In the Roman and Greek churches, some saints or other, real or pretended, have long got possession of every day in the year; but with us, since our reformation of the calendar in 1752, the number is restricted within much narrower limits. Of those which are retained, some names have descended from the times of primitive purity and simplicity; some are transmitted to us by the Roman church; and a few are British worthies doing honour to the British name.

9.-PLOUGH MONDAY.

This is always the Monday following the Epiphany. Some curious ceremonies are still observed on this day in the northern counties, particularly in Yorkshire. See T. T. for 1822, p. 9.

*10. 1558.-THREE MEN AND TWO WOMEN

BURNT

In one fire, at Canterbury. These blessed martyrs prayed, at the stake, that their blood might be the last that might be shed in England for the Gospel; to which prayer, God said, Amen ! Q. Mary dying five days afterwards.-See the immortal Acts and Monuments' of that honest and faithful chronicler JOHN Fox,whose venerable tomes offer an invaluable record, as Mr. Strype justly observes, of the memories of those holy men and women, those bishops and divines, together with their histories, acts, sufferings, and their constant deaths, willingly undergone for the sake of Christ and his Gospel, and for refusing to comply with Popish doctrines and superstitions.'

During the short, but bloody reign of the bigoted Mary, Two HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SEVEN human beings were sacrificed to the diabolical vengeance of Bonner and his furious priests; viz. 1 archbishop, 4 bishops, 21 divines, 8 gentlemen, 84 artificers, 100 husbandmen, servants and labourers, 26 wives, 20 widows, 9 single women, 2 boys (one of these only 8 years old being scourged to death, by the infamous Bonner, in his own house), and 2 infants. Many also died in prison, were scourged, and otherwise cruelly treated.

'Prepare the stake, the pile uprear,'
The triple-crowned tyrant cries.
The Friends of Persecution hear:

A lurid gleam o'er Europe flies.

Hark, ceaseless hammers forge the chain;
And crowded dungeons are enlarged in vain.

Behold unripened youth and nerveless age,
And female weakness mock their rage!
See holy WISHART climb the pyre,

Nor shrink though BEATON watch the fire!
See mitred RIDLEY, bold in death.

And dauntless HOOPER gasp for breath:
See LATIMER augment the glorious band;
And CRANMER eye serene the firm repentant hand!

13.-SAINT HILARY.

He was a pious father of the Christian church, a native, and afterwards bishop, of Poictiers, where he died in the year 367. Interesting accounts of this, as well as many others of the fathers of the Christian Church, may be seen in Cave's Lives of the Apostles and Fathers, 2 vols. folio, 1677.

18.-SAINT PRISCA,

A pious Roman virgin, said to have been put to death by order of the Emperor Claudius, A.D. 47. *18. 1824.-JOHN COX DIED,

Principal in the firm of Cox, Barnett, and Co. Copper-plate Printers. To the careful superintendance and taste of this gentleman is owing much of the graphic beauty of many of the splendidly decorated works which have appeared during the last thirty years. In his office were printed the plates of the large works published by the Society of Antiquaries the Dilettanti, and other Societies, the Topogra

cal and Architectural works published by Taylor, and a large portion of the valuable publications of Messrs. Britton, Cooke, Neale, and others. To his Correct taste and accurate judgment is also owing

erior style of execution in which the Portraits odce have been lately produced, and the exaten of each impression of this noble series of traits was the last active occupation in which he We engaged.

20.-SAINT FABIAN

Was the 19th bishop of Rome. He was chosen to that ofce in the year 241, and after being bishop

thirteen years, suffered martyrdom in the Decian persecution.-See Euseb. Lib. vi, cap. 28, 38. 21.-SAINT AGNES

Was a beautiful girl, beheaded at the early age of 13, by order of Dioclesian. The rustic damsels in our northern counties used to assemble on Saint Agnes' night, and have recourse to simple spells to ascertain whom they should marry.

*21. 1661.-A MILD WINTER.

It is strange what weather we have had all this winter; no cold at all; but the ways are dusty, and the flyes fly up and down, and the rose-bushes are full of leaves such a time of the year as was never known in this world before here.-Pepys's Memoirs. 22.-SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY.

