Diary and Chronology. Wednesday, Sept. 21. St. Matthew, Apostle. Full Moon, 55m after 9 Afternoon. St. Matthew, the holy evangelist, was the son of Alpheus, a Jew of the tribe of Issachar, and was by profession a publican or tax-gatherer. He was slain by some infidels at Nadabaer, about the year 60. St. Matthew is usually represented sitting with a pen in his hand, and a scroll before him, and he is looking over his left shoulder at an angel who is supposed to be instructing him what to indite. A halbert is placed near his person, in commemoration of the instrument by which he was put to death. This festival was first instituted in the year 1090. St. Matthew wrote his gospel in Hebrew, for the benefit of the Jewish converts; it was afterwards translated into Greek. Thursday, Sept. 22. St. Maurice and others, Mar. A.D. 286. High Water 11m after 2 Morn-28m after 2 After. Sept. 22, 1520.--The death of Selim the First, Emperor of the Turks. Mahomet II. subdued a vast number of states, but Selim I. added new conquests. He conquered in 1515, Syria and Mesopotamia, and conceived the design of compelling Egypt to his yoke. It was then defended by formidable forces, namely, Circassians, from Tartary, now called Mamelukes. Selim advancing into their country, attacked them near Cairo. Toman Bey, their Sultan, braved him in two battles, the last of which lasted three days and three nights. This unfortunate prince having been discovered in a marsh where the Arabs had concealed themselves, he was hung, by order of Selim, to The barbarous conone of the gates of Cairo. queror reduced to his dominion the whole of Egypt, which at present is no more than a province of the Ottoman Empire. Selim was disposed to turn his arms against the Christians, when, returning to Constantinople, he died of a disease by which he had been attacked. The Turks never had a more ferocious Sultan: he put to death his father, his brothers, eight of his nephews, and a great number of Bashaws, who had served him faithfully. Friday, Sept. 23. St. Thecla, virgin and martyr, 1st Century. Sun rises 55m after 5-sets 4m after 6. Sept. 28, 1667.-Alphonso VI. deposed. Alphonso VI. succeeded his father John of Braganza, on the throne of Portugal. He was a furious, weak prince. His queen, the daughter of Nemours, being in love with Don Pedro, brother of Alphonso, conceived the project of dethrouing her husband, and of marrying her lover. Having gained, by her ability, the government which ther husband lost, she shut him up in prison, and the unfortunate monarch was finally compelled to cede his crown and his wife to Don Pedro, his brother, Her sister, the Duchess de Nemours, used the same means to dissolve her marriage with the Prince of Lorraine, in order to marry Charles Emanual, Duke of Savoy. Don Pedro only took the title of Regent during the life of his brother. Alphonso died in 1683, in the Isle of Terceira. Saturday, Sept. 24. St. Chuniald. High Water 22m after 5 Mor-40m after 3 After. Sept. 24, 1828.-Died the Rev. Dr. Nicholl, D.D. ET. 35. The learned Doctor was educated at the College of Aberdeen, and at the early age of 15, was sent to Oxford through the interest of Bishop Skinner. On completing his studies, he took the situation of travelling tutor to a young gentleman, after which he obtained the situation of under librarian in the Bodleian Library. Whilst filling this station, he made himself master of the Hebrew, Arabic, Persic, Syrian, Ethiopic, Sanscrit, and various other Eastern dialects. He drew up and published a catalogue of the manuscripts brought from the East by Dr. Clark; and undertook the herculean task of completing the general catalogue of Oriental manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, amounting to more than 30,000 in number, which had been commenced more than a century before, by Uri, the celebrated Hungarian. This procured for Mr. N. a splendid literary reputation throughout Europe. Through the interest of the late Earl of Liverpool, Dr. N. was appointed, in 1822, to the llebrew chair at Oxford, and he took his rank as Regius Professor, and as Canon of Christ Church, with a salary of about 20001. instead of 2001. a year, which he received as under librarian. Sunday, Sept. 25. SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Lessons for the Day.- Ezekiel, 14 chapter Morn. Ezekiel, 18 ch. Evening. Veneri, Saturno, Maniae, Rom. Cal.