the old man sold them for high prices, yet he was accustomed to hurry his son at his meals as well as his work, and say, "Luca fa presto!" Luca, make haste: hence, Luca's companions nicknamed him Fa Presto. His knowledge of the style of artists belonging to different schools was amazing, and though his attainments in judgment and execution were of high order, he seems to have preferred the copying of other compositions to painting designs by himself. Hence, there are more pictures by Luca fa Presto than some connoisseurs would willingly acknowledge. They pervade every collection under the reputation of being by Titian, Guido, Tintorette, and other painters of greater celebrity than Giordano. Ile etched his own thoughts freely and gracefully, and died loaded with honours from crowned heads, and immensely rich, in 1704. FLORAL DIRECTORY. Bloody Heath. Erica cruenta. Dedicated to the Holy Innocents. December 29. St Thomas, Abp. of Canterbury, A. D. 1170. St. Marcellus, Abbot of the Acametes, A. D. 485. St. Evroul, Abbot, A. n. 596. Sculpture. Much has been remarked in the course of these sheets respecting painting, which, if our artists will labour, they may elevate to a height that will honour their country, and amply reward themselves. It is a mistake to suppose that real talent is not appreciated. Precocity is not talent till it has ripened; it usually withers and falls beneath the only test of greatness, labour: patrons experience this, and sicken. Whenever genius labours, it finds patrons. Sculpture in the Engl sh school seems of late to have advanced further than painting, in their simultaneous efforts, and in this department of art, Ireland is likely to compete with England. At the distribution of medals by sir Thomas Lawrence to students, at the Royal Academy, in the month of December, 1825, Mr. John Gallagher and Mr. Constantine Panormo, natives of the sister country, received the two medals for sculpture. It is a happy augury for the Royal Dublin Society that these young men were the first individuals sent hither The earth, as it appears in England at this period, is well represented in the "Mirror of the Months," the pleasant reflex of the year referred to in November. "The meadows are still green-almost as green as in the spring with the late-sprouted grass that the last rains have called up since it has been fed off, and the cattle called home to enjoy their winter fodder. The corn-fields, too, are bright with their delicate sprinkling of young autumn-sown wheat; the ground about the hedge-rows, and in the young copses, is still pleasant to look upon, from the sobered green of the hardy primrose and violet, whose clumps of unfading leaves brave the utinost rigour of the season; and every here and there a bush of holly darts up its pyramid of shining leaves and brilliant berries, from amidst the late wild and wandering, but now faded and forlorn company of woodbines and eglantines, which have all the rest of the year been exulting over and almost hiding it with their quick-growing branches, and flaunting flowers. evergreens, too, that assist in forming the home enclosures, have altogether lost that sombre hue which they have until lately worn-sombre in comparison with the bright freshness of spring, and the splendid variety of autumn; and now, that not a leaf is left around them, they look as gay by the contrast as they lately looked grave." The FLORAL DIRECTORY. Pontieva. Ponthieva glandalom. Dedicated to St. Anysia. December 31. St. Sylvester, Pope, A. D. 335. St. Columba, A. D. 258. St. Melania, the younger, A. D. 439. St. Sylvester. This saint, whose name is in the church of England calendar and the almanacs, "He is said to was pope Sylvester I. have been the author of several rites and ceremonies of the Romish church, as asylums, unctions, palls, corporals, &c. He died in 334." * New Year's Eve. To end the old year merrily, and begin the new one well, and in friendship, were popular objects in the celebration of this festival. It was spent among our labouring ancestors in festivity and frolic by the men; and the young women of the village carried from door to door, a bowl of spiced ale, the wassail bowl, which they offered to the inhabitants of every house they stopped at, singing rude congratulatory verses, and hoping for small presents. Young men and