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and precious stones, beauty and youth, could do to outshine the inanimate part of the scene, was to be found amongst the spectators. Here too was seen the venerable age of Chivalry-all those old knights whose limbs were no longer competent to bear the weight of arms, surrounding the field to view the prowess of their children and judge the deeds of the day. Heralds and pursuivants, in the gay and many-coloured garments which they peculiarly affect ed, fluttered over the field, and bands of warlike music were stationed near to animate the contest and to salute the victors.

The knights, as they appeared in the lists, were greeted by the heralds and the people according to their renown; but the approbation of the female part of the spectators was the great stimulus to all the Chivalry of the field. Each knight, as a part of his duty, either felt or feigned himself in love; and it was upon these occasions that his lady might descend from the high state to which the mystic adoration of the day had raised her, and bestow upon her favoured champion a glove, a ribbon, a bracelet, a jewel, which, borne on his crest through the hard-contested field, was the chief object of his care, and the great excitement to his valour.

Often, too, in the midst of the combat, if accident or misfortune deprived the favoured knight of the gage of his lady's affection, her admiration or her pity won her to supply another token, sent by a page or squire, to raise again her lover's resolution, and animate him to new exertions.

The Note Book.

I will make a prief of it in my Note-pook, M. W. of Windsor.

BEARDS.

An antiquarian writer has discovered that the custom of shaving off the beard was introduced with the doctrine of transubstantiation, which was first taught by Peter Lombard, 1160. Innocent III. established it with the monks, at the council of Lateran in the year 1200; and the reason which induced the council to make the injunction for shaving beards was, lest in the ceremony of receiving the sacrament the beard might touch the bread and wine, or crumbs and drops fall and stick upon it. The clergy, however was averse to this change, and it appears that, in France, from 1515 to 1547, Francis I. made the priests pay a

large sum for wearing their beards.The Christian priests seem to have adopted the custom of wearing beards from opposition to the heathen and Egyptian priests who shaved themselves. Adrian was the first Emperor who wore his beard, and he did so in order to conceal a large wart.

PHILLIDOR.

It is said that this eminent chessplayer died of a broken heart, on his ill success in a contest at chess with the Turkish ambassador. The ambassador having heard of Phillidor's great fame, was desirous to play with him. Phillidor attended, and summoned up all his powers for contention. The ambassador obtained an easy victory in six successive games; and observing a strong expression of chagrin and mortification in poor Phillidor, endeavoured to comfort him by saying that he himself knew very little of the game, for that many persons at Constantinople could give him a castle. This anecdote is so extraordinary, considering the superiority which Phillidor maintained over the best players in Europe for nearly half a century, that we hardly know how to give credit to it. Such, however, is said to be the cause of an inquietude that preyed upon the mind of Phillidor for some time before his death; and if it be a fact, it can only be accounted for by supposing that his faculties were impaired by age and bad health.

SANDWICHES.

Lord Sandwich, while minister of state, was so addicted to the detestable vice of gambling, that upon one occasion he spent twenty-four hours in a gaming-house, so occupied by his playing, that during the whole time he partook only of some slices of beef between toast, which he ate without leaving the table. This new kind of viande afterwards obtained the name of the minister. E. A.

GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.

Voltaire, in his Life of Charles XII., says that, when Gustavus shook the throne of Ferdinand II., and afforded protection to the Lutherans in Germany, he was privately assisted by the Pope, who stood more in awe of the Emperor than in fear of heresy. A.

ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF NORTH AMERICA.

Concerning the origin of the numerous tribes of North American Indians

various opinions have been entertained. Of their own history the Indians, beyond the traditionary records of two or three generations, they know nothing; and the strange notions which some of them entertain of their origin need not surprise us. According to the unambitious belief of the Osages, a people living on the banks of one of the lower tributaries of the Missouri, they are sprung from a snail and a beaver. The Mandans believe their ancestors once lived in a large village under ground, near a subterranean lake; that by means of a vine tree, which extended its roots to their cheerless habitation, they got a glimpse of the light; that informed by some adventurers, who had visited the upper world, of the numerous buffalos pasturing on the plains, and of the trees loaded with delicious fruits, the whole nation, with one consent, began to ascend the roots of the vine; but that, when about the half of them had reached the surface, a corpulent woman climbing up, broke the roots by her weight; that the earth immediately closed, and concealed for ever from those below the cheering beams of the From a people who entertain such fanciful notions of their origin, no valuable information concerning their early history can be expected

sun.

