however, we may imagine, he did more for health than for pleasure, as, indeed, may be collected from his own curious account of it. I was,' says he, lately two days a hunting, in which amusement I found both pleasure and pain. We killed a brace of hares, and took some unhappy partridges; a very pretty employment truly for an idle man! However, I could not forbear theologizing amidst dogs and nets; for, thought I to myself, do not we, in hunting innocent animals to death with dogs, very much resemble the devil, who, by crafty wiles and the instruments of wicked priests, is perpetually seeking whom he may devour? Again: we happened to take a leveret alive, which I put into my pocket, with an intent to preserve it; yet we were not gone far before the dogs seized upon it, as it was in my pocket, and worried it. Just so the pope and the devil rage furiously to destroy the souls that I have saved, in spite of all my endeavours to prevent them. In short, I am tired of hunting these little innocent beasts; and had rather be employed, as I have been for some time, in spearing bears, wolves, tigers, and foxes; that is, in opposing and confounding wicked and impious divines, who resemble those savage animals in their qualities.' 21.-QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY.-See Septuagesima, p. 38. 23.-SHROVE TUESDAY. This is called Fastern's Een' and Pancake Tuesday. Shrove is the preterite of shrive, an antiquated word, which signifies to hear or make confession. On this day it was usual for the people to confess, that they might be the better prepared for the observation of the ensuing season of penitence, and for receiving the sacrament at Easter. It was afterwards converted into a day of idle sports and amusements; and within these few years, in many parts of England, its anniver sary was distinguished by riot and drunkenness, by bull-baiting, cock-fighting, and such other diversions as were calculated to promote cruelty, inhumanity, and every thing the most opposite to the virtues which it was the intention of the church to teach and encourage. These barbarous customs, we fear, are not wholly abolished.See T.T. for 1814, p. 35, and for 1815, p. 45. The Popish Carnival commences from Twelfthday, and usually holds till Lent. At Rome, the Carnival lasts for nine days, and it is nowhere seen in such perfection as at this place.-See it described at length in our volume for 1815, p. 48. 24.-ASH WEDNESDAY. Formerly Lent began on the Sunday after Quinquagesima, i. e. our first Sunday in Lent, and ended at Easter, containing in all 42 days; and subtracting the six Sundays which are not fasts, there remained only 36 fasting-days, the tenth part of 360, the number of days in the antient year, then considered as a tythe of the year consecrated to God's service. To these 36 fastingdays, however, of the Old-Lent, Gregory added four days more, to render it equal to the time of our Saviour's fasting, causing it to begin on Ash Wednesday, three days after Quinquagesima; and thus it has remained ever since. Lent is not of apostolic institution, nor was it known in the earlier ages of the Christian church. For some remarkable fasts, and directions for keeping the true Lent,' see T.T. for 1814, p. 39. 24.-SAINT MATTHIAS. Matthias was, probably, one of the seventy disciples, and was a constant attendant upon our Lord, from the time of his baptism by St. John until his ascension. Upon the death of Judas, St. Peter recommended to the consideration of the Christians assembled at Jerusalem the necessity of supplying this vacancy: and two were appointed; Joseph, called Barsabas, who was sur named Justus, and Matthias. It was determined by lot in favour of the latter, who was accordingly numbered with the eleven apostles. Matthias employed the first years of his ministry in Judea; afterwards he travelled eastward, his residence being principally, according to St. Jerome, near the river Apsarus, and the haven Hyssus. Here he continued for some time, but was at last murdered by the barbarous natives. The gospel and traditions published under his name are considered spurious. *24. 1525.-BATTLE OF PAVIA. That war is a complication of physical and moral evil, few will, in theory, deny, with how little soever compunction or reluctance potentates have, in every age, resorted to it as the amende honorable for the most trifling grievances. Viewed, indeed, as a mere game, combined of skill and hazard, it is of all pursuits the most stirring and glorious. Abstracted from their conse quences, The triumph, and the vanity, must constitute a state of turbulent excitement, in which we can conceive some minds may find an appropriate delight. All other actions and circumstances of life must, compared with the joys of battle, appear insipid. The fearful alternation of the mind between triumph and despair, the vastness of the stake, and the intensity of effort to which all the energies of nature seem then to be wrought up ;-above all, those indefinite ideas of martial glory, which have been found to prevail over all fear and all suffering, must give to the hour of actual contest a strange delicious ecstasy. Such is the notion of war, which it seems to be part of our education to imbibe. With martial achievements and martial glory, the studies of our earliest youth have taught us to associate ideas of manliness, true heroism, and moral grandeur: and from the age of Homer to that of modern romance, poetry has been employed in throwing over scenes of horrible destruction an air of chivalrous enterprise and picturesque sublimity. But to those who know war in its details of enormity and misery, who have followed in the rear of its ravages, and tracked its steps by the whitening bones of its victims; to those who, after the conflict, have listened, in the silence of midnight, to the faint groans or dying yells which bespoke the remains of life in some hundreds of agonizing sufferers; or who, in moods of deeper abstraction, have seemed to hear the sullen plunge which each individual spirit, when forced from its every lurking place of life, has made in the dark waters that bound mortality, the shriek of separation and the awful murmurs of eternity; to those who think of war as connected with these details, and with the widow's curse and the orphan's wretchedness, it is, indeed, an unutterable evil.-M. Gregoire.) *28. 1757.-EDWARD MOORE DIED. His He was the author of the tragedy of the 'Gamester,' one of the most interesting, moral, and instructive dramas upon the stage. comedy of the Foundling,' and his Fables for the Female Sex,' have also great merit. Astronomical Occurrences In FEBRUARY 1819. THE Sun enters Pisces at 22 m. after 10 on the morning of the 19th of this month; and he rises and sets during the same period as stated in the following TABLE Of the Sun's Rising and Setting every fifth Day. February 1st, Sun rises 28 m. after 7. Sets 32 m. after 4 19 1 6th, 11th, 16th, 7 7 7 6 41 4 Equation of Time. When apparent time is known as indicated by a good sun-dial, and mean time is required, add the numbers in the following table for every fifth day of the month to the time as marked by the dial. Monday, Feb. 1st, to the time by the dial udd 18 55 Saturday, Thursday, Tuesday, Sunday, · Friday, Phases of the Moon. First Quarter 2d day, at 24 m. after 1 morning. Moon's Passage over the first Meridian. The Moon's centre will pass the first meridian at the following times during this month; and which will therefore afford favourable opportunities for observing her in that position, to such as are not very distant from that meridian, if the weather be clear. February 1st, at 23 m. after 5 in the evening. |