the goodness and mercy shown to him in the course of a long and happy life, as were truly impressive, and worthy of that pure christian spirit, in him so eminently conspicuous. His Reliques' will endear his name to every lover of old English poetry, and is a work which constitues an æra in the history of our literature. His Key to the New Testament' is an excellent manual for students, and has been adopted in the Universities. He translated the Song of Solomon, and published some versions from the Chinese, the Hermit of Warkworth,' a Translation of Mullet's Northern Antiquities, &c. &c.

6. SAINT FAITH.

This virgin martyr suffered death under Dacianus, about the year 290, the most cruel torments being inflicted upon her. Vows of celibacy were highly esteemed in the early ages; and, even in our own times, many rites still exist in honour of the virgin state. Upon the decease of a virgin, flowers are yet strewed before the corpse by young girls dressed in white, as emblematic of innocence. Garlands also are, in some places, woven and attached to the beams of churches in which virgins have been buried.

*7. 1795.-DR. J. O. ZIMMERMAN DIED. The author of the popular work on Solitude," known only in England in its abridged form, but making four quarto volumes in the original German. After twenty years' correspondence with the eminent Dr. Tissot, of Lausanne, without ever seeing him, he at length paid him a visit, which Dr. T., afterwards his biographer, thus records :- I had at length the pleasure of seeing him, I shall not say of knowing him. I found that I knew him already; the friend conversing, reminded me every moment of the friend writing, and perfectly resembled the portrait which I had drawn of him. I saw the man of genius, who with promptitude seizes an object under all its relations, and whose imagination knows how to present it under the most agreeable form. His conversation

was instructive, brilliant, sprinkled with a number of interesting facts and pleasant narrations, and animated by an expressive countenance. He spoke of every thing with great precision. On every occasion I saw the man of sincerity, rectitude, and virtue.'

*7. 1795.-EDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE COMPleted. 9.-SAINT DENYS.

Saint Denys, or Dionysius, the Areopagite, was converted to Christianity by St. Paul. See Acts xvii. He was, at first, one of the Judges of the celebrated court of the Areopagus, but was afterwards made Bishop of Athens, where he suffered martyrdom for the sake of the gospel. There are several books which bear his name; but they are, no doubt, forgeries of the sixth century. The French say, that he was the first that preached the gospel among them, and for that reason consider him their tutelar saint; but for this supposition there is no ground, as Christianity was never preached in France until long after his de

cease.

The abbey erected to the honour of this martyred saint, at the little village of St. Denis, near Paris, was founded (says Mr. Eustace) by Dagobert, a prince of the Merovingian race; and was thus almost coeval with the monarchy. Its abbots distinguished themselves by their talents and their integrity, during many an eventful year; and so interwoven was its history with that of the country, that the annals of St. Denis became the records of France. It was honoured in a particular manner by the royal family, and was, from its foundation, the mausoleum of the sovereigns of France. It was at an early period burned by the Normans in one of their predatory inroads, but restored with increased magnificence, and some time after rebuilt in its present form by Suger, the celebrated abbot, who governed France as regent, in the absence of St. Louis. Its decorations, as may easily be. supposed, were worthy its antiquity and high destination; and fretted vaults, and storied windows, and

rich shrines, and marble altars, combined their influence to heighten its majesty, and to awe and delight the spectator. It was served by a numerous fraternity of learned and holy monks: fumes of incense ascended daily from its altars; and morning, noon, and night, the tones of the organ, and the notes of the choir, echoed from its vaults. Such was St. Denis in its glory; and such I beheld it in the year 1790.

In 1802, I revisited it. The ruins of the abbey strewed the ground. The church stood stript and profaned; the wind roared through the unglazed windows, and murmured round the vaults; the rain dropt from the roof, and deluged the pavement; the royal dead had been torn from the repositories of departed greatness; the bones of heroes had been made the playthings of children, and the dust of monarchs had been scattered to the wind. The clock alone remained in the tower, tolling every quarter, as if to measure the time permitted to the abomination of desolation, and to record each repeated act of sacrilege and impiety.