women also exchanged clothes, which was termed Mumming, or Disguising; and when thus dressed in each other's garments, they went from one neighbour's cottage to another, singing, dancing, and partaking of good cheer † The anticipated pleasure of the coming year, accompanied by regret at parting with the present old year, is naturally expressed by a writer already cited. "After Christmas-day comes the last day of the year; and I confess I wish the bells would not ring so merrily on the next. I have not become used enough to the loss of the old year to like so triumphant a welcome to the new. I am certain of the pleasures I have had during the twelvemonth: I have become used to the pains. In a few days, especially by the help of Twelfthnight, I shall become reconciled to the writing 6 instead of 5 in the date of the year. Then welcome new hopes and new endeavours. But at the moment-at the Mr. Audley's Companion to Almanac. • Dr. Drake's Shakspeare and his Times. turn-I hate to bid adieu to my old acquaintance.' ELIA, in a delightful paper on the "Eve of New Year's-day, 1821, among the other delightful essays of his volume, entitled "ELIA"-a little book, whereof to say that it is of more gracious feeling and truer beauty than any of our century, is poor praise-Elia says, "while that turncoat bell, that just now mournfully chanted the obsequies of the year departed, with changed notes lustily rings in a successor, let us attune to its peal the song made on a like occasion, by hearty, cheerful Mr. Cotton." Turn, gentle reader, to the first page of the first sheet, which this hand presented to you, and you will find the first two and twenty lines of ELIA'S song." They tell us, that, of the two faces of Janus, that which this way looks is clear, Yet more and more he smiles upon Why should we then suspect or fear New Monthly Magazine, Dec 18. "How say you reader-do not these verses smack of the rough magnanimity of the old English vein? Do they not fortify like a cordial; enlarging the heart, and productive of sweet blood, and generous spirits in the concoction?-Another cup of the generous! and a merry New Year, and many of them, to you all, my masters !" The same to you, ELIA,-and "to you all my masters!"- Ladies! think not yourselves neglected, who are chief my masters"-you are the kindamong est, and therefore the most masterful, and most worshipful of "my masters!" Under the female form the ancients worshipped the Earth. They called her "Bona Dea," or the "Good Goddess," by way of excellency, and that, for the best reason in the world, because "there is no beingthat does men more good." In respect to her chastity, all men were forbidden to be present at her worship; the high priest himself, in whose house it was performed, aud who was the chief minister in all others, not excepted. Cicero imputed to Clodius as a crime that he had entered the sacred fane in disguise, and by his presence polluted the mysteries of the Good Goddess. The Roman ladies offered sacrifices to her through the wife of the high priest, and virgins consecrated to the purpose. The Earth, Bona Dea, or the "Good Goddess," was represented under the form of a matron with her right hand opened, as if tendering assistance to the helpless, and holding a loaf in her left hand. She was also venerated under the name of Ops, and other denominations, but with the highest attributes; and when so designated, she was worshipped by men and boys, as well as women and virgins; and priests ministered to her in dances with brazen cymbals. These motions signified that the Earth only imparted blessings upon being constantly moved; and as brass was discovered before iron, the cymbals were composed of that metal to indicate her antiquity. The worshippers seated themselves on the ground, and the posture of devotion was bending forward, and touching the ground with the right hand. On the head of the goddess was placed a crown of towers, denoting strength, and that they were to be worn by those who persevered. To all of the earth" not wholly earthy," the Earth seemed a fit subject to picture under its ancient symbol; and, in a robe of arable and foliage, set in a goodly frame of the celestial signs, with the seasons" as they roll," it will be offered as a frontispiece to the present volume, and accompany the title-page with the