8th, 1747, Mr. Walpole says: "It is set in enemelled meadows, with phillagree hedges, A small Euphrates through the piece is roll'd, And little fishes wave their wings in gold. Two delightful roads, that you would call dusty, supply me continually with coaches and chaises: barges as solemn as Barons of the Exchequer, move under my window. Richmond Hill, and Ham walks, bound my prospects; but, thank God, the Thames is between me and the Duchess of Queensberry. Dowagers as plenty as flounders, inhabit all around, and Pope's ghost is just now skimming under my window, by a most poetical moonlight." 4. QUINQUAGESIMA, OR SHROVE SUNDAY. This invariably falls on the Sunday preceding Shrove Tuesday, and seven weeks before Easter. It is called Quinquagesima, from being about the seventieth day before Easter. 6. SHROVE TUESDAY. Shrove tide signifies the time of confessing sins, and was anciently set aside for that purpose. Many foolish, and even barbarous, customs were formerly practised on this day; such as bull-baiting, cockfighting, whipping the cock, &c. Alluding to these cruelties, Sir Charles Sedley, in an Epigram on a Cock, says: "May'st thou be punished for St. Peter's crime, The custom appears formerly to have been a source of parochial profit. In the parish accounts of Pinner, at Harrow on the Hill, in 1622, is the following entry :"Received for cocks at Shrove-tide, 12s." and in 1628, "Received for cocks in Towne, 19s. 10d.-out of Towne, 6d." In a royal household account of the time of Henry VII. is the following:-" March 2, 7th Henry VII. Item: to Master Bray, for rewards to those that brought cockes at Shrove-tide, to Westminster, xxs." These appalling practices, however, no longer disgrace the country, and the observation of the antiquarian Hardiman, in his History of Galway, may be applied to all places where these degrading practices formerly took place. Mr. Hardiman says:-"Several old and vulgar ceremonies, formerly in esteem, have long since disappeared. It is many years since the savage practice of bull-baiting has been laid aside; Chanticleer need no longer tremble at the approach of Shrove-tide, and the public cock-pit, formerly in such request, now lies deservedly neglected." 7. ASH WEDNESDAY, The first day of Lent, supposed to have been so called from a custom in the church, of sprinkling ashes that day on the heads of penitents then admitted to penance. Several religious ceremonies depend upon the use of ashes. St. Jerome relates, that the Jews, in his time, rolled themselves in ashes, as a sign of mourning. To repent in sackloth and ashes, is a frequent expression in Scripture for mourning, and being afflicted for our sins. A heifer being sacrificed upon the great day of expiation, its ashes were distributed among the people, who made from them a sort of lustral water, which they used in purifications, by sprinkling it on such persons as had defiled themselves by touching a dead body, or being present at a funeral, (Numb. xix. 17). 7. ST. PERPETUA, A lady of noble family, who suffered at Carthage for her adherence to Christianity, during the persecution of the Emperor Serverus, in the year 203. 11. QUADRAGESIMA, OR FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT, So called from its being the Quadragesimal, or commencement of the forty days' fast. 12. ST. GREGORY, Usually called the Great, was born at Rome about the year 540, elevated to the Papal Chair in 590, and died in 604. He was a man of extensive learning, and sincere piety, and being much attached to music, composed numerous hymns and chants. 17. ST. PATRICK, The patron Saint of Ireland, was born about the year 371, in the village now called Kilpatrick, near Glasgow. The introduction of Christianity into Ireland was effected principally through his exertions. He died at Down, in Ulster, in the year 493. 18. EDWARD, King of thE WEST SAXONS, Son of King Edgar, born in the year 962, and ascended the throne in 975. He was treacherously stabbed at Corfe Castle, Dorsetshire, by order of Elfrida, his stepmother, in the year 979. 19, 1710. THOMAS KEN, D. D. DIED, ÆTAT. 73. THE GRAVE OF KEN. BY THE REV. W. LISLE BOWLES. On yonder heap of earth forlorn, To him is rear'd no marble tomb But some faint flowers of summer bloom, No village monumental stone Records a verse, a date, a name; Oh, far more grateful to thy God To pay their morning sacrifice. And can we listen to their hymn, Heard, haply, when the evening knell Without a thought, that from the dust Upspring to heaven's eternal day. 21. ST. BENEDICT, The founder of the Benedictine Order of Monks, was born at Norcia, in Italy, in the year 480. He was remarkable for his austerity and piety, and died, while in fervent prayer, at the age of 63, in the year 543. 23. ARCHDEACON CHURTON DIED, ÆTAT. 76. The venerable Ralph Churton, M. A., Archdeacon of St. David's, Rector of Middleton Cheney, Northamptonshire, and F. S. A., was born December 8, 1754, at Snabb, in Cheshire, Losing both parents at an early age, the rector of the parish, Dr. Townson, took him under his protection, and, in 1772, sent him to Brasennose College, Oxford. In 1785 he was appointed Bampton Lecturer, in 1788 Whitehall Preacher, in 1792 Rector of Middleton Cheney, and in 1805 Archdeacon of St. David's. Besides his Bampton Lectures, he published several other volumes, among which are Memoirs of Dr. Townson; Bishop Smyth; Sir R. Sutton; Dean Nowell; and Doctor Chandler; also various Sermons, and a Preface of the Church of England. He was a liberal contributor to other authors, as was evinced by his communications to the History of Cheshire; Baker's History of Northampton; Nicholl's Literary Anecdotes, &c. Among his friends and correspondents he numbered many of eminent character; and at one period was in the habit of spending his Christmas at Selborne, with that amiable naturalist, and sincere Christian, Gilbert White, who termed the visit a "winter migration." "For," wrote the rural philosopher, “if you cannot be as regular as a ring-ousel or a swallow, where is the use of all your knowledge, since it may be outdone by instinct?” In a letter to Bishop Heber, on his appointment to the see of Calcutta, Archdeacon Churton writes:-"When I was left, more than fifty years ago, a fatherless and motherless boy, an honest laborer on the farm suggested to me this natural source of consolation-You will now have the prayers of the church for you.' May you find in this thought the comfort which I then found: for you also will now remember, if your spirit should incline to sink under your arduous duties, that you have the prayers of the church for you." 25. ANNUNCIATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, OR LADY DAY. The festival of the annunciation commemorates the |