the priests made their offerings with their heads uncovered, a custom which was never observed at other festivals.Senec. Ep. 18. Cato. de R. R. 57. Sueton. in Vesp. 19. Cic. ad Attic. 5, Ep. 20. December 18. SS. Rufus and Zozimus Martyrs. St. Gatian Bishop and Confessor. St. Winebald Abbot and Confessor. Orises at VIII. 7'. and sets at III. 53'. Cygnus oritur.-Rom. Cal. COELUM. The weather is mostly extremely disagreeable in London at this time of year; in the Country it is often far otherwise. It is to city scenery, in London's Climate in Winter, that the following descriptive lines of Gay, addressed to Town Ladies, seem to allude, when we are awakened by the cries of the trading Capital, on some of those obscure mornings which are called the "Dark Days afore Christmas." When sleep is first disturbed by morning cries, The changing weather certain signs reveal. The seasons operate on every breast; "Tis hence the fawns are brisk, and ladies drest. December 19. St. Nemesien Martyr. St. Samthana Virgin Abbess in Ireland. rises at VIII. 8. and sets at III. 52'. The Winter Solstice begins, the Sun continuing to rise and set within a minute of the same time, from today to the 25th instant inclusive. A more close calculation, however, used for astronomical purposes alone, demonstrates that there is no such thing actually as a Solstice-only the times of the rising and setting each day, are nearer the same now and at Midsummer than they are at any other time of year; and, in like manner, at the Aequinoxes the variation each day is the greatest. To speak with mathematical accuracy, we should call the 22d of December the shortest day; which we refer to. Opalia.-Rom. Cal. Ops was a daughter of Coelus and Terra, the same as the Rhea of the Greeks; she married Saturn, and became mother of Jupiter. She was known among the ancients by the different names of Cybele, Bona Dea, Magna Mater, Thya, Tellus, Proserpina, and even of Juno, and Minerva; and the worship which was paid to these apparently several deities, was offered merely to one and the same person, considered as the mother of the gods. The word Ops seems to be derived from Opus; because the goddess, who is the same as the earth, gives nothing without labour. Tatius built her a temple at Rome. She was generally represented as a matron, with her right hand opened, as if offering assistance to the helpless, and holding a loaf in her left hand. Her festivals were called Opalia.-Varro de L. L. 4. Dionys. Hal. 2, &c. Tibull. El. 4, v. 68. Plin. 19, c. 6. Christmas Holidays.-About this time Schools, Colleges, and Academies of instruction usually break up, and the Joyful Period to Youth of Christmas Holidays begin; which reminds us of the Noted Song of DULCE DOMUM, sung at Winchester before the Whitsuntide vacation, time out of mind-beginning Concinamus, O Sodales Nobile canticum! Dulce melos, domum! Dulce domum resonemus ! Chorus. Domum, domum, dulce domum ! See the whole Canticum in Ellis's edition of Brand's Popular Antiquities, vol. i. p. 348; and a spirited translation in Gent. Mag. for 1796. It seems that Corelli's celebrated Lullaby Christmas Concerto might be adapted to this old Song of Dulce Domum. December 20. St. Philogonius Bishop and Confessor. St. Paul of Latrus Hermit. Sigillaria.-Macrob. Rom. Cal. The Sigillaria were a minor sort of festivals in ancient Rome, which immediately succeeded the celebration of the Saturnalia. They were so called because little Sigillae, bearing emblematical images or seals, were frequently exchanged as presents and tokens of good will. Various other toys, as dolls, images, puppets, and wooden fairings, were also sold at that Fête; and hence the Street in Rome where these Playthings were usually vended, was called Sigillaria. This Fête may be regarded as at Rome what St. Bartholomew Fair is in London; and formerly dolls were in like manner called after this fair Bartholomew Babies. The account of the Sigillaria is to be found in Macrobius: it seems to have escaped the notice of Lemprière, and to have been never before explained in any English work. Phrenological Journal.-A novelty in literature appeared today in London-namely, a regular Journal of Phrenology; being the first number of a series to be published quarterly, at Edinburgh. We have before alluded to this Science in September; and what we have to record now is a curious. fact that Edinburgh, where Phrenology at first met with more violent opposition than it did in any of the many Capitals in Europe wherein it has been taught, should be the first University to have a regularly organised Phrenological Society, and to have first produced a Journal intended to record solely facts relating to the Anatomy and Physiology of the Brain. This Journal is ably written, and contains some truly original and very able articles. The Society are also composing a splendid museum of subjects of Anatomy. December 21. ST. THOMAS Apostle. rises at VIII. and sets at III. 52'. St. Thomas the Apostle, surnamed Didymus or the Twin, was a Jew, and in all probability a Galilean. There are a very few passages in the Gospel concerning him. St. Thomas is said to have suffered martyrdom in Galilee, being killed by the lances of some people instigated by the heathens. Ve Very little, however, is known for certain on this point. Angeronalia. Herculi et Cereri.