Truth and reason are common to every one, and are no more his who spake them first, than his who speaks them after. Montaigne.

Acts.

THE plague breaks out at Edinburgh, 1647. The last they had, says a gossip of the time, raged so violently, that the fortieth man or woman lives not of those that dwelt there four years since, but it is all peopled with new faces.

The shade of Junius appears in the political horizon this day, 1769. "It seems I am a partisan of the great leader of the opposition. If the charge had been a reproach, it should have been better supported. I did not intend to make a public declaration of the respect I bear Lord Chatham. I well knew what unworthy conclusions would be drawn from it. But I am called upon to deliver my opinion; and surely it is not in the little censure of Mr. Horne to deter me from doing signal justice to a man who, I confess, has grown upon my esteem. As for the common sordid views of avarice, or any purpose of vulgar ambition, I question whether the applause of Junius would be of service to Lord Chatham. My vote will hardly recommend him to an increase of his pension, or to a seat in the cabinet. But, if his ambition be upon a level with his understanding-if he judges of what is truly honourable for himself, with the same superior genius which animates and directs him to eloquence in debate, to wisdom in decision, even the pen of Junius shall contribute to reward him. Recorded honours shall gather round his monument, and thicken over him. It is a solid fabric, and will support the laurels that adorn it. I am not conversant in the language of panegyric. These praises are extorted from me; but they will wear well, for they have been dearly earned."-Who is Junius, is not an idle question at the present day, for it seems the secret is worth keeping; and, indeed, if he were a man of rank and influence, as is universally supposed, there are descendants, relatives, connections, which hitherto may have required the protecting hand of oblivion; but many lamps are already extinguished, and others have long been burning, so that in all human probability a little climacteric, or even a ternary of years, will unfold the mystery, in good time to supply the Russells, or the house of Manners, with at least one able and fearless historian.

That famous letter to Lord Mansfield appeared the same day, 1772.

No man can be secret, except he give himself a little scope of dissimulation, which is as it were but the skirts, or train of secrecy.

Bacon.

Day.

And none did love him-though to hall and bower

He gather'd revellers from far and near:

He knew them flatt'rers of the festal hour;

The heartless parasites of present cheer.-Childe Harold.

XI. Francis Lord Bacon, 1561, York Timothy, A. D. 97. d. Ephesus.

There happened in my time
one noble speaker. No member
of his speech but consisted of his
own graces. His hearers could
not cough, or look aside from
him, without loss. He com-
manded where he spoke; and
had his judges angry and pleased
at his devotion. No man had

their affections more in his power.
The fear of every man that heard
him was, lest he should make an
end.-Jonson's Discoveries.

Paschal II. (Pope), 1118.
Peter Doria (of Genoa), k. 1380.
Edward, Duke of Somerset, be-

headed, 1552.
Jas.Duke of Chatelherault, 1575.
Louis Duret, 1586, d. Paris.
Capt. James le Maire, 1617.
Claude Ballin, 1678. d. Paris.
Earl of Shaftesbury, 1683. d.

Amsterdam.

Peter Pautre, 1744. d. Paris.
Matt.Concanen, 1749.d.London.
Ph. Moore, 1783. Isle of Man.
George Stevens, 1800. Poplar.

We cannot think of fortresses of war without admitting images of danger; but we range delighted and jocund through the gay apartments of the palace, because nothing is impressed by them on the mind but joy and festivity. Obits of the Latin Church. Such is the difference between St. Vincent, M. at Valencia, 304. great and amiable characters; (See Engl. Church Calendar.) | with protectors we are safe, with St. Anastasius, M. in Assyria, companions we are happy. 628.

Rambler, in diê.

Know thyself. We labour hard to publish our abilities and conceal our infirmities.

Raleigh.

There is no doctrine will do good, where nature is wanting. Some wits are swelling and high, others low and still; some hot and fiery, others cold and dull: one must have a bridle, the other a spur.

Acts.

Jonson.

THE Catagogia, an erotic and bacchanalian festival, was celebrated at Ephesus on this day, by its licentious devotees, about the 1st Century. Then, also, the pantomimes and shows were acted at Rome, in honour of Augustus.

