For the Table Book. A DIALOGUE BETWEEN VIRTUE AND DEATH, ON THE DEATH OF SIR JAMES PEMBERTON, KNIGHT, WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE THE 8TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1613. He was lord mayor of London in the reign of James I., and was a great benefactor to several charities. Vertue. What Vertue challengeth, is but her right. Death. What Death layes claime to who can contradict? Ver. Vertue, whose power exceeds all other might. Dea. Wher's Vertue's power when Death makes all submit? Ver. I gave him life and therefore he is mine. Ver. Because (by nature) all are born to dye. Dea. Then thyne own tongue yeelds Death the victory. 4 Ver. No, Death, thou art deceined, thy enuions stroke Hath ginen him life immortal 'gainst thy will: Dea. What life can be, but vanished as smoake? Ver. A life that all thy darts can never kill. Dea. Haue I not locked his body in my graue? Ver. That was but dust, and that I pray thee keepe. Dea. That is as much as I desire to haue, His comely shape in my eternal sleepe. Ver. But wher's his honorable life, renowne, and fame ? Dea. They are but breath, them I resign to thee. Dea. Ver. I prefer my claim, His body mine. mine his eternity. PETER HERVE. To the Editor. His Sir,-Having had the happiness and honour of holding correspondence with that most benevolent man, Mr. Peter Hervé, whose death I deeply deplore, I shall feel myself relieved from a debt due to his me. I mory, if you will allow me, through the medium of your valuable publication, to express my hope that he was not, in the time of need, forgotten by that society of which he was the honoured founder. last letter told me he was ill and in distress; and had been advised to try the air of the south of France, with scarcely any means of pursuing his journey but by the sale of his drawings. My own inability to serve him made me hesitate; and I am shocked to say, his letter was not answered. I am sorry, but repentance will not come too late, if this hint will have any weight towards procuring for his amiable widow, from that admirable institution, a genteel, if not an ample independence: for certain I am, that he could not have made choice of any one who had not a heart generous as his own. I am, &c. Stamford, June 24, 1827. F. S. Jun. CABALISTIC ERUDITION. Nothing can exceed the followers of cabalistical mysteries, in point of fantastical conceits. The learned Godwin recounts some of them. "Abraham," they say, wept but little for Sarah, probably because she was old." They prove this by producing the letter" Caph," which being a remarkably small letter, and being made use of in the Hebrew word which describes Abraham's tears, evinces, they affirm, that his grief also was small. The Cabalists discovered likewise, that in the two Hebrew words, signifying man and " woman," are contained two letters, which, together, form one of the names of "God;" but if these letters be taken away, there remain letters which signify "fire." balists, "we may find that when man and "Hence," argue the Cawife agree together, and live in union, God is with them, but when they separate themselves from God, fire attends their footsteps." Such are the whimsical dogmas of the Jewish Cabala. OFFERINGS TO INFANTS. To the Editor. Edgeley, near Stockport. · Sir, I am anxious to notice a custom I have observed in Yorkshire, relative to very young infants, which I think it would be desirable to keep alive. I know that it is partially practised now, in that county, in the neighbourhood of Wakefield. The custom I allude to is, the making an offer ing to new-born infants on the occasion of their making their first visit abroad, by the person who is honoured with it, of a cake of bread, an egg, and a small quantity of salt. Special care is taken that the young pilgrim in life makes its first visit to the house of a near relative, or an esteemed friend, who will in nowise omit a ceremony so necessary to its future welfare. For it is believed if this be not done, that in its progress through life it will be exposed to the miseries of want; and by parity of reason, the due observance of it will insure a continual supply of those necessaries, of which the offering at setting out in life presents so happy an omen. I know not whence or where this custom originated, nor how extensively it may be still practised; but if its origin be utterly unknown, we are, according to the usage of the world in all such cases, bound the more to observe and reverence it. There are many ancient customs, upon which the hand of Time has set his seal, " more honoured in the breach than the observance;" but, I think, you will agree with me, that this, from its air of social humanity, is not