Cabinet Cyclop.

ARMOUR.

Plutarch tells us that Demetrius or dered two complete suits of armour to be made for himself and his Captain Alcinus, of six score pounds weight euch! The armour in ordinary use at that time weighed but half that weight. Marcellinus, speaking of the armour of the Parthians, says, "they had arms so artificially worn as to have the scollops fall over each other like the feathers of a bird, which did not hinder the motion of the body, and yet were of such strength that our darts hitting them would rebound." In the celebrated pictures of Le Brunn (the Battle of Alexander) the Parthian archers hold a conspicuous place, and add greatly to the effect of his picturesque groupes. In the sixteenth century the manufacture of armour appears to have reached its acme. I have seen many exquisitely finished suits of the date, some of German, others of Venetian and Italian workmanship. It is said that, at the battle of Pavia, many knights who led the van were cased in harness perfectly invulnerable, and that several of them being left in the field alive, but in con

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BARBAROUS ACT OF KING JOHN. In the reign of King John, a clergyman, while pursuing his studies at Oxford, had the misfortune to kill a woman by accident. Alarmed for his safety the priest ffed immediately, and the mayor of the city repaired with his officers to the spot, where they found the body of the woman. The slayer was beyond pursuit, but three other priests who were living in the same house with him, were seized and committed to prison, although they did not even know of the accident. John, glad of this opportunity to wreak his vengeance upon the clergy, sent, a few days afterwards, orders that they should be immediately hung without the walls, without trial! This infamous mandate was obeyed by the civil authorities, upon which nearly three thousand scholars, as well as the masters, instantly quitted Oxford, and retired to Cambridge and Reading. Some left the country entirely and proceeded to Paris, and the University of Oxford was left almost empty.

The Naturalist.

CAMELOPARDS.

A.

Camelopards were known to the Romans, and were exhibited in the Circæan Games by Cæsar the dictator. The Emperor Gordian afterwards exhibited ten at a single show; and tolerably accurate figures of this animal, both in a browsing and grazing attitude, have been handed down by the Prænestine pavement. During the darker ages, and for some centuries after the revival of learning, it seems to have remained unknown to Europeans; but, about the middle of the sixteenth century, the Emperor of Germany, Frede

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The Greeks and Romans became ac quainted with this branch of the feathered race, in consequence of certain species of these birds having been imported from the East soon after Alexander's Indian expedition. The Alexandrian parrot, especially, so remarkable for its elegant form and docile disposition, is generally supposed to have been brought to Europe about that time from the island of Ceylon, the ancient Tabrobane. In the reign of Nero, the Romans introduced other species from different quarters of Africa. They were highly prized by that luxurious people, who lodged them in superb cages of silver, ivory, and tortoise-shell; and the price of a parrot in those days frequently exceeded that of a slave. Nor did Ovid think it beneath him to write a lengthened elegy on the death of Corinna's parrot,—a bird which, in the love it bore its mistress, seems to have emulated that of the dying Greek for his Country :

"Clamavit moriens lingua, Corinna, vale!"

It is only in these degenerate days that the keeping of a cockatoo is brought forward in a court of justice in proof of an alienated or imbecile mind. We trust that, in some instances, at least, such inference may be fairly classed as a non sequitur."

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One of the earliest imported of the African species appears to have been the gray or ash-coloured parrot (Psittachus erithacus,) still remarkable for its easy loquacity and general imitative powers. To this species probably be longed the individual mentioned by Cælius Rhodoginus, and which belong ed to Cardinal Ascanius. "I cannot,' says that author, "omit an extraordinary wonder seen in our times. This was a parrot at Rome, belonging to Cardinal Ascanius, who purchased it for a hundred gold pieces, and which, in the most articulate and uninterrupted manner, recited the Apostles' Creed as well as the best reader could have done, and which, as a most extraordinary and wonderful thing, I could not pass unnoticed." Ib.

