a far less valuable circumstance, i. e. shouting the churn, is observed to this day by the reapers, and from so old an æra; for we read of this acclamation, [Isa. xvi. 9,]" For the shouting for thy summer fruits, and for thy harvest is fallen." And again, verse 10," And in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting." Hence then, or from some of the Phoenician colonies, is our traditionary "shouting the churn. " Bread or cakes composed part of the Hebrew offering, [Levit. xxiii. 13,] and a cake thrown upon the head of the victim was part of a Greek offering to Apollo, whose worship was formerly celebrated in Britain, where the May-pole yet continues one remain of it. This they adorned with garlands on May-day, to welcome the approach of Apollo, or the sun, towards the north, and to signify that the flowers were the product of his presence and influence. But, upon the progress of christianity, Apollo lost his divinity, and the adoration of his deity subsided. Yet so permanent is custom, that this rite of the harvest-supper, together with that of the May-pole, have been preserved in Britain; and what had been anciently offered to the god, the reapers prudently eat up themselves. At last, the use of the meal of new corn was neglected, and the supper, so far as meal was concerned, was made indifferently of old or new corn, as most agreeable to the founder.

The usage itself accounts for the name of mel-supper. Mel signifies meal, and the instrument also called with us a mell, wherewith corn was anciently reduced to meal, in a mortar. Provisions of meal or of corn in furmity, &c., composed by far the greatest part of these old country entertainments, perfectly conformably to the simplicity of early times and persons. And as the harvest was concluded with preparatious of meal, ready for the mell, this came to mean the last of all things; as, when a horse comes last in a race, they often say in the north" he has got the mell."

The other names of this country festivity sufficiently explain themselves, except churn-supper. This is entirely different from the mel-supper; but they generally happen so near together that they are frequently confounded. The churn-supper was always provided when all was shorn, but the mel-supper after all was got in. It was called the churn supper because, from immemorial times, it was

customary to produce in a churn a great quantity of cream, and to circulate it by dishfuls to each of the rustic company, who ate it with bread. Though this custom has been disused in many places, or is agree ably commuted for by ale, yet it survives still about Whitby and Scarborough, in the east, and round about Guisburn, &c., in Craven, in the west. But, perhaps a century or two more will put an end to it, and both the things and name shall die. Vicarious ale is now more approved, and the tankard almost every where politely preferred to the churn.

Churn, in our provincial pronunciation kern, is the Hebrew kern or kerin, from its being circular, like most horns; and it is the Latin corona, named so either from its radii, resembling horns, as on some very ancient coins, or from its er circling the head; so a ring of people s called corona. Also the Celtic koren, keres corn, which continues according to its o pronunciation in Cornwall, &c., and our modern word horn is no more than this; the ancient hard sound of k in corn being softened into the aspirate h, as has been done in numberless instances. The Irish Celtæ also call a round stone clough crene when the variation is merely dialectic. Hence, too, our crane berries, i. e. round berries, from the Celtic adjective crent, round.

These particulars are derived, as before stated, from a dissertation by Eugene Aram, who, after an ingenious defence, was clearly convicted of a murder he had committed sixteen years before his trial, and suffered death for the crime.

"LARGESS."

[For the Year Book.]

It is, or lately was, a custom in Hertfordshire, for the men employed in getting in the corn, to meet in companies on the morning next after the "Harvest-home," for the purpose of perambulating the neighbourhood of their work, to "beg a fow-largess," as they term it. Each party is headed by a "lord o' th' harvest," who is generally spokesman for the rest. They solicit from all persons respectably attired, whom they may happen to meet; but they are more urgent in their requests at the dwellings of persons to whom their masters or themselves have been customers during the past year. In most instances" largess" is very liberally be stowed, both in money and in kind; and

The sounds of rustic rejoicing, at the close of harvest, fall pleasantly upon the ear, and are affecting to the feelings of a kind-hearted traveller: he knows that pleasure prevails among the toil-worn laborers of a good-natured farmer.

Here, once a year, distinction lowers its crest,
The master, servant, and the merry guest,
Are equal all; and round the happy ring
The reaper's eyes exulting glances fling;
And, warmed with gratitude, he quits his
place,

With sun-burnt hands, and ale-enlivened face,
Refills the jug his honored host to tend,
To serve at once the master and the friend;
Proud thus to meet his smiles, to share his
tale,

His nuts, his conversation, and his ale.

home

Bloomfield.

