The leek worn on this day by Welshmen is said to be in memory of a great victory obtained by them over the Saxons; they, during the battle, having leeks in their hats, to distinguish themselves, by order of Saint David. Another account adds, that they were fighting under their king Cadwallo, near a field that was replenished with that vegetable.

I like the Leeke above all herbes and flowers;
When first we wore the same, the field was ours.
The Leeke is white and greene, wherby is ment
That Britaines are both stout and eminent;
Next to the Lion and the Unicorn,

The Leeke the fairest emblyn that is worne.

Mr. Owen supposes that the wearing of the leek originated in the custom of cymortha, still observed among the farmers of the country, where, in assisting one another in ploughing their land, they bring each their leeks to the common repast of the whole party.

2. SAINT CHAD.

Saint Ceadda or Chad was educated in the monastery of Lindisfarne, under Saint Aidan. To improve himself in sacred literature he went into Ireland, and spent some time with Saint Egbert, till recalled by his brother, Saint Cedd, to assist him in arranging the concerns of the monastery of Lestingay, which he had founded in the mountains of the Deiri, or Woulds of Yorkshire. Saint Cedd being made bishop of London or of the East Saxons, left to him the entire government of this house. Oswi having yielded up Bernicia, or the northern part of his kingdom, to his son Alcfrid, this prince sent St. Wilfrid into France, that he might be consecrated to the bishopric of the Northumbrian kingdom, or of York; but he staid so long abroad, that Oswi himself nominated St. Chad to the dignity, who was ordained by Wini, Bishop of Winchester, assisted by two British prelates, in 666. Bede assures us that he zealously devoted himself to all the laborious functions of his charge, visiting his diocess on foot, preaching the gospel, and seeking

out the poorest and most abandoned persons to instruct and comfort, in the meanest cottages and in the fields.

Our saint afterwards left the see of York, and retired to the monastery of Lestingay, but was not suffered to bury himself long in that solitude. Jaruman, bishop of the Mercians, dying, St. Chad was called upon to take upon him the charge of that most extensive diocess. He was the fifth bishop of the Mercians, and first fixed that see at Lichfield, so called from a great number of martyrs slain and buried there under Maximianus Herculeus; the name signifying the Field of Carcases. Hence this city bears for its arms, a landscape covered with the bodies of martyrs. St. Theodorus considering St. Chad's old age, and the great extent of his diocess, absolutely forbad him to make his visitations on foot, as he used to do at York. Saint Chad remained in the diocess of Lichfield for two years and a half, dying in the great pestilence in 673.

2.-EMBER WEEK.

Dr. Mareschal derives ember from the Saxon word importing a circuit or course; so that these fasts being not occasional, but returning every year in certain courses, may properly be said to be Ember days, because fasts in course. The Ember days are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the first Sunday in Lent, and after the 13th of December. It is enjoined by a canon of the church, that Deacons and Ministers be ordained, or made, but only on the Sundays immediately following these Ember feasts.'(Nelson.)

7. PERPETUA.

Perpetua, a noble lady of Carthage, only 22 years of age, suffered martyrdom in 203, by order of Minutius Firmianus, under the persecution of the Emperor Severus. In the amphitheatre, Perpetua was exposed to the attacks of a wild cow, and, after being much gored by this animal, she languished for some

time under the wounds given her by a young and unskilful gladiator.

Saint Gregory, surnamed the Great, was born about the year 540. Gadianus, his father, enjoyed the dignity of a senator, and was very wealthy. Our saint, in his youth, applied himself to the study of grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy; and afterwards to the civil law, and the canons of the church, in which he was well skilled. He was consecrated pope about the year 590, and died in 604. Before his advancement to the see, Gregory projected the conversion of the English nation. Happening one day to walk through the slave-market, and taking notice that some youths of fine features and complexion were exposed to sale, he inquired what countrymen they were, and was answered that they came from Britain. He asked if the people of that country were christians or heathens, and was told they were still heathens. Then Gregory fetching a deep sigh, said, it was a lamentable consideration that the prince of darkness should be master of so much beauty, and have so comely persons in his possession; and that so fine an outside should have nothing of God's grace to furnish it within.