-Rom. Cal. The Angeronalia were festivals at Rome in honour of Angerona the Goddess of Silence and of Cheerfulness. She was so called because she was supposed to cure the disorders of the throat: for the ancient, like the modern Romans, had particular tutelar Angels, who took care of particular parts of the Body. This day appears also to have been sacred to Hercules and Ceres. Hercules, the renowned hero of antiquity, was the son of Jupiter and Alcmena, and is generally called the Theban, to distinguish him from others of the same name. He was so celebrated for his strength, that his name became proverbially expressive of power. His Twelve Labours, whereby he freed the earth of many monsters and infesting animals, are well known. Quis aut Euristia durum Aut inlaudati nescit Busiridis aras, says Virgil, in allusion to the power of Eurystheus, to which Hercules was subject. The first labour imposed upon Hercules by Eurystheus, was to kill the Lion of Nemaea, which ravaged the country near Mycenae. The second labour of Hercules was to destroy the Lernaean Hydra, which had seven heads according to Apollodorus, fifty according to Simonides, and a hundred according to Diodorus. This celebrated monster he attacked with his arrows; and soon after he came to a close engagement, and by means of his heavy club he destroyed the heads of his enemy. But this was productive of no advantage; for as soon as one head was beaten, immediately two sprang up, and the labour of Hercules would have remained unfinished, had he not commanded his friend Iolas to burn, with a hot iron, the root of the heads. This succeeded, and Hercules became victorious. He was ordered, in his third labour, to bring alive and unhurt into the presence of Eurystheus, a Stag, famous for its incredible swiftness, its golden horns, and brazen feet. - This hideous animal frequented the neighbourhood of Oenoe, and Hercules was employed for a whole year in continually pursuing it, and at last he caught it in a trap, or when tired, or, according to others, by slightly wounding it and lessening its swiftness. As he returned victorious, Diana snatched it from him, and severely punished him for molesting an animal which was sacred to her. Hercules pleaded necessity, and, by representing the commands of Eurystheus, he appeased the goddess, and obtained the beast. The fourth labour was to bring alive to Eurystheus a wild boar, which ravaged the neighbourhood of Erymanthus. In this expedition he destroyed the Centaurs, and caught the boar by closely pursuing him through the deep snow. In his fifth labour Hercules was ordered to clean the stables of Augeas, where 3000 oxen had been confined for many years. For his sixth labour he was ordered to kill the carnivorous birds which ravaged the country near the lake Stymphalis in Arcadia. In his seventh labour he brought alive into Peloponnesus a prodigious wild bull, which laid waste the island of Crete.-In his eighth labour he was employed in obtaining the mares of Diomedes, which fed upon human flesh. He slew Diomedes, and gave him to be eaten by his mares, which he brought to Eurystheus. They were sent to Mount Olympus by the king of Mycenae, where they were devoured by the wild beasts; or, according to others, they were consecrated to Jupiter, and their breed still existed in the age of Alexander the Great. - For his ninth labour he was commanded to obtain the girdle of the queen of the Amazons. In his tenth labour he killed the monster Gorgon king of Gades, and brought his flocks, which fed on human flesh, to Argos.-The eleventh labour was his bringing golden apples from the Garden of the Hesperides. The twelfth labour was to bring Cerberus, the three headed dog, out of Hell.-Hercules was eventually burnt on Mount Oeta, and afterwards deified. No dogs or flies ever entered his temple at Rome; and that of Gades, according to Strabo, was always forbidden to women and to pigs. The Phoenicians offered quails on his altars; and as it was supposed that he presided over dreams, the sick and infirm were sent to sleep in his temples, that they might receive in their dreams the agreeable presages of their approaching recovery. The white poplar was particularly dedicated to his service. His judicious choice of Virtue in preference to Pleasure, as described by Xenophon, is well known.-Diod. 1 et 4. Cic. de Nat. D. 1, &c. Apollod. 1 et 2. Paus. 1. 3, 5, 9 et 10. Hesiod. in Scut. Herc. &c. Hygin. Fab. 29, 32, &c. Ovid. Met. 9, v. 236, &c. Her. 9. Amor. Trist. &c. Homer - |