Now the bright Morning-star, day's harbinger, Woods and groves are of thy dressing, Hill and dale, doth boast thy blessing!-Milton. Acts. ALL the Italian merchants in the realm of France (called money-lenders) are seized this night, by command of Philip the Fair, for their ransoms, 1291.-A splendid just is held at Smithfield during the first five days of May 1362, which was attended by Edward III. and his Queen, with the flower of the chivalry of England and France, and knights from divers other nations. Edward IV. privately espouses, at Grafton Regis, the Lady Elizabeth Woodville, widow of Sir John Grey, 1464. It was a Latin proverb :-" mense malas maio nubere."-The Evil May Day records the insurrection at London under John of Lincoln, 1517. Charles V. reduces and severely punishes Ghent, his native city, N. S. 1540. James VI. of Scotland lands at Leith, from Copenhagen, with his newmarried spouse, Ann of Denmark, 1590. He left his dominions upon this nuptial expedition the 22nd of October, 1589. 66 Queen Bess went a-maying to Sir Richard Buckley's at Lewisham, (her last Spring), 1602. Pepys notes, My wife away to Woolwich in order to a little air, and to lie there to-night, and so to gather Maydew to-morrow morning, which Mrs. Turner hath taught her is the only thing in the world to wash her face with; and I am contented with it." Again, at the Hague, 1660: "We were made to understand the intention of May-poles, which we saw there at every great man's door, of different greatness, according to the quality of the person." The decrees of the Synod of Dort are publicly read, when the council was dissolved, 1619. This famous Calvinistic convocation first assembled the 13th of November, 1618, and was composed of six members from each of the provinces, twelve from North and South Holland, two from the country of Drent, with deputies from London and ten other foreign cities or republics.-The letter of Charles II. from Breda, addressed to the House of Commons, is received bare-headed by that assembly, when he was acknowledged King de facto, and an immediate supply of fifty-thousand pounds was ordered to be transmitted, 1660. Consider me always as the banker of the distressed, and I will honour your bill:to assist merit in distress is an Epicurean feast. Eliza Montague. Nature I'll court in her sequester'd haunts By mountain, meadow, streamlet, grove, or cell, And Health, and Peace, and Contemplation dwell. Shall chase far off the goblins of the night; And Independence o'er the day preside, Propitious power! my patron, and my pride.---Smollett. Acts. UPON this day the herdsmen in the Highlands of Scotland performed a kind of rustic charm and sacrifice, called Bel-tein: by which it was imagined their sheep and cattle were protected from destruction throughout the year. The custom resembles the Roman Palilia, and seems to have been derived from the Phoenician shepherds. The union of England with Scotland is consummated, 1707. The triennial act is repealed, 1716. Fort Louis, at the mouth of the Senegal, is taken by the English, 1758. It was restored to the French at the late peace. Guadaloupe, one of the French Caribbee Islands, surrenders, 1759; it was restored in 1814. Gibbon concludes the fourth volume of his History, immortal as its subject, 1786. The Indian war commences with Tippoo Saheb, Sultan of Mysore, 1790. The Vicechancellor of Great Britain, Sir Thomas Plomer, sits for the first time in Lincoln's Inn Hall, upon the creation of that office, 1813:-the talents of Sir John Leach gave it dignity. The first fair at Riga, is held during this month. The Horticultural Society holds its annual assembly upon the present day. The rainy season beigns now in Abyssinia, when the sun becomes vertical; and at Siam, the falls, during this and the following month, are incessant. This is the period of harvest in Palestine; and the fruits are ripe at Algiers. The sun rises with us in England at about half-past four o'clock; and sets about twenty minutes past seven o'clock. Upon the 25th of June it will rise at about forty minutes past three o'clock, and set at about a quarter past eight o'clock; after which day, the nights begin insensibly to lengthen. The number of the dead long exceedeth all that shall live. The night of time far surpasseth the day, and who knows when was the equinox ?