The words Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima (seventieth, sixtieth, and fiftieth), were first applied to denote these three Sundays, when the season of Lent was extended to a fast of six weeks, that is, thirty-six days, not reckoning the Sundays, which were always celebrated as festivals.

22.-SAINT VINCENT

Was deacon of a church in Spain. He was born at Saragossa, and, under the Dioclesian persution in 304, suffered martyrdom of the most dreadful kind.

23.-HILARY TERM BEGINS.

The word Term is evidently derived from Terminus, the god of boundaries, or landmarks, and also of the limits of time as well as of space. The common expression term, as a duration of time, springs from the same source, as terms of life, terms of years, &c. The four law terms are those of Hilary, Easter, Trinity, and Michaelmas; the commencements of each of which are specified in our almanacks. There is one day in each Term in which not any business is transacted, namely: Candlemas Day in Hilary Term, Ascension Day in Easter Term, Midsummer Day in Trinity Term, and All Saints' Day in Michaelmas

Term. These four days are called Grand Days in the Inns of Court; Gaudy Days at the two Universities; and Collar Days at St. James's.

The Terms kept by the students at the universities vary from those observed by the courts of law in their commencement and termination. These, also, for Oxford and Cambridge are duly recorded in the calendar of each year: viz. at Oxford four, at Cambridge three.

The first day of Term is prettily described in 'The Bar; a Poem,' 1825:

2

But hark! huge porters with loud echoing ring,
The clanging doors back on their hinges fling!
The Term begins! the ancient structure shakes,
And startled silence from her slumber wakes!
Now, full of bustle like a summer hive
Of bees, the busy Temple's all alive!

Grave gownsmen, full of thought, 'to chambers' hie,
From court to court, perplexed, attornies fly;
A Dowling' each! quick scouring to and fro,
And wishing he could cut himself in two,
That he two places at a time might reach,
So he could charge his 'six and eightpence' each.
Through the dark regions of the low'ring sky,
Now red-tailed writs like angry comets fly,
Portentous in their course! with fear of change
Perplexing awe-struck mortals as they range.
Attornies' clerks in haste each other greet,
And porters hurry on from street to street.
Now watchful Bums', (dark messengers of fate,)
In lurking corners for their victims wait.

Now Special Pleaders all their skill display,
And spin, like spiders, through the live-long day,
Their subtle webs to catch their careless prey!
Pleas, declarations, and replies abound,
Eventful 'issues' thicken o'er the ground,
And every hostile movement, pro and con,
Gives dreadful note of preparation;'
While 'notices of trial' sound from far,
The signal of a dreadful—' paper war.'

A celebrated character in Tom Jones.'

Bum-bailiffs, a corruption of bound-bailiffs, so called from their being bound to the sheriffs for the due execution of their duties.

B

Lo! through the Hall', indulging harmless talk,

In full costume the learned judges walk,

Greet their grave brethren-nod-shake hands and bow,
Gracious this day to all—a goodly show!
Grimly they smile, as slowly they advance,
The pinks of courtesy and complaisance,
As if their pictured ancestors of yore

Had left their frames and stepped upon the floor!
And now, with due solemnity of face,

And needful form, each judge resumes his place;
Business begins, no time must now be lost,
But ev'ry man stand steady at his post.

25.-CONVERSION OF SAINT PAUL.

This festival was first instituted in 813; it was not adopted in the ritual of the Church of England until 1662.

*26. 1825.-ALEXANDER TILLOCH DIED.

He was Proprietor and Editor of the Star Newspaper,' and of the Philosophical Magazine,' which latter he established in the year 1797. During the early period of its existence, Dr. Tilloch was the sole proprietor; and such he continued until about four years since, when the name of Richard Taylor, F. L.S. was added to his own as joint proprietor. During. the whole of this long period, this work was almost exclusively under Dr. Tilloch's management; nor did he wholly relinquish its superintendence, until he was compelled by those debilities of nature which terminated in his death. But amidst these various avocations and duties, Dr. Tilloch found time to turn his attention to subjects of theology. In the Star, during the early years that it was under his management, he published numerous essays and dissertations on the Prophecies, some of which were on detached points, and others in continuation of the same train of thought and argumentation. These compositions were afterwards collected together by a gentleman in the North, and published in a volume, under the name of Biblicus.' In the year 1823, Dr. Tilloch published in

I Westminster Hall.