591. Deaths. Aurelian, assassinated, 275. Bernard Lami, 1715. d. Rouen. A modern critic is an apocryphal scribbler who censures in gross, and commonly sides with the weakest he is worse than an Index Expurgatorius, for he blots out all; and, when he cannot find a fault, makes one: he is a mountebank, that is always St. Sulpicius, Bp. of Bourges, d. quacking of the infirm and diseased parts of books, to show his St. Francis of Sales, Bp. of Ge- skill; but has nothing to do with neva, 1622. the sound he demurs to all writers, and when he is overruled, will run into contempt.-Butler. There are two things necessary for a traveller, to bring him to the end of his journey; a knowledge of his way, a perseverance in his walk.-Warwick. If a wife be convicted by her husband of adultery, poisoning, making false keys, or of drinking wine, she may be punished with death.-Law of Romulus. Acts. THE twenty-ninth day of the month Shebat was observed as a festival by the Jews, to commemorate the death of a most inveterate enemy, Antiochus Epiphanes, B. C. 164.-See Macc. i. 6. The Equirian games, in honour of Mars, were instituted by Romulus at this time, and exhibited in the Campus Martius.—See 27 Feb. Robert de Cumin and his Norman followers are massacred, and the Episcopal Palace, at Durham, is burnt to the ground, 1069. St. Francis falling sick, his preceptor inquired of him, with tears, what he had to appoint concerning his funeral, and other affairs; "Nothing," he cheerfully answered, "unless it be that my body be given to the Theatre of Anatomy, to be dissected; for it will be a comfort to me if I can be of any advantage, when dead, having been of none, whilst alive.” Charles I. burns his private papers and clavises, and takes farewell of his children, Elizabeth and Henry, 1649; a dreadful, and most affecting scene, that caused the death of the little princess, who expired about eighteen months after at Carisbrook Castle, in her fifteenth year. Sir William Temple addresses his Essay On the Excesses of Grief to the Countess of Essex (wife of Lord Capel), 1674;" It is, at least, pious to ascribe all the ill that befalls us to our own demerits, rather than to injustice in God; and it becomes us better to adore all the issues of his providence in the effects, than inquire into the causes: for submission is the only way of reasoning between a creature and its Maker; and contentment in his will is the greatest duty we can pretend to, and the best remedy we can apply to all our misfortunes." A general thanksgiving throughout England for the pregnancy of the Queen of James II., 1688. "The Pretender" was born in June following. Westminster Bridge, which was raised by lottery, is founded, 1739. This day is the Anniversary of the accession of our beloved monarch, King George the Fourth, to the British throne, 1820. "LONG MAY HE REIGN!" Le jour d'un nouveau regué est le jour des ingrats.-Gresset. Liberty is a plant that deserves to be cherished. Like the vine in the Scripture, it has spread from east to west, has embraced whole nations with its branches, and sheltered them under its leaves. Chatham. Day. III. Cal. 30. Abp. Sancroft, 1616, Fresing- Sophocles, B. C. 405. Athens. field. Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, 1627, Wallingford House. When we reflect that some William de Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, A. D. 1344. 1743. Louvre. William Chillingworth, 1644. Chichester. Windsor. princes have been barbarously Obits of the Latin Church. Susanna Maria Cibber, 1766. I have shown that all genuine reasoning does ultimately terminate in certain principles, which it is impossible to disbelieve, and as impossible to prove : therefore the ultimate standard of truth, to us, is common sense.-Beattie, in diê. The Queen's sympathy with me in my afflictions, will make her virtues shine with greater lustre, as stars in the darkest nights; and assure the envious world, that she loves me, not my fortunes. Icon Basiliké. A clear, unblemished character comprehends not only the integrity that will not offer, but the spirit that will not submit to an injury; and whether it belongs to an individual, or to a community, it is the foundation of peace, of independence, and of safety. Private credit is wealth, public honour is security.-Junius. Acts. THE Attic poet, Aristophanes, produces his comedy of "The Wasps," about this day, B. C. 422. In the same year died Cratinus, the comic poet; the Generals Cleon and Brasidas fell at Amphipolis; and the citizens of Athens (males) are computed, by a census, at twenty thousand. The day of the Roman Pacalia, dedicated to the goddess Peace. John Astley the Warwickshire knight, accepts, as champion of the English nation, the challenge of Sir Philip Beaufe, or Boyle, a knight of Arragon, whom he vanquishes, at Smithfield, in the presence of Henry VI. and all his nobility, 1442. His reward was a pension of one hundred marks, and instant knighthood. The combatants' usual oath is remarkable: "This hear, you justices, that I have this day neither eat, drank, nor have upon me either bone, stone, or glass, or any enchantment, sorcery, or witchcraft, where through the power of God might be inleased or diminished, and the devil's power increased." A phenomenon is observed at London called the burning spears, 1560; being (perhaps) the earliest record of that appearance at present well known by the name of " Aurora Borealis." The Journal of the House of Commons contains the following entry on the day of KING CHARLES'S MARTYRDOM : "Die Martis, 30 Januarii, 1648, post meridiem. Ordered, That the common post be staid until to-morrow morning, ten of the clock." Upon the same day, in the evening, Sir Lewis Dyves escapes from Whitehall, by leaping from a water-closet into the Thames, and, assuming afterwards a woman's habit, arrived safely in Scotland; but the Duke of Hamilton, in escaping from Windsor, is retaken at Southwark. The annual fast was first solemnized by an ordinance of parliament, in 1661. The Life-boat, invented by Mr. Greathead, is first used at Shields, 1790. It is credibly stated that five hundred lives by its means have been saved at the entrance of the river Tyne alone, since that period. Mungo Park sails for Africa, 1805. Nay, Madam, he is a Doctor; never rack his person, but rack his stile; let him have pen, ink, and paper, and help of books, and be enjoined to continue the story where it breaketh off, and I will undertake, by collecting the stiles, to judge whether he were the author or no. Bacon's Apology. What advantage is it to the State, I would inquire, eventually to transfer the revenues of the church into the hands of the aristocracy? Should not those that support, in a loose age, the moral vigour of its fabric, be supplied with the external means of respect and dignity?-Thoughts on the Agrarian Law. Obits of the Latin Church. St. Maidoc (or Maodhog, alias Aidan, otherwise St. Dee), 1240. Deaths. Seleucus Nicator, murdered, Charles IV. (the Fair), 1328. Guido Fawkes, ex. 1606. West. Sir Ashton Lever, 1788. d. Man- Clara Clairon, 1803. d. Paris. Good nature and good sense come from our births or tempers; good breeding and truth, chiefly by education and converse with men: yet truth seems much in one's blood, and is gained too by good sense and reflection. Nothing is a greater possession, nor of more advantage to those that have it, as well as those St. Peter Nolasco, Founder and Zeuxis and Parrhasius are said to be contemporaries: the first found out the reason of lights and shadows in picture; the other more subtlely examined the line. Jonson. |