At

The inhabitants of the town made representations to Buonaparte on the subject, and were flattered with hopes and promises. Still, however, reparations were neglected, and the progress of ruin was rapid. length the Emperor undertook what the First Consul had neglected; St. Denis was destined to receive the ashes of the imperial dynasty; and orders were issued to render it worthy in every respect of the honours that awaited it. The royal vaults were cleared, repaired, and in many respects considerably improved. The subterraneous chapels were re-established, and three of them fitted up with exquisite taste, and devoted to the memory of the preceding dynasties. these chapels, prayers were daily offered up for the repose of the Merovingian, Carlovingian, and Capetian princes. The reparation has been continued by Louis XVIII, and, excepting the stained windows, the loss

In

of which is irreparable, the church of St. Denis will probably resume, ere long, its antient majesty.'

13. TRANSLATION OF KING EDWARD THE

CONFESSOR.

He was the youngest son of King Ethelred; but as all his elder brothers were either dead, or had fled away, he succeeded to the crown of England in the year 1042. He collected all the most useful laws made by the Saxon and Danish kings. The additional title of Confessor was probably given him by the pope, for settling what was then called Rome-Scot, but now is better known by the name of Peter's Pence. For some pretty lines on this subject, see T. T. for 1815, p. 281.

The monks ascribed a number of miracles to Edward even his vestments were reputed holy. His crown, chair, staff, spurs, &c. are still used at the coronation of our English kings.

*14. 1066.-BATTLE OF HASTINGS.

*16. 1793.-JOHN HUNTER DIED, One of the most profound anatomists, sagacious and expert surgeons, and acute observers of nature, that any age has produced. His invaluable collection. of Comparative Anatomy,' which Mr. Hunter left behind, was purchased for the College of Surgeons, and is now deposited in their museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields.

17.-SAINT ETHELDREDA.

She was a princess of distinguished piety, daughter of Anna, King of the East-Angles, and Hereswitha his queen, and was born about the year 630, at Ixning, a small village in Suffolk. In the year 673, she founded the conventual church of Ely, with the adjoining conOf this monastery she was constituted abbess, the monks and nuns living in society and regular order it flourished for nearly two hundred years, but was destroyed, with its inhabitants, by the Danes, in 870.-See T.T. for 1814, p. 255.

vent.

18.-SAINT LUKE THE EVANGELIST. Luke was born at Antioch, the metropolis of Syria, a place celebrated for the study of the liberal arts. The notion that he was a painter is without foundation, as it is not countenanced by antient writers. Dr. Lardner thinks that he might have been by profession a physician, as the expression beloved physician,' Col. iv, 14, seems to intimate. Luke lived a single life, and died in the 84th year of his age, about the year of Christ 70; probably a natural death.

*19. 1216.-HENRY III BEGAN TO REIGN.

25.-ACCESSION OF KING GEORGE III.

Upon the death of George II, his present Majesty came to the throne, on the 22d of September 1760.

25.-SAINT CRISPIN.

Crispinus and Crispianus, two brothers, were born at Rome; whence they travelled to Soissons in France, about the year 303, to propagate the Christian religion. Being desirous, however, of rendering themselves independent, they gained a subsistence by shoemaking. It having been discovered that they privately embraced the Christian faith, and endeavoured to make proselytes of the inhabitants, the governor of the town immediately ordered them to be beheaded, about the year 308. From this time, the shoemakers chose them for their tutelar saints. There is a curious anecdote relative to this day in T.T. for 1816, p. 291.

*25. 1154.-HENRY II BEGAN TO REIGN.

Henry II was the greatest prirce of his time for wisdom, virtue, and ability, and the most powerful, in extent of dominion, of all those that had ever filled the throne of England. His character, both in public and private life, is almost without a blemish; and he seems to have possessed every accomplishment, both of body and mind, which makes a man estimable or amiable. He was of a middle stature, strong, and well-proportioned; his countenance was lively

Y