-Browne. Then came fair May, the fairest maid on ground, Supported her like to their sovereign Queen. Lord! how all creatures laugh'd, when they her spied, And Cupid self about her fluttered all in green.-Spenser. Day. VI. Non. 2. William Camden, 1551, Old William de la Pole, Duke of St. Paul, near Towcester. Henry, Earl Bathurst, 1714. Suffolk, beh. 1450. Wingfield. Sebastian Brandt, 1520. died, Catharine II. (of Russia), 1729, | Joan (Bocher) of Kent, burned, Stetin upon Oder. In May and June come pinks of all sorts, especially the blush 1550. Anthony (of Portugal), 1595. d. Paris. Horace Vere, Baron Tilbury, 1635. Abbey. pink; honey-suckles, strawber-George Wither, 1667. (Quo?) ries, columbine, the French ma- Obits of the Latin Church. Archbishop (James) Sharp, John Lewis de Beaumont, 1785. Hester Lynch Piozzi, 1821. d. Lord Glenbervie, 1823. I grow and wither, both together!-Wither's Emblem. Immodest words admit of no defence, For want of decency is want of sense.-Roscommon. Acts. LAMBERT SIMNEL, the imposter, is crowned in Christ Church, Dublin, by the style of Edward the Sixth, the Lord Deputy, Gerald, Earl of Kildare, with other nobles, assisting at the ceremony, 1487. Columbus discovers Jamaica, and on the 5th day, he anchored in a port on its north side, now St. Anna, 1494. The execution of Joan of Kent, for heresy, 1550. "It is a goodly matter to consider your ignorance: it was not long ago that you burnt Ann Askew for a piece of bread, and yet came yourselves soon after to believe and profess the same doctrine for which you burned her; and forsooth, you will needs burn me for a piece of flesh; and in the end will come to believe this also, when you have read the Scriptures and understand them." Mary, Queen of Scots, aided by the gallant George Douglas, escapes this night from Lochleven Castle, in Kinross-shire, 1568. "A pleasant conceited history, called The Taming of a Shrew," is entered by Peter Short, printer, 1594. Shakspeare's comedy, with the same title, was distinguished in 1598, by the name of "Love's Labour Won." Upon the same day, in 1608, was entered, by Thomas Pavyer, "The Yorkshire Tragedy," a book written by Wylliam Shakespere; but it is very questionable whether he wrote this play entirely. Fernand de Quiros discovers the New Hebrides, in Australasia, afterwards explored by Cook, 1606. The stately cross in Cheapside is demolished by the Parliament, 1643: the tall May-pole of the Strand, shared an equal fate. The massacre at Madrid, by a French detachment charged by Murat, 1808. The battle of Lutzen, 1813 :—Napoleon, who kept the field, entered Dresden on the sixth day. He left Paris this day, in 1815, to meet the allied armies. The espousals of the lamented Princess Charlotte of Wales and the Prince Leopold, of Cobourg, are solemnized at Carlton Palace, 1816. Don Pedro resigns the throne of Portugal in favour of his daughter, Donna Maria II. da Gloria, 1826. The second fair of Novi, in the Milanese. Here begins the season to angle for the chub, ruff, pike, gudgeon, eel, dace, bleak, and finnock. The palm-tree of the desert, which is bi-sexual, expands its odorous blossoms about this time. They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea. Bacon. Day. V. Non. 3. Be greatly cautious of your sliding hearts: Nicholas Machiavel, 1469, Flo-Alexander V. (Pope), 1410. rence. Dean (Humphrey) Prideaux, Henry Gurnet, 1606. hanged, Adolphus Frederic II. (of Swe- Dr. Isaac Dorislaus, 1649. as den), 1710. Augustus Frederick Kotzebue, Speak kindly of your absent friends, to those that are present, that they may not think you unmindful of themselves, when they are absent. Isocrates. Obits of the Latin Church. St. Alexander, Pope, Eventius, St. Conlaeth, 1st Bishop of Kil- sassinated, Holland. (St. Mar- Sir Richard Cox, 1733. I heard that he had been dead near three months, and felt a strong desire to see where they had lain him—when, upon pulling out his little horn box, as I sat by his grave, and plucking up a nettle or two at the head of it, which had no business to grow there, they all struck together so forcibly upon my affec tions, that I burst into a flood of tears but I am as weak as a woman; and I beg the world not to smile, but pity me. Sterne. Never upbraid any one with his misfortunes, for fortune is common to all, and nobody can see into futurity. Isocrates. |