I am convinced (says Mr. Douce) that the antient ceremony of the Feast of Fools' has no connection whatever with the custom of making fools on the 1st of April. The making of April fools, after all the conjectures which have been formed touching its origin, is certainly borrowed by us from the French, and may, I think, be deduced from this simple analogy. The French call them April Fish (Poissons d'Avril); i. e. simpletons, or, in other words, silly mackerel, who suffer themselves to be caught in this month. But as, with us, April is not the season of that fish, we have very properly substituted the word 'Fools.' We shall conclude this light subject with the fol lowing elegant verses from Julia, or Last Follies, 4to, 1798 To a LADY, who threatened to make the AUTHOR an APRIL FOOL. Why strive, dear Girl, to make a Fool Yet, having 'scaped from Folly's school, Ah! if I must to school again, Which thou canst give to me. One of thy kind and gentle looks, (Thou need'st not call some fairy elf, To make thy bard forget himself, Or wander from his way. The Fête de Foux was formerly practised on the 1st of January, and throughout the Christmas vacation. This fes tival consisted of a burlesque election of a mock pope, mock cardinals, and mock bishops, attended with a number of absurd and indecent ceremonies, gambols, and antics. In the missals, this day is denominated Dominica in ramis Palmarum, or Palm Sunday; and was so called from the palm branches and green boughs formerly distributed on that day, in commemoration of our Lord's riding to Jerusalem. Sprigs of borwood are still used as a substitute for palms in Roman Catholic countries.-Stow, in his Survey of London, tells us, that, in the week before Easter, had ye great shewes made for the fetching in of a twisted tree, or with, as they termed it, out of the woods into the king's house, and the like into every man's house of honour or worship.'. This must also have been a substitute for the palm: thus it is still customary with our boys to go out and gather the willow-flowers, or buds, at this time. 3.-RICHARD, Bishop. Richard, surnamed de Wiche, from a place in Worcestershire where he was born, was educated at the Universities of Oxford and Paris. He afterwards travelled to Bononia, where he studied the canon law for seven years. On his return home he was nominated to the see of Chichester by the chapter; but his appointment being opposed by the king, Richard appealed to Rome, and had his election confirmed by the pope, who consecrated him also at Lyons in the year 1245. He was as remarkable for his learning and diligence in preaching, as he was for integrity. Richard was canonized by Pope. Urban. 4.-SAINT AMBROSE. Our saint was born about the year 340, and was educated in his father's palace, who was Prætorian Præfect of Gaul. After his father's death, he went with his mother to Rome, where he studied the laws, practised as an advocate, and was made governor of Milan and the adjacent cities. Upon the death of Auxentius, Bishop of Milan, he was unanimously chosen to succeed him; and he ruled over this see with great piety and vigilance for more than twenty years; during which time, he gave all his money to pious uses, and settled the reversion of his estate upon the church. He converted the cele brated St. Augustine to the faith, and at his baptism, in a miraculous manner, composed that divine hymn, so well known in the church by the name of Te Deum. He died, aged 57, in the year of our Lord 396. 7.-MAUNDY THURSDAY. This day is called in Latin dies Mandati, the day of the command, being the day on which our Lord washed the feet of his disciples, as recorded in the second lesson. This practice was long kept up in the monasteries. After the ceremony, liberal donations were made to the poor, of clothing and of silver money, and refreshment was given them to mitigate the severity of the fast. On the 15th April 1731, (Maundy Thursday) a distribution was made, at Whitehall, to 48 poor men, and 48 poor women, (the king's age then being 48) of boiled beef, and shoulders of mutton; fish, and loaves; shoes, stockings, linen and woollen cloth, and leathern bags, with 1, 2, 3, and 4 penny pieces of silver, and shillings to each, about four pounds in value. The Archbishop of York also washed the feet of a certain number of poor persons. James II. was the last king who performed this in person. A relic of this custom is still preserved in the donations dispensed at St. James's on this day. L 8.-GOOD FRIDAY. This day commemorates the sufferings of Christ, as a propitiation for our sins. Holy Friday, or the Friday in Holy Week, was its more antient and general appellation; the name Good Friday is peculiar to the English church. It was observed as a day of extraordinary devotion. A remnant of popery is still retained in the cross buns which are eaten on this day. 9.-EASTER EVE. Particular mortifications were enjoined to the earliest Christians on this day. From the third century, the fast was indispensable and rigid, being protracted always to midnight, sometimes to the cock-crowing, and sometimes to the dawn of Easter day; and the whole of the day and night was employed in religious affairs. 10.-EASTER DAY, OR EASTER sunday. Much difference of opinion prevailed in the Eastern and Western churches respecting the precise time of observing Easter; till, in 325, the Council of Nice declared, that the feast should be kept by all churches on the same day. Easter is styled by the fathers the highest of all festivals, the feast of feasts, the queen of festivals, and Dominica gaudii, the joyous Sunday. Masters granted freedom to their slaves at this season; and valuable presents were made to the poor. Many of the vulgar in the country rise early on Easter day, and walk into the fields to see the sun dance, as they term it; this remarkable sight, however, may be observed at any other time, by setting a vessel full of water in the open air, and, if the sun shine, the reflection of that Juminary will appear to dance, from the tremulous motion of the water. Eggs, stained with various colours in boiling, and sometimes covered with leaf. gold, are, at Easter, presented to children, at Newcastle, and other places in the north. They ask for their Pasche, or Paste Eggs, as for a fairing at this season. 11, 12.—EASTER MONDAY and TUESDAY. Every day in this week was formerly observed as a religious festival, sermons being preached and the sacrament administered. In many places, servants were permitted to rest from their usual employments, that they might constantly attend public worship. During fifteen days, of which the paschal solemnity consisted, the courts of justice were shut, and all public games, shows and amusements, were prohibited: it is unnecessary to observe, that this practice has long ceased, and that the Easter week is usually devoted to relaxation and amusement. Fitzstephen's description of an Easter holiday, in the time of Henry II, is somewhat curious: They fight battles,' says he, on the water; a shield is hanged upon a pole, fixed in the midst of the stream: a boat is prepared without oars, to be carried by violence of the water, and in the forepart thereof standeth a young man, ready to give charge upon the shield with his launce. If so be he break his launce against the shield, and do not fall, he is thought to have performed a worthy deed; if so be, without breaking his launce, he runneth strongly against the shield, down he falleth into the water, for the boat is violently forced with the tide; but on each side of the shield ride two boats, furnished with young men, which recover him that falleth as soon as they may. Upon the bridge, wharfs, and houses by the river's side, stand great numbers to see and laugh thereat.' How different from these amusements are the sports of Greenwich Hill, and the humours of an Epping hunt, in which our apprentices now take so much delight! According to Durand, on Easter Tuesday, wives used to beat their husbands; on the day following the husbands their wives. There is a strange custom still retained in the city of Durham on these holi |