September 29. MICHAELMAS DAY. For usages upon this festival, reference may be made to the Every-Day Book, where there is much upon the custom, still general in England, of eating goose at Michaelmas. Goose. In France the goose is in little repute as a dish, and seldom appears upon the tables of Parisian epicures. The flesh they condemn as coarse and unwholesome; and the apple-sauce, when mentioned, never fails to elicit flashes of astonishment, subsiding into peals of laughter. But the livers and thighs of geese, learnedly made into pies, and properly truffled, patés de foies gras,' are reckoned a most delicate article; although they have killed nearly as many gastronomers as the small pox and scarlet fever have destroyed children. The department of Perigord, with Toulouse and Bayonne, used, notwithstanding, to cook annually, for the rest of the world, about 120,000 of these lethiferous pies. Large droves of geese were anciently led from Picardy to Italy, waddling over the Alps, and constantly stooping, according to their prudent custom, under the lofty triumphal arches which they happened to pass in their way. Yet geese are not so stupid as they are generally supposed to be. The famous chemist, Lemery, saw a goose turning the spit on which a turkey was roasting, unconscious, we hope, that some friend would soon accept the office for her. Alas! we are all turnspits in this world; and when we roust a friend let us be aware that many stand ready to return the compliment." Rue aux Ours is the name of a street in Paris, formerly called Rue aux Ques, an obsolete term for oies (geese), and was given to it on account of the great number of rotisseurs that resided in it. The authors of the "Dictionnaire historique de la Ville de Paris" say;-"The capons of Mans, the pullets of Mezerai fattened by art, the chickens of Caux, and a thousand other luxuries, were absolutely unknown in those old times of moderation and continence, when good morals prevailed, and our fathers, less sensual and delicate than the present generation, re *Notes to Tabilla Cibaria, cited in Time's Telescope, 1823. galed themselves upon geese, a kind of fowl despised in an age when sensuality and gluttony have the ascendancy. It was not till the reign of Charles IX. that turkeys appeared in France, that is to say, a few years after the discovery of the West Indies. They were originally brought from Mexico, where they are common. It is said that the first turkey was served up at the marriage of Charles IX., and was considered an extraordinary dainty."* Dr. Thomas Sprat, afterwards bishop of Rochester, took orders at Wadham College, Oxford, and at the restoration became chaplain to the witty and profligate duke of Buckingham. At his first dinner with the duke, his grace, observing a goose opposite to his chaplain, remarked that he wondered why it generally lar pened that geese were placed near th clergy. "I cannot tell the reason," sai Sprat, but I shall never see a goo again but I shall think of your grace." Sprat was the son of a country clergyman, who sent him to Wadham College. Oxford, where he distinguished himsel in mathematics, poetry, and wit. His repartee to the duke of Buckingham won the favor of that nobleman, who found in Sprat the man he wanted. The duke deemed his own writings imperfect, until they had his chaplain's approbation. Sprat's preferment was rapid. He ob tained a stall at the church of St. Marga ret, Westminster, a canonry of Windsor, the deanery of Westminster, and the set of Rochester. The revolution staved his further promotion, and involved him in unmerited disgrace. He, and other distinguished persons were charged with unjustly conspiring to restore James II and seize queen Mary. The falsehood of this accusation was discovered, and they were released. Sprat spent his remaining life in privacy, except when he judged the situation of affairs peculiarly demanded his zeal, and then it blazed up. It flamed fiercely during Sacheverel's trial. His piety was sincere, and he kept as a day of devotion the anniversary of his escape from the wicked snare laid for his life. For his share in drawing up the thanksgiving for James's queen bein pregnant he was ridiculed in a ballad beginning, * Paris iii. 273. Two Toms, and Nat, In council sat, To rig out a thanksgiving, And make a prayer For a thing in air, That's neither dead nor living. The Two Toms and Nat" refer to Thomas Sprat, bishop of Rochester; Thomas White, bishop of Peterborough; and Nathaniel Crew, bishop of Durham.* September 29.-Day breaks. Sun rises sets. Twilight ends h. m. 4 13 6 8 5 52 . 