so apportioning every usage in a modern ceremony, as to assign each to its proper origin. Some may have been common to a people before they were conquered; others may have been the growth of later times. Spring, as the commencement of the natural year, must have been hailed by all nations with satisfaction; and was, undoubtedly, commemorated, in most, by public rejoicing and popular sports. CHRONOLOGY. Heigho! heigho! heigho! Summer is at hand! Summer maintain'd its fame; Dr. Samuel Parr died on the 6th of distich in the ballad before quoted: March, 1825. A SPRING FESTIVAL. Now we've vanquish'd Death, And Summer's return ensured: Were Death still unsubdued, How much had we endured! But of late years the spirit of this festival couthly shaped of wood, and being covered has disappeared. Lately, winter was unwith straw, was nailed against a large wheel, and the straw being set on fire, the Agreeably to the intention of its invenapparatus was rolled down a steep hill! tors, the blazing wheel was by degrees knocked to pieces, against the precipices below, and then-winter's effigy, to the admiration of the multitude, split into a thousand fiery fragments. This custom too, merely from the danger attending it, quickly feli into disuse; but still a shadow of the original festivity, which it was meant to commemorate, is preserved though" says the writer of these particuamongst the people of Eisenach. lars, "we find winter no longer sent into banishment, as in former times, yet an attempt is made to represent and conciliate spring by offerings of nosegays and sprays of evergreen, adorned with birds or eggs, emblematical of the season." Probably the latter usages may not have been consequent upon the decline of the former, but were coeval in their origin, and are the only remains of ancient customs peculiar to the season. The Germans retain many of the annual customs peculiar to themselves before the Roman conquest. Whether a ceremony described in the "Athenæum," as having been observed in Germany of late years, is derived from the victors, or from the ancient nations, is not worth discussing The approach of spring was there commemorated with an abundance of display, its allegorical character was its most remarkable feature. It was called Der Sommers-gewinn, the acquisition of summer; and about thirty years ago was celebrated at the begining of spring by the inhabitants of Eisenach, in Saxony, who, for that purpose, divided themselves into two parties. One party carried winter under the shape of a man covered with straw, out of the town, and then, as it were, sent him into public exile; whilst the other party, at a distance from the town, decked spring, or, as it was vulgarly called, summer, in the form of youth, with boughs of cypress and May, and marched in solemn array to meet their comrades, the jocund executioners of winter. In the meanwhile national ballads, celebrating the delights of spring and summer, filled the skies; processions paraded the meadows and fields, loudly imploring the blessings of a prolific summer; and the jovial merry-makers then brought the victor-god home in triumph. In the course of time, however, this ceremonial Lent Lily. underwent various alterations. The parts, before personified, were now performed by real dramatis persona; one arrayed Es spring, and another as winter, entertained the spectators with a combat, wherein winter was ultimately vanquished and stripped of his emblematical attire; spring, on the contrary, being hailed as victor, was led in triumph, amidst the loud acc.amations of the multitude, into the town. From this festival originated a popular ballad, composed of stanzas each of which enuclude thus: FLORAL DIRECTORY. "Al Narcissus Pseudonarcissus multiplex. Dedicated to St. Colette March 7. St. Thomas Aquinas, a. D. 1274. Sts Perpetua and Felicitas, A. D. 203. St. Paul, Anchoret. St. Perpetua. This saint is in the church of England calendar. She was martyred under the emperor Severus in 205. St. Paul the Ancharet. This saint was 66 a man of profound ignorance." Butler says he was named "the simple." He journeyed eight days into the desert on a visit, and to become a disciple of St. Antony, who told him he was too old, and bade him return home, mind his business, and say his prayers; be shut the door upon him. Paul fasted and prayed before the door till Antony opened it, and out of compassion made a monk of him. One day after he had diligently worked at making mats and hurdles, and prayed without intermission, St. Antony bid him undo his work and do it all over again, which he did, without asking for a morsel of bread though he had been seven days without eating; this was to try Paul's obedience. Ano. ther day when some monks came to Antony for advice, he bid Paul spill a vessel of honey and gather it up without any dust this was another trial of his obedience. At other times he ordered him to draw water a whole day and pour it out again; to make baskets and pull them to pieces; to sew and unsew garments and the like: these were other trials of his obedience. When Antony had thus exercised him he placed him in a cell three miles from his own, proposed him as a model of obedience to his disciples, sent sick persons to him, and others possessed with the devil, whom he could not cure himself, and "under Paul," Butler says, "they never failed of a cure." He died about 330. FLORAL DIRECTORY. Early Daffodil. Narcissus Pseudonarcissus simplex. Dedicated to St. Perpetua. March 8. St John of God, A. D. 1550. St. Felix, A.D. 646. Sts. Apollonius, Philemon, &c. A.D. 311. St. Julian, Abp. of Toledo, A.D. 690. St. Duthak, Bp. of Ross, A.D. 1253. St. Rosa, of Viterbo, A.D. 1261. St. Senan, 5th Cent. St. Psalmød, or Saumay, about 589. Romish saints are like earthquakes, wherein shocks crowd so fast they cannot be noted. An Earthquake in London. awoke people from their sleep and frightened them out of their houses. A servant maid in Charterhouse-square, was thrown from her bed, and had her arm