In some parts of Suffolk and Essex, after the Harvest-home feast, there still remains the old custom of "Hallooing Largess." At the beginning of the reaping a leader is appointed. He is generally the best of the reapers, and called the lord; and, when the labor of the harvest is over, he and the husbandmen are borne the last load of grain. Their upon wives and children, and immediate friends, follow in procession, carrying the implements used during the harvest, with green boughs, a sheaf of wheat, and, perhaps, a flag or two made of handkerchiefs, and such other rude demonstrations of rejoicing as fancy may suggest, or convenience offer. With light hearts and smiling faces, and cheerful shouts, they proceed merrily along to the farmer's house, where a good substantial supper provided for them, and to which are generally invited the neighbouring farmers. This is called the "Horkey," or Harvesthome. There

is

-first the fuelled chimney blazes wide; The tankards foam; and the strong table groans

Beneath the smoking sirloin, stretched im

mense

'Twas near upon as light as noon;

A largess, on the hill,

They shouted to the full round moon;
I think 1 hear them still.

Upon the breaking up of the "Horkey," the husbandmen of the farm assemble upon some near eminence, or conspicuous place, and lustily call out "Holla, holla, holla,-Largess." The "Holla they repeat quick, reserving all their strength for the word "Largess," and on this word they dwell till their voice is exhausted. On a clear still night the shout of "largess" may be heard at a great distance, and the lengthened sound is very peculiar and pleasing. They repeat the shout as often as they have received merriment, which the "brown October" "largess," and then, with some parting often makes obstreporous, they close an evening, the anticipation of which had cheered the old, and delighted the young, throughout the toils of harvest.

Bloomfield has very pleasantly introduced the custom by a poem called the of "Wild flowers," from which the above "Horkey-night," in his beautiful garland refer readers fond of nature, "though in two verses are extracted, and to which I simple guise." The custom is fast sinking; it only lingers among a few farmers who are old fashioned enough to bestow their the welkin ring with the shout of grati"Largess" freely, and who love to hear

tude.

[For the Year Book.] Above is a copy of a Farthing in my possession, inscribed on one side, " FARTHING MADE FOR," on the other side, CHERTSEY IN SURREY, 1668." As the inscription implies, it was once a current coin of the town: it is now very scarce.

Around the third bell of Chertsey church is the following inscription, in

monkish characters about an inch and a half high, "* ORA MENTE PIA PRO

NOBIS

*

*

* VIRGO * MARIA." This bell was brought to the church of Chertsey from the monastery, which was established there in the year 666 upon the conversion of the Saxons from Paganism. Subsequently, that building was destroyed, and a new edifice erected by king Edgar. King Henry VI. was buried at Chertsey monastery, which in the reign of Henry VIII. finally underwent the fate of the religious houses.

Shakspeare frequently mentions Chertsey in Richard III. Thus, at the close of the scene with the lady Anne, he makes Richard say

Repair to Crosby place, Where-after I have solemnly interr'd, At (hertsey monast'ry, this noble king, And wet his grave with my repentant tearsI will with all expedient duty see you.

Cowley, the poet, lived at Chertsey, in the Porch-house, the residence of the late chamberlain of London, Richard Clark, esq., who materially improved the estate. In the vicinity of the town is St. Ann's hill, on which was anciently a cell of worship attached to the monastery; near its site is the picturesque residence formerly the seat of the late right hon. Charles James Fox.

FARTHINGS.

A. R. SMITH.

A farthing is the fourth part of a penny. The Anglo-Saxon penny is known to have been as early as 688, and was perhaps earlier: it was of silver. The cross is said to have been deeply impressed upon it, that it might be divided into the half

ling, or halfpenny, and the fourth-ling, or fourth of a penny, now called farthing. There is a passage in Whitaker's Richmond, which shows that coins were halved and quartered, as the dollar is at this time in remote settlements of the United States in America.