7 47 The owners of a forge in the parish of St. Clement (which formerly belonged to the city, and stood in the high-road from the Temple to Westminster, but now no longer exists) are then called forth to do their suit and service; when an officer of the court, in the presence of the senior alderman, produces six horse-shoes and sixty-one hobnails, which are counted over in form before the cursitor baron, who, on this particular occasion, is the immediate representative of the sovereign. The origin of this latter usage is a grant in 1235, from Henry III., to Walter de Bruin, a farrier, of the said piece of ground, whereon to erect a forge, he ren Swallows migrate, but a few remain dering annually to the exchequer, for the till October. September 30. SWEARING-IN THE SHERIFF OF LONDON On the day after Michaelmas day, or, if that day fall on a Sunday, on the Monday following, the lord mayor and aldermen proceed from Guildhall, and the two sheriffs, with their respective companies, proceed from their particular halls, and embark on the Thames, his lordship in the city barge, and the sheriff's in the company's barge, and thus go, in aquatic state, up the river to Palace-yard. They land there, and proceed to the court of exchequer; where, after salutations to the bench (the cursitor baron presiding), the recorder presents the two sheriffs. The several writs are then read, and the sheriffs, and the senior under-sheriff, take the usual oaths. There are ceremonies on this occasion, in the court of exchequer, which vulgar error supposes to be a trial of the qualification of the new sheriffs for their office, whereas the sheriffs have not the least concern with the formal chopping of sticks, and counting of hobnails. The tenants of a manor in Shropshire are directed to come forth to do their suit and service. The corporation of London being tenant of the manor, the senior alderman below the chair steps forward and chops a single stick, in token of its having been customary for the tenants of that manor to supply their lord with fuel. Noble. same, a quit-rent of six horse-shoes, with the nails belonging to them. In process of time the ground became vested in the city, and, though now lost to it, the city still renders the quit-rent. After these ceremonies the civic authorities re-embark in their barges, and return to Blackfriars' bridge, whence they proceed in the state carriages to the company's hall, and partake of an elegant dinner.* And so as of ancient usage-ends September with the Corporation of Lon don. EDINBURGH. September, in the Year Book, may agreeably end with a fact or two, omitted before, relating to the ancient metropolis of Scotland, its old shops and residents, old modes of doing business, and old manners, now extinct or obsolete. The small booths in Edinburgh, around St. Giles, part of which were first erected in 1555, continued, till 1817, to deform its outward appearance. Long before their destruction, the booksellers at least had found the "cabinned space" of six or seven feet too small for the accommoda tion of their fast increasing wares, and removed to larger shops in the square; but, to compensate this change, a great number of dealers in toys, gloves, &c., had taken up their abode in the kramesfor so were the shops designated upon the north side of the cathedral. There were also shops under, and at the ends of, the Old Tolbooth. One of these, at the east end, not more than seven feet long, and three feet wide, was occupied by an old Gents, Mag. glover named K——, who, with his cara sposa, stood retailing his wares within its narrow limits, for nearly half a century. They had not a fire, even in winterthere being no room for such a convenience; and this was a specimen of the life led by all the patient creatures who kept similar shops in the neighbourhood, most of whom, upon the demolition of the krames, and the general alterations of the 'town which then took place, retired from business with competent fortunes. was wanted. An octogenarian goldsmith, who entered as an apprentice about the beginning of George the Third's reign, says that they were beginning only, at that time, to keep a few trifling articles. Previous to that period, also, another old custom had been abolished. It had been usual, upon both the occasions above mentioned, for the goldsmith to adjourn with his customer to John's Coffee-house, or to the Baijen Hole (which was then a tavern), and to receive the order, or the payment, in a comfortable manner, over a dram and a caup of small ale; which were, upon the first occasion, paid for by the customer, and, upon the second, by the trader; and the goldsmith then was, perhaps, let into the whole secret counsels of the rustic, including a history of his courtship-in return for which, he would take pains to astonish his customer with a sketch of the city news. As the view, and capitals of the Parliament close Goldsmiths became extended, these pleasant customs were relentlessly abandoned.