broken; bells in several steeples were struck by the chime hammers; grea stones were thrown from the new spire of Westminster Abbey ; dogs howled in un common tones; and fish jumped half a yard above the water. London had experienced a shock only a month before, namely, on the 8th of February 1750, between 12 and 1 o'clock in the day. At Westminster, the barristers were so alarmed that they imagined the hall was falling. Scots' mists, like Scots' men, are proverbial for their penetration; Plymouth showers for their persevering frequency. The father of Mr. Haydon, the artist, relates that in the latter portion of 1807, and the first three or four months of 1808, there had been more than 160 successive days in which rain, in more or less quantities, had fallen in that neighbourhood. He adds, indeed, by way of consolation, that in winter it only rained there, while it snowed elsewhere. It has been remarked that in this opinion he might be correct; at least if he compared the climate of Plymouth with that of the western highlands. A party of English tourists are said to have stopped for several days at an uncomfortable inn, near Inverary, by the unremitting rains that fall in that country about Lammas, when one o them pettishly asked the waiter, "Does it rain here ALWAYS?" "Na! na!" re plied Donald, "it snaws whiles,” i. e sometimes. FLORAL DIRECTORY. On the 8th of March, 1750, an earth- Petticoat Daffodil. Narcissus Bulbocoquake shook all London. The shock was at half past five in the morning I dium. Dedicated to St. Catherine. March 10. Forty Martyrs of St. Sebasti, A. D. 320. said to have been the day whereon died English annals for having abundantly sir Hugh Myddleton; a man renowned in supplied London with water, by conduct ing the New River from Ware, in Hert fordshire, to the Clerkenwell suburb of The 10th of March, 1702, is erroneously the metropolis. THE FIRST VIEW OF THE NEW RIVER-FROM LONDON. This is seen immediately on coming within view of Sadler's Wells, a place of dramatic entertainment. After manifold windings and tunnellings from its source, the New River passes beneath the arch in the engraving, and forms a basin within a large walled enclosure, from whence diverging main pipes convey the water to all parts of London. At the back of the boy angling on the wall, is a public-house with tea-gardens and a skittle-ground, "commonly called, or known by the name or sign of, the sir Hugh Myddleton, or of the sir Hugh Myddleton's head," a portrait of sir Hugh hangs in front of the house. To this stream, as the water nearest London favourable to sport, an glers of inferior note repair :Here" gentle anglers," and their rods withal, Essaying, do the finny tribe inthrall. Here boys their penny lines and bloodworms throw, And scare, and catch, the "silly fish" below Backstickles bite, and biting, up they come, And now a minnow, now a miller's thumb. Here too, experienced youths of better taste And higher aim resort, who bait with paste, Or push beneath a gentle's shining skin The barbed hook, and bury it within; The more he writhes the better, if he die Not one will touch him of the finny fry; If in strong agony the sufferer live, Then doth the "gentle angler" joy receive, Down bobs the float, the angler wins the prize, And now the gentle, now the gudgeon dies. Concerning Sir Hugh Myddleton there relate that such mutton given to a will be occasion to speak again. GLOVE OF DEFIANCE In the Church. In the notice of Bernard Gilpin, March 4, (p. 165,) it is said, " another incident further illustrating the manners of the Northern Borderers will be mentioned below." The observation refers to a singular challenge, which the arrangements of that day could not include, and is now inserted. On a certain Sunday Mr. Gilpin going to preach in those parts wherein deadly feuds prevailed, observed a glove hanging up on high in the church. He demanded of the sexton what it meant, and why it hung there. The sexton answered, that it was a glove which one of the parish hung up there as a challenge to his enemy, signifying thereby, that he was ready to enter combat hand to hand, with him or any one else who should dare to take the glove down. Mr. Gilpin requested the sexton to take it down. "Not I, sir," replied the sexton, "I dare do no such thing." Then Mr. Gilpin, calling for a long staff, took down the glove himself, and put it in his bosom. By and by, when the people came to church, and Mr. Gilpin in due time went up into the pulpit, he in his sermon reproved the barbarous custom of challenges, and especially the custom which they had, of making challenges by the hanging up of a glove. "I hear," said he, "that there is one amongst you, who, even in this sacred place, hath hanged up a glove to this purpose, and threateneth to enter into combat with whosoever shall take it down. Behold, I have taken it down myself." Then plucking out the glove, he showed it openly, and inveighing against such practices in any man that professed himself a Christian, endeavoured To persuade them to the practice of mutual love and charity. THE SEASON. The memory of man supplies no recollection of so wet a season as from September 1824 to March 1825; it produced the rot in sheep to an alarming extent. In consequence of the animals being killed in this disease, the mutton is unwholesome for human food, and produces mortality even in dogs. The newspapers kennel of dogs rendered them fat, till on a sudden their good looks declined, they became lean, and gradually died, without any other cause being assignable for the mortality, than the impure flesh of the sheep. In such a season, therefore, families should shrink from the use of mutton as from a pestilence. There is no secu rity, but in entire abstinence. Almost every hare shot during the same period had a tainted liver. Under such circumstances lamb should be sparingly used, and, if possible, refrained from altogether, in order to secure mutton at a reasonable price hereafter. CHRONOLOGY. 