MARCH is the third month of the year; with the ancients it was the first: according to Mr. Leigh Hunt, from Ovid, the Romans named it from Mars, the god of war, because he was the father of their first prince. "As to the deity's nature, March has certainly nothing in common with it; for though it affects to be very rough, it is one of the best natured months in the year, drying up the superabundant moisture of winter with its fierce winds, and thus restoring us our paths through the fields, and piping before the flowers like a bacchanal. He sometimes, it must he confessed, as if in a fit of the spleen, hinders the buds which he has dried from blowing; and it is allowable in the less robust part of his friends out of doors, to object to the fancy he has for coming in such a cutting manner from the east. But it may be truly said, that the oftener you Spenser. meet him firmly, the less he will shake you; and the more smiles you will have from the fair months that follow him." Perhaps the ascription of this month to Mars, by the Romans, was a compliment to themselves; they were the sons of War, and might naturally deduce their origin from the belligerent deity. Minerva was also patroness of March. Verstegan says of our Saxon ancestors, that "the moneth of March they called Lenct-monat, that is, according to our new orthography, Length-moneth, because the dayes did then first begin in length to exceed the nights. And this moneth being by our ancestors so called when they received Christianity, and conse quently therewith the ancient christiar custome of fasting, they called this chiefe season of fasting the fast of Lenct, because of the Lenct-monat, whereon the most part of the time of this fasting alwayes fell; and hereof it cometh that we now cal it Lent, it being rather the fast of Lent, thogh the former name of Lenctmonat be long since lost, and the name of March borrowed in stead thereof." Lenct, or Lent, however, means Spring; hence March was the Spring-month. Dr. Sayer says the Saxons likewise called it Rhedmonath,a word derived by some from one of their deities, named Rheda, to whom sacrifices were offered in March; others derive it from rad, the Saxon word for council, March being the month wherein wars or expeditions were usually undertaken by the Gothic tribes. The Saxons also called it Hlyd-monath, from hlyd, which means stormy, ani in this sense March was the Stormy month. No living writer discourses so agreeably on the ، Months” as Mr. Leigh Hunt m his little volume bearing that title. He says of March, that-"The animal creation now exhibit unequivocal signs of activity. The farmer extends the exercise of his plough; and, if fair weather continues, begins sowing barley and oats. Bats and eptiles break up their winter sleep: the ittle smelts or sparlings run up the softened rivers to spawn: the field-fare and woodcock return to their northern quarters; the rooks are all in motion with building and repairing their nests; hens sit; geese and ducks lay; pheasants crow; the ring-dove coos; young lambs come tottering forth in mild weather; the throstle warbles on the top of some naked tree, as if he triumphed over the last lingering of barrenness; and, lastly, forth issues the bee with his vernal trumpet, to tell us that there is news of sunshine and the flowers.In addition to the last month's flowers, we now have the crownimperial, the dog's-tooth violet, fritillaries, the hyacinth, narcissus, (bending its face like its namesake,) pilewort, scarlet ranunculus, great snow-drop, tulips, (which turned even the Dutch to enthusiasts,) and violets, proverbial for their odour, which were perhaps the favourite flowers of Shakspeare. The passage at the beginning of 'Twelfth Night,' in which he comDares their scent with the passing sweetness of inusic is well-known, and probably suggested the beautiful one in lord 'Bacon's Essays,' about the superiority of flowers in the open air, where the scent omes and goes like the warbling of music."" Now, Winter, dispossessed of storms, and weak from boisterous rage, Ling'ring on the verge of Spring, Looks back, while at his keen and chilling Retires reluctant, and from time to time breath Fair Flora sickens. March 1. St. David, Archbishop, A. D. 544. ST. DAVID. Patron of Wales. St. St. St. Mo St. David, or, in Welch, Dewid, was son of Xantus, prince of Cardiganshire, the Isle of Wight, afterwards preached to brought up a priest, became an ascetic in the Britons, founded twelve monasteries, ate only bread and vegetables, and drank milk and water. A synod being called at Brevy, in Cardiganshire, a. D. 519, iu order to suppress the heresy of Pelagius, "St. David confuted and silenced the infernal monster by his learning, eloqtence, and miracles.” After the synod, St. Dubrities, archbishop of Caerleon, resigned his see to St. David, which see is now called St. David's. He died in 544. St. Kentigern saw his soul borne by angels St. Andrew. In 962, his relics were to heaven; his body was in the church of translated to Glastonbury. Butler conceals that St. David's mother was not married to his father, but Ciessy tells the story out, and that his birth was prophecied of thirty years before it happened. is, that at the anti-Pelagian synod he reOne of the miracles alleged of St. David stored a child to life, ordered it to spread a napkin under his feet, and made an oration; that a snow white dove descended from heaven and sat on his shoulders; and that the ground whereon he stood rose under him till it became a hill," on the top of which hill a church was afterwards built, which remains to this day." He assem bled a provincial synod to confirm the decrees of Brevy; and wrote the proceedings of both synods for preservation in his own church, and to be sent to the other churches of the province; but they were lost by age, negligence, and the incursions of pirates, who almost every summer came * Butler's Saints. 