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bells about his legs," and a pounde of lighted candles hanging at his breech."

A PROPHESY.

In the year 1538, one Forest, a friar, was burnt, or rather roasted, over a fire in Smithfield, for denying the king's supremacy. Just before his execution, a huge image, called Darvel Gatheram, that had been sent out of Wales, was brought to the place to assist in making the fire. The Welch had a prophesy that this image would set a forest on fire, which was fulfilled in the burning of this unfortunate man.

them at the same time, to draw forth confession, was, by running pins into their body, on pretence of discovering the devil's stigma, or mark, which was said to be inflicted by him upon all his vassals, and to be insensible to pain. This species of search, the practice of the infamous Hopkins, was in Scotland reduced to a trade; and the young witchfinder was allowed to torture the accused party, as if in exercise of a lawful calling, although Sir George Mackenzie stigmatises it as a horrid imposture. I observe in the Collections of Mr. Pitcairn, that at the trial of Janet Peaston of Dalkeith, the magistrates and

A GUILTY CONSCIENCE REQUIRES NO ministers of that market town caused

"" ACCUSER.

In the nineteenth year of the reign of Henry the Eighth, during the Christmas festivities, a play, written by a gentleman named Roe, was performed at Gray's Inn, which represented, says the Chronicle," Lord Governance ruled by Dissipation and Negligence, by whose evil order Lady Publick Weale was put from governance." Cardinal Wolsey took this play as a satire upon himself, and committed Roe, who was a serjeant at law, to the Fleet prison, although the play was written many years before the Cardinal was raised to such high authority.

ORIGIN OF MALT LIQUORS.

A.

The invention of malt-liquor appears to have originated from the attention which an eastern monarch paid to the health of his army; as both Hippocrates and Xenophon inform us, that Cyrus, having called his soldiers together, exhorted them to drink water wherein parched barley had been steep ed, which they called Muza. In all probability this was to counteract the bad effects of impure water in warm climates, as Pliny states, that if water be nitrous, brackish, and bitter, by put ting fried barley-meal into it, it will in less than two hours be purified and sweet, and that it may then be drank with safety; and this, says he, is the reason that barley-meal is generally put in bags and strainers through which we pass our wines, that they may be refined and drawn the sooner. This information may be serviceable to nautical men, and to those who travel in tropical climates.

OFFICE OF PUBLIC PRICKER.

Sir W. Scott, in his work on Demonology, says: "The celebrated mode of detecting witches, and torturing

John Kincaid of Tranent, the common
pricker, to exercise his craft upon her,
who found two marks of what he
called the devil's making, and which
appeared indeed to be so, for she could
not feel the pin when it was put into
either of the said marks, nor did they
(the marks) bleed when they were taken
out again; and when she was asked
where she thought the pins were put in,
she pointed to a part of her body dis-
tant from the real place. They were
pins of three inches in length.'-Be-
sides the fact, that the persons of old
people especially sometimes contain
spots void of sensibility, there is also
room to believe that the professed
prickers used a pin, the point or lower
part of which was, on being pressed
down, sheathed in the upper, which
was hollow for the purpose, and that
which appeared to enter the body did
not pierce it at all. But, were it worth
while to dwell on a subject so ridicu-
lous, we might recollect, that in so ter-
rible an agony of shame as is likely to
convulse a human being under such a
trial, and such personal insults, the
blood is apt to return to the heart, and
a slight wound, as with a pin, may be
inflicted, without being followed by
blood. In the latter end of the seven-
teenth century, this childish, indecent,
and brutal practice, began to be called
by its right name. Fountainhall has
recorded, that in 1678 the Privy Council
received the complaint of a poor woman
who had been abused by a country
magistrate, and one of those impostors
called prickers. They expressed high
displeasure against the presumption of
the parties complained against, and
treated the pricker as a common cheat."

BEER.

That the ancients were acquainted with wine is universally known. The

knowledge must have been nearly coeval with the origin of society; for we are informed in Genesis that Noah, after the flood, planted a vineyard, and made wine, and got intoxicated by drinking the liquid which he had manufactured. Beer also is a very old manufacture. It was in common use among the Egyptians in the time of Herodotus, who informs us that they made use of a kind of wine made from barley, because no vines grew in their country. Tacitus informs us, that in his time it was the drink of the Germans. Pliny informs us that it was made by the Gauls, and by other nations. He gives it the name of cerevisia or cervisia; the name obviously alluding to the grain from which it was made.

But though the ancients seem acquainted with both wine and beer, there is no evidence of their having ever subjected these liquids to distillation, and of having collected the products. This would have furnished them with ardent spirits, or alcohol, of which there is every reason to believe they were entirely ignorant.

