6. EPIPHANY.

On the Epiphany or manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, commonly called Twelfth Day, the Eastern magi were guided by the star to pay homage to their Saviour; and it takes its name from their coming on that day, which was the twelfth after the nativity. The rites of this day are different in various places, though the object of them is much the same in all; namely, to do honour to the memory of the Eastern magi, who, according to a tradition of the Romish Church, were three in number, and of royal dignity. The usual celebration of Twelfth-day, in the metropolis and in the south of England, is by drawing lots, and assuming fictitious characters for the evening:formerly the king or queen was chosen by a bean found in a piece of divided cake; and this was once a common Christmas gambol in both the English Universities. This custom is alluded to by Herrick, in his Twelfe Night, or King and Queene.'

Now, now the mirth comes,
With the cake full of plums,

Where Beane's the king of the sport here;

Beside we must know,

The Pea also

Must revell, as queene in the court here.

The same author, in his Hesperides, gives the following description of the pleasantries of ST. DISTAFF'S DAY, or the morrow after Twelfth Day :

Partly worke and partly play,
You must on St. Distaff's Day:
From the plough soon free your teame;
Then come home and fother them.

If the maids a spinning goe,

Burne the flax and fire the tow.

* * *

Bring in pails of water then,

Let the maids bewash the men.

Give St. Distaff all the right:

Then bid Christmas sport good night;

And next morrow, every one

To his owne vocation.

8. SAINT LUCIAN.

Saint Lucian, confessor and martyr, was born at Samosata in Syria. He was well versed in the Hebrew language, and employed much time in comparing and amending the copies of the Bible. Being at Nicomedia, where the Emperor Maximinus II. resided, and having recited an apology for the Christian reli gion, which he had composed, before the governor of the city, he was cast into prison; and, after having endured the most cruel torments, was put to death.

10.-PLOUGH MONDAY.

On this day, or about this time, in the north, the fool-plough goes about, a pageant that consists of a number of sword-dancers, dragging a plough, with music, and one, sometimes two, in a very fantastic dress; the Bessy, in the grotesque habit of an old woman, and the fool, almost covered with skins, wearing a hairy cap, and the tail of some animal hanging from his back. The office of one of these characters is, to rattle a box among the spectators of the dance, in which he collects their little donations. This pageant or dance, as used at present, seems to be composed of the gleanings of several obsolete customs followed antiently, here and elsewhere, on this and other festive occasions.

13. SAINT HILARY.

Hilary was born at Poictiers in France, of an illustrious family; and of this place he was chosen bishop in the year 353. Having taken an active part against the Arians, he was banished to Phrygia, by order of the Emperor Constantius, in 356, where he remained for three years. After various travels in different parts, and many sufferings, Hilary died at Poictiers in 368. He was an excellent orator and poet; his style abounds with rhetorical figures.

18. SAINT PRISCA.

Prisca, a Roman lady, was early converted to Christianity; but refusing to abjure her religion, and to offer sacrifice when she was commanded, was hor

ribly tortured, and afterwards beheaded, under the Emperor Claudius, in the year 275.

20. SAINT FABIAN,

He succeeded to the Pontificate in 236. It is related by Eusebius, that, in an assembly of the people and clergy held for the election of a pastor in his stead, a. dove unexpectedly appearing, settled, to the great surprise of all present, on the head of Saint Fabian, and that this miraculous sign determined his promotion. He suffered martyrdom in the persecution of Decius, in the year 250.

21.-SAINT AGNES.

Agnes, a young Roman lady, of a noble family, suffered martyrdom in the tenth general persecution, under the Emperor Dioclesian, in the year 306: Although the executioners wounded her most cruelly with the sword, yet she bore it with incredible constancy, singing hymns all the time: she was then no more than thirteen or fourteen years of age.