66 in long boats from the Orkneys, and wasted the coasts of Cambria. He invited St. Kined to this synod, who answered that he had grown crooked, distorted, and too weak for the journey; whereupon ensued "a double miracle," for "St. Kined havmg been restored to health and straightness by the prayers of St. David, by his own prayers he was reduced again to his former infirmity and crookedness." After this synod he journeyed to the monastery of Glastonbury, which he had built there and consecrated, with intent to repair it, and consecrate it again; whereupon our Lord appearing to him in his sleep, and forbidding him to profane the sacred ceremony before performed, he, in estimony, with his finger pierced a hole .n the bishop's hand, which remained open o the view of all men till the end of the next day's mass." Before his death "the angel of the lord appeared to him, and said to him, Prepare thyself." Again: "When the hour of his departure was come, our Lord Jesus Christ vouchsafed his presence, to the infinite consolation of our holy father, who at the sight of him exulted." More to the same purpose is alleged by the catholic writers respecting him. Such as, that at his death" being associated to a troop of angels, he with them mounted up to heaven," and that the event was known "by an angel divulging it." This is Cressy's account. According to another biographer of St. David, he was uncle to the famous prince Arthur, or, strictly speaking, half uncle, if St. David's illegitimacy be authentic. The same author relates of him, that on his way from building the church of Glastonbury he went to Bath, cured an infection of the waters, and by his prayers and benediction gave them the perpetual heat they still retain. On the same authority, St. David's posthumous virtue, in the reign of king Stephen, occasioned the brook above the church-yard of St. David's church to run wine, by miracle: the well near it, called Pisteldewy or the conduit of David, sent forth milk instead of water. Also a boy, that endeavoured to take pigeons from a nest in St. David's church at Lhannons, had his fingers miraculously fastened to the stone, till by his friends' watching, fasting, and praying before the altar three days and nights, the stone fell from his hand. "Manie thousands of other miracles have been wrought by the meritts of this holy man, which for brevities sake we omitt. I only desire all true hearted Welchmen allwaies to honour this their great patrone and protector, and supplicate the divine goodnes to reduce his sometimes beloved countrey out of the blindnes of Protestancie, groveling in which it lang isheth. Not only in Wales, but all England over is most famous in memorie of St. David. But in these our unhappie daies the greatest part of his solemnitie consisteth in wearing of a greene leeke, and it is a sufficient theme for a zealous Welchman to ground a quarrell against him, that doeth not honour his capp with the like ornament that day." So saith Porter. This legend has been the theme of successive writers, with more or less of variation, and much of addition. Inscription for a monument in the Vale of Ewias. Here was it, stranger, that the Patron Saint Of Cambria past his age of penitence, A solitary man; and here he made His hermitage, the roots his food, his drink Of Hodney's mountain stream. Perchance thy youth Has read, with eager wonder, how the knight : Of Wales, in Ormandine's enchanted bower To conquest. Stranger! Hatterill's mountain heights MR. SOUTHEY St. David's Day. Wearing the Leek. Mr. Brady, in the "Clavis Calendaria," affirms that the custom of wearing the leek on St. David's day is derived from St. David; who, according to him, caused the Britons under king Cadwallader to distinguish themselves from their enemies during a great battle, wherein they conquered the Saxons by virtue of his prayers and that regulation. Unfortunately he lays no ground for this positive statement, and the same misfortune attends almost every representation in his book, which would really be useful if he had pointed to his sources of information. A work professing to state facts without referring to authorities has no claim to confidence, whoever may be its author. For any thing in the shape of ancient and authentic statement to the contrary, the institution of wearing the leek on St. David's day by the saint himself, may rest on a Jeffrey of Monmouth authority, or on legends of no higher estimation with the historian, than "The famous History of the Seven Champions of Christendom," by Richard Johnson. Shakspeare, whose genius appropriated every thing that his extraordinary faculty of observation marked for its own, introduces this custom of the Welch wearing leeks upon St. David's day into his play of King Henry V. Enter Pistol to King Henry. Pistol. Qui va là? K. Henry. A friend. P. What's thy name? K. H. Harry le Roy. P. Le Roy! a Cornish name: art thou of Cornish crew? K. H. No, I am a Welchman. P. Knowest thou Fluellen? K. H. Yes. memory, an't please your majesty, and you great-uncle, Edward, the black prince, as I have read in the chronicles, fought a most prave pattle here in France. K. Henry. They did, Fluellen. F. Your majesty says very true: if your majesties is remembered of it, the Welchmen did goot service in a garden where leeks did grow, wearing leeks in their Monmouth caps; which, your majesty knows, is an honourable padge of the service: and, I do believe, your majesty takes no scorn to wear the leek upon Saint Tavy's day K. H. I wear it for a memorable honour: for I am a Welch, you know, good countryman. This allusion by Fluellen to the Welch having worn the leek in a battle under the black prince, is not, perhaps, as some writers suppose, wholly decisive of its having originated in the fields of Cressy or Poictiers; but it shows that when Shakspeare wrote, Welchmen wore leeks. In the same play, the well-remembered Fluellen's enforcement of Pistol to eat the leek he had ridiculed, further establishes the wearing it as a usage. Fluellen wears his leek in the battle of Agincourt, which it will be recollected takes place in this play, and is there mentioned, as well as in the chronicles, to have been "fought on the day of Crispin Crispianus," in the month of October. The scene between Fluellen and Pistol takes place the day after this battle. Enter Fluellen and Gower. Gower. Why wear you your leek to day? St. David's day is past. Fluellen. There is occasions and causes why and wherefore in all things.