Gone like a bird the fair deceit, JUNE. JUNE takes its name from Juno; Mercury was its tutelar deity. The first four days of this month were passed in festivals in honour of Juno, Mars, Bellona, and Hercules; there were games in the Circus. On the 29th was a feast in honour of Romulus under the name of Quirinus, the grand priest of which was chosen from among the Patricians, and enjoyed the greatest honours. The sign of this month is Cancer, signifying that the Sun, arrived at this sign, begins to retrace his course, and depart from us. Remarkable Days In JUNE 1826. 1.-NICOMEDde. NICOMEDE was a Christian of some distinction at Rome. He was a man of most active benevolence; but was scourged to death in the second persecution under Domitian. *3. 1825.-REV. T. MARTYN, B.D. F.R.S., died, Author of several valuable works on Natural History, and particularly of a much improved edition of 'Miller's Gardener's and Botanist's Dictionary,' in four volumes, folio, 1803-7. See a well-written memoir of Professor Martin in the Gentleman's Magazine for July 1825. *3. 1825.--FUNERAL OF SIR CHRISTOPHER MINGS. The following noble anecdote shows the spirit of our brave tars, even when they were ill paid, ill commanded, and ill disciplined. 'Invited to Sir Christopher Mings' funeral, but find them gone to church. However I into the church (which is a fair large church, and a great chapel) and there heard the service, and staid till they buried him, and then out. And there met with Sir W. Coventry (who was there out of great generosity, and no person of quality there but he), and went with him into his coach, and being in it with him there happened this extraordinary case,-one of the most romantique that ever I heard of in my life, and could not have believed, but that I did see it; which was this:-About a dozen able, lusty, proper men come to the coach-side with tears in their eyes, and one of them that spoke for the rest begun and said to Sir W. Coventry, "We are here a dozen of us, that have long known and loved, and served our dead commander, Sir Christopher Mings, and have now done the last office of laying him in the ground. We would be glad we had any other to offer after him, and in revenge of him. All we have is our lives; if you will please to get His Royal Highness to give us a fire-ship among us all, here are a dozen of us, out of all which choose you one to be commander, and the rest of us, whoever he is, will serve him; and, if possible, do that which shall show our memory of our dead commander, and our revenge." Sir W. Coventry was herewith much moved, (as well as I, who could hardly abstain from weeping) and took their names, and so parted; telling me that he would move His Royal Highness as in a thing very extraordinary. The truth is, Sir Christopher Mings was a very stout man, and a man of great parts, and most excellent tongue among ordinary men; and as Sir W. Coventry says, could have been the most useful man at such a pinch of time as this. He was come into great renowne here at home, and more abroad in the West Indys. He had brought his family into a way of being great; but dying at this time, his memory and name (his father being always and at this day a shoemaker, and his mother a hoyman's daughter; of which he was used frequently to boast) will be quite forgot in a few months as if he had never been, nor any of his name be the better by it; he having not had time to will any estate, but is dead poor rather than rich.'—Pepys's Memoirs. 5. SAINT BONIFACE. Boniface was a Saxon presbyter, born in England, and at first called Wilfrid. He was murdered in a barbarous manner by the populace near Utrecht, while preaching the Christian religion, on this day, in the year 755. *9. 1825.—REV. A. REES, D.D. died, Æt. 82. For more than forty years he statedly officiated to the large and opulent Unitarian congregation which met in the Old Jewry, but now assembling in Jewin Street, Aldersgate Street, and which had previously numbered among its ministers Dr. Chandler and Dr. Amory. Dr. Rees was the author of several single sermons, preached on public occasions, or in aid of public charitable objects. He also published four volumes of practical discourses, selected from his pulpit exercises, which have been well received and extensively circulated. For many years he was a frequent contributor to the Monthly Review, in conjunction with his able and esteemed friend the late Dr. Kippis. But the work by which he is chiefly known to the scientific public is his enlarged edition of Mr. Chambers's Cyclopædia, in four volumes, folio; and, above all, by his New Cyclopædia, in forty-five volumes, quarto. This was a truly gigantic undertaking for any individual, even with the able assistance he derived from distinguished contributors: he had the gratification, however, to live to see it completed, and to enjoy the well-earned reputation which its able execution secured for him. His eminent attainments were at different times rewarded with appropriate tokens of respect by various public bodies. The University of Edinburgh conferred upon him the honorary degree of D.D., through the spontaneous recommendation of the historian Dr. Robertson, when he held the office of Principal. On the completion of his edition of Chambers's Cyclopædia, which came out in periodical numbers, he was unamimously elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Soon after its institution he was chosen a Fellow of the Linnæan Society, and more recently was made an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was besides an honorary member of some Foreign Literary and Scientific Institutions. In his own religious community Dr. Rees held a prominent rank. 11.