much gored by this animal, she languished for some time, under the wounds given her by a young and unskilful gladiator. On this day the Jews celebrate the festival of Purim. In this ceremony the reader recites the whole book of Esther, which, being written on parchment, is spread out in the manner of a letter, in reference to the twenty-sixth verse of the ninth chapter. As often as the reader mentions the name of Haman, it is customary for the children (who have little wooden hammers) to knock against the wall, as a memorial that they should endeavour to destroy the whole seed of Amalek.-(See T. T. for 1815, pp. 78, 79.) 12. SAINT GREGORY. Saint Gregory, surnamed the Great, was born about the year 540. Gadianus, his father, enjoyed the dignity of a senator, and was very wealthy. Our saint, in his youth, applied himself to the study of grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy; and afterwards to the civil law, and the canons of the church, in which he was well skilled. He was consecrated Pope about the year 590, and died in 604. Before his advancement to the see, Gregory projected the conversion of the English nation; and, although his offer to this effect was at first refused, he accomplished his wishes after he assumed the papal chair.-See T. T. for 1814, p. 56. 17. SAINT PATRICK. The tutelar saint of Ireland was born in the year 371, in a village called Bonaven Taberniæ, probably Kilpatrick, in Scotland, between Dunbriton and Glasgow. He spent many years in preparing himself for the holy functions of a priest, studying intensely till his fiftyfifth or sixtieth year. Being successively ordained deacon, priest, and bishop, he received the apostolical benediction from Pope Celestine, and was sent by him, about the beginning of the year 432, to preach the gospel in Ireland. He died at the good old age of 123, and was buried at Down, in Ulster.-See T. T. for 1814, p. 57, and our last volume, p. 80. The shamrock is said to be worn by the Irish, upon the anniversary of this saint, for the following reason: When he preached the gospel to the Pagan Irish, he illustrated the doctrine of the Trinity, by showing them a trefoil, or three-leaved grass, with one stalk; which operating to their conviction, the shamrock, which is a bundle of this grass, was ever afterwards worn upon this saint's anniversary, to commemorate the event. (Brand.) The Order of St. Patrick was instituted by his present Majesty, in the year 1783. *17. 1677.-VALENCIENNes taken. This celebrated place was taken by storm from the Spaniards by the French. Louis XIV was with the army, and the celebrated Vauban directed the operations of the siege. 18.-EDWARD, king of thE WEST SAXONS. He was the son of Edgar, who first united the heptarchy into one kingdom; after whose death, in the year 975, Edward succeeded to the throne at twelve years of age, but did not enjoy it more than two or three years. Being on a visit to Elfrida, his motherin-law, at Corfe Castle, in Dorsetshire, he was, by her orders, stabbed in the back while drinking a cup of wine; that her son Etheldred, his half-brother, might take his place. By the monks this cruel murder has been esteemed a martyrdom, probably on account of this king's attachment to them. The festival was first appointed by Pope Innocent IV, in 1245. 19. 1811. THE CIDEVANT King of Rome, son of Bonaparte, BORN. *20. 1413.-HENRY V BEGAN TO REIGN. He was early engaged in a contest with France. He demanded a restitution of Normandy, and other provinces, that had been ravished from England in the preceding reigns; also the payment of certain arrears due for King John's ransom, since the reign of Edward III, Availing himself of the distracted state of that kingdom by the Orleans and Burgundy fac tions, he invaded it, where he first took Harfleur, and then defeated the French in the battle of Agincourt, which equalled those of Cressy and Poictiers, in glory to the English, but exceeded them in its consequences, on account of the vast number of French princes of the blood, and other great noblemen, who were there killed. Henry made a triumphal entry into Paris, where the dauphin was proscribed; and after receiving the fealty of the French nobility, he returned to England, to levy a force that might crush the dauphin and his Scotch auxiliaries. He probably would have been successful, had he not died of a pleuritic disorder, in 1442, in the thirty-fourth year of his age, and the tenth of his reign. Benedict, or Bennet, was born at Norcia in Italy, about the year 480, and of an honourable family. Being sent by his parents to Rome, to complete his studies, he became disgusted with the licentiousness of the Roman youth, and retired to the mountain of Subiaco, about forty miles from the city. Bennet was now only fifteen, and lived for three years in a cave, Romanus, a monk, giving him provisions: these were let down by a rope, with a bell affixed, to give notice to the holy recluse. Bennet founded the monastery of Casino, in 529: it was built on the brow of a very high mountain, on the top of which there was an old temple of Apollo, surrounded with a grove. The Benedictine order of monks, first instituted by our saint, was, in the ninth century, at its height of glory. 