-The rascally, scald, peggarly, pragging knave, Pistol, a fellow look you now of no merits. he is come to me with pread and salt yes P. Tell him, I'll knock his leek about terday, look you, and pid me eat my leek. his pate Upon St. David's day. K. H. Do not you wear your dagger in your cap that day, lest he knock that about yours. It is again referred to in a dialogue between Henry V. and Fluellen. Fluellen. Your grandfather of famous it was in a place where I could not preed no contentions with him, but I will be so pold as to wear it in my cap till I see him once again, and then-(Enter Pistol)— Got pless you, ancient Pistol! you scurvy knave, Got pless you! P. Hence! I am qualmish at the smell of leek. G. I peseech you heartily scurvy knave, at my desires, and my requests, and my Detitions, to eat, look you, this leek. P. Not for Cadwallader, and all his goats. F. There is one goat for you. (strikes him.) Will you be so goot, scald knave, as eat it? P. Base Trojan, thou shalt die. F. I desire you to live in the mean time, and eat your victuals; come there is sauce for it.-(strikes him.) If you can mock a leek, you can eat a leek. By beating and taunt, Fluellen forces Pistol to eat the leek, and on its being wholly swallowed, Fluellen exhorts him "when you take occasions to see leeks hereafter, I pray you, mock at them, that Is all!" Having thus accomplished his purpose, Fluellen leaves Pistol to digestion, and the consolation of Gower, who calls him "counterfeit cowardly knave: will you mock at an ancient tradition, begun upon an honourable aspect, and worn as a memorable trophy of predeceased valour, and dare not avouch in your deeds any of your words?" 66 Here we have Gower speaking of the custom of the Welch wearing leeks as an ancient tradition," and as a memorable trophy of predeceased valour." Thoroughly versed in the history of the few reigns preceding the period wherein he lived, it is not likely that Shakspeare would make a character in the time of Henry V. refer to an occurrence under the black prince, little more than half a century before the battle of Agincourt, as an affair of "ancient tradition." Its origin may be fairly referred to a very early period. A contributor to a periodical work rejects the notion, that wearing leeks on St. David's day originated at the battle between the Welch and the Saxons in the sixth century; and thinks it more probable that leeks were a druidic symbol employed in honour of the British Ceudven or Ceres. In which hypothesis, he thinks, there is nothing strained or far-fetched, presuming that the Druids were a branch of the Phoenician priesthood. Both were addicted to oak worship; and during the funereal rites of Adonis at Byblos, leeks and onions were exhibited in "pots with other vegetables, and called the gardens of that deity." The leek was worshipped at Ascalon, (whence the modern term of Scallions,) as it was in Egypt. Leeks and "Gazette of Fashion," March 9, 1822. onions were also deposited in the sacred chests of the mysteries both of Isis and Ceres, the Ceudven of the Druids; teeks are among the Egyptian hieroglyphics; sometimes a leek is on the head of Osiris ; and at other times grasped in an extended hand; and thence, perhaps, the Italian proverb, "Porro che nasce nella mano," a leek that grows in the hand, for a virtue. Porrus, a leek, is derived by Bryant from the Egyptian god Pi-orus, who is the same as the Beal Peor of the Phoenicians, and the Bel or Bellinis of the Druids These accordances are worth an ancient Briton's consideration. Ridicule of national peculiarities was formerly a pleasantry that the English freely indulged in. They seemed to think that different soil was good ground for a laugh at a person, and that it justified coarse and insolent remarks. In an old satirical tract there is the following sneer at the Welch: "A WELCHMAN, Is the Oyster that the Pearl is in, for a man may be pickt out of him. He hath the abilities of the mind in potentiâ, and actu nothing but boldnesse. His Clothes are in fashion before his Bodie; and he accounts boldnesse the chiefest vertue. Above all men he loves a Herrald, and speakes pedigrees naturally. He accompts none well descended that call him not Cosen, and prefers Owen Glendower before any of the nine worthies. The first note of his familiaritie is the confession of his valour; and so he prevents quarrels. Hee voucheth Welch a pure, an unconquered language; and courts Ladies with the storie of their Chronicle. To conclude, he is pretious in his own conceit, and upon St. David's day without comparison." Not quite so flouting is a poetical satire called, The Welchman's Song in praise of Wales From whence the Welse dos take hur root; "A wife, now the widdow of sir Thomas Overburye, being a most exquisite and singular poem of the choice of a wife, whereunto are added many witty characters," &c. London, printed for Lawrence Lisle, 4to. 1614. |