," to whose predictions thousands are accustomed to look with im plicit confidence and veneration, is rivalled, on the continent, by the almanac of Liège, by "Matthew Laensberg," who there enjoys an equal degree of celebrity. Whether the name of Laensberg is a real or an assumed name is a matter of great doubt. A tradition, preserved in the family of the first printers of the work, ascribes it to a canon of St. Bartholomew, at Liège, who lived about the conclusion of the sixteenth century, or at the beginning of the seventeenth. This is further corroborated, by a picture of a canon of that church which still exists, and which is conjectured by many to represent the inventor of the celebrated almanac of Liège. Figure to yourself an old man, seated in an arm chair, his left hand resting on a globe, and his right holding a telescope. At his feet are seen different mathematical instruments, several volumes and sheets of paper, with circles and triangles drawn upon them, His eyes are large and prominent; he has a dull, heavy look, a nose in the form of a shell, and large ears, which are left uncovered by a greasy cap. His large mouth, half open, announces surliness and pe. dantry; frightful wrinkles furrow his face, and his long bushy beard covers an enormous band. This man is, besides, muffled up in an old cassock, patched in several places. Under his hideous portrait is the inscription "D. T. V. Bartholomæi Canonicus et Philosophiæ Professor." Such is the picture given by a person • Doblado's Letters from Spain. "If I forfeit, Make me a Jack o' Lent, and break my si For untagg'd points and counters." Further, in Quarles' " Shepheard' cles," 1646, we read : "How like a Jack a Lent He stands, for boys to spend their Shrove-tide th Or like a puppet made to frighten crows." From the "Jack o' Lent," we de the familiar term among children, "J o' Lanthorn." Shrove Tuesday AND Ash Wednesday. The copious particulars respecting the festivals, which have been brought togethe in another place,t admit of some addition In France and other parts of the cont nent, the season preceding Lent is universa carnival. At Marseilles, the Thursday be fore Lent is called le Jeudi gras, and Shrov Tuesday le Mardi gras. Every body join in masquerading on these nights, and both streets and houses are full of masks the whole night long. The god of fritters, i such a god there be, who is worshipped in England only on Shrove Tuesday, is worshipped in France on both the Thursday and Tuesday. Parties meet at each other' houses to a supper of fritters, and then se off masquerading, which they keep up to very late hour in the morning. On Ash-Wednesday, which has her much more the appearance of a festiv than of a fast, there is a ceremony call "interring the carniva)." A whimsi figure is dressed up to represent the ca val, which is carried in the afternoo procession to Arrens, a small village sea-shore, about a mile out of the where it is pulled to pieces. This is attended in some way or other inhabitant of Marseilles, whether simple, man or woman, boy very genteel company are which parade backwards and the road between the town for two or three hour cessions in Hyd e-and-twenty elders in heaven The beat who, from motives of huA totally suppress an arch, full 41 outra, but offensive bon mot. War And A Waty the But arew worts of renders, the one that made, and for his own benefit; thee, to benefit another by hearing it: there is required a good judg and a mady understanding in the and a praert, cavery: Mammers THE PARLIAMENT CLUBS. Be the year 1736, it had been usual forentemen of the House of Commons e tapether at the Crown-tavern in Pasar in order to be in readiness to the service of the house. This club ed to one hundred and twenty, beacy of their friends coming out of cy. In January, 1736, sir Robert #ends friends began to dine in emmer, at the Bell and Sun in In Winster, and their club tred and fifty, besides absent These putes seem to have gaf Broker's and White's the set of the heart and of the tel Judgeston: and that, therefore, Nature berself axes me to make use of the right E DEATH OF LEILA. For the Table Book. onlight-LEILA sat retir'd e tow'ring beach, the waves, "like one inspir'd" a calmness on the water ere shedding far and wide on balmy pinions flew; pale, heart-broken girl, re from the peaceful main: the cheerless spot none but Love can name !. answer'd not-I took th many a fearful look- d her lips-but she was gone! B. W.R. ere are three methods proposed for ening the number of rats. I. Introduce them at table as a delicacy. ney would probably be savoury food, and nature has not made them so, the cook may. Rat pie would be as good as rook pie; and four tails intertwisted like the serpents of the delphic tripod, and rising into a spiral obelisk, would crest the crust more fantastically than pigeon's feet. After a while they might be declared game by the legislature, which would materially expedite their extirpation. II. Make use of their fur. Rat-skin robes for the ladies would be beautiful, warm, costly, and new. Fashion requires only the two last qualities; it is hoped the two former would not be objectionable. III. Inoculate some subjects with the small-pox, or any other infectious disease, and turn them loose. Experiments should first be made, lest the disease should assume in them so new a form as to be capsble of being returned to us with interest. If it succeeded, man has means in his hand which would thin the hyenas, wolves, jackals, and all gregarious beasts of prey. N. B. If any of our patriotic societies should think proper to award a gold medal, silver cup, or other remuneration to either of these methods, the projector has left his address with the editor.