-SAINT BARNABAS. Saint Barnabas was descended of the tribe of Levi, and born at Cyprus. He was stoned to death by the Jews. An epistle written by him is still extant: it is published in Wake's Apostolical Fathers. *14. 1825.-PUBLIC CHINESE LIBRARY IN LONDON. It affords us much pleasure to state, that a very choice Chinese Library, containing about one thousand works of various authors, and consisting_of more than ten thousand volumes, selected by Dr. Morison while in China, has been opened in Bartlett's Buildings, Holborn, in a house belonging to the Language Institution. At this Library, the learned Doctor, or some of his senior students, attend every day, and do all in their power to communicate a knowledge of the Chinese language to those who are anxious to acquire it. Of the great importance of this language to Europeans, particularly to Englishmen, it is almost unnecessary to speak; the following sensible remarks upon this subject are taken from a clever little brochure which has just issued from the press. To the merchant and the missionary, who intend to visit the islands of the Chinese Archipelago, or even the continent itself, the advantages of a previous acquaintance with the language are so evident, that they need not be insisted upon. The intercourse which is still carried on with the Chinese language nations, and the prospect of its increase at the renewal of the Honourable East India Company's Charter, should stimulate many to the attainment of this language, which may be of so much importance to them in future life. To the missionary, little need be said upon the point; though the following extract may be acceptable to those who have not already perused it in the original discourse. After touching upon some points of their government and laws, the writer asks, "What then do the Chinese require from Europe? Not the arts of reading and printing; not mere general education; not what is so much harped upon by some philanthropists, civilization:they require only that which St. Paul deemed supremely excellent, and which it is the sole object of the Missionary Society to communicate. They require the knowledge of Christ. For, with all their antiquity and literature, and their arts and refinement, they are still infatuated idolaters; they are still given up to what heaven regards as abominable idolatries, and to vile affections working that which is unseemly. With all their civilization, still envy and malice; deceit and falsehood, to a boundless extent; pride and boasting; a selfish, ungenerous, scarcely honest prudence; and a cold metaphysical inhumanity, are the peculiar characteristics of the people of China'." *15. 1664.-AN EXCURSION TO GREENWICH. The following curious memorandum, illustrative of the amusements of this time, is taken from Mr Pepys's Memoirs : 'At home, to look after things for dinner. And anon at noon comes Mr. Creed by chance, and by and by the three young ladies: and very merry we were with our pasty, very well baked; and a good dish of roasted chickens; pease, lobsters, strawberries. And after dinner to cards: and about five o'clock, by water down to Greenwich; and up to the top of the hill, and there played upon the ground at cards. And so to the Cherry Garden, and then by water singing finely to the Bridge, and there landed; and so took boat again, and to Somerset House. And by this time, the tide being against us, it was past ten of the clock; and such a troublesome passage, in regard. of my Lady Paulina's fearfullness, that in all my life I never did see any poor wretch in that condition. Being come hither, there waited See' An Essay on the Nature and Structure of the Chinese Language, with Suggestions on its more extensive Study, by Thomas Myers, of Trinity College, Cambridge,' affording a very interesting and luminous view of the peculiarities of a language, both spoken and written in China, in Cochin-China, and Japan, and all the neighbouring islands, extending over a space which contains at least one-third of the population of the globe. Mr. Myers, we understand, has devoted much of his time to the study of the oriental languages, particularly the Hindustanee and the Chinese, and will feel happy in conveying any information on these subjects to the inquiring student, at his residence, Dartmouth Hill, Blackheath, Kent. |