d to him near Santa Maria Maggiore. It some days; for not only every Roman from

to the Peasant, who has a horse, a mule, Es, sends his cattle to be blessed at St. Anshrine, but all the English go with their job nd favourite dogs; and for the small offering uple of paoli, get them sprinkled, sanctified, ced under the protection of this saint. Coach ach draws up, strings of mules mix with d barouches, horses kick, mules are restive, gs snarl, while the officiating priest comes from his little chapel, dips a brush into a holy water, sprinkles and prays over the pockets the fee, and retires.-(Italy, vol. ii,

18.-SAINT PRISCA.

ca, a Roman lady, was early converted to anity; but refusing to abjure her religion, offer sacrifice when she was commanded, was y tortured, and afterwards beheaded, under peror Claudius, in the year 275.

20.-SAINT FABIAN.

Fabian succeeded St. Anterus in the pontifin the year 236. He governed the church sixears, sent St. Dionysius and other preachers aul, and condemned Privatus, the promoter of heresy in Africa, as appears from St. Cyprian. bian died a glorious martyr in the persecution cius in 250, as St. Cyprian and St. Jerom bear

s been always considered by the Catholics as a al patroness of purity, with the immaculate er of God and St. Thecla. Rome was the re of the triumph of St. Agnes; and Prudentius that her tomb was shown within sight of that She suffered not long after the beginning of persecution of Dioclesian, whose bloody edicts ared in March in the year of our Lord 303.

On this day some silly women fast all day, an take care that they do not touch, or are touched b a male, in order that they may dream of their love at night. Many other kinds of divination are pra tised by our rustic damsels, for the same purpos See the preceding volumes of T. T. On this inn cent superstition the late MR. KEATS has founded h beautiful poem of The Eve of St. Agnes."

Ah! bitter chill it was!

The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold;

The hare limped trembling through the frozen grass,
And silent was the flock in woolly fold:

Numb were the Beadsman's fingers, while he told
His rosary, and while his frosted breath,

Like pious incense from a censer old,

Seemed taking flight for heaven, without a death,
Past the sweet Virgin's picture, while his prayer he saith.

The precautions to be observed by the fair Mad line differ somewhat from those just mentioned, a are thus prettily. enumerated by the poet :

They told her how, upon St. Agnes' Eve,
Young virgins might have visions of delight,
And soft adorings from their loves receive
Upon the honied middle of the night,
If ceremonies due they did aright;
As, supperless to bed they must retire,
And couch supine;

Nor look behind, nor sideways, but require

Of heaven with upward eyes for all that they desire. ...

Madeline prepares to retire to rest, that she ma dream of her lover, while her rich kinsmen, the o posers of her love, are keeping holiday in anoth part of the house. In the following exquisite d scription of Madeline's chamber, and highly finish portrait of the heroine, we have a striking specim of the sudden and strong maturity of the autho

casement high and triple-arched there was, 11 garlanded with carven imagʼries

f fruits and flowers, and bunches of knot-grass,
nd diamonded with panes of quaint device,
numerable of stains and splendid dyes,

s are the tiger-moth's deep-damasked wings;
And in the midst, 'mong thousand heraldries,
and twilight saints, and dim emblazonings,
elded scutcheon blushed with blood of queens and kings.

"ull on this casement shone the wintry moon,
And threw warm gules on Madeline's fair breast,
As down she knelt for heaven's grace and boon;
Rose-bloom fell on her hands, together prest,
And on her silver cross soft amethyst,
And on her hair a glory, like a saint:
She seemed a splendid angel, newly drest,
Save wings, for heaven :-

Soon, trembling in her soft and chilly nest,
In sort of wakeful swoon, perplexed she lay,
Until the poppied warmth of sleep oppressed
Her soothed limbs, and soul fatigued away;
Flown, like a thought, until the morrow-day;
Blissfully havened both from joy and pain;
Clasped like a missal where swart Paynims pray;
Blinded alike from sunshine and from rain,
though a rose should shut, and be a hud again'.

25.-CONVERSION OF SAINT PAUL.
at Paul suffered martyrdom under the general
cution of Nero. Being a Roman citizen, he
not be crucified by the Roman laws, as his
gue St. Peter was; he was therefore be-
d: hence the usual representation of him with
rd in his hand. See an account of a Sicilian
al in honour of this day, in our last volume,
and T. T. for 1820, p. 20.

mia, Isabella, Eve of St. Agnes, and other Poems, by John pp. 82, 86, 95, 96.

B

In 1649, on this day, the head of the sovereig was held, reeking in its warm blood, by the hand a masked executioner. In 1660, only eleven yea after, retribution stepped on the heels of the traito At the trial of King Charles, out of one hundre and thirty judges, only seventy-four sat. Sixty-fo were present at the session, and fifty-nine affixe their hand and seals to his death warrant. these, twenty-four had already been summoned that dread audit, where no secrets are hidden twenty-seven were taken, tried and condemne some experienced that clemency from the royal s they had denied the kingly father. Nine of the judges, and five principal abettors of the murder their sovereign, suffered the penalty of their crime whilst only sixteen, who sat in judgment on the lord and king, fled and finally escaped. How fra are the imaginations of the evil doers! Many those who viewed the scaffold erected before Whit hall for the execution of Charles, saw the hurdl pass that bore the regicide to his more ignominio doom. (For many curious particulars respecti this day, consult our former volumes.)

31.1820.-PROCLAMATION OF GEORGE THE FOURT

His Majesty George III departed this life on t 29th Jan. 1820; and the Proclamation of his prese Majesty took place on this day, with the usu ceremonies attendant upon those occasions.

stronomical Occurrences

In JANUARY 1822.

Obliquity of the Ecliptic.

NG explained the nature and variation of quity in the former volumes of Time's Telewill be sufficient to refer our youthful readers for the requisite information on the subject; rly to T.T. for 1816, p. 16, and T. T. for 1817, The measures of this obliquity, at several during the present year, are the following, viz.

SOLAR PHENOMENA. Sun enters Aquarius at 4 m. past 1 in the afterf the 20th of this month. He also rises and the following times, which are calculated for yal Observatory: they may easily be reduced intermediate periods by proportion; or to any neridian, by adding or subtracting the differf longitude, at the rate of 4m. to a degree.

TABLE

Sun's Rising and Setting for every fifth Day. nuary 1st, Sun rises 5 m. after 8. Sets 55 m. after 3