*

66

In 1444, 23 Henry VI., a petition was presented to the House of Commons, stating, that for default of half-pence and farthings, men travailling over Contrees, for part of their expences of necessites, must depart our Soveraigne Lorde's coigne, that is to wete, a Peny in two peces, or elles forgo all the same Peny for the paiement of an Half-Peny." +

Henry I. first ordered half-pence and farthings to be made round. Before that time they had been made square. I

duchess of Richmond, the monopoly of James I. granted by patent, to Frances, coining farthings for seventeen years. §

Queen Anne's Farthings.

It prevails, as a vulgar error, that a Queen Anne's Farthing is of immense value. Her farthing is scarce, but not valuable, unless in fine preservation. The only farthing issued in her reign bears her head, inscribed ANNA DEI GRATIA, and on the reverse BRITANNIA 1714. In the finest condition it is not worth more than twenty shillings, or, with the broad rim, thirty shillings. There were patterns for farthings of her reign, which were not issued, one with Britannia under a portal,

and another with Peace in a car, are rare,

and valued at forty shillings. The rarest pattern is inscribed on the reverse BELLO ET PACE 1713. The field in the centre is sunk, the rims indented, to prevent casting in sand, and it has all the improvements so much boasted of as being the invention of Boulton in his last coinage of copper. ||

Fosbroke's Ency. of Antiquities.

+ Antiq. Repertory.

Andrew's Hist. G. Britain.

Rymer.

Fosbroke.

September 11.

The season of harvest is memorable for an act of cruel injustice, perpetrated in the name of religion by Ferdinand II., emperor of Germany, against several flourishing communities of peaceable christians. Robert Robinson, in his "Ecclesiastical Researches," tells the following story of this outrage.

The ancestors of these people had been driven from France in the twelfth century. They were Baptists, and the records of Bohemia state that, about that time, exiles of this persuasion arrived and settled, near a hundred miles from Prague, at Satz and Laun on the river Eger, just on the borders of the kingdom. Almost two hundred years after, an undoubted record of the same country mentions a people of the same description, some as burnt at Prague, and others as inhabiting the borders of the kingdom; and, a hundred and fifty years after that, we find a people of the same description, settled by connivance in the metropolis, and in several other parts of the kingdom. About one hundred and twenty years lower, a people in the same country, exactly like the former, lived on the estate of prince Lichtenstein. They were about thirty or forty thousand in number. They had no priests, but taught one another. They had no private property, for they held all things jointly. They executed no offices, and neither exacted nor took oaths. They bore no arms, and rather chose to suffer than resist. They worshipped God only by adoring his perfections, and endeavouring to imitate his goodness. They thought Christianity wanted no comment. They professed their belief of it, by being baptized; and their love to Christ, and one another, by receiving the Lord's supper. They aspired at neither wealth nor power, and their plan was industry. Bohemia afforded them work, wages, and a secure asylum, which were all they wanted. These facts do honor to human nature; they exhibit in the great picture of the world a few small figures in a back ground, unstained with the blood, and unruffled with the disputes of their fellow creatures. It was their wisdom, in their times, not to come forward to deliver apologies to the world, and creeds with flattering prefaces to princes; the turbulence of the crowd would have caused the still voice of reason not to be heard.

The protestants of Bohemia alternately endured persecution and enjoyed repose, according to the bigoted or lenient dispositions of successive emperors. They existed by connivance and expedients till the accession of Maximilian II., who declared that such princes as tyrannized over the consciences of men attacked the Supreme Being, and frequently lost possessions on earth by concerning themselves with what exclusively belonged to the divine government. He used to say of Huss, "they very much injured that good man." Lamenting with Crato, his physician, the contentions of mankind about religion, the emperor asked the doctor what sect he thought came nearest to the simplicity of the apostles; Crato answered," I verily think the people called Picards." Maximilian replied, "I think so too." During his reign every body enjoyed liberty of conscience. His son and successor, Rodolph, was of the same pacific nature; but some jesuits who insinuated themselves into his councils persuaded him to enforce an old decree, obnoxious against the Picards. Just afterwards the Turks took one of his towns, and Rodolph exclaimed, “I expected some such blow from the moment I began to usurp dominion over the consciences of men; for they belong to God alone." From that time he expressly granted liberty of conscience, and the free exercise of religion. His brother Mathias contested with him for dominion, and Rodolph finally ceded to him Hungary, Austria, Moravia, and Bohemia. Though the Bohemians did not approve of this transfer, yet they so far deferred to Rodolph as to elect Mathias, and crown him king of Bohemia. He succeeded Rodolph as emperor, and, being desirous of excluding his brothers from the imperial throne, he adopted his cousin Ferdinand, and so intrigued as to effect his election by the states of Bohemia, and Ferdinand was crowned at Prague. It was evident to the Bohemians that the house of Austria was elevating itself on the ruins of German liberty. When, therefore, on the death of Matthias, his nominee was elected emperor of Germany, under the title of Ferdinand II., the Bohemians chose Frederick, the elector palatine, king of Bohemia, and having stipulated for their liberties they crowned him. Frederick had married the princess Elizabeth, daughter of James I. king of England, from whom, and other princes of