1792. John, earl of Bute, died. He was prime minister soon after the accession of George III.; and of all who guided the helm of state, the most unpopular. On the 10th of March, 1820, died Benjamin West, esq., president of the Royal Academy, in the eighty-second year of his age. It was his delight to gently lead genius in a young artist; and Mr. WILLIAM BEHNES, the sculptor, was honoured by the venerable president with the means of transmitting his parting looks to an admiring world, upon whom he was soon to look no more. Mr. West's months before his death. Expressing sittings to Mr. Behnes were about two himself to his young friend in terms of high satisfaction at the model, he en branch of art which Mr. Behnes has since couraged him to persevere in that distinguished, by admirable power of design and use of the chisel. To speak ot Mr. Behnes's model as a mere likeness, is meagre praise of an effort which clearly marks observation, and comprehension, of Mr. West's great mental powers. The bust, as it stands in marble, in sir John Leicester's gallery, is a perfect resemblance of Mr. West's features, and an eloquent memorial of his vigorous and unimpaired intellect in the last days of earthly exis tence. If ever the noblest traits of humanity were depicted by the hand of art, they are on this bust. Superiority of mind is so decidedly marked, and blended, with primitive simplicity, and a beaming look of humanity and benevolence, that it seems the head of an apostle. Mr. West was an American; he was boin at Springfield, in Pennsylvania, on the 10th of October, 1738; his ancestors and parents were "Friends" the family had emigrated from England with the illustrious founder and legislator of Pennsylvania, WILLIAM PENN: of whose treaty with the Indians for a tract of their territory, it is observed, that it was the only christian contract unsanctioned by an oath, and the only one never violated. The first of the family who embraced Quaker principles was colonel James West, the friend and companion in arms of the great John Hampden. Mr. West's genius developed itself very early. When a child he saw an infant smile in its sleep, and forcibly struck with its beauty, seized pens, ink, and paper, which happened to lie by him, and endeavoured to delineate a portrait; at this period he had never seen an engraving or a picture. He was afterwards sent to school in the neighbourhood, and during hours of leisure was permitted to draw with a pen and ink. It did not occur to any of the family to provide him with better materials, till a party of Indians being amused with little Benjamin's sketches of birds and flowers,taught him to prepare the red and yellow colours with which they painted their ornaments, and his mother adding blue, by giving him a piece of indigo, he became possessed of the three primary colours. As he could not procure camels hair pencils, and did not even know of their existence, he supplied the deficiency by cutting fur from the end of the cat's tail. From the frequent necessity for repeating this depredation, his father observed the altered appearance of his favourite, and lamented it as the effect of disease; the young artist, with due contrition, informed his father of the true cause, and the old gentleman was highly pleased by his son's ingenuousness. Mr. Pennington, a merchant of Philadelphia, struck with the genius of the child, sent him a box of paints and pencils, with some canvass, and six engravings by Grevling. Little West rose with the dawn of the next day, carried the box into the garret, prepared a pallet, began to imitate the figures in the engravings, omitted to go to school, and joined the family at dinner, without mentioning how he had been occupied. In the afternoon he again retired to his garret; and for Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary London edit. vol. v p. 967. several successive days thus devoted him self to painting. The schoolmaster, however, sent to know the reason of his ab sence. Mrs. West recollecting that she had seen Benjamin going up stairs every morning, and suspecting that it was the box which occasioned this neglect of the school, affected not to notice the message, but went immediately to the garret, and found him employed on the picture. If she had anger, it was changed to a different feeling by the sight of his performance; she kissed him with transports of affection, and assured him that she would intercede to prevent his being punished. It seemed ever the highest pleasure of Mr. West emphatically to declare, that it was this kiss that made him a painter. After numerous indications of uncontrollable passion for his favourite and only pursuit, a consultation of "Friends" was held, on the propriety of allowing young West to indulge a taste, which the strict discipline of the society inhibits : Genius has such resistless power The destiny he desired was fixed. In 1760 he left Philadelphia for Rome, pursued his studies in the capital of art, visited the galleries and collections of Italy with an ardour that impaired his health, came through France to London, and was about to return to America, when sir Joshua Reynolds, and Wilson, the landscape painter, used their utmost persuasions to detain him in this country. There was only one obstacle; he had formed an attachment on his native soil: Wheree'er he turn'd, whatever realms to see, His heart, untravell'd, fondly turn'd to her whom he loved. This difficulty was overcome, for the lady, Miss Shewell, came over; they were married in London, in 1764. Thus "settled," in the following year Mr. West was chosen a member and one of the directors of the Society of Artists, afterwards incorporated with the Royal Academy, which he assisted in forming, and over which he afterwards presided till his death. As an artist his works in the various collections and edifices throughout England exhibit his talents, but above all "West's Gallery," now open in Newman-street for public inspection, is an assemblage of testimonials to the justice |