ments, early in the last century, "the rooms were embowered with holly, ivy, cypress, bays, laurel, and mistletoe, and a bouncing Christmas log in the chimney." Gay, in his Trivia, book ii. 437, thus refers to the decking of churches:

"When rosemary and bays, the poet's crown,

Are bawl'd in frequent cries through all the town; .
Then judge the festival of Christmas near,-
Christmas, the joyous period of the year;
Now with bright holly all the temples strow,
With laurel green and sacred mistletoe."

Mr. Brand, however, thinks that mistletoe was never put up in churches, among evergreens, "but by mistake or ignorance of the sextons; for it was the heathenish or profane plant, as having been of such distinction in the pagan rites of Druidism, and it therefore had its place assigned it in kitchens, where it was hung in great state with its white berries. . . . I have made many diligent inquiries after the truth of this. I learned at Bath that it never came into the church there. An old sexton at Teddington, in Middlesex, informed me that some mistletoe was once put up in the church there, but was by the clergyman immediately ordered to be taken away."

Sir Thomas Browne (Vulgar Errors, book ii. chap. 6) discourses of the virtues of mistletoe in " epileptical intentions. Country practice hath added another, to provoke the afterbirth, and in that case the decoction is given unto cows. That the berries are poison, as some conceive, we are so far from averring, that we have safely given them inwardly, and can confirm the experiment of Brassavolus, that they have some purgative quality."

Sir John Colbach, in his dissertation concerning misletoe, 1720, strongly recommends it as a medicine for epilepsy, and all other convulsive disorders; adding, that this beautiful plant must have been designed by the Almighty "for further and more noble purposes than barely to feed thrushes, or to be hung up superstitiously in houses to drive away evil spirits.” He refers the veneration in which the Druids were held to the cures they performed by means of the mistletoe of the oak, "this tree being sacred to them, but none so that had not the mistletoe upon them." But Sir John endeavours to show the mistletoe of the crab, the lime, the pear, or any other tree, to be of equal virtue.

The seeds of mistletoe ripen late, between February and April, and birds do not willingly feed upon them as long as they can procure the berries of hawthorn, hollies, ivy, and other winter food. No sooner, however, does a late frost set in, and the ground become covered with snow in the spring, as is often the case, than birds flock to the mistletoe, and find a

ready resource thus left them when all others have failed. If the ripe berries are rubbed upon the branches of trees, between February and April, they may be readily cultivated; and mistletoe has thus been found to germinate on the oak, several of the pine tribe, cherry, common laurel, Portugal laurel, holly, lime, elm, hornbeam, birch, sycamore, ash, chestnut, hazel, and acacia, as well as the apple, pear, and white-thorn tribe; but on all except the apple and pear, the seeds soon sicken and die.

WALLS-END COALS.

It is curious to reflect that the above name for our everyday fuel is derived from our Roman conquerors. It appears that the eastern termination of the Great Roman Wall was midway between Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the sea, at a large colliery which has produced an excellent description of household coal, therefore called Walls-end Coal; the high estimation of which has led to the appellation being extended to other kinds.

The coal-fields of Northumberland and Durham, from the river Coquet to the Tees, extend along the coast about 50 miles; the extreme breadth is nearly 25 miles, and the average breadth about 16 miles; total area from 700 to 800 miles. In one of these mines, the down-cast shaft (by which the air goes down) is about 68 fathoms, or 408 feet, about the height of the cross of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, and double the height of the Monument. These mines produce nearly 14 million tons of coal annually, of which 6 millions are destined for London and the coast trade.-T. Sopwith, F.G.S.

SMALL-POX.

Our large towns are subject to periodical visitations of SmallPox, owing, it is said, partly to the stupid adherence among the lower classes to the prohibited practice of small-pox inoculation, and partly to a growing distrust in the virtues of vaccination; though it is a well-established fact, that full nineteentwentieths of all those who have been vaccinated have been protected by it. It cannot be too generally made known, that to expose persons ill with small-pox, or having the virus of small-pox about their clothes or persons, in any "footpath, street, passage, road, lane, or way," so as to endanger others taking this disease, is an offence against the law, which may be punished with three months' imprisonment. To inoculate another with the small-pox is also held to be an indictable offence, for which six months' imprisonment may be awarded.— See The King v. Burnett,-Maule and Selwyn's Reports.

M

Laws and Customs.

ANTIQUITY OF JUDGES' CIRCUITS.

THIS is confirmed in the 1st of Samuel, c. vii. v. 16: "And he (Samuel) went from year to year in circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all these places.'

CURSITOR-BARON OF THE EXCHEQUER.

The title of Baron-Cursitor was evidently adopted in imitation of the ancient Cursitors in Chancery, who, holding the second place under the chief clerks or masters of that court, were called in Latin Cleric de cursee, and prepared all original writs and other writs of course. So also the barons-cursitor held a secondary rank, and were solely employed, like their prototypes, in doing the formal business, the settled rules of the Exchequer. One of the most showy functions of this officer is to make the public announcement of the Crown's approval of the election of the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex: a duty perhaps imposed upon him because the time of their inauguration (Sept. 29) occurs in the middle of the vacation, when the other barons are absent.-E. Foss, F.S.A.,-Archæologia, vol. lvi. pp. 29, 31.

ORIGIN OF SOLICITORS.

