excess in his condemnation of the Patricians, and the odium he excites against them, springs from the purest source-sympathy with the oppressed. These may well compensate for the scattered blemishes of style, and the clouds and mysticisms engendered by profundity of thought." About a year before his death, a fire consumed some of M. Niebuhr's papers, but not the manuscript prepared for the continuation of his work, which he intended to conclude at the point where Gibbon

commences.

In 1816 the King of Prussia appointed M. Niebuhr his Minister at Rome, being anxious to place the historian where he could enjoy every advantage and facility in pursuing his inquiries. In 1821, however, he returned, after having concluded a sort of concordat with the Holy See. He was afterwards made Professor of History in the University of Berlin, and a Free Associate to the University of Bonn. He was also adorned with several orders and decorations, and continued a Counsellor of State until his death.

6. EPIPHANY, OR TWELFTH DAY.

Epiphany, which means appearance or manifestation, is a festival kept in commemoration of the discovery Jesus Christ made of himself to the three Magi, or wise men who came to adore him. This festival is called by the Greeks the feast of lights, because our Saviour is said to have been baptized on this day; and baptism is by them called illumination.

The custom of eating twelfth-cake and drawing for king or queen, on this day, is common in all parts of Europe.

The Carnival, a public festival in Catholic countries, commences on this day, and is observed with great solemnity, particularly in Italy, where it continues until Shrove Tuesday, or commencement of Lent.

The amusements, as well as splendor of the last

carnival in Rome, were much contracted in consequence of the unsettled state of the country and the partial attempts at a revolution. A correspondent in the New Monthly Magazine, writing from Rome, says: "Saturday, the 14th of February, was intended as a day of grand display the windows and balconies were hung with a profusion of bright drapery, and new seats and platforms were erected; confectionery of all colors was piled up in immense reservoirs, preparing for the contest of comfits, and the whole long street, for more than a mile, with all the piazzas, was filled with scarlet velvet and blue and white confectionery. I had just hired seats for myself and a friend, in a balcony, and was returning home to prepare for the festivity, when I saw billstickers, with great trepidation and haste, posting up proclamations in all directions. The first was, that every well-regulated government required that they should be acquainted with all persons resident in their cities; that therefore, all strangers in Rome were required immediately to repair to the Police, to state their name, condition, and