of that class. Perhaps you can give it further elucidation. I believe it to be of the most remote antiquity, and to have been amongst the oldest nations. I am, &c. MILO. The only immediate illustration of the preceding custom that occurs, is Hutchinson's mention of it in his History of Northumberland; in which county, also, infants, when first sent abroad in the arms of the nurse to visit a neighbour, are presented with an egg, salt, and bread. He observes, that "the egg was a sacred emblem, and seems a gift well adapted to infancy." Mr. Bryant says, "An egg, containing in it the elements of life, was thought no improper emblem of the ark, in which were preserved the rudiments of the future world: hence, in the Dionusiaca, and in other mysteries, one part of the nocturnal ceremony consisted in the consecration of an egg. By this, as we are informed by Porphyry, was signified the world. It seems to have been a favourite symbol, and very ancient, and we find it adopted among many nations. It was said by the Persians of Orosmasdes, that he formed mankind and enclosed them in an egg. Cakes and salt were used in religious rites by the ancients. The Jews probably adopted their appropriation from the Egyptians :- And if thou bring an oblation of a meat-offering baken in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour,' &c. (Levit. ii. 4.) With all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.'" (Ibid. p.13.) It is also customary in Northumberland for the midwife, &c. to provide two slices, one of bread and the other of cheese, which are presented to the first person they meet in the procession to church at the christening. The person who receives this homely present must give the child in return "three" different things, wishing it at the same time health and beauty. A gentleman happening once to fall in the way of such a party, and to receive the above present, was at a loss how to make the triple return, till he bethought himself of laying upon the child which was held out to him, a shilling, a halfpenny, and a pinch of snuff. When they meet more than one person together, it is usual to single out the nearest to the woman that carries the child. Cowel says, it was a good old custom for God-fathers and God-mothers, every time their God-children asked them blessing, to give them a cake, which was a God'skichell it is still a proverbial saying in some countries," Ask me a blessing, and I will give you some plum-cake." Among superstitions relating to children, the following is related by Bingham, on St. Austin: "If when two friends are talking together, a stone, or a dog, or a child, happens to come between them, they tread the stone to pieces as the divider of their friendship; and this is tolerable in comparison of beating an innocent child that comes between them. But it is more pleasant that sometimes the children's quarrel is revenged by the dogs: for many times they are so superstitious as to dare to beat the dog that comes between them, who, turning again upon him that smites him, sends him from seeking a vain remedy, to seek a real physician.' Brand, who cites these passages, adduces the following འ CHRISTENING CUSTOMS. Dr. Moresin was an eye-witness to the following usages in Scotland. They take, on their return from church, the newlybaptized infant, and vibrate it three or four times gently over a flame, saying, and repeating it thrice, "Let the flame consume thee now or never." Martin relates, that in the Western Islands, the same lustration, by carrying of fire, is performed round about lying-in women, and round about children before they are christened, as an effectual means to preserve both the mother and infant from the power of evil spirits. This practice is similar to an ancient feast at Athens, kept by private families, called Amphidromia, on the fifth day after the birth of the child, when it was the custom for the gossips to run round the fire with the infant in their arms, and then, having delivered it to the nurse, they were entertained with feasting and dancing. There is a superstition that a child who does not cry when sprinkled in baptism will not live. Among the ancient Irish, the mother, at the birth of a man child, put the first meat into her infant's mouth upon the point of her husband's sword, with wishes that it might die no otherwise than in war, or by sword. Pennant says, that in the Highlands, midwives give new-born babes a small spoonful of earth and whisky, as the first food they take. Giraldus Cambrensis relates, that "at the baptizing of the infants of the wild Irish, their manner was not to dip their right arms into the water, that so as they thought they might give a more deep and incurable blow." Mr. Brand