INVENTION OF THE CROSS. This festival of the Romish church is also in the church of England calendar; Mr. Audley says, "the word invention sometimes signifies the finding a thing that was hidden;" thence the name of this festival, which celebrates the alleged finding of the cross of Christ by St. Helena, who is said to have found three crosses on Mount Calvary, but the true one could not be distinguished, till a sick woman being placed on each, was healed by one, which was therefore pronounced the veritable cross. Mr.Audley quotes, that "the custody of the cross was committed to the bishop of Jerusalem. Every Easter Sunday it was exposed to view, and pilgrims from all countries were indulged with little pieces of it enchased in gold or gems. What was most astonishing, the sacred wood was never lessened, although it was perpetually diminished, for it possessed a secret power of vegetation." It appears from Ribadeneira, that St. Paulinus says, "the cross being a piece of wood without sense or feeling, yet seemeth to have in it a living and everlasting virtue; and from that time to this it permitteth itself to be parted and divided to comply with innumerable persons, and yet suffereth no loss or detriment, but remains as entire as if it had never been cut, so that it can be severed, parted, and divided, for those among whom it is to be distributed, and still remains whole and entire for all that come to reverence and adore it." There is no other way left to the Romish church to account for the superabundance of the wood of the cross. Robert Parker wrote a remarkably learned book, in folio, entitled-" A Scholasticall Discourse against symbolizing with Antichrist in ceremonies: especially in the signe of the Crosse, 1607." This erudite work subjected Parker to a persecution under James I., from which he fled to Doesburg, where he died in 1630. CROSS OF THE SOUTH This constellation is in about 185 de grees of longitude; its south-polar dis tance being only about 39 degrees, it cannot be seen in the northern parts of Europe. Humboldt who observed the cross of the south, thus eloquently describes it:" The lower regions of the air were loaded with vapours for some days We saw distinctly, for the first time, the cross of the south, only in the night of the 4th and 5th of July, in the sixteenth degree of latitude. It was strongly inclined, and appeared, from time to time, between the clouds, the centre of which, furrowed by uncondensed lightnings, reflected a silver light. The pleasure felt on discovering the southern cross was warmly shared by such of the crew as had lived in the colonies. In the solitude of the seas, we hail a star as a friend from whom we have been long separated. Among the Portuguese and the Spaniards, peculiar motives seem to increase this feeling; a religious sentiment attaches them to a constellation, the form of which recalls the sign of the faith planted by their ancestors in the deserts of the new world The two great stars which mark the summit and the foot of the cross, having nearly the same right ascension, it follows, that the constellation is almost ver. tical at the moment when it passes the meridian. This circumstance is known to every nation that lives beyond the tropics, or in the southern hemisphere It is known at what hour of the night, in different seasons, the southern cross is erect, or inclined. It is a timepiece that advances very regularly nearly four minutes a day; and no other group of stars exhibits, to the naked eye, an obser vation of time so easily made. How often have we heard our guides exclaim, in the savannas of Venezuela, or in the desert extending from Lima to Truxillo, Midnight is past, the cross begins to bend!' How often these words reminded us of that affecting scene, where Paul and Virginia, seated near the source of the river of Lataniers, conversed together for the last time; and when the old man, at the sight of the southern cross, warns them that it is time to separate!" FLORAL DIRECTORY. Poetic Narcissus. Narcissus poeticus. Dr. Forster Peren. Cal. 1471. Battle of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, gained by Edward IV. over the Lancasterians. 1677. Dr. Isaac Barrow died, aged 47. He was an eminent mathematician, a learned divine, and a high cavalier. Educated at the Charter-house, he was disinclined to study; his recreation was in sports that led to fighting among the boys, yet he afterwards subdued his inclination to quarrels, and distinguished himself as a scholar. He became professor of mathematics at Cambridge, master of Trinity-college, served the office of vice-chancellor, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Charles II. used to say of him, that he exhausted every subject whereon he treated; yet he did nothing for him. After the Restoration, Barrow wrote a Latin distich, thus translated : O, how my breast did ever burn, To see my lawful king return! Yet, whilst his happy fate I bless, No one has felt his influence less. Barrow was a great smoker to help his thinking. He was a great wit: he met Rochester at court, who said to him, "doctor, I am yours to my shoe-tie;" Barrow bowed obsequiously with, "my lord, I am yours to the ground;" Rochester returned this by," doctor, I am yours to the centre;" Barrow rejoined, "my lord, I am yours to the antipodes;" Rochester, not to be foiled by "a musty old piece of divinity," as he was accustomed to call him, exclaimed, "doctor, I am yours to the lowest pit of hell;" whereupon Barrow turned from him with, "there, my lord, I leave you." • Butler. 1736. Eustace Budgell drowned him self, at the age of 52, from vexation, that a bequest to him of 2,000l. in the will of Dr. Tindal, was set aside. He wrote in the "Spectator," "Tatler," and "Guardian ;" was a member of the Irish parliament, and lost his property in the South-sea bubble writing-engraver, died, aged 74; and was 1758. George Bickham, the eminent buried at St. Luke's, Old-street. 