DYEING.

Idmon, the father of Arachne, is said to have been the inventor of dyeing, and it is related, that the discovery of the purple dye was owing to a dog, which, having caught one of the purple fishes among the rocks, in eating it stained his mouth and beard with the precious liquor; the hue thus acquired struck the fancy of a Tyrian nymph so strongly, that she refused her lover Hercules any favours till he had brought her a mantle of the same colour.

The dye of Tyre became celebrated in all nations, and this city appears to have kept the art within its own walls for many ages. It was esteemed as precious as pure gold, and seldom used but by kings and princes, or in the vestures of the priests. Private persons were forbidden by the laws of most countries to wear the least scrap of it.

Fine Arts.

Illustrations of the Winter's Wreath for 1831. Whittaker & Co. London, and Smith, Liverpool.

Upon looking into this finished volume, it is with mingled feelings of pride and gratification, that we are enabled with truth to pronounce it equal

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to any of its rivals. The paintings are of a very superior character, and the subjects are tastefully diversified. The frontispiece, "An English Flower," after Hargreaves, by Robinson, is a graceful and spirited portrait. Benja min West's Three Maries at the Tomb of Christ," by Smith, wants force; it hardly conveys a trace of the vigorous style of the President; nevertheless the engraving is not without merit. Linton's " Delos," by Miller, is superb: the birth-place of Apollo and Diana will never be more skilfully portrayed. The "Cathedral of Antwerp," by Radclyffe, after Wild, is extremely clever; the architectural beauties of this fine gothic structure are depicted with great power and fidelity. Cologne on the Rhine," by S. Austen, engraved by Goodall, would form an admirable companion plate to Nash's "Ghent" in the Souvenir; they are worthy of each other, which is the highest praise that can be given to either. "The Cottage Farm Yard," by Smith, after Barker, gives token of much promise. "La Huerfana de Leon" is a pretty drawing poorly executed, it appears to us that the engraver has been making experiments and has failed. "The Deluge," by Brandard, after Mosses (we believe the brother of the clever wood engraver) is a fearful subject, treated with considerable skill; had it not been for the clumsy figure clinging to a mass of rock in the foreground, we should have given it unqualified praise: the style is good and the execution free and powerful. "Saint Cecilia," after Andrea Celesti, by Robins, is not a picture to our taste; however, the composition is ingenious, and the engraving is soft and clear. "The Bandit's Home," by Millar, after Barber, is a brilliant and glowing picture; such a scene is well adapted for the haunt of wild and lawless spirits, who live by predatory acts, and dread mankind: too much praise cannot be given to this picture. "The Mother," after Westall, by Finden, is pretty; but it has all the mannerism of the artist. "Dovedale," after Barber, by Brandard, is a delightful work of art: this picture is remarkable for its accuracy, as well as for the skilful management of the distance. charming volume we have only to ob In dismissing this serve, that the illustrations reflect the they far surpass any that have preceded highest credit upon the artists; and that them in the WINTER'S WREATH.

Customs of Various Countries.

SUPERSTITIOUS PRACTICE OF THE

ROMAN AGRICULTURISTS.

That Italy was not free from the most absurd superstition, even in the most enlightened days of the Roman empire, we have an instance in the manner of their cultivating millet. Sparrows and other small birds are apt to make great havock in fields of millet; to prevent which the Roman farmers carried a toad round the field, after it was sown, and before it was harrowed. The reptile was then put in an earthen pot, and buried in the middle of the field. This they were assured, would protect the root from the worm, and the seed from birds. The toad was always dug up before the millet was cut, the neglect of which, they believed, would cause the seed to be bitter.

Anecdotiana.

HARDIHOOD OF BEARS.

The following anecdote, which evinces the hardihood of bears, is related in the recently published voyage round the world, performed in the years 1823-4-5, by Otto Von Kotzebue.

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Fish," said the navigator, "forms their chief nourishment, and which they procure for themselves from the rivers, was last year excessively scarce. A great famine consequently existed among them, and instead of retiring to their dens, they wandered about the whole winter through, even in the streets of St. Peter and St. Paul, (Kamschatka.) One of them, finding the outer gate of a house open, entered, and the gate accidentally closed after him. The woman of the house had just placed a large teamachine, full of boiling water, in the court; the bear smelt to it, and burned his nose; provoked at the pain, he vented all his fury upon the kettle, folded his fore-paws round it, pressed it with his whole strength against his breast to crush it, and burnt himself, of course, still more and more. The horrible growl which rage and pain forced from him, brought all the inhabitants of the house and neighbourhood to the spot, and poor Bruin was soon despatched by shots from the windows. He has, however, immortalized his memory, and become a proverb amongst the town's-people; for when any one injures himself by his own violence, they call him the bear with the tea kettle.'".