This saint is pourtrayed with a lamb by her side, from the following circumstance: About eight days after her execution, her parents going to lament, and pray at her tomb, where they continued watching all night, it is reported that there appeared to them a vision of angels, arrayed in glittering and glorious apparel; among whom they saw their own daughter, clothed in the same manner, and a lamb standing by her as white as snow. After that time, the Roman ladies went every year to present her, on this day, with the two best and purest white lambs they could possibly procure. These they offered at St. Ágnes's altar, and the Pope directs them to be put into the choicest pastures till the time of sheep shearing arrive: at this season the wool is taken, with which a fine white cloth is made and consecrated every year by the Pope himself, for the palls which he sends to every archbishop; and which till they have purchased at a most extravagant price, they cannot exercise any metropolitical jurisdiction.

On the eve of St. Agnes's Day, many kinds of

divinations are practised by young virgins in the north to discover their future husbands.

On sweet St. Agnes' night

Please you with the promised sight,
Some of husbands, some of lovers,
Which an empty dream discovers.

JONSON.

Upon St. Agnes's night, take a row of pins, and pull out every one, one after another, saying a pater noster, sticking a pin in your sleeve, and you will dream of him or her you shall marry.'--(Aubrey's Miscell. p. 136.)

22.-SAINT VINCENT.

Vincent, a deacon of the church in Spain, was born at Osca, now Huesca in Granada. He was instructed in divinity by Valerius, bishop of that city; but, on account of an impediment in his speech, never took upon himself the office of preaching. He suffered martyrdom in the Dioclesian persecution, about the year 303, being extended upon burning coals; and, after his body was broiled there, he was thrown upon heaps of broken tiles.

25.-CONVERSION OF SAINT PAUL.

This day celebrates the miraculous conversion of St. Paul. He suffered martyrdom under the general persecution of Nero. Being a Roman citizen, he could not be crucified by the Roman laws, as his colleague Saint Peter was; he was, therefore, beheaded-hence the usual representation of him with a sword in his hand. Saint Chrysostom tells us that his picture was preserved by some of the Christians in his time, and that he was but of a low stature, (three cubits) that is, four feet six inches high. Nicephorus describes him as a small man, somewhat crooked, of a pale complexion, and appearing older than he really was.

30.-KING CHARLES I, MARTYR.

The street before Whitehall was the place chosen for the execution of the king. When he had àscended the scaffold, he addressed himself to the persons near

him, and said, he forgave all his enemies, even the chief instruments of his death; but exhorted them and the whole nation to return to the ways of peace, by paying obedience to their lawful sovereign, his son and successor. When he was preparing himself for the block, Bishop Juxon called to him, There is, Sir, but one stage more, which, though turbulent and troublesome, is yet a very short one. Consider, it will soon carry you a great way; it will carry you from earth to heaven; and there you shall find, to your great joy, the prize to which you hasten, a crown of glory.' 'I go,' replied the king, 'from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown; where no disturbance can have place. At one blow was his head severed from his body. A man in a vizor performed the office of executioner; another, in a like disguise, held up to the spectators the head streaming with blood, and cried aloud, This is the head of a traitor !'-(Hume.)

The fact of King Charles's burial at Windsor has been for a long time disputed; the most important confirmation of this fact, that of finding the body at Windsor, not having been obtained. In the last year, however, this circumstance has been placed beyond all doubt; the body being discovered in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, by Sir Henry Halford. On removing the pall,' says Sir Henry, a plain leaden coffin, with no appearance of ever having been inclosed in wood, and bearing an inscription, King Charles 1648, in large legible characters on a scroll of lead, encircling it, immediately presented itself to view. A square opening was then made in the upper part of the lid, of such dimensions as to admit a clear insight into its contents. These were, an internal wooden coffin very much decayed, and the body carefully wrapped in cerecloth, into the folds of which a quantity of unctuous or greasy matter, mixed with resin, as it seemed, had been melted, so as to exclude, as effectually as possible, the external air. The coffin was completely full; and from the tenacity of the cere