--It seems by the Julian Calendar, that this was one of the minor holidays, being a festival to Venus, Saturn, and to the Manes. The grand festival of the Saturnalia was celebrated on the 17th of December, continuing for seven days; during which time, a feast to Ops, called Opalia, used to take place. Mania, likewise noticed this day, was the mother of the Manes and the Lares, and was considered by the ancients as a goddess. Monday, Sept. 26. St. Nilus the Younger, Abb. Sun rises 1m after 6-Sets 58m after 5. The lofty and splendid Sunflower is now still abundant, and like the Hollyhock, stands a prominent inhabitant of the garden. Tuesday, Sept. 27. Sts. Cosmo & Damian, Mar. A.D. 303. High Water 20m after 5 Morn-44m after 5 After. We cannot refrain from introducing here the following lines, by Miss S. Strickland on the Luminous Arch that appeared in the heavens on the night of this day, in the year 1828. Vision of Beauty! there floats not a cloud O'er the blue vault of Heaven thy glory to shroudThe star-gemm'd horizon thou spannest sublime, Like a path to a better and lovelier clime. Thy light unreflected by planet or star, Still widens and brightens round night's span Erratum.-Page 99, line 26, for " bitterness," read" brittleness." In our next,--A Tale of Eld,-Cursory Thoughts on the Question of What is a Poet ?and Shakspeare. The Smuggler's Track, is intended for insertion, and the other piece by the same pen is under consideration. Illustrated Article. A TALE OF ELD. For the Olio He's no swaggerer, hostess; a tame cheater, he: you may stroke him as gently as a puppy greyhound: he will not swagger with a Barbary hen, if her feathers turn back in any show of resistance. King Henry IV. Part IV. Faster than spring-time showers comes thought on thought; And not a thought but thinks on dignity; IT was toward the close of a hot summer day, in the reign of Queen Bess, that a couple of gallants rode into a certain village some thirty miles distant from our good city of London; their pace was slow, and the air of both indolent enough, perhaps from the fatigue they had endured, and the garniture of horses and riders were plentifully laden with dust. The youngest of the twain, Gilbert Mowton by name, was the son of a wealthy mercer o' the Chepe, an arrant coxcomb, and a choice mark for VOL. VIII. L See page 163 the bullying swash-buckler who rode at his side, his professed and inseparable friend-while his gold lasted. This latter worthy displayed a tall thick form cased in a buff leather jerkin, red hose, huge tanned boots, and a high sugarloaf beaver, decorated with a single cock's feather; a dag and one or two pistols were stuck in his broad leather belt, and a long basket-hilted toledo hung at his side. The other was dressed in the butterfly frippery which characterized the coxcombs of the period: a moving heap of ribbands, laces, points, silks and baubles of hues innumerable, which to particularise would be a useless waste of time and paper. This wight, the younger of his companion by some thirteen or fourteen years, to judge from his aspect, was not altogether pleased with his present enterprise, the nature of which will be gleaned from the following dialogue. "Psha!" he exclaimed, after a long silence, and sundry fidgetty turnings and twistings in his saddle, "I have no heart to this business after all, sith I had rather sit i' th' Devil and drink 207 sack ten times over, than go a wildgoose chase for a girl that loves me not." "Love ye not!" cried Hector Radleigh. "S'death, lad, she shall love thee! By the mighty Trojan whose name I bear, thou shalt be the very apple of her eye!-she shall doat on thee, man. Therefore, couragio, I say, be not beaten with a frown." "The chances are against me," replied Mowton; report says I've a ri 66 vala favoured rival." "Thou art no coward ?" returned Radleigh. "Dost deem me such ?" quoth the other. "Knew I one that did, I'd slit his cars-ay, an 'twere my very brother." 66 "Ha! ha!" cried Radleigh, as they rode further into the village, "see, yonder swings the flying stag; here will we rest us for the night, and in the morn we'll away to Sir Hildobrand's.Ho, there! sirrah, varlet!" shouted he, as a man somewhat meanly apparelled crossed the stable-yard, "lead in our horses, and, d'ye hear, see them well tended." The person addressed stopped short, surveyed Radleigh from top to toe, and darting on him a look of contempt, replied "Why, master swashbuckler, in sooth ye seem best fitted for such employment-tend thy beast thyself.” "Why, dost not serve here?" Ay! 66 Percy Wilford is a brave gallant," said Gilbert musingly. "Not so brave as thon art," quoth his companion. "An a proper," continued Gilbert, unheeding the observation "Not as thyself-psha!- come be not thus disheartened-cheer up, be bold!-I tell ye, sir, fortune smiles on ye. The lady hath not seen ye yet; appear before her, and believ't thou shall win upon her i' th' instant. By the great Hector thou shalt !-s'life, thou art a very Hyperion,-thy smile is irresistible; nay, think not I flatter thee. I have seen thy rival, as thou call'st him-rival no longer when thou hast ta'en the field,-s'blood, the moon may no more be compared with the bright sun, than he with thee, my Adonis." "How looks he?