PRINCE TALLEYRAND.

The prince is well known to be one of the wittiest men of his day; and wit upon one's-self is the best defence against the satire of others. A newspaper correspondent giving an accoun of the prince's landing at Dover, expressed his surprise at seeing in Talleyrand, whom he had expected to look nothing but the cunning diplomatist, "the countenance of an open, candid, and honest character." This was shewn to Talleyrand, who coolly remarked,― "It must have been, I suppose, in consequence of the dreadful sickness I experienced in coming over."

A SORRY JOKE.

In the year 1418, the French made a descent upon the Isle of Wight, for the purpose, as they said, of " keeping Christmas;" but they were boldly met by the islanders, and repulsed with considerable loss. A.

A TURKISH HIGH-FLYER.

In England many times, at various periods, has curiosity been excited by the exhibition of persons flying from church steeples and other elevated places to the ground. Nearly a century ago royalty was attracted to St. Martin's in the Fields, to witness a descent of this nature. The feat, whatever other merit it may possess, does not possess that of novelty, for it appears from an old ballad in the British Museum, that as early as the 1650, a Turkish rope-dancer flew to the ground from the top of St. Paul's cathedral. We subjoin the three first stanzas of the ballad:

A mortal there is, come out of the East,
A mortal of great fame;
He looks like a man, for he is no beast,

Yet he has never a Christen name.
For ten that belie him, scarce one te'ls true;
Some say he's a Turk: some call him a Jew;
Let him be what he will, 'tis all one to you,
But yet he shall be a Turk.

This Turk, as I said in the verse before,
Is a very fine tawny thing;
If I tell you his gifts, you can ask no more,
He can fly without any wing:
He towers like a falcon over the people,
Before he comes down, he's as high as Paul's
steeple,
Tis strange he makes not himself a creeple,
But yet he shall be a Turk.

On a sloping cord be'll go, you'll sce,

Even from the very ground, Full ninety feet high, where I would not be, First he stands and makes faces and looks down Tho' you'd give me a thousand pound.

below,

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By my faith I'd never make ballad mo,
But yet he shall be a Turk

Diary and Chronology.

Wednesday, November 24.

St. John of the Cross, Confessor, A.D. 159[.-Sun rises 47m after 7-sets 12m after 4. November 24, 1639.-The first transit of Venus over the sun's disc ever observed, was seen on this day by Jeremiah Horrox, at Hool, an obscure village 15 miles north of Liverpool; and at the same time, according to his directions, by his friend William Crabtree, at Manchester. Horrox died in 1641, in the 23d year of his age. He wrote an account of his observations, which was published several years after his death, under the title of "Venus sole visa," by Hevelius, an astronomer of Dantzic; and his other writings by Flamsteed, in the Philosophical Transac tions, 1675.

Thursday, November 25.

St. Erasmus, Irish Bishop.-High Water im aft 9 Morn-45m aft 9 Aftern. November 25, 1766.-Expired Dr. Zachary Grey, author of a Commentary on Shakspeare, Notes on Hudibras, and other miscellaneous writings. Having named Butler's comic burlesque poem in this place, it may not be amiss to introduce here an anecdote of the witty author. When" Hudibras" first appeared, it became at once a general favourite, and the merry monarch Charles II. was never without a copy of it in his pocket. The Earl of Dorset, who was considered as the Mecanas of his time, concluding that the author of so inimitable a work must be as amusing in his discourse as fascinating in his writings, expressed a desire to Mr. Fleetwood Shepherd, to spend an evening in Butler's company. Accordingly, Mr. Shepherd brought them together at a tavern, as if by accident, and without naming his lordship's quality to the poet. Mr. Butler, while the first bottle was drinking, appeared very flat and heavy at the second bottle brisk and lively, full of wit and learning, and a most pleasant and agreeable companion; but before the third bottle was finished, he sunk again into such deep stupidity and dulness, that hardly any body could have believed him to be the author of a book which abounded with so much wit, learning, and pleasantry. Next morning, when Mr. Shepherd asked his lordship's opinion of Mr. Butler, the Earl answered, "He is like a nine-pin, little at both ends, but great in the middle."

Friday, November 26.