deems this a proof that the whole body of the child was anciently commonly immersed in the baptismal font. In 1795 the minister of the parishes of South Ronaldsay and Burray, two of the Orkney islands, describing the manners of the inhabitants, says: "Within these last seven years, the minister has been twice interrupted in administering baptism to a female child, before the male child, who was baptized immediately after. When the service was over, he was gravely told he had done very wrong; for, as the female child was first baptized, she would, on her coming to the years of discretion, most certainly have a strong beard, and the boy would have none." The minister of Logierait, in Perthshire, describing the superstitious opinions and "When practices in that parish, says: child was baptized privately, it was, long since, customary to put the child up a clean basket, having a cloth previous spread over it, with bread and cheese into the cloth; and thus to move the bask three times successively round the ir crook, which hangs over the fire, from t roof of the house, for the purpose of porting the pots when water is boiled, victuals are prepared. This" he imagine, "might be anciently intended to counter act the malignant arts which witches and evil spirits were imagined to practise agains new-born infants." Sup It is a vulgar notion, that children, pre maturely wise, are not long-lived, and rarely reach maturity. Shakspeare pus this superstition into the mouth of Richard: the Third. Bulwer mentions a tradition concerning children born open-handed, that they wil prove of a bountiful disposition and frank handed. A character in one of Dekker's " plays says, "I am the most wretched fel fow: sure some left-handed priest christened me, I am so unlucky." The following charms for infancy are de rived from Herrick : "Bring the holy crust of bread, Lay it underneath the head; 'Tis a certain charm to keep Hags away while children sleep." "Let the superstitions wife Neer the child's heart lay a knife; Point be up, and haft be down, (While she gossips in the towne ;) This, 'mongst other mystick charms, Keeps the sleeping child from harmes." BUNYAN'S HOLY WAR DRAMA TISED. A very beautiful manuscript was once put into the hands of one of Dr. Aikin's correspondents by a provincial bookseller, to whom it had been offered for publication. It consisted of two tragedies upon the subject of John Bunyan's Holy War: they were the composition of a lady, who had fitted together scraps from Shakspeare, Milton, Young's Night Thoughts, and Erskine's Gospel Sonnets, into the dramatic form, with no other liberty than that of occasionally altering a name. The lady Constance, for instance, was converted into lady Con GENTLEMEN OF THE PARISH. Look up at the inscription on that venerable church defaced with plaster; what does it record? "Beautified by Samuel Smear and Daniel Daub, churchwardens." And so these honest gentlemen call disguising that fine, old, stone building, with a thick coat of lime and hair, or whitewash, beautifying it! What is the history of all this? Why the plain matter-of-fact is, that every parish officer thinks he has a right to make a round bill on the hamlet, during his year of power. An apothecary in office physics the poor. A glazier, first in cleaning, • Athenæum. breaks the church-windows, and afterwards brings in a long bill for mending them. A painter repairs the commandments, puts new coats on Moses and Aaron, gilds the organ pipes, and dresses the little cherubim about the loft, as fine as vermilion, Prussian blue, and Dutch gold can make them. The late churchwardens chanced to be a silversmith and a woollen-draper; the silversmith new fashioned the communion plate, and the draper new clothed the pulpit, and put fresh curtains to the windows. All this might be done with some shadow of modesty, but to insult the good sense of every beholder with their beautified! Shame on them! Dr. Burney tells of some parish officers, that they applied to Snetzler (a celebrated organ-builder) to examine their organ, and to make improvements on it-" Gentlemen," said the honest Swiss, "your organ be wort von hondred pound, just nowwell-I will spend von hondred pound upon it, and it shall then be wort fifty." For the Table Book. THE ANGLER FROM THE GERMAN OF GOETHE. Das Wasser rauscht', das Wasser schwoll, &c. There was a gentle angler who was angling in the sea, "Why dost thou strive so artfully to lure my brood away, "Do not Sol and Diana both more lovely far appear Nor in thine image mirror'd in this everlasting dew?" The water rush'd, the water swell'd, and touch'd his naked feet, Half pull'd-half plunging-down he sunk, and ne'er was heard of more. R. W. D. |