- report speaks fairly of him," said Mowton, whose brightening aspect shewed that Radleigh's flattery was not bestowed in vain. "How looks he? Marry, sir, like the ill-favoured wight i' the fairy book -a very mooncalf," "Come, come, thou dost him wrong, he is at least valliant." "Why, then, do my command, or I shall be tempted to break my rapier over thy knave's pate." "Art so valiant?" quoth the other tauntingly. "S'death!" shouted Radleigh, grappling his sword hilt, "shall I be braved. thus, and by thee?" 66 Come, come, chafe not Portingallo, nor finger that spit o' thine;-hast not courage to draw it, nor wit to use it." "That shall be seen,-away-hold me not, Master Mowton, the blood of nine ancestor boils in my veins. Give me place, I say-let me come at him." And therewith the valiant captain proceeded to lug his long, heavy weapon from its rusted scabbard, a movement which he was somewhat slow in executing. 66 "You shall not commit affray here," said Mowton, interposing his weapon; by my faith you shall not-put up, Radleigh-good, sweet Hector, I entreat -I command ye." Away, boy-hence, if you love your life; the vile coistril hath raged me past endurance, and, by Hector, I will cleave his brisket." So saying, he aimed a furious blow "Ay, his legs will befriend him from at the stranger, who, stepping nimbly the cut of a sabre, or the range of a aside, evaded it, and making an immebullet, and may bear him far enough diate lunge at the captain's breast, he from the beautiful Rose, when thou stretched him lifeless on the ground. hast entered the lists; therefore, spur Amid the hubbub which now ensued of thy jade and lets along. Marry, sir, persons flocking to the scene, was heard have not I stood by ye for these some a quick trampling of horses, and prehalf score years in weal and woe?-sently four or five horsemen, clad in Have not I fought with ye-fled with ye-- half-armour, gallopped into the yard. eat with ye-drank with ye!—and shall The foremost of the party seemed to reI not stand by ye still? By the vasty cognize Mowton's adversary; he sudTrojan, mine ancestor, I say thou art denly leaped from his horse, and broke my noble Telemachus, thy faithful Men- through the crowd towards him. tor I. So, once again, mon cher cavaliere, forward and bravely." "Fool! madman," he cried, passionately grasping his arm, "what, in the fiend's name, brought ye here? Fly, fly this moment, or ye go not hence with life. See-see-Sir Hildobrand "I care not," replied the stranger; "let him take my life if he will, I'll not budge a foot." "For thine own sake-for mine,— nay, then, for Eveline's," entreated the other, "away this moment." י, "Eveline 'tis well-for her sake I will prolong this wretched existence; but how?-I am weak, almost helpless "Here, here!" cried the horseman, catching the reins of Radleigh's horse, mount and get thee gone; I know thy retreat, ere nightfall I'll be thereAway, away.' The stranger drew his tattered mantle closely around him, set spurs to the steed, and instantly dashed through the throng into the village. Meanwhile the agitation of his attendant had communicated itself to Sir Hildobrand, who in some part comprehending the state of things, spurred eagerly towards him. "Moncton," said he, in a voice tremulous with passion, "who wast went hence so hastily? Ha! thy bloodless cheek betrays thee!-'twas he-dog, thou art leagued with him!" In a frenzy of rage he clutched Moncton by the throat, hurled him furiously to the ground, and dashing his spurs into his steed, departed the stable-yard, followed by the rest. Moncton arose, and unheeding the wildered looks of the crowd, listened for a few moments with extreme eagerness. Shortly the report of a pistol was heard-it was repeated again and again, though at a considerable distance. Moncton now remounted his horse, and rode away, leaving the assembly to wonder and confer on the scene they had witnessed. "So, Master Lenton," said one, an eminent clothier, who was sojourning for that night at the inn, to the portly host thereof, "what may this evil forebode? Marry, methinks yon gallant that went hence but now had more than common cause for his quick retreat." "God's life, Master Piper," answered mine host, "I know not well what to make on't. Sir Hildobrand is a fearful man, and a revengeful; but mum-the least said o' that the better. Let us in and see how fares the wounded man." The first object that met their view, when they entered the kitchen, was Radleigh, who lay stretched upon a long oak table, to every appearance dead. Around him stood and sat the chief inhabitants of the place, listening with ludicrous gravity to the learned and somewhat lengthy harangue of the village Esculapius "A lean and slipper'd pantaloon, With spectacles on nose,"who, surrounded with philters, lancets, and other instruments of his profession, busied himself about the body. "Ah, ha!" said he, as he laid bare the breast and proceeded to probe the wound," had but my aid been called in some five minutes sooner, I had saved him-he is now past recall. Look you, friends, the blade hath passed upon the vital principle. Observe you this now," he began to apply a lancet to the wound; but no sooner had its point touched it, than Radleigh, to the amazement and terror of all, started from his prostrate position, and aimed a blow at the man of drugs, that sent him headlong to the floor. "Ah! thou blood-thirsty Moloch !" he furiously exclaimed, while his eyes gleamed vengeance on the chirurgeon; "thou fiend! thou superannuated vampire! approach me once again with thy damnable knives, and I will belimb thee." "Hold him, friends!-hold him back I beseech ye," cried the mediciner ;"he is in high madness, his brain is turned; alas! poor gentleman." "Friends! gallants! unhand me-I am not crazed,-believe me I will harm none here; but for thee, thou cursed Albumazar, by the ponderous Hector I will dismember thee. Master Mowton, wilt thou not assist me here?" "Is't really and in certain sooth thy own bodily self, and no delusion?" said the latter person with a look of fear and incredulity. "Ay is't in truth thyself, fair sir?" echoed mine host, equally alarmed. "If thou art Sathanas," said the clothier, "I say unto thee avaunt." ""Tis the devil hath entered into his form," cried the mediciner; "but lo? I will cast him out." He was a physician of the mind as well as of the body, and he therewith drew forth a small pocket-bible, pulled his spectacles over his eyes, and commenced a passage therefrom. This was too much for Radleigh's patience, and his arm was again lifted to strike, despite his wound, which it afterwards appeared was but of a trivial nature; the sword of his opponent had taken a sidelong direction, so that it presently became apparent to all that the valorous captain had sustained a greater fright than hurt. Each being now pretty well satisfied that it was Radleigh in his own propria persona, and no phantom usurping his form, they no longer viewed him with doubt and dread, but studiously aimed to propitiate his anger; and they so far succeeded, that even the detestable chirurgeon grew tolerable to him at length, and applied bindings to his wound; but he had well nigh overthrown himself again by venturing to prescribe a narcotic drink. "By the immortal Hector !" roared the captain, "I will drink no other drink this goodly night but sack.Think'st thou, thou vile mediciner, that I will drain thy damned decoctions while we have sack i' th' land, s'blood no. But come, tremble not, my knight o' the pestal, give's thy hand-Ha! by my beard, now I've a mind to ransack every corner o' thy den, for the villainous prank thou would'st ha' played me.' 66 By my halidome, good Hector," quoth Mowton with affected archness, "I am glad thou art not worms' meat." "In sooth, fair sir," spake the clothier, 'I thought the villain had done for ye.' "Look ye, gentles," said Radleigh, who now, flanked with flaggon and black jack, and enveloped in tobacco smoke, was in paradise itself,-" look ye, sirs, it was not my fault o' fence that gave yon springate, whom the foul fiend rive for filching my steed,- I say it was not my ill sword-craft that gave him the best on't; for see ye, have not I ta'en lessons from the first masters o' the day, yea, and defeated the Sieur de Morabin hiimself, whom ye all know to be a most proper gentleman at his weapon. Look ye, 'twas this same rent which entangled mine arm for a moment that lost me the vantage." "God's life, Radleigh though," uttered Mowton, "I thought ye worse ta'en on, since ye lay so long senseless." 66 Sir, it is a nature which to some few belongs. It was my chance to be beaten down once while I served in Flanders, covered o'er with gashes, and in that state I lay some thirty days; at the expiration of which time I awoke -invigorated and refreshed." To cut short a scene which, gentle reader, must have already tired thy patience, we will leave the motley group to their potations, and quit the village inn for knightly hall. (To be concluded in our next.) SHAKSPEARE. For the Olio. Tale tuum carmen nobis divine poeta, Lord of the thousand spells, that bold in thrall Neglect, misfortune, poverty bespeak?— Monarch ! ah,why thus mock the empty name- fame ?" Soon hapless Lear, thy guilty line shall feel The tardy vengeance of the heaven-sent steel. And thou, Macbeth! oh, what a fearful train Of heinous sins pollute thy ill-starr'd reign! Oh, could no loyal ties thy bosom warm, Nor grateful love the reckless hand disarm? Duncan and Banquo! they for vengeance call, While angry spirits work thy hast'ning fall. Seest thou yon shades in silence pass along, They gaze in order-'tis a sceptred race,— While the weird sisters weave the mystic song? "Child and child's children" there the eye may trace. Macbeth, behold the murder'd Banquo's form! He, smiling, gazes on his traitor friend,-That vengeful smile now warns thee of thy end. Last of the train, amidst the eddying storm, Turn from these scenes of horror and of crime, Behold Othello, famed for deeds sublime! The gentle Desdemona loved to hear, Now pity bids the fount of grief o'erflow Plantagenets and Tudors, sweep along; Not only, Shakspeare, can thy skill controul |