Customs of Various Countries.

INDIAN FUNERAL CEREMONIES. The tribes on the Columbia construct long narrow sheds, in which they deposit the dead, carefully wrapped up in skins, and covered with mats. The Killamucks, a tribe living near the shore of the Pacific Ocean, on the south of the Columbia, inclose their dead in an oblong wooden box, which they place in an open canoe, lying on the ground, with a paddle and some other articles of the deceased by his side. The Chinooks, Clatsops, and neighbouring nations, support the canoe on posts, about six feet from the ground, and reverse a larger canoe over it. The whole is wrapped up in mats made of rushes, and fastened with cords usually made of the bark of white cedar. But instead of laying the body in a box like the Killamucks, they roll it carefully in a dressed skin. Vancouver saw canoes, containing dead bodies, suspended from the branches of trees, about twelve feet from the ground. The Chopunnish, a tribe living on the western side of the Rocky Mountains, lay their dead in burying places constructed of boards, like the roof of a house. The bodies are rolled in skins, laid over each other, and separated by a board above and below. They devote horses, canoes, and other kinds of property, to the dead. Carver mentions some tribes on the St. Peter's, which annually carry their dead for interment to a cave on the banks of the Mississippi. It appears that some others occasionally burn the dead, or at least the flesh, and afterwards bury the bones. Cab. Cyc.

Anecdotiana.

NO CEREMONY.

In the church register at Lymington, we find the following entry :-" In the year 1736, Samuel Baldwin was interred without ceremony." It appears that the deceased had left express orders to be buried incognito, to thwart his wife, who had declared she would dance over his grave.

SIR PHILIP SIDNEY. When this brave man took his last farewell of his associates, he thus addressed them :-Love my memory, cherish my friends; but above all, govern your will and affection, by the will and word of your creator; in me bebold the end of this world, and all its vanities.

Diary and Chronology.

Monday, December 20.

Vigil of St. Thomas the Apostle.-High Water 52m after 4 Morn.-11m after 5 Afternoon. December 20, 1767.-On this day, at the public mass-houses throughout Ireland, prayers were put up for his late Majesty George III., the Queen, Prince of Wales, and all the Royal Family, being the first time the Royal Family have been publicly prayed for by the Irish Papists since the Rerolution,

Tuesday, December 21.

St. Thomas the Apostle.

December 21, 1641--Expired Maximilian de Bethune, Duke of Sully, a Marshal of France, Prime Minister to Henri Quatre, and one of the ablest and most honest statesmen that France ever had. His "Memoirs" are deservedly ranked amongst the best books of French history; they contain a most particular account of what passed from the peace of 1570, to the death of Henry IV, in 1610; and acquire additional value for the many curious anecdotes preserved in them; their style and manner are highly interesting. They were translated into English by Mrs. Lennox, 1757, not with entire justice to the original. As a warrior, Sully signalized himself on many important occasions, especially at the battles of Coutras, Arques, and Ivry, and at the sieges of Pavia, Noyon, Rouen, and Laon.

Wednesday, December 22.

St. Cheromon. Moon's First Quarter, 42m after 10 Afternoon.

December 22, 1788.-Died, aged 76, Percival Pott, F.R.S, who, for nearly half a century, had been surgeon to St. Bartholomew's Hospital; and, by an active mind, and unremitting attention, had arrived at the summit of his profession. His numerous publications are generally allowed to evince strong marks of genius, to display the soundest judgment, and to be replete with utility. The day before his decease be said: "My lamp is almost extinguished; I hope it has burned for the good of others."

Thursday, December 23.

The Ten Martyrs of Crete-High Water 16m after 6 Morning-41m after 6 Afternoon. December 23, 1790.-A dreadful storm came on from the south-west, attended with thunder and lightning, and heavy showers of hail and rain; the copper roofing of the Six Clerks' Office was torn up and blown into Chancery-lane, rendering it impassable; thirteen trees were torn up in Lincoln's Inn gardens, and several in other places; two persons were killed by the falling of chimneys; the damage done to houses and other buildings was too numerous to particularise. So destructive a storm had not been witnessed for several years; it was equally violent in other places, more par. ticularly at Windsor, Buckingham, Horsham, and Whitehaven; North Wales also felt severely the effects of it.