* BUNGAY HAND-BILL. (Copy.) PONY LOST. On February 21st, 1822, this devil bade me adieu. LOST, stolen, or astray, not the least doubt but run away, a mare pony that is all bay:-if I judge pretty nigh, it is about eleven hands high;-full tail and mane, a pretty head and frame; cut on both shoulders by the collar, not being soft nor hollow:-it is about five years old, which may be easily told;-for spirit and for speed, the devil cannot her exceed. Whoever can give information or bring the said runaway to me, JOHN WINTER, Glass-stainer and Combustible-maker, Upper Olland Street, Bungay, shall be handsomely rewarded for their trouble. NOMINATIVE CASE. Sancho, prince of Castile, being present at a papal consistory at Rome, wherein the proceedings were conducted in Latin, which he did not understand, and hearing loud applause, inquired of his interpreter what caused it: "My lord," replied the interpreter, "the pope has caused you to be proclaimed king of Egypt." "It does not become us," said the grave Spaniard, "t be wanting in gratitude; rise up, and proclaim his holiness caliph of Bagdad." • Dr. Aikin's Athenæum. who examined this portrait, and who, though he was at the pains to search the registers of the chapter of Liège, was unable to find any name that at all corresponded with the above designation. Hence it may be fairly concluded, that the canon, whose portrait has just been exhibited, assumed the name of Matthew Laensbert, or Laensberg, as well as the title of professor of philosophy, for the purpose of publishing his almanac, with the prognostications, which have rendered it so celebrated. The earliest of these almanacs known to exist is of the year 1636. It bears the name of Matthew Lansbert, mathematician, and not Laensberg, as it is now written. In the middle of the title is seen the portrait of an astronomer, nearly resembling that which is still placed there. After the printer's name, are the words, "with permission of the superior powers." This is repeated in the eleven first almanacs, but in that for 1647, we find, "with the favour and privilege of his highness." This privilege, granted by Ferdinand of Bavaria, prince of Liège, is actually inserted. It gives permission to Leonard Streete to print Matthew Laensberg's almanac, and forbids other printers to make copies of it, upcn pain of confiscation, and other penal ties. The name of this prophet, spelt Lansbert in the first almanacs, has since been regularly written Laensberg. It is to this privilege of the prince bishop of Liège that Voltaire alludes in these lines of his Epistle to the king of Denmark : Et quand vous écrirez sur l'almanac de Liège, Ne parlez des saisons qu'avec un privilège. The four first pages of the Liège almanac for 1636, are occupied by a piece entitled "The Twelve Celestial Signs governing the Human Body.' Cancer, for instance, governs the breast, the belly, and the lungs, with all their diseases. This was at that time the fashionable system of astrology, which was succeeded by many others, equally ill-founded, and equally popular. Yet it is a fact, that could scarcely be believed, were it not stated in an advertisement prefixed, that the physicians manifested a jealousy lest the prophet of Liège should extend his dominion over the healing art. They obtained an order that every thing relating to the influence of the celestial signs on diseases should be suppressed, and this retrenchment took place, for the first time, in 1679. The principal part, however, was preserved, and still ensures the success of this wonderful performance. It consists of general predictions concerning the variations of the seasons, and the occurrences of the year. In each month are marked the days when there will be rain, and those that will be dry; whether there will be snow or hail, high winds, storms, &c. Sterne alludes to this in his Tristram Shandy, when he says, “I have observed this 26th of March, 1759, a rainy day, notwithstanding the almanac of Liège." The general predictions mention the occurrences that are to take place in every month. Accident has frequently been wonderfully favourable to the prophet; and he owes all his reputation and celebrity to the luck of having announced the gaining of a battle, or the death of some distinguished person. An anecdote of Madame Du-barri, at that time all-powerful at the court of Louis XIV., is not a little singular. When the king was attacked with the malady which put an end to his life, that lady was obliged to leave Versailles. She then had occasion, says the author of her life, to recollect the almanac of Liège, which had given her great uneasiness, and of which she had suppressed all the copies she was able. Amongst the predictions for the month of April, in that almanac, was the following: "A lady, in the highest favour, will act her last part." She frequently said, "I wish this odious month of April were over." According to the prediction, she had really acted her last part," for the king died in the following month, May 1774.