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In King's Art of Cookery, p. 63, we may read :—

So Stubble Geese at Michaelmas are seen

Upon the spit; next May produces green.

For an account of St. Michael's Cake or Bannock, we refer the reader to Martin's Description of the Western Islands of Scotland, p. 213.

On Guardian Angels and Tutelary Genii.--The old story of the Archangel fighting the Devil is too well known to need any further comment.

St. Michael vanquishing the Devil is a humorous subject for the figures of Vanes on the spires of churches, of which a gigantic specimen surmounts the steeple of the Maison de Ville at Bruxelles: there is a description and print of it in the Délices des Pays Bas, vol. i.

The notions generally entertained in the middle ages, and by some persons at present, respecting the existence. and good offices of those secondary deities called Guardian Angels, deserve some notice. We find such notions, although incorporated in the doctrines of the western and eastern churches of Europe, to be nevertheless the same identical notions that were entertained by the polytheists of ancient Greece and Rome, in whose Guardian Genii, Daemones, and other tutelary beings, we find the closest resemblance to the Guardian Angels of modern times. The fact is, there is in human nature, particularly in the infancy of philosophy, a strong disposition to personify various powers of nature, and also to seek for the protection of numerous tutelary beings. The nature of any people, among whom this propensity may prevail, is not so easily changed as the objects of their worship: their peculiar turn of mind belongs to their constitution, to the air they breathe, to the soil they dwell on. Hence, when the objects of their worship are changed by revolutions in religion, the leading features in their mode of considering obscure and mysterious causes still remain. So, when the religion of old Rome was changed, the same dispositions of the people remaining, the tutelary gods of their heathen creeds only gave place to the angels of Christendom, of which we have abundant proof in the documents now before us. It may be observed, that the enemies of Christianity have at all times made considerable use of this parallel between Heathen and Christian customs in their endeavours to overthrow the divine origin of the latter. Many Christians, however, firmly believe in the influence of a plurality of good and evil spirits or genii; and the doctrine of tutelary angels is defended in Butler's Lives, vol. ix. p. 343.

Tracing up their history, we find that some of the ancient deities have only changed their names, but have retained many of their offices. Thus it is observed in an old distich :

Diana the huntress new worshippers wins,
Who call her St. Agnes, confessing their sins;
To the god Esculapius incurables pray,
Since the doctor is christianized Bartholemé;
Though the goddess of Antipertussis we scoff,
Yet Madonna del Tosse she opiates a cough.

The Aegyptians believed that every man had three angels attending him: the Pythagoreans that every man had two; the Romans that there was a good and evil genius. Hence it is that the Roman poet says, Quisque suos patitur manes. This idea has been adopted by Butler:

Whether dame Fortune or the care

Of angel bad, or tutelar.

The Christians admit both good and evil daemons, the former being our guardian angels.

In order more fully to develope the similarity of ideas in ancient and modern times, let us only compare their tutelary divinities; the local genii or patrons among different people: The Babylonians had Bel for their patron; the Aegyptians Isis and Osiris; the Rhodians the Sun; the Samians Juno; the Paphians Venus; the Delphians Apollo; the Ephesians Diana but in fact every scholar knows that Apollo and Minerva presided over Athens, Bacchus and Hercules over Boeotian Thebes, Juno over Carthage, Venus over Cyprus and Paphos, Apollo over Rhodes; Mars was the tutelar god of Rome, Neptune of Taenarus, Diana presided over Crete.

St. Peter succeeded to Mars at the revolution of the religious creed of Rome. He now presides over the castle of St. Angelo, as Mars did over the ancient Capitol.

The same continued superstition has assigned St. George to England-St. Denis to France-St. Andrew to Scotland, St. Genevieve to Paris St. Nicholas to Aberdeen - St. Egidius to Edinburgh-St. Colman and St. Leopold to Austria-St. Wolfgang and St. Mary Atingana to BavariaSt. Winceslaus to Bohemia-St. Andrew and St. Mary to Burgundy-St. Anscharius and St. Canute for DenmarkSt. Peter to Flanders-to St. Denis is added St. Michael as another patron saint of France-St. Martin, St. Boniface, and St. George Cataphractus to Germany-St. Mary to Holland-St. Mary of Aquisgrana and St. Lewis to HungarySt. Patrick to Ireland-St. Anthony to Italy--St. Firmin and St. Xavierus to Navarre-St. Anscharius and St. Olaus

to Norway-St. Stanislaus and St. Hederiga to PolandSt. Savine to Poitou-St. Sebastian to Portugal-also St. James and St. George, St. Albert and St. Andrew, to Prussia -St. Nicholas, St. Mary, and St. Andrew, to Russia-St. Mary to Sardinia-St. Maurice to Savoy and PiedmontSt. Mary and St. George to Sicily-St. James to SpainSt. Anscharius, St. Eric, and St. John to Sweden-and St. Gall and the Virgin Mary to Switzerland.

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They of the Romish religion," says Melton in his Astrologaster, "for every limbe in man's body have a saintfor St. Otilia keepes the head instead of Aries-St. Blasius is appointed to governe the necke instead of Taurus-St. Lawrence keepes the backe and shoulders instead of Gemini, Cancer, and Leo-St. Erasmus rules the belly with the entrayles, in the place of Libra and Scorpius-in the stead of Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces, the Holy Church of Rome hath elected St. Burgarde, St. Rochus, St. Quirinus, St. John, and many others, which governe the thighes, feet, shinnes, and knees."

