twice a year. Mr. Warton says that the custom of going ad montem at Eton originated in an imitation of some of the ceremonies and processions usual on this day. Many wonderful legends and miracles are related of him; we give those by which he is best known. He early succeeded to large riches, and gave nearly all away in charity; and in the city where he lived dwelt a nobleman, who had three daughters, and who became so reduced in circumstances, that the only means he had of keeping his daughters from starvation was by giving them up to a sinful course of life. Nicholas, hearing of this, went to the poor man's house secretly three nights in succession, and each time threw in at the window a purse of gold, and thus saved them from infamy. During a dreadful famine in his country, Nicholas went about from town to town visiting and consoling his flock, and upon one occasion he took up his abode with a man who was accustomed, during the scarcity, to steal little children, and serve up their salted remains to his guests. He set this dish before S. Nicholas, who at once perceived the fraud, and charging his host with it, went to the tub where their mutilated remains were kept in brine, and by making the sign of the cross over it, restored them to life. It is in accordance with these two legends that he is generally represented. He is in full episcopal costume, and has either three purses or three balls of gold in his hands, at his feet, or carried on a book;

or he is standing before a tub, with his hand raised over it, in which are three naked children rising up with clasped hands. His connection with sailors seems to have arisen from his having calmed the sea in a storm, when on a voyage to the Holy Land ; and in this character he sometimes has an anchor, and a ship in the back-ground. From the maritime position of England he has always been very popular here, especially in sea-port towns. Three hundred and seventy-two Churches are named in his sole honour, seven in the joint names of SS. Mary and Nicholas, and one in the names of SS. Nicholas and Swithun.

DECEMBER 8. Conception of the Virgin Mary. This feast was instituted by Anselm, Abp. of

Canterbury, c. 1070, upon occasion of William the Conqueror's fleet being in a storm, and afterwards coming safe to shore, but the council of Oxford, held in the year 1222, left the observance of it optional. In Callot's Images, on this day the Virgin is represented trampling on the head of the serpent or dragon, in allusion to Genesis iii. 15; and this is the usual figurative manner of representing 'the Conception" in art. In Le Clerc she is kneeling in prayer, and a bright star is appearing to her.

DECEMBER 13. S. Lucy, Virgin and Martyr, A.D. 305. Was born at Syracuse; she refused to marry a young nobleman who paid his addresses to her, because she determined to devote herself to re

ligion; and when he complained that her beautiful eyes haunted him day and night, she cut them out and sent them to him, and begged

that he would then allow her to be at peace; and God, to reward this sacrifice, restored her eyes afterwards more beautiful than before. She gave her whole fortune to the poor; which so enraged her lover that he accused her before Paschasius, the heathen judge, of professing Christianity, and after much cruel treatment she was martyred. Her acts and martyrdom are somewhat uncertain, but the chief suffering by which she is distinguished, is having been pierced through the neck with a sword; nish Gallery in the Louvre. to this the legend adds, that she did not expire until the Sacrament had been administered to her, her life having been prolonged miraculously. She is generally represented carrying a book, or dish, or shell, on which are two eyes; sometimes it is a scull that she carries with eyes in it; she has also a wound in the throat, or a sword piercing through her neck, either with or without the eyes; sometimes she carries a lamp, in allusion to her name; more rarely she is represented in a cauldron over a fire; and still

S LUCY, from a painting in the Spa

more rarely two oxen are seen trying to draw her out of a house. She occasionally has a short dagger in her hand with which she cut out her eyes, and, like all martyrs, frequently has a palm-branch in one hand. Besides these varied emblems, the devil is often represented near, or behind her, in addition to the above accompaniments. In Callot's Images she is kneeling in prayer. In Le Clerc she is being dragged before a tribunal. Dumbleby, Lincolnshire, and Great Upton, Shropshire, are the only Churches in England named in her honour.

DECEMBER 16. O Sapientia. This is the beginning of an anthem in the Latin service, to the honour of Christ's Advent, which used to be sung in the Church from this day until Christmas Eve.

DECEMBER 21. S. Thomas the Apostle. S. Thomas, surnamed Didymus, or The Twin, appears to have been a Jew, and probably a Galilean; he is said to have travelled and promulgated Christianity among the Parthians, Medes, and Persians, to have been the Apostle of the Indies, and martyred at Melapore, on the coast of Coromandel, at the instigation of the Brahmins, by the people, who threw stones and darts at him, and ended his life by running him through the body with a lance. Wheatly says that the Church recommends S. Thomas to our meditation

S. Thomas.

at this season as a fit preparative to our Lord's Nativity; for, although he first doubted the Resurrection, he afterwards had the greatest evidence of its truth; and "unless, with S. Thomas, we believe that the same Jesus, Whose birth we immediately afterwards commemorate, is the very same Christ, our Lord and our God, neither His Birth, Death, nor Resurrection, will avail us any thing." He is represented with a spear, or with an arrow, or a long staff, as in Callot's Images. Forty-five Churches in England are named

in his honour.

DEC. 25. Christmas Day. The festival of Christmas is the greatest of all the feasts of the year, being the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, and has consequently

ever been kept with great

solemnity, festivity, and rejoicing.

The Nativity.

DECEMBER 26. S. Stephen, the Proto-martyr,

A.D. 33. He was one of

the seven deacons appoint

ed by the Apostles to manage the public fund established for the relief of the poor, and to attend to minor ecclesiastical occupations. He is called the Proto-Martyr, or the

The Martyrdom of S. Stephen