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with Cæsarius, Bishop of Arles, and afterwards retired into solitude.

2. LONDON BURNT.

The fire of London broke out on Sunday morning, September 2d, 1666, O.S.; and being impelled by strong winds, raged with irresistible fury nearly four days and nights; nor was it entirely mastered till the fifth morning after it began. This most destructive conflagration commenced at the house of one Farryner, a baker, in Pudding-lane, near [New] Fish-street Hill, and within ten houses of Thames-street, into which it spread in a few hours; nearly the whole of the contiguous buildings being of timber, lath and plaster, and the whole neighbourhood presenting little else than closely confined passages and narrow alleys. The fire quickly spread, and was not to be conquered by any human means. See an interesting narrative of the fire of London, by an eye-witness, in our last volume, pp. 213-219.

7.--SAINT Eunerchus.

Eunerchus, or Evortius, was Bishop of Orleans, and present at the council of Valentia, A.D. 375. The circumstances of his election to this see were considered as miraculous, and principally ascribed to a dove, which alighted upon his head in consequence of the prayers of the electors.

8.-NATIVITY OF THE VIRGIN MARY.

A concert of angels having been heard in the air to solemnize this important event, the festival was appointed by Pope Servius about the year 695. Innocent IV honoured this feast with an octave in 1244, and Gregory XI, about the year 1370, with a vigil.

*8. 70.-JERUSALEM TAKEN BY Titus.

Oh, beauty of earth's cities! throned queen

Of thy milk-flowing valleys! crowned with glory!
The envy of the nations! now no more

A city

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one by one thy palaces

Sink into ashes, and the uniform smoke

O'er half thy circuit hath brought back the night

Which the insulting flames had made give place
To their untimely terrible day. The flames
That in the TEMPLE, their last, proudest, conquest,
Now gather all their might, and furiously,
Like revellers, hold their exulting triumph,
Round every pillar, over all the roof
On the wide gorgeous front, the holy depth
Of the far sanctuary, every portico,
And every court, at once concentrated,
As though to glorify and not destroy.

Milman's Fall of Jerusalem.

14. HOLY CROSS.

This festival was first observed in the year 615, on the following occasion: Cosroes, King of Persia, having plundered Jerusalem, carried away large pieces of the cross which had been left there by the Empress Helena. Heraclius, the emperor, soon afterwards engaged and defeated him, and recovered the cross; but, bringing it back in triumph to Jerusalem, he found the gates shut against him, and heard a voice from heaven saying, that the King of Kings did not enter into that city in so stately a manner, but meek and lowly, and riding upon an ass. The emperor then immediately dismounted from his horse, and walked through the city barefooted, carrying the cross himself.

17.-SAINT LAMBERT.

Lambert was Bishop of Utrecht, in the time of King Pepin I; but, reproving the king's grandson for his irregularities, he was cruelly murdered at the instigation of an abandoned woman. Being canon ized, he obtained, at first, only a simple commemoration in the calendar; but Robert Bishop of Leeds, in a general chapter of the Cistercian order, procured a solemn feast to his honour in the church in 1240.

21.-SAINT MATTHEW.

In the year 64 or 65, Matthew wrote his Gospel in Hebrew, which was afterwards translated into Greek.

After many labours and miracles, he closed his life at Nadabar in Ethiopia, probably by martyrdom.

*25. 1761.-J. THOMSON, THE POET.

A subscription was entered into, at this time, for printing his entire works, the profits of which were applied towards erecting a monument to his memory, and for the relief of some of his near relations in distress;-to which our late venerable SoVEREIGN Contributed One Hundred Pounds. The monument in Westminster Abbey was opened to the public on the 1st of May, 1762; it is situated between Shakspeare's and Rowe's, and has the following inscription:

Etatis 48. Obiit 27 Aug. 1648,

Tutored by thee, sweet poetry exalts
Her voice to ages; and informs the page
With music, image, sentiment, and thoughts
Never to die.

26.-OLD HOLY ROOD.

See HOLY CROSS, p. 233.

26. SAINT CYPRIAN.

-

He was an African by birth, of a good family and well educated. He behaved with great courage and resolution in the Decian persecution, and openly invited the people to constancy and perseverance: this conduct so enraged the Pagans, that he soon fell a victim to their fury, and suffered martyrdom under Valerianus and Gallienus, in 258.

29. SAINT MICHAEL.

Saint Michael was an archangel who presided over the Jewish nation, and had an army of angels under his command and conduct; he fought also with the Dragon or Satan, and his angels; and, contending with the Devil, he disputed about the body of Moses. See Rev. xii, 7: Jude 9. This festival has been kept with great solemnity ever since the sixth century. For customs on this day, see our former volumes.

Michaelmas, either new or old, according to the custom of the place, is the time for farmers and

other persons in the country to change their servants; and, for this purpose, statutes are held. Neither our Burn's Justice, the Complete Parish Officer, nor Tomlin's Law Dictionary, give us any light upon this point; but one of our country correspondents informs us, that leave is granted by the magistrates of the district for holding a statute, and the chief constable of the hundred is commonly anxious that it should be at some public house in which he has an interest. Notice is sent to the neighbouring villages, and it is cried (by the cryer) at the market towns. On the day of the statute, stalls for selling gingerbread, toys, ribands, &c. are erected, and sometimes persons with sights, shows, and wild beasts arrive. In the afternoon, the masters and mistresses who wish to hire servants, and the servants who wish to be hired, assemble: those who are horsekeepers distinguish themselves by a piece of whipcord in their hats, and shepherds by a lamb's tail, or a piece of wool. When a servant is hired at a statute, and takes earnest, commonly a shilling, he is bound by law for the year, and cannot be off his agreement without the consent of his master. A dance often concludes the evening. A humorous scene of one of these statutes is given in the Opera of Love in a Village. It is to be wished that there were no truth in the objections which Justice Woodcock there makes against them; but riot, drunkenness, and debauchery are too apt to prevail. Magistrates, clergymen, and parish officers, might do much to regulate them. At Canterbury, we understand that the statute, which is called also Jack and Joan's fair, is held in the Minster yard, and lasts sometimes for three market days, the market being two days in the week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The stalls remain during the Sunday. 30.-SAINT JEROME.

Jerome was born in a town called Stridon, on the confines of Pannonia and Dalmatia. He translated

the Old Testament into Latin: this version, now styled the Vulgate, is the only one used or allowed by the Romish church. He died in the 80th year of his age, A.D. 422.

Astronomical Occurrences

In SEPTEMBER 1821.

SOLAR PHENOMENA.

THE Sun enters Libra at 39 m. after 9 in the morning of the 23d of this month; and he rises and sets as in the following Table during the same period.

TABLE

Of the Sun's Rising and Setting for every fifth Day.

Sept. 1st, Sun rises at 14m. after 5.

Sets 46 m. after 6

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Equation of Time.

When mean time is to be found from that indicated by the position of the Sun, the following quantities must be subtracted from the time as given by a good sun-dial, and the remainders will be the time required.

TABLE.

m. S.

Saturday, Sept. 1st, from the time by the dial subtract 0 8

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8 40

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