* DISCOVERY OF MADEIRA. In the year 1344, in the reign of Peter IV. lying in 32 degrees, was discovered, by an king of Arragon, the island of Madeira, from England to Spain with a lady whom Englishman, named Macham, who, sailing he had carried off, was driven to the island by a tempest, and cast anchor in the harbour or bay, now called Machico, after the name of Macham. His mistress being seasick, he took her to land, with some of his company, where she died, and the ship drove out to sea. As he had a tender affection for his mistress, he built a chapel or hermitage, which he called "Jesus," and buried her in it, and inscribed on her sion of their arrival there. In the island tombstone his and her name, and the occaare very large trees, of one of which he Reposito y of Arts. and his men made a boat, and went to sea in it, and were cast upon the shore of Africa, without sail or oars. The Moors were infinitely surprised at the sight of them, and presented Macham to their king, who sent him and his companions to the king of Castile, as a prodigy or miracle. In 1395, Henry III. of Castile, by the information of Macham, persuaded some of his mariners to go in search of this island, and of the Canaries. In 1417, king John II. of Castile, his mother Catherine being then regent, one M. Ruben, of Bracamont, admiral of France, having demanded and obtained of the queen the conquest of the Canaries, with the title of king for a kinsman of his, named M. John Betancourt, he departed from Seville with a good army. And it is affirmed, that the principal motive that engaged him in this enterprise was, to discover the island of Madeira, which Macham had found. TOMB OF MACHAM'S ANNA. The following elegiac stanzas are founded on the preceding historical fact. Macham, having consigned the body of his beloved mistress to the solitary grave, is supposed to have inscribed on it the following pa thetic lines: O'er my poor ANNA's lowly grave No dirge shall sound, no knell shall ring; No flow'rs of transient bloom at eve, But in this wilderness profound, O'er her the dove shall build her nest; Ah! when shall I as quiet be, When not a friend or human eye To kiss her name on this cold stone, Health. GOOD EATING. That "a sharp stomach is the best sauce," is a saying as true as it is common. In Ulrick Hutton's bock on the virtues of guaiacum, there is a very singular story on this subject. The relations of a rich German ecclesiastic, carrying him to drink the waters for the recovery of his health, and passing by the house of a famous quack, he inquired what was the reverend gentleman's distemper? They told him a total debility, loss of appetite, and a great decay in his senses. The empiric, after viewing his enormous chin, and bodily bulk, guessed rightly at the cause of his distemper, and proposed, for a certain sum, to bring him home, on a day fixed, perfectly cured. The patient was put into his hands, and the doctor treated him in the following manner :-He furnished him every day with half a pound of excellent dry biscuit; to moisten this, he allowed him three pints of very good spring water; and he suffered him to sleep but a few hours out of the twenty-four. When he had brought him within the just proportion of a man, he obliged him to ring a bell, or work in the garden, with a rollingstone, an hour before breakfast, and four hours in the afternoon. At the stated day the doctor produced him, perfectly re stored. Nice eating destroys the health, let it be ever so moderate; for the stomach, as every man's experience must inform him, finds greater difficulty in digesting rich dishes than meats plainly dressed. To a sound man sauces are needless; to one who is diseased, they nourish not him, but his distemper; and the intemperance of his taste betrays him into the hands of death, which could not, perhaps, have mastered his constitution. Lewis Cornaro brought himself into a wretched condition, while a young man, by indulging his taste; yet, when he had once taken a resolution of restraining it, nature did that which physic could not; it restored him to perfect health of body, and serenity of mind, both of which he enjoyed to extreme old age. Books. READING ALOUD. BY MARGARET DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE. 1671. To read lamely or crookedly, and not evenly, smoothly, and thoroughly, entangles the sense. Nay, the very sound of the voice will seem to alter the sense of the theme; and though the sense will be there in despite of the ill voice, or ill reading, wet it will be concealed, or discovered to |