* One of the largest of these booths, adjacent to the north side of the New or High Church, and having a second story, was occupied, during a great part of the last century, by Messrs. Kerr and Dempster, goldsmiths. The first of these gentlemen had been member of parliament for the city, and was the last citizen who ever held that office. Such was the humility of people's wishes, in those days, respecting their houses, that the honorable member for Edinburgh actually lived, and had a great many children, in the small space of the flat over the shop, and the cellar under it, which was lighted by a grating in the pavement of the square. The sub- September 30.-Day breaks. terraneous part of his house was chiefly devoted to the purposes of a nursery, and proved so insalubrious, that all his children died successively at a particular age, with the exception of his son Robert, who had the good luck to be born much more weakly than the rest, and, being sent to the country to be nursed, grew up to be the well-known author of the Life of Robert Bruce, and other works. All the goldsmiths of Edinburgh were collected in the Parliament Close, whither, of course, all the country people resorted, during the last century, to purchase the silver tea-spoons which always preceded their nuptials. It was then as customary in the country for the intending bridegroom to take a journey, a few weeks before his marriage, to the Parliament Close, in order to buy the silver spunes, as it was for the bride to have her clothes and stock of bed-furniture inspected by a committee of matrons upon the wedding eve. This important transaction occasioned two journeys;-one, in order to select the spoons, and prescribe the initials which were to be marked upon them ;the other, to receive and pay for them. The goldsmiths of Edinburgh then kept scarcely any goods on hand in their shops, and the smallest article had then to be bespoken from them some time before it Sun rises sets. h. m. 4 16 610 550 7 44 Twilight ends Asters all in flower. P. S. A few days ago an accident threw in my way a small pocket volume, upon a subject which I had little disposition to inquire about. However, I read it, and never was more riveted by a book. I venture to declare my conviction that all persons who have not seen it, whether gentle or simple, old or young, of either sex, will be equally pleased. Upon mention of the title the rich may frown, and fair ladies smile disdainfully, but, if they read the work, they will confess their mistake. It is "The Working-man's The price of the volume, although it conCompanion-the Results of Machinery." tains 216 pages, neatly printed upon good paper, is only "One Shilling and Threepence bound in cloth." It is not only the cheapest, but the best pocketbook of recreation and instruction I am acquainted with; and I earnestly recommend it to every reader of the Year Book. W. HONE. Chambers's Traditions of Edinburgh, ii. 205. VOL. I.-37. OCTOBER. The hedger stopping gaps, amid the leaves, CLARE'S Shepherd's Calendar. CLARE'S Shepherd's Calendar, whence the lines are taken on the preceding page, affords a natural picture of the waning year. Nature now spreads around, in dreary hue, Some pleasing objects for his praise delay; Something that makes him pause and turn again, As every trifle will his eye detain :The free horse rustling through the stubble field; And cows at lair in rushes, half conceal'd; With groups of restless sheep who feed their fill, O'er clear'd fields rambling wheresoe'er they will; The nutters, rustling in the yellow woods, Haunting each common's wild and lonely nook, Where hedges run as crooked as the brook, Shielding their camp beneath some spreading oak, And but discovered by the circling smoke, And, with its merry partner, nut-brown beer, Makes up the peasant's Christmas-keeping cheer. Like to a painted map the landskape lies; And wild above shine the cloud-thronged skies, That chase each other on with hurried pace, Like living things, as if they ran a race. The winds, that o'er each sudden tempest brood, Waken, like spirits, in a startled mood; Flirting the sear leaves on the bleaching lea, That litter under every fading tree; And pausing oft, as falls the patting rain; Then gathering strength, and twirling them again, Till drops the sudden calm :-the hurried Most of the winter birds which frequent our islands arrive in October. Numerous sea fowls at stated periods, or at uncertain intervals, perform short migrations to and from different parts of the island. The ring-ousel comes soon after Michaelmas; the Royston crow arrives in October; the redwing about the middle of October; the fieldfare and woodcock keep arriving all October and November; the snipe and jack arrive during the same period,-some hens breed here; the pigeon, or stock dove, comes towards the end of November, and some abide here all the year, with the wood pigeon and ring dove; some of which arrive in spring, and others perform partial migrations. Among occasional visitors, which frequently change their summer and winter |