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Bede adds, that Gregory again asked, what was the name of that nation, and was answered, that they were called Angli or Angles. 6 Right,' said he; for they have angelical faces, and it becomes such to be companions with the angels in heaven.' • What is the name,' proceeded he, of the province from which they are brought?' It was replied, that the natives of that were called Deiri. Truly Deiri, because withdrawn from wrath, and called to the mercy of Christ,' said he; alluding to the Latin, De irâ Dei eruti. He asked farther, How is the king of that province called?' They told him his name was Alle; and he, making an allusion to the word, said, 'Alleluiah, the praise of God the Creator, must be sung in

those parts. Although this offer was refused, he accomplished his wishes after he assumed the papal chair.

The tutelar saint of Ireland was born in the year 371, in a village called Bonaven Taverniæ, probably Kilpatrick, in Scotland, between Dunbriton and Glasgow. He is, however, claimed as a Cambrian by Mr. Jones, in his Welsh Bards,' who makes him a native of Caernarvonshire. When sixteen years old he was carried into captivity by certain barbarians, together with many of his father's vassals and slaves, and was taken to Ireland, where he kept cattle on the mountains and in the forests, in hunger and nakedness, amid snows, rain, and ice. After six months, our saint escaped from this slavery, only to fall into the hands of another master. At length emancipated, he travelled into Gaul and Italy, and spent many years in preparing himself for the holy functions of a priest, studying intensely until his 55th or 60th year. Being successively ordained deacon," priest, and bishop, he received the apostolical bene diction from Pope Celestine, and was sent by him, about the beginning of the year 432, to preach the gospel in Ireland.

In the first year of his mission he attempted to explain the Christian doctrines to the general assembly of the kings and states of all Ireland, held yearly at Tarah, or Themoria, in East-Meath, the residence of the chief king, styled the monarch of the whole island, and the principal seat of the Druids or priests, and their pagan rites. The son of Neill, the chief monarch, declared himself against the preacher: however, he converted several, and, on his road to that place, the father of St. Benen or Benignus, his immediate successor in the see of Armagh. He afterwards converted and baptized the kings of Dublin and Munster, and the seven sons of the king of Connaught, with the greatest part of their subjects, and

before his death almost the whole island. He founded a monastery at Armagh; another called DomnachPadraig, or Patrick's church; also, a third, named Sabhal-Padraig, and filled the country with churches and schools of piety and learning.

He died at the good old age of 120, and was buried at Down in Ulster; where his body is said to have been found in a church bearing his name, in 1185, and translated to another part of the same church, Many and wonderful are the miracles recorded of Saint Patrick. He restored sight to the blind, gave health to the sick, and raised the dead to life. He delivered Ireland from all venomous creatures, by virtue of the staff of Jesus; and fasted forty days without earthly food.' Some other strange marvels recorded of this saint are, that he produced fire from ice, changed water into honey, flesh-meat into fish, raised a huge stone,increased the stature of a man to a sufficient height, and performed an abundance of other exploits: of these the reader may find a curious account in Mr. Swift's Translation of Jocelin's Life of Saint Patrick, 8vo, Dublin, 1809.

The shamrock is said to be worn by the Irish, upon the anniversary of this saint, for the following reason. When he preached the gospel to the pagan Irish, he illustrated the doctrine of the Trinity by showing them a trefoil, or three-leaved grass, with one stalk; which operating to their conviction, the shamrock, which is a bundle of this grass, was ever afterwards worn upon this saint's anniversary, to commemorate the event. (Brand.)

18, EDWARD, KING OF THE WEST SAXONS. He was son of Edgar, who first united the heptarchy into one kingdom; after whose death, in the year 975, Edward succeeded to the throne at twelve years of age, but didnot enjoy it more than two or three years. Being on a visit to Elfride, his mother-in-law, at Corfe-Castle in Dorsetshire, he was, by her orders, stabbed in the back while drinking a cup of wine; that