The following saints are invoked against various diseases: St. Agatha against sore breasts-St. Anthony against inflammations, and particularly against erysipelas or St. Anthony's Fire-St. Apollonia and St. Lucy against the toothacheSt. Benedict against the stone and poison St. Blaise against bones sticking in the throat, fires, and inflammations-St. Christopher and St. Mark against sudden deathSt. Clara against sore eyes-St. Genow against the goutSt. Job and St. Fiage against the venereal disease-St. John against the epilepsy and poison-St. Liberius against the stone and fistula-St. Maine against the scab-St. Margaret against danger in childbearing, also St. Edine-St. Martin for the itch-St. Maurus against palsies and convulsions— St. Maure for the gout-St. Otilia against sore eyes and headache, also St. Juliana-St. Petronilla and St. Genevieve against fevers-St. Quintan against coughs-St. Romanus against devils possessing people-St. Ruffin against madness

St. Sebastian and St. Roche against the plague-St. Sigismund against fevers and agues-St. Valentine against the epilepsy. See Brand's Popular Antiquities, by Ellis, 2 vols. 4to, under Michaelmas Day.

The moderns, in further imitation of the ancients, have assigned tutelar divinities to particular professions, each of which has its saint.

St. Agatha presides over nurses-St. Catherine and St. Gregory are the patrons of literati, or studious personsSt. Catherine also presides over the arts in the room of

Minerva-St. Christopher and St. Nicholas preside over mariners, and also children-St. Cecilia is the patroness of musicians-St. Cosmas and St. Damian are the patrons of physicians and surgeons, also of philosophers-St. Dismas and St. Nicholas preside over thieves-St. Eustache and St. Hubert over hunters-St. Felicitas over young childrenSt. Julian is the patron of pilgrims-St. Leonard and St. Barbara protect captives-St. Luke is the patron of paintersSt. Magdalen, St. Afra, and St. Brigit preside over common women-St. Martin and St. Urban over aleknights to guard them from falling into the kennel-St. Mathurin over foolsSt. Sebastian over archers-St. Thomas over divines-St. Thomas Becket over blind men, eunuchs, and sinners-St. Valentine over lovers - St. Winifred over virgins and St. Yves over lawyers and civilians-St. Ethelbert and St. Aelian were invoked against thieves.

Here also may be noticed that St. Agatha presides over valleys-St. Anne over riches-St. Barbara over hills-St. Florian over fire-St. Giles and St. Hyacinth are invoked by barren women-St. Osyth by women to guard their keysSt. Silvester protects the woods-St. Urban wine and vineyards-and St. Vincent and St. Anne are the restorers of lost things.

St. Andrew and St. Joseph were the patron saints of carpenters-St. Anthony of swineherds and grocers-St. Arnold of millers-St. Blaise of woolcombers-St. Catherine of spinners-St. Clement of tanners-St. Cloud of nailsmiths, on account of his name St. Dunstan of goldsmiths St. Eloy of blacksmiths, farriers, and goldsmiths-St. Euloge over something else, and so on without end. See our Index, article Spurious Saints.

St. Barbara, St. Andrew, and St. Clement, are also noticed as Sea Saints. Warner, in his History of Hampshire, vol. i. p. 155, note, says "St. Christopher presided over the weather, and was the patron of fieldsports."

An Ancient Description of a Hunter, in Verse.

A Cristofre on his breast of silver shene;
An horn he bare, the baudrie was of greene.

With regard to St. Anthony and the Pigs above alluded to, we may observe that the guardianship of particular saints over animals is derived from very ancient heathen fables. The following is in Moresini Papatus, p. 133, "Porcus Pani et Sylvano commendabatur, nunc autem immundissimus porcorum greges custodire cogitur miser Antonius." See our page 353.

In "The World of Wonders" is the following epigram on St. Anthony :

Once fedest thou, Anthony, a heard of swine,
And now a heard of priests thou feedest still;
For wit and gut alike both charges bin,
Both loven filth alike, both like to fill

Their greedy paunch alike. Nor was that kind
More beastly sottish swinish then this last.
All else agrees: one fault I onely find,

Thou feedest not thy monkes with oken mast.

The author mentions before, persons "who runne up and downe the country, crying, have you any thing to bestow upon my lord St. Anthony's swine?""

A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine for December 1790, vol. lx. p. 1086, derives the expression, " An it please the Pigs," not from a corruption of "an it please the Pix," i. e. the host, but from a saying of the scholars of St. Paul's school, London, founded in the reign of King Stephen, whose great rivals were the scholars of the neighbouring foundation of the brotherhood of St. Anthony of Vienna, situated in the parish of St. Bennet Finke, Threadneedle Street, and thence nicknamed "St. Anthony's Pigs."

Want of room alone prevents us from illustrating our opinion by many more decisive examples. The assignation of particular Elements, Springs, Fountains, Woods, Cities, and Groves, to the particular tutela of Spirits, is familiar to every body. It is founded on the same false and delusive philosophy whereby

Arcades ipsum

Credunt se vidisse Jovem, quum saepe nigrantem
Aegida concuterit dextra nimbosque cieret.

Thus Neptune had the sea, Pan the sheepwalks, Flora the garden, Fauna the groves, and many others. These had also their subangels, as Milton observes of the god of the

sea :

But to my task. Neptune, besides the sway
Of every salt flood, and each ebbing stream,
Took in by lot 'twixt high and nether Jove
Imperial rule of all the seagirt isles,
That, like to rich and various gems, inlay
The unadorned bosom of the deep;

Which he, to grace his tributary gods,

By course commits to several government,

And gives them leave to wear their sapphire crowns,

And wield their little tridents.

The atmosphere of the earth, involving all, was personified in Jupiter.

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