indexes in the next sheet. It must have been obvious to every reader of the Every-Day Book, as it has been to me, of which there have been several indications for some time past, that the plan of the work could not be executed within the year; and I am glad to find from numerous quarters that its continuance is approved and even required. So far as it has proceeded I have done my utmost to render it useful. My endeavours to render it agreeable may occasion "close" readers to object, that it was more discursive than they expected. I am afraid I can only answer that I cannot unmake my making-up; and plead guilty to the fact, that, knowing the wants of many, through my own deficiencies, I have tried to aid them in the way that appeared most likely to effect the object, with the greater number of those for whom the work was designed. Nor do I hesi tate also to acknowledge, that in gathering for others, I have in no small degree been teaching myself. For it is of the nature of such an undertaking to constrain him who executes it, to tasks of thought, and exercises of judgment, unseen by those who are satisfied when they enjoy what is before them, and care not by what ventures it was obtained. My chief anxiety has been to provide a wholesome sufficiency for all, and not to offer any thing that should be hurtful or objectionable. I hope I have succeeded. I respectfully desire to express my grateful sense of the extensive favour wherein the conduct of the publication is held. And I part from my readers on New Year's-eve, with kind regards till we meet in the new volume of the EveryDay Book on New Year's day-to-mor row. 45, Ludgate-hili, 1825 END GI VOL. I W. HONE GENERAL INDEX. SUBJECTS CONTAINED OR NOTICED IN THIS VOLUME. Festivals and other Holydays of observance, in the Church of England Calendar, ABBEVILLE, sporting letter from, 7:8 Abduction, case of, 381 Abelard, P., died, 247 Abercromby, sir R, died, 199 Accomplishments without principle, 144 Advent, meaning of the term, 766; cus- Etna, its eruptions diverted by a 1-dy's Africa, travels in, 790 AGATHA, February 5; miracles by her, 107 AGNES, January 21; her legend, 71; cus- Air, spiritually peopled, 664 Aits, islands on the Thames, 302 ALBAN, June 17; account of this saint, Alban's, St, Herts, formerly Holmhurst, Almanacs, chronological error in, 715; Alphabet, in a bill of costs, 119 Am lia, princess, original letter from, 5:6 Amherst, lord, his portrait, 302 264 Amiens, peace of, signed, 196 Amulet, the, its literary character, 7 6 Angels, archangels, and angels guardian, Anglo-Norman carol, 798 ANNUNCIATION, B. V. M., or Lady Day, March 25; customs on the festival, 193 Anson, commodore, lord, died, 384 252 Antony, St., picture of, 59; his hospital, Apollo and Minerva, shown at Naples, for -, an, of Cambridge, 632 Apparition of an arm chair, 747 | Apple, sports, 704, 711; diving, 708 Apples, the finest, where grown, 454; | Bales, Peter, a writing-master, account o^, Apple-tree, charm, 21; wassail, 803 Apron, the barbers', 627 Archers, decay of, 618; their service at Architecture of the new churches, 473 ncian, 31 Armitage, the racket-player, 434 Arsedine, yellow arsenic, 607 Art, eminence in it, how attained, 137 294 ASCENSION-DAY, 326; its customs, 690 Ash, rev. J., philologist, died, 265 Astley's troop at Bartholomew fair, 623 Attanasy, father, his Easter sermon, 223 August, the Twelfth of, petition from, -, St., August 28; an early father, Aunty's garden, a pastime, 54 Aurochos, an African animal, 588 543 Ball-play customs, 122, 130, 215, 777. Banks, sir Jos., his wine-cellar, 11; died, Bannockburn, battle of, 428 Bannocks, cakes, "sauty" and charmed Bara, a Sicilian festival, 559 Barley, beerlegh, berlegh, berleg, 574 Barme, beerheyın, berham, 574 Barnes and Finley's booth at Bartholo- Barnet, battle of, 232 Baron, lord chief, to say he cannot hear Barrow, Dr. Isaac, notice of, 307 massacre at Paris, 566 fair, is ancient and present hospital, origin of, 616 Mr., of St. John's, Clerk- enwell, 740, 741 Bassingborne, Camb., mystery at, 378. Baal, Bal, Beal, Bel-tein, fires, 297, 424, Bathing, 447, 485 Bacchus, his festival, 736 Bachelors, in the lord mayor's show, 727 Bailey, rev. R. R., his sermon at St. Batman, Stephen, his notice of printing, Batrich, Thomas, an ancient barber, 622 Baynes, John, account of, 80 |