24.-MIDLENT SUNDAY. The middle or fourth Sunday in Lent was formerly called the Sunday of the five Loaves, the Sunday of Bread, and the Sunday of Refreshment, in allusion to the gospel appointed for this day. It was also named Rose-Sunday, from the pope's carrying a golden rose in his hand, which he exhibited to the people in the streets as he went to celebrate the eucharist, and at his G return. Mothering Sunday is another name attached to this day, from the practice, in Roman Catholic times, of people visiting their mother-church on Midlent Sunday. Hence, perhaps, the custom now existing in some parts of England, of children visiting their parents, and presenting them with money, trinkets, or some other trifle. Furmety is commonly a rural repast on this day. It is made of whole grains of wheat first parboiled, and then put into and boiled in milk, sweetened, and seasoned with spices. 25.-ANNUNCIATION OF THE B. V. M., or Lady Day. This day celebrates the angel's message to the Virgin Mary, respecting our Blessed Lord. She was, probably, an only child, and but fifteen years of age when espoused to Joseph. She died A. D. 48, being about sixty years old. This is one of the four quarter-days, on which rent is paid, &c. *25. 1678.—YPRES TAKEN. *28. 1802.-PLANET PALLAS DISCOVERED. Dominica in Passione, or Passion Sunday, was the name given to this day in missals; as the church now began to advert to the sufferings of Christ. In the north, it is called Carling Sunday, and grey peas, first steeped a night in water, and fried with butter, form the usual repast. History of Astronomy. [Continued from p. 52.] Astronomy of the Arabs, Chinese, Persians, and Indians. THE progress of astronomy in the school of Alexandria terminated with the labours of Ptolemy. His school existed five centuries, but his successors contented themselves with commenting on their works, without adding any thing in the way of discovery. The phenomena of the heavens continued almost unobserved during a period of more than six hundred years. Rome did little or nothing to the extension of real science. The importance that was always attached by the republic to eloquence and military talents seduced the imagination to those pursuits almost exclusively; and science, offering no advantage, was neglected in the midst of conquests undertaken by ambition, and of internal commotions, in which liberty expired and yielded to the despotism of emperors. The division of the empire, which was the necessary consequence of its vast extent, brought on its fall, and the light of science, extinguished by the barbarians, was only revived among the Arabians, who, having extended their religion and arms. over a great part of the earth, had no sooner reposed in peace, than they devoted themselves to letters and science. It was, however, but a very short time before they destroyed and burnt the celebrated library of Alexandria. It was in vain that the philosopher Philoponus exerted himself for its preservation. If, said the barbarian Omar, these books are conformable to the Alcoran, they are useless; if they are contrary to it, they are detestable. Thus perished,' says La Place, this immense treasure of erudition and genius. Repentance and regret soon followed this barbarous deed, for the Arabians were not long before they perceived their irreparable loss, and that they had deprived themselves of the most precious fruits of their conquests.' Among the Arabian princes who distinguished themselves for their love of the sciences, the most celebrated in history was Almamoun, of the family of the Abassides, and the son of the celebrated Aaron Rashid, so famous throughout Asia. Almamoun flourished in the early part of the ninth century; he reigned at Bagdat, and, having conquered the Greek Emperor Michael III, he imposed upon him, as one of the conditions of peace, that he should have delivered to him the best books of Greece: |