tlements of the temple. The fall, however, did not kill him, and raising himself upon his knees he prayed for his persecutors, when one of them instantly struck him with a club, and deprived him of life in the year 62. 3. INVENTion of the Cross. St. Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, undertook a journey into Palestine in 326, for the purpose of visiting the holy places there. On her arrival at Jerusalem, she was inspired with a great desire of finding the identical cross on which Christ had suffered. The pious empress therefore ordered the profane buildings to be pulled down, and, on digging to a great depth, they discovered three crosses; not knowing which was the cross of our Saviour, the holy bishop Macarius, says Butler, suggested to the empress to cause the three crosses to be carried to a lady who was extremely ill. The crosses were singly applied to the patient, who perfectly recovered by the touch of one, the other two having been tried without effect. This festival was originally kept on the 14th of September, but was removed to this day in the eighth century, as it is supposed that the cross was found about this period, or early in the spring. 3. 1830. SIR ROBERT Peel died, Ætat. 80. He was born at Peel's Cross, a small estate belonging to his father, near Lancaster, on the 25th of April, 1750. It is said that very early in life he had a presentment that he should become the founder of a noble family. His father brought up his sons to the different branches of the cotton trade, and Robert, emulating the fame of the well-known Sir Richard Arkwright, eagerly devoted hinself to explore the powers of mechanical combinations, particularly when they could be converted to the use of his own manufacture. At the age of twenty-three, he embarked in partnership with Mr. Yates, in an extensive cotton factory at Bury in Lancashire; and, in 1783, married Mr. Yates's daughter, then little more than seventeen. In 1790, he was returned to parliament for Tamworth; and to such opulence had the firm of Messrs. Peel and Yates risen, that in the year 1797 they gave £10,000 to the voluntary subscriptions for carrying on the war. In 1790 Sir Robert Peel was created a baronet by patent. So rapidly did his business increase, and so extensive had it become, that in 1803 he employed upwards of fifteen thousand persons, and paid annually to the Excise-office, on printed goods alone, upwards of £40,000. He was exceedingly attentive to the personal comfort of his workmen, and the health of the children employed in his factories; and, that other manufactories might be led to follow his example, introduced a bill into parliament, "To ameliorate the condition of the apprentices in the cotton and woollen trades." Sir Robert Peel bore a most estimable character, and closed his career at a ripe old age, ennobled by a life of integrity and consistency. The baronetcy descended to his son, the Secretary of State for the Home Department. 5. 1821. NAPOLEON BONAPARTE DIED. LINES TO NAPOLEON. From the Album at the Great St. Bernard in the Alps. How with the shipwreck sinks the surge, Still onward swept thy sanguine tide, A den thy realm, thy throne a grave! 6. ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST, ANte p. l. St. John the Evangelist, the favourite disciple of Jesus, and messenger of glad tidings, was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and born in Galilee. After the death of the Virgin Mary, in whose house, at Jerusalem, St. John resided, he travelled into Asia Minor to propagate the Gospel, and is supposed to have been the founder of the seven churches mentioned in the Apocalypse. While preaching at Ephesus he was arrested and carried to Rome, where he was condemned for the doctrines he had promulgated, and thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil, from which it is said he was miraculously preserved, and came out alive. This event took place before the gate called Portam Latina, which is the reason of the abbreviation Ante P. L. following his name on this day. He was afterwards banished to the isle of Patmos, where he wrote his book of Revelations; but, being recalled by the Emperor Nero, he returned to Ephesus and compiled his three Epistles. A few years before his death he wrote his Gospel, and died in the reign of Trajan, about ninety years of age. 8. ROGATION SUNDAY. The fifth Sunday after Easter. The three following days are called Rogation Days; the word being derived from the Latin rogare, to beseech. On these four days extraordinary prayers and supplications are made, as a preparation for the devout observance of our Saviour's Ascension on the following day, Holy Thursday. This festival was first appointed by Mamertus, Bishop of Vienna, in the year 469. HYMN FOR SABBATH MORNING. BY THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD. I love, O Lord! this holy day, A day the youthful heart to sway On it this world at first was made The ample heavens above it spread, This day the earth arose from night A second time to glorious light In shadowed and in doubtful faith, Of life we groped the way; But Jesus burst the bonds of death, O, blessed day! sent from above, Father of Life, do thou approve, And my Redeemer dear, And Spirit of Grace, bow down in love, A simple child to hear! Juvenile Forget-Me Not, 1831. 11. 1830. FREDERICK ALBERT WINsor died, ÆTAT. 67. The founder of the Gas-Light and Coke Company in London, and the first Gas Company established in Paris. In 1803 he first publicly demonstrated, at the Lyceum in the Strand, the use to which his discovery of gas-lighting might be applied. Many, even of high scientific reputation, then denied its feasibility. He afterwards, on the King's birth-day in 1807, lighted with gas the walls of Carlton-house Gardens, in St. James's Park; and during 1809 and 1810, one side of Pall Mall from the house he then occupied in that street. His house was for many years openly shown, fitted up with gas-lights throughout, to exhibit to the legislature and the public the practicability of his plans. His memorial to the King for a charter, and the evidence taken before Parliament, and before the Privy Council, bear testimony to the indefatigable and unremitting zeal with which he persevered, until he overcame the obstacles which prejudice had raised against his efforts, and which threatened to prevent the general adoption of his discoveries and improvements. In 1812, however, a charter of incorporation for a Gas Light and Coke Company was obtained, and success crowned his labours; but his mind having been wholly possessed with the prosecution of an object of such importance, he was too regardless of his own pecuniary interests, and omitted to retain a legal power over the advantages which resulted from his exertions; he unfortunately trusted too much for his reward to the honour of the parties with whom he was engaged. In 1815 he extended to France the advantages which had attended his efforts in England. There, too, he was the first to establish a company, and erect gas-works; but rival interests created other companies, in defiance of patent privileges; these H |