And calls to mind the early time
When first I heard your melting chime,
At life's and daylight's infant dawn,
When Cocks first blew the trump of morn,
And first I sallied forth to play,
Free, on a festive holiday.

Since which old times, the silvery head
Of fond paternal counsel 's dead;
The girl that was the evening star
Of youthful passion dwells afar;
The trusty Dog, my father's pride,
Is swallowed in Time's gulphing tide;
And fierce Erynnis tramples down
Those childish hopes we now disown.
Yet still, oh! soft melodious bells,
A tale of joy your music tells
To faithful flocks, assembled here
To drink of holy water clear.
For in the dusky cloister damp,
Where Vigilance hath lit her lamp,
The white winged angel Hope appears,
And my desponding genius cheers,
And says Hark! yet the tuneful bells
Are sounding still their magic spells,
That quell all harms, and call the sheep,
The vigils of pure Faith to keep;
And cheer the soul to hold in view
For faithful flocks green pastures new;
'Tis those fair realms, fair Virtue's seat,
Where kindred souls again will meet;
The taper steeple points the way,
The Cock upon the vane doth say,
Then follow me, not turning round
To every blast that sweeps the ground;
But, by a watchfulness on high,
Bend to the spirit of the sky.".

Then jingle on, ye mellow bells,
Of many hopes your musick tells.

The above verses on bells are evidently intended to imitate in their metre the rounds of the octave peal.

St.

November 23. St. Clement Pope and Martyr. Amphilochius Bishop and Confessor. St. Tron Confessor. St. Daniel Bishop and Confessor.

St. Clement I. was born at Rome and was one of the first bishops of that place; this see he held about sixteen years; from about the year 65 to 81. He was remarkable for having written two Epistles, so excellent, and so highly esteemed by the primitive Christians, that the first was for some time considered canonical. This great and good man

is generally believed to have died a natural death, about the year 100, at the commencement of the Emperor Trajan's reign. The legend of Saint Clement relates that he was cast into the sea with an Anchor about his neck; and that, on the first anniversary of his death, the sea retired from the place where he suffered, though three miles from the shore, and discovered a superb temple of the finest marble, which contained a monument to the saint. The sea withdrew in this way for several years, for seven days in succession. In allusion to this circumstance, the device of an anchor may be seen in the various parts of the church of Saint Clement Danes London, and on the boundary marks of the parish.

Plott, in his History of Staffordshire, p. 430, describing a Clog Almanack, says, "A Pot is marked against the 23d of November, for the Feast of St. Clement, from the ancient custom of going about that night to beg drink to make merry with."

Mr. Brady, in the Clavis Calendaria, 8vo, Lond. 1812, vol. ii. p. 279, observes that Old Martinmass continues to be noticed in our Almanacks on the 23d of November.

HECATE.We have frequently alluded to Images of Spectral Illusion; of which an instance has just now been related to us by a person of undoubted veracity.

N. T. R. about midsummer, 1812, walking down from London to a country house, about sunset, distinctly saw the form of a child in a grey cloak, walking collaterally with him in a field but on the other side a thin hedge: the spectre, for so it turned out to be, passed him, came out of the hedge into the lane where he was walking, and about twenty yards before him gradually changed form and became a column of greyish vapour, when it vanished. No particular event followed this appearance.

On Coincidences.-It is a remark repeatedly made, and that too by persons by no means superstitious, that more Coincidences happen, than, according to the common Doctrine of Chances, we should have a right to expect in a given time. Though this is an assertion difficult of proof, on account of the vague and undefined character of what we call coincidences, yet every body is struck with the force of the observation; and some persons have thought that there might be some mysterious and remote laws which regulated the falling out of events in such a manner, as that two or more strikingly similar, though, as far as we can perceive, unconnected events, should in a great number of instances happen together.

The statement of a few particular cases will illustrate our meaning. Two men of the same name, but wholly unconnected with each other, were both tried in an English Court of Law not long ago, for stealing the same quantity of cheese on the same day. The witnesses were accidentally changed, so that those, who were summoned to appear in one case, were proceeding to give their evidence in the other, and both parties must have escaped punishment had not the error been discovered; for the similar name and circumstances of both the prisoners had deceived the witnesses as to the identity of each. This fact was communicated first to us by an eminent surgeon of London, and afterwards corroborated by a learned counsel of the Chancery bar, who assured us of the truth of the above statement. Now such a coincidence might once have happened in the lapse of ages by what we call chance, that is, by the ordinary falling out of events; but, that similar coincidences should every now and then happen, seems contrary to the law of probabilities. Nevertheless we are daily struck with Coincidences of a remarkable nature; we think of a person whom we have never seen for years, and read next day of his death, or perhaps see him unexpectedly; we are haunted all day with some particular unusual word, and it is the first to appear in the newspaper next morning; we have a remarkable dream, and next day find that something we have dreamed of either comes true, or that something very like it happens. The above are less striking coincidences than the one we allude to, and are cited as familiar examples of what we mean, when we use the word Coincidence. Happening singly they would pass nearly unobserved, but happening often, they are very impressive, and do wonderfully excite our curiosity. And we assert that coincidences not only happen frequently, but that after one remarkable case, often shall many follow, so that there is a coincidence of many coincidences taking place in a train. And when once the attention of a person is directed to them, he will notice their frequent occurrence.