St. Conrad, Confessor, A.D. 976.—Sun rises 50m after 7-sets 9m after 4. November 26, 1796.-The storm which raged so generally at this period in England, was severely felt at Weymouth; seven vessels were lost in the western hay; nearly 1600 bodies were thrown up at different times along the beach, 300 were buried at one time, the bodies would have bred a pestilence but for the assistance of the Gloucester militia, who aided in burying them; the vessels were heavily laden with troops and merchandize for the West Indies,

Saturday, November 27.

St. Secundin, Irish Bishop, A.D. 447.-High Water 11h 31m Morn-0h 0m Aftern. November 27, 1755.—At Long Benton, near Newcastle, a violent shock resembling an earthquake was experienced on this day, which disjointed all the houses in the town (though built of stone). The alarmed inhabitants fled into the street, which opened and closed again from one extremity to the other; a gentleman's garden sunk two feet, and many parts of Killingworthmoor to the extent of two miles; happily no lives were lost. It is supposed that the cause of this extraordinary occurrence was the giving way of the pillars which supported the excavations made in Benton colliery.

Sunday, November 28.

ADVENT SUNDAY.

Lessons for the Day-1 chapter Isaiah, morning- chapter Isaiah, Even. November 25, 1695.-Expired Anthony Wood, the author of the History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford." He likewise wrote a history of all the learned men educated in the University of Oxford, from the year 1500 to the end of the year 1690, a work began, car ried on, and finished, with incredible industry. Our author was framed by nature for the study of English history and antiquities, and it was that study which he prosecuted with unbounded perseverance. He was free from ambition, and was a signal instance of self-denial. His mode of study was even and uniform, and he spent the whole of his time for the public, which suffered an irreparable loss in the death of this learned and diligent man.

Monday, November 29.

St. Saturninus, martyr. A D. 257.-High Water Oh 59m Morn— 26m af'er 11 Afternoon November 29, 1922.-Died the Rev. Archdeacon Vince, Pluvian Professor of Astronomy to the University of Cambridge. The professor was a native of Fressingfield, in Suffolk; his parents were in humble circumstances, and were unable to do much towards educating him, yet be discovered at a very early age an aptitude for mathematical studies, which fortunately obtained for him the notice of the late Mr. Tilney, and through him the assistance of more opulent patrons. By their aid he was sent to the University of Cambridge, where he ultimately obtained the highest mathematical honours. Besides his large work on Astronomy, he was author of several other mathematical publications.

Tuesday, November 30).

St. Andrew, apostle, A D. 339.-Full Moon, Sm after 3 Morning.

November 30, 1762.-In Dodsley's Annual Register, vol. 5, we find the following curious fact recorded. A man having stolen a sheep at Mitcham, in Surrey, tied its hind legs together, and put them over his forehead to carry it away; but in getting over a gate, the sheep, it is thought, struggled, and by a sudden spring slipped its feet down to his throat; for they were found in that posture, the sheep hanging on one side of the gate, and the man dead on the other.

In our next, The Will, Lochanvri, a Border Romance, and Lines by Lord C to his Daughter on her Marriage.

Part 39, enlarged to six numbers, will be ready with the Magazines.

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Illustrated Article.

HUMPHREY THE HOMICIDE;

A TALE OF PYPE-HALL.

BY HORACE GUILFORD.
For the Olio.

THE CHAPLAIN'S STORY.

It was late on Christmas Eve, about sixty years ago, before the accustomed festal ceremonies which distinguish that great vigil were concluded at PypeHall, then the residence of Sir Humphrey Stanley, knight of the body to King Henry the Seventh. Among the various festivities peculiar to the season, the well-known Christmas gambol, consisting in change of dress between the sexes, had been freely indulged. Sir Humphrey had commanded the great gates to be kept open, and planks of the drawbridge-tower to remain lowered all day and night. Not only the peasantry, but those also of high degree, mingled in this feudal masquerade and long after midnight, when the VOL. VI. 2 B

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knight and the chief of his guests had retired to their chambers, parties were perpetually passing and repassing the drawbridge; some returning to the hall from the different mansions they been visiting; and others quitting it for their several homes, which, in their turn, had been recipients of masquers from Pype-Hall and the neighbourhood.

The chambers and courts were becoming comparatively hushed and lonely, when two masqued figures, attired in the costume of either sex, which, however, at this season, afforded no clue to the actual sex of either, were seen to cross the gallery which overlooked the great hall. The enormous yule-clog flamed roaring up the vast chimney, and flung an illumination brighter than daylight over the whole apartment. Quickly passing from this blaze of illumination, they quitted the gallery :

"Down the wide stairs a darkling way they found,

In all the house was heard no human sound; 161

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