Friday, December 24.
Vigil of the Nativity.

Winter Winds.-Tusser, in his "Five Hundred Points," describing the properties of the winds at various seasons of the year, thus particularises those usually experienced during the winter quarter :

"North winds send hail, south winds bring rain,
East winds we bewail, west winds blow amain:
North-east is too cold, south-east not too warm,
North-west is too bold, south-west doth no harm."

December 24, 1828.-In the " Journal of a Tour in Italy," by Mr. J. P. Cobbett, noticed by us, at some length, at p. 459 of this "OLIO," we find the following remarks on the midnight mass, performed at the church Chiesa de Cavalieri, at Pisa, on Christmas Eve. Our author says, "The Vigil of the Nativity" is "a ceremony observed in all Catholic churches. This church has been called de Cavalieri, after the knights of St. Stephen, the bones of which saint are said to be here deposited. There was a great many people at the mass. A great deal of good music; and the organ, they say, is the finest in Europe. Some of this music, however, (the music we hear in the ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church,) is very surprising to Protestant ears. It is any thing but consistent with our notion of sacred music. The gayest airs seem to be adopted in the church service; and the Catholic often worships God of a Sunday morning with the same tune that he has been dancing a quadrille to, perhaps, only the night before."

Saturday, December 25.

Christmas Day.-Sun rises 7m after 8-sets 53m after 3.

That quaint old moralist, Tusser, who has an apt verse for all seasons, gives us the following pleasing description of the festivities customary at the anniversary of our Saviour's nativity:

At Christmas we banquet, the rich with the poor,
Who then, but the miser, but openeth his door?
At Christmas, of Christ many carols we sing,
And give many gifts in the joy of that King.

At Christmas in Christ we rejoice and be glad,
As only of whom our comfort is had :
At Christmas we joy altogether, with mirth
For his sake, that joyed us all with his birth.

Sunday, December 26.

FIRST SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS.

Lessons for the Day-37 chapter Isaiah, Morning-38 chapter Isaiah, Evening.

Our Readers and Correspor dents will be pleased to observe, that the publication of this Work is removed to 15, Wine Office-court, Fleet Street, where all Communications for the Editor (post paid) will be received.

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Ellustrated Article.

THE MYSTERY OF GENSANA.

FOR THE OLIO.

No one ever possessed less taste for the romantic, than my very excellent friend, Doctor Scarlatti, of Rome. He was, when I became acquainted with him, a merry, corpulent, little man, of about forty-five years of age, with a placid, and somewhat self-satisfied cast of features; and withal, extremely addicted to an indolent enjoyment of the comforts of this life, the otium cum dignitate of our modern philosophy.

Yet fate (who seems to delight in bringing her playthings, human beings, into situations the most opposite to those which nature has designed them) sometimes contrived to entrap the worthy Doctor into adventures altogether unsuited to his character and inclinations; thus making him, in spite of himself, the hero of the following mysterious occurrence :

It was in one of the sultry evenings of an Italian summer, that Scarlatti, VOL. VI. 2 G

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mounted on his trusty mule, was slowly returning from the little village of Gensana, where his professional pursuits had engaged him.

It chanced that the case of the patient whom he had just left, was one of a very interesting nature to a medical professor; and so absorbed was he in his meditations on the subject, enriched too as they were with some floating visions of the beloved easy chair, and lacrymæ christi, which awaited him at home, that when he first opened his eyes to objects around him, he discovered (what very abstruse thinkers are apt to discover) that he had entirely lost his way.

To add to his perplexity, the short but beautiful twilight of a southern clime, was rapidly yielding to the obscurity of night, so that his barely recovered senses were well nigh put to flight again, in his apprehension of the banditti, with whom that part of the country was said to abound.

Under these circumstances, however, he did all that a man placed in such a dilemma could do: he fastened his mule to a tree, and aided by the back of the

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