This branch of legal practitioners seems to have arisen in great part out of the suits in the Star-Chamber. "In our age," says Hudson, a barrister of Gray's Inn in the reign of Charles I., "here are stepped up a new sort of people called Solicitors, unknown to the records of the law, who, like the grasshoppers in Egypt, devour the whole land; and these, I dare say (being authorised by the opinion of the most reverend and learned Lord Chancellor that ever was before him), were express maintainers, and could not justify their maintenance upon any action brought; I mean not where a lord or gentleman employed a servant to solicit his cause, for he may justify his doing thereof; but I mean those which are common solicitors of causes, and set up a new profession, not being allowed in any court, or at least not in the court where they follow causes; and these are the retainers of causes, and de

vourers of men's estates by contention, and prolonging suits to make them without end."-John Bruce, F.S.A. on the StarChamber,-Archæologia, vol. xxv. pp. 343-393.

The erroneous impression that the name of "Solicitor" is a more honourable designation than that of "Attorney" has been thus corrected by Mr. Sergeant Warren, in his Lectures. The late Lord Tenterden took some trouble several times in refuting such a notion, and stigmatised as absurd the conduct of those who called by the name of solicitors persons conducting proceedings in courts of law. The proper expressions are "Attorney-at-law" and "Solicitor-in-equity." There is no difference whatever between the two in respect of rank or status, -any more than there is between barristers practising respectively in courts of law, and equity. If there be any preference, I should have thought it would lean to the good old Saxon word attorney-indicating an office most honourable and ancient. The word "solicitor" is, comparatively speaking, of much more recent introduction. -an off-shoot from the under-clerks of the now abolished Six Clerks in the Court of Chancery.* At all events, never use the word "solicitor" either in writing, or verbally, with reference to proceedings at law; or you will justly incur the censure expressed by Lord Tenterden.

These observations are not applicable to Scotland, where there is no such class of practitioners as attorneys. There "lawyer" or "solicitor" answers to our "attorney-at-law." The office of "attorney" in Scotland is merely private, and conferred by letter of attorney, regulating the nature and extent of the business therein delegated.

THE HISTORICAL AND LEGAL YEARS.

Remarkable examples of the confusion produced by two modes of computing dates are afforded by two of the most celebrated events in English history. King Charles I. is said by most authorities to have been beheaded on the 30th of January 1648; whilst others, with equal correctness, assign that event to the 30th of January 1649. The Revolution which drove James II. from the throne is stated by some writers to have taken place in February 1688; whilst according to others, it happened in February 1689. These discrepancies arise from some historians using the Civil and Legal, and others the Historical Year; though both would have assigned any circumstance after the 25th of March to the same years, namely 1649 and 1689.

To avoid, as far as possible, the mistakes which this custom produced, it was usual to add the date of the Historical to that

* A.D. 1842, by stat. 5 and 6 Vict. c. 103, s. 1. In the early history of the Court of Chancery, the Six Clerks and their under-clerks appear to have acted as the attorneys of the suitors. As business increased, these under-clerks became a distinct body, and were recognised by the court under the denomination of "sworn clerks," or "clerks in court." The advance of commerce, with its consequent accession of wealth, so multiplied the subjects requiring the judg ment of a Court of Equity, that the limits of a public office were found wholly inadequate to supply a sufficient number of officers to conduct the business of the suitors. Hence originated the "Solicitors" of the Court of Chancery.-(See Smith's Chancery Practice, p. 62, 3d edit.)

of the Legal Year, when speaking of any day between the 1st of January and the 25th of March; thus:

or thus:

Jan. 30, 164.e. 1649, the historical year.
Si.e. 1648, the civil and legal year.

January 30, 1648-9.

This practice, common as it has long been, is nevertheless frequently misunderstood; and even intelligent persons are sometimes perplexed by dates being so written. The explanation is, however, perfectly simple; for the lower or last figure always indicates the year according to our present calculation.-Sir Harris Nicolas.

ESSOIGN-DAYS, AND DAYS OF GRACE.

In the reign of Henry II., the day first mentioned in each term was called Essoign-day, because the court then took the essoigns, or excuses, of those who did not appear according to the summons of the writs; but as-by a custom, traced by Blackstone to the Germans of the age of Tacitus (Com. iii. 278) -three days of grace were allowed to every defendant within which to appear, the court did not sit for the despatch of business until the fourth day after that time. On the other hand, they continued to sit till the fourth day after the last return. Thus, e. g. Hilary Term was not considered to begin till the 23d of January, nor to end till the 12th of February.

Professor de Morgan, in the Companion to the Almanac, 1850, says:

"A person who is born on the 10th of June, in our day, counts a year as completed so often as a 10th of June arrives. He says, 'I shall not be of age until the 10th of June;' ask him how old he is on the 9th, and he will say, 'I shall not be of age till to-morrow. If he were born at noon, it is true that he does not complete twenty-one years of days divisible into fractions until the noon of the 10th. Nevertheless, in the law, which here preserves the old reckoning, he is of full age on the ninth; though he were born a minute before midnight on the 10th, he is of age to execute a settlement at a minute after midnight on the morning of the 9th, forty-eight hours all but two minutes before he has drawn breath for the space of twenty-one years. The law reasons thus: -there are no parts of days; he who is born on the 10th, takes the whole of the 10th as part of his life; he is a year old when he has completed 365 days; the 9th of next year is his 365th day; as soon as he has commenced the 9th, he has passed through the whole of it, for the day has no parts; therefore he has lived a complete year, or is one year old as soon as the 9th arrives. And the conclusion is unavoidable so soon as it is granted that a day has no parts. The anniversary of the birth used to be celebrated as the first day of a new year; it is now considered as the completion of the old one."