1795. John James Barthelemy, the celebrated author of "The Travels of Anacharsis the younger in Greece," died, aged 79. He was a man of deep learning and simplicity of character; unhappily he became involved in the troubles of the French revolution, and endured great hardships from the turbulence of men opposed to his views of social happiness. BIRDS. A distinguished naturalist obligingly communicates the subjoined table and prefatory remark. For the Every-Day Book. A notion prevails that birds do great injury in gardens and fields, and hence rewards are frequently offered to induce boys and others to kill them in spring. The notion and the practice are erroneous. A gentleman of long experience in horticulture, has ascertained that birds, in general, do more good by destroying vermin than they do harm by the little fruit and grain they consume; an entire district in Germany was once nearly deprived of its corn harvest, by an order to kill all the rooks having been generally obeyed. May 5. bankrupt, was relieved in his misfortunes by Dr. Johnson, wrote the “Life of Garrick," "Dramatic Miscellanies," and other pieces; and acquired before his death the honourable appellation o "honest Tom Davies." He was intrusted by the rev. James Granger with the publication of his " Biographical History of England." 1789. Joseph Baretti, author of the "Italian Dictionary," &c. died, aged 73. 1821. Napoleon died at St. Helena, in the sixth year of his confinement. What historians will tell. St. Pius V., Pope, A. D. 1572. St. Hilary, he was all men pretend to know, and Abp. of Arles, A. D. 449. St. Angelus, A. D. 1225. St. Mauront, Abbot, A. D. 706. St. Avertin, A. D. 1189. CHRONOLOGY. 1760. The right honourable Laurence, earl Ferrers, viscount Tamworth, was hanged at Tyburn, for the murder of John Johnson, his steward. 1785. Thomas Davies, died. He is well recollected from frequent creditable mention made of him in Boswell's "Life of Johnson;" Davies was an actor, afterwards a bookseller, turned strolling player, returned to the bookselling business in Russel- street, Covent-garden, became THE SEASON. "Here they are! blowing, growing, all alive!" This was an old London cry by little flower gardeners, who brought the products of their grounds to the metropolis, and wheeled them through the streets in a barrow, "blowing, growing, all alive!" to tempt purchasers in the humble streets and alleys of working neighbourhoods. Acts of Parliament have put down the flower-pots, which were accustomed to "topple on the walkers' heads," from the windows of houses, wherein flower-fanciers dwelt. Flower Garden. Fairhanded Spring unbosoms every grace, The yellow wallflower, stained with iron brown, With shining meal o'er all their velvet leaves Then comes the tulip race, where beauty plays To family, as flies the father dust, The varied colours run; and while they oreak As o'er the fabled mountain hanging still Nor broad carnations, nor gay spotted pinks, Nor showered from every bush the damask rose. FLORAL DIRECTORY. Apple Tree. Pyrus Malus. Thomson. to drink poison, he swallowed it without sustaining injury. There is a further legend, that while St. Edward the Confessor was dedicating a church to St. John, a pilgrim demanded alms of him in the saint's name, whereupon the king gave him the ring from his finger. This pilgrim was St. John, who discovered himself to two English pilgrims in the Holy Land, bidding them Sear the ring to the king in his name, and require him to make ready to depart this world; after this they went to sleep. On awakening they found themselves among flocks of sheep and shepherds in a strange place, which turned out to be Barham Downs in Kent, wherefore they thanked God and St. John for their good speed, and coming to St. Edward on Christmasday, delivered to him the ring with the warning; these the king received in a suitable manner, "And on the vigyll of the Epyphanye, next after, he dyed and departed holyly out of this worlde, and is buryed in the Abbey of Westmester by London, where as is yet unto this daye that same rynge." Again it is said, that Isidore affirms of St. John, that he transformed branches of trees into fine gold, and sea-gravel into precious stones, with other like incredibilities.* CHRONOLOGY. 1677. Samuel Bochart, a learned French Protestant divine and orientalist, died at Caen, aged 68 years. 1802. Died at Guernsey, aged 40, of water in his chest, serjeant Samuel M'Donald, of the 93d regiment, commonly known by the name of Big Sam. He served during the American war with his countrymen, the Sutherland Fencibles, and afterwards as fugelman in the Royals, till 1791, when he was taken into the household of his royal highness the prince of Wales, as lodge-porter at Carltonhouse, and remained in that capacity till 1793; he was then appointed a serjeant in the late Sutherland Fencibles, and continued to act in that corps, and the 93d regiment, formed from it, till his death.— He was six feet ten inches in height, four feet round the chest, and well proportioned. He continued active till his 35th year, when he began to decline. His strength was prodigious, but he was never known to exert it improperly. Several considerable offers were made to engage him as a public exhibition, all of which he refused, and always disliked being stared at. SPRING BLIGHT. The greatest misfortune that the cultivator of a garden apprehends at this season, is blight, of which, according to Dr. Forster, there are three kinds. "The first occurs in the early spring, about the time of the blossoming of the peach, and is nothing more thau a dry frosty wind, usually from the north or north-east, and principally affects the blossoms, causing them to fall off prematurely. The two other kinds of blight occur in this month, affecting principally the apple and pear trees, and sometimes the corn. One of these consists in the appearance of an immense multitude of aphides, a kind of small insect of a brown, or black, or green colour, attack. ing the leaves of plants, and entirely incrusting the young stems. These pests are always found to make their appearance after a north-east wind, and it has been supposed by many that they are actually conveyed hither by the wind. Thomson, too, positively ascribes them to the north wind: For oft engendered by the hazy north, "In our opinion, an east wind more often brings blights. Many circumstances, indeed, favour the opinion that blights are animalculæ ; as the suddenness with which they appear, being generally in the course of a single night, and those trees that are sheltered from fue wind being uninfected: indeed, it • Golden Legeod. frequently happens that a single branch that chances to be screened, will escape unhurt, while the rest of the tree is quite covered with these minute destroyers. A third reason may be derived from the inactivity of these insects: they generally remain almost immovable on the branch or leaf where they are first seen, and are for the most part, unprovided with wings vet the places where they are commonly |