Europe, who dreaded the growing power of Austria, expectations of support were entertained. The Bohemians insisted on their ancient right to elect their own king and make their own laws. To protect their claims they raised an army, which was signally defeated. The short-lived dignity of Frederick and his wife was extinguished by this blow, which riveted the chains of Austria upon Bohemia from that hour to the present.

When Ferdinand II. was crowned emperor of Germany, he paid a visit to our lady of Loretto, and made a vow to extirpate heresy from his dominions, on condition that the virgin would render his arms sucessful. He reinstated the jesuits, and they advised him to begin with that part of the Baptists whose principles would not allow them to make any resistance, and who would remove at a word, without giving his majesty the trouble of putting them to death.

The Bohemian and Moravian Baptists were then divided into two classes; the Bohemians consisted of Calvinist Picards, and resided at different places all over the kingdom. Some of their ministers kept school; others practised physic. The other class lived all together in Moravia, and are called in the imperial edict by the new German name Anabaptists. These people lived in forty-five colleges or fraternities, exactly as their ancestors had done previously to their banishment from France, about four hundred and fifty years before this period. Each of these little corporations consisted of many families, who held all things common. Each fraternity contained between some hundreds and a thousand, and thence it is inferred that they were about forty thousand. Some of these fraternities carried on manufactories, others were factors and merchants, and others were employed in agriculture, and a wine trade. All were busy, peaceable, and happy, under regulations of their own making, having none of that class of mankind among them who live on the vices and follies of their fellow-creatures. They were no burden to any body on the contrary they served and enriched the community. They had founded liberty on independence, and independence on industry.

It was not an easy matter to get rid of these Baptists. The emperor's chaplains, who were privy counsellors, talked of heresy but it was difficult to bring a direct charge avainst a people who had

no public faith, and who never attacked any religion by publishing creeds. They could not be charged with perjury, for they had never taken any oaths, and one of their maxims was "Swear not at all." Sedition could not be pretended, for they never bore arms. They could not be awed by one another, for they had no masters; they could not be bribed, for they had no necessitous gentry. Filled with that unsuspicious freedom, which innocence inspires, they had not even one patron at the imperial court, and their whole expectation was placed on the superintending providence of God.Prince Lichtenstein, on whose domain they lived, and to whom they paid rent, and many other noblemen, endeavoured to save these people, on account of the benefits which they derived from them. Ferdinand wrote first to prince Lichte stein and cardinal Dietrichstein, the st general of the army, and the last governs of the province, to inform them of h design, and to require their concurrence on pain of his displeasure. Then fol lowed the edict, in which his majesty expressed his astonishment at the number of the Anabaptists, and his horror at the principal error which they embraced, which was that, according to the express declarations of holy scripture, they were to submit to no human authority. He added, that his conscience compelled him to proscribe them, and accordingly he banished them from all his hereditary and imperial dominions on pain of death. The jesuits contrived to publish this edict just before harvest and vintage came on, for two reasons, first that the neighbouring gentry would be absent, and next that the people might not carry away the produce of the present year. They allowed them only three weeks and three days for their departure; it was death to be found ever on the borders of the country beyond the expiration of the hour.

It was Autumn-the prospect and the pride of husbandmen. Heaven had smiled on their honest labors; their fields stood thick with corn, and the sun and the dew were improving every moment to give them their last polish. The yellow ears waved in homage to their owners and the wind whistling through the stems, and the russet herbage softly said, “Put in the sickle, the harvest is come." Their luxuriant vine leaves too, hung aloft by tendrils, mantled over the clustering grapes like watchful parents over their