Richard II. of England is married to his first wife, Anne, daughter of the Emperor Charles IV., popularly called the good Queen Anne, 1382. The Windward Caribbee Island, named St. Vincent, was discovered by the Spaniards this day. The indigo thrives upon its rich loamy soil. In 1644 an ordinance is passed for the reform of the University of Cambridge. The Earl of Manchester had the superintendance of this ungracious mandate, and ten heads of colleges, with sixty-five fellows, only were expelled; but upon the general's departure a more zealous committee increased the number to two hundred.

Gray writes from town to his friend Mason, 1761, "The Opera-house is crowded this year like any ordinary theatre. Elisi is finer than any thing that has been here in your memory: yet, as I suspect. has been finer than he is: his action is proper, and not ungraceful. We have heard nothing, since I remember operas, but eternal passages, divisions, and flights of execution: of these he has absolutely none; whether merely from judgment, or a little from age, I will not affirm ; his point is expression, and to that all the graces and ornaments he inserts (which are few and short) are evidently directed: he goes higher (they say) than Farinelli; but then this celestial note you do not hear above once in a whole opera; and he falls from this altitude at once to the mellowest, softest, strongest tones (about the middle of his compass) that can be heard. The Mattei, I assure you, is much improved by his example, and by her great success this winter; but then the burlettas, and the Paganina, I have not been so pleased with any thing these many years she too is fat, and above forty, yet handsome withal, and has a face that speaks the language of all nations: she has not the invention, the fire, and the variety of action that the Spiletta had; yet she is light, agile, ever in motion, and, above all, graceful; but then her voice, her ear, her taste in singing: Good God-as Mr. Richardson the painter says.

Melancholy is a species of ingratitude to Heaven. We should be humbly thankful for every harmless pleasure that conduces to our happiness.-Anon.

Brutality is a certain roughness that shows itself in a man's whole converse and demeanour. Ask one of this savage temper, if he has seen such a person lately, he replies, Sirrah, don't be impertinent. If he finds a man in communion with his God, he tells him, that he expects some gift for his pains. He is inexorable upon the slightest offence; do but tread upon his foot, or shake his elbow in a crowd, he'll never forget you as long as he lives. Theophrastus.

Day.

X.

Cal. 23.

St. Vincent Ferrer, 1357, Va- Jas. E. of Moray, murd. 1570,

The situation of a young and rich widow is walking blindfold upon stilts amidst precipices; though perhaps as little sensible of her danger as a child of a quarter old would be in the paws of a monkey leaping on the tiles of a house.

He that honoureth his mother is as one that layeth up treasure.-Panaretos.

Acts.

THE twenty-third day of the month Sebat, was kept as a fast by the Jews, in memory of the war waged by all the ten tribes of Israel against that of Benjamin, for the outrage committed upon the person of the Levite's wife, by the men of Gibeah.-Judges xx.

Tamerlane introduces his troops within the walls of Damascus, in violation of a truce, 1401; and after levying a contribution of ten millions of gold upon the inhabitants, themselves are first massacred, and afterwards their city is reduced to ashes, in revenge of the murder, seven centuries before, of the grandson of Mahomet, by the Syrians.

Queen Elizabeth dedicates the Royal Exchange, (then called "Britain's Burse,") by sound of trumpet, on the afternoon of this day, 1571. The articles of union between the Dutch provinces are signed at Utrecht by their seven deputies, 1579. This honest land was seized by the French, the same day, in 1795.

In 1759, was buried at Lichfield, Mrs. Sarah Johnson, the mother of the great Cham in letters;-an event not unworthy to be noted, as it eminently illustrates the filial piety of the author of " Rasselas,” a work that was composed with wonderful rapidity to defray the expenses of her funeral: "You will conceive my sorrow for the loss of my mother, of the best mother. If she were to live again, surely I should behave better to her. But she is happy, and what is passed is nothing to her; and for me, since I cannot repair my faults to her, I hope repentance will efface them." Those that know a mother's tenderness-the children of Genius, in whose breasts is most apparent the milk of maternal endearment, as the effusions of Gray, Cowper, Pope, Hayley, and others, sufficiently testify, will prize these little bursts of nature, the oases of a world where Ravin and Duplicity have set up their pillars, more than all the polished labours of the learned, in which the heart is wanting.

The Agricultural Society commenced its sittings on this day, 1794. The Hilary or Lent Term, in the English courts of law, commences ; as also the Candlemas Term in Scotland. The sabbath was a juridical day until 517, in which year it was properly exempted from legal proceedings. We are indebted for the division of the year into four Terms to Edward the Confessor.

Out of the old fields cometh the new corn.-Sir Edward Coke.