In treating of Spectral Illusions, we observed that the popular notion of Ghosts and other Apparitions, however apparently fanciful and imaginary, must have some foundation in nature, otherwise we should not have had the concurrent testimony of the whole world to their existence. And we were happy in finding a clue to their causes in the morbid activity of the brain in certain states of diseases, to which the consideration of ocular spectra, and other temporary disorders of vision, gradually led us. See our Index, article Apparitions.

But though the appearance of these phantoms is now explained physiologically, and ceases to be any longer a mystery, yet there is fearful mystery connected with their history, which, in many cases, excites in our minds sentiments of something almost supernatural. For example, A person sees the apparition of a distant friend slowly pacing his chamber at the still hour of midnight: this circumstance alone is not wonderful, medical men having discovered that the sensorium is sometimes spontaneously affected with imagery, of which the ordinary perception of objects has furnished the elements. But the same person hears next morning that his absent friend is dead, and perhaps died at the hour when his imagination presented the said apparition. Such coincidences as these seem calculated to make unthinking people believe that the phantom actually existed in the external world, and that it were the ghost of the identical person. Neither would we introduce to notice. a thing so liable to lead back natural philosophy into the mazes of superstition, if we had not numerous and indisputable cases on record of this sort. We wish to remind the reader, in this stage of the inquiry, that whatever prophetic use it may have pleased the Almighty to make of such phantoms, this purpose would be equally well answered whether they were real external things, capable of being viewed by bystanders, or were merely spectral impressions, such as we have before described. The same argument will hold good of all prophetic visions, whether in dreams or waking. And the wonderful part of their history will always be found to be their coincidence, or their connexion with future events. We have already explained how the Organ of Supernaturality in the brain might predispose to these illusions, by its influence on those parts of the brain, wherein the perception of forms and colour takes place: but no physiology whatever will explain the several consequences of such spectres, which seem to happen conformably to some strange principle of coincidence. The memorable histories of the spectre which haunted the late Lord Lyttleton, and foretold the hour of his death; the Story of Mrs. Veal, related by Drelincourt; the Warning Voice to Quarreus, mentioned by Dr. Ferriar; and ten thousand others which we have heard, might be adduced as instances of our assertion.

The remarkable phenomenon called Second Sight, and Fetches, hold their sole interest and importance on the mysterious tenure of coincidence. Deprive them only of their concomitances, and they dwindle down to mere deceptions of the imagination.

It is notoriously false, though some have asserted it,

that spectral impressions are conformable to the most recent or most impressive objects of our thoughts; for it is well ascertained that the strange faces that we see either in dreams, or as spectres when awake, are seldom or never those of persons about which our minds have been most employed. Therefore the Coincidences cannot happen by the most obtrusive of our Images of Thought gradually obtaining a spurious Objectivity, and appearing as Images of Spectral Illusion. See our Definitions, September 26th and 30th, and November 27th.

Moreover an obscure principle of coincidence presents itself to us in every thing, and tends to explain why, by many trivial subjects, the superstition of mankind has been excited. The unusual voice, or the untimely obtrusion of a raven or an owl, has repeatedly been coincidental with some misfortune, and hence a superstitious fear has become attached to them. Let us only examine nature first, and be cautious in drawing conclusions as to causes, and we shall find that coincidence is the grand cause of the mystery always attached to dreams, visions, augury, and omens. The run of luck at games of chance, the plurality of incendia or fires, and other natural and artificial phenomena, all derive their interesting character from coincidence; and while we know nothing of the Final Cause, nor of the numerous secondary agents by which ends and designs are brought to pass, except what are revealed by means of that limited organization which vitality upholds, for a certain period, as a medium whereby the Subject perceives the Object in certain of its relations, so must we conclude with Shakspeare's Hamlet, that there may be yet More things in Heaven and Earth than we in our Philosophy have dreamed of. See our Pages 38, 65, and 190; also our articles under these days: September 26 and 30, October 2, 20, and 22, and November 17 and 27.

Some further light on the sort of persons most liable to be affected with spectral phantoms and to find out curious coincidences, or, in other words, most gifted with Second Sight and credulity, is likely to emerge from the Society of Phrenologists now established in the Scottish capital, who are actively employed in illustrating the several branches of the science, and are forming a museum of phrenological preparations; and similar societies are forming themselves in London and in other parts of Europe.