church, and, in one corner, figures in wood, representing the souls of the deceased, are halfway plunged into the flames. It is a custom at Naples, on All Souls-day, to throw open the charnel-houses, lighted up with torches, and decked out with all the flowery pageantry of May-day: crowds follow crowds through these vaults to behold the coffins, nay, the bodies of their friends and relations; the floors are divided into beds, like a garden, and under these heaps of earth the corpses are laid in regular succession. The place is perfectly dry, for the soil is rather a pounded stone than earth, and parches up the flesh completely in a twelvemonth: when that period is elapsed, the body is taken up, drest in a religious habit, and fixed like a statue in a niche. Many retain a horrid resemblance to what they were when animated, and some show strong marks of agony in their distorted features. *2. 1600.-RICHARD HOOKER DIED, The venerable author of the Ecclesiastical Polity. This work has ever been admired for soundness of reasoning, and prodigious extent of learning; and the author has universally acquired from it the honourable titles of the judicious,' and 'the learned.' Cardinal Alen and Dr. Stapleton, being in Italy when it was published, are said to have told the Pope (Clement VIII), that, though His Holiness had not yet met with an English book, as he was pleased to say, whose writer deserved the name of an author, yet there now appeared a wonder to them, and so they did not doubt it would appear to His Holiness, if it was in Latin; which was, that ⚫ a poor obscure English priest had written four such books of law and church polity, in so majestic a style, and with such clear demonstrations of reason, that in all their readings they had not met with any thing that exceeded him.' This creating in the Pope a desire to know the contents, Stapleton read to him the first book in Latin; upon which the Pope said: 'there is no learning that this man hath not searched into; nothing too hard for his understanding. This man indeed deserves the name of an author. His books will get reverence by age; for there are in them such seeds of eternity, that, if the rest be like this, they shall continue till the last fire shall devour all learning.' Hooker's Life, by Izaac Walton, forms one of those five pieces of biography, so well edited by Dr. Zouch. 5.-KING WILLIAM LANded. The glorious revolution of 1688 is commemorated on this day, when the throne of England became vested in the illustrious House of Orange. Although King William landed on the 5th of November, the almanacks still continue the mistake of marking it as the fourth. I 5.-POWDER PLOT. This day is kept to commemorate the diabolical attempt of the Papists to blow up the Parliament House. The best account of this nefarious transaction is detailed in Hume's History of England, vol. vi, pp. 33-38 (8vo edition, 1802.)-See also T.T. for 1814, p. 280. 6.-SAINT LEONARD. Leonard, or Lienard, was a French nobleman of great reputation in the court of Clovis I; he was instructed in divinity by Remigius, Bishop of Rheims, and afterwards made Bishop of Limosin. Several miraculous stories are told of him by the monks, not worth relating. He died about the year 559, and has always been implored by prisoners as their guardian saint. 1 In the neighbourhood of Kentish Town is Traitor's Hill, from the elevated summit of which, commanding a distinct view of the proposed scene of destruction, Catesby and Piercy, with other Traitors, it is said, stood in expectation of witnessing the horrible event. *6. 1817.-PRINCESS CHARLOTTE OF WALES DIED. The most minute particulars relative to our late beloved princess being universally known, we refrain from the attempt to add any thing to the accounts of her estimable life and afflicting death, already published; but shall content ourselves with culling from the CYPRESS WREATH,' twined by the bards of Britain to her immortal memory, one other sweet poetic flower expressive of feelings in which every reader must participate.-(See also p. 5.) The COBOURG ROSE. Of fragrant scent, and charming hue, And, as he passed th' enchanting place, Still blooming in the royal bound, Phoebus with genial glory smiled, The Rose did bud; yet ere the day DEATH passed that way, in rueful hour, For blooming youth, and mental worth, With eye of hope; for well we know Yes; there's a better world on high, Still CHARLOTTE and her Son may reign 9.-LORD MAYOR'S DAY. The word mayor, if we adopt the etymology of Verstegan, comes from the antient English maier, able or potent, of the verb may or can. King Richard I, A.D. 1189, first changed the bailiffs of London into Mayors; by whose example others were afterwards appointed. See our last volume, p. 278, for some lines on this day. 11.-SAINT MARTIN. He was a native of Hungary, and for some time followed the life of a soldier; but afterwards took orders, and was made Bishop of Tours in France, in which see he continued for twenty-six years. Martin died about the year 397, much lamented, and highly esteemed for his virtues.-For a pleasing little ballad on this day, see T.T. for 1814, p. 286; and our last volume, p. $15. 13. SAINT BRITIUS. Britius, or Brice, succeeded St. Martin in the bishopric of Tours in the year 399. He died in 444. *13. 1817.-COUNTESS OF ALBEMARLE DIED. The following letter, written at an early age, and accompanied with a bust of Fox, was sent to Lady Albemarle by H. R. H. the Princess Charlotte, who distinguished her ladyship by peculiar marks of affection, regard, and esteem. 'My dear Lady Albemarle, I most heartily_thank you for your very kind let ter, which I hasten to answer. But I must not forget that this letter must be a letter of congratulations, of congratulations the most sincere: I love you, and therefore there is no wish I do not form for your happiness in this world. 6 May you have as few cares and vexations as can fall to the lot of man; and may you long be spared, and long enjoy the blessing of all others the most precious-your dear Mother*-who is not more precious to you than to me. But there is a trifle which accompanies this, which I hope you will like; and if it sometimes reminds you of me, it will be a great source of pleasure to me. I Lady de Clifford, one of her H. R. H.'s preceptresses. shall be most happy to see you, for it is a long time since I had that pleasure. 'Adieu, my dear Lady Albemarle, and believe me ever 'Your affectionate and sincere friend, 'CHARLOTTE.' It is painful to add, that the demise of the estimable Countess is supposed to have arisen purely from sympathy, at the sudden and unexpected fate of the Princess, her amiable and exalted friend. Her ladyship's accouchement was not expected until the lapse of a few weeks; but, melancholy to relate, exactly seven days after the death of the illustrious Charlotte, and but three or four after the communication of the fatal intelligence, Lady Albemarle also was no more! *13. 1817.-RT. HON. J. P. CURRAN DIED. When Curran was called to the bar, he was without friends, without connexions, without fortune, conscious of talents far above the mob by which he was elbowed, and suffering under a sensibility which rendered him painfully alive to the mortifications he was fated to experience. After toiling for a very inadequate recompense at the sessions of Cork, and wearing, as he said himself, his teeth almost to their stumps, he proceeded to the metropolis, taking for his wife and young children a miserable lodging upon Hog-hill. Term after Term, without either profit or professional reputation, he paced the hall of the Four Courts. The first fee of any consequence that he received, was through the recommendation of Mr. Arthur Wolfe, afterwards the unfortunate but respected Lord Kilwarden. Curran's recital of this incident cannot be without its interest to the young profes sional aspirant, whom a temporary neglect may have sunk into dejection. I then lived,' said he, upon Hog-hill; my wife and children were the chief furniture of my apartments; and as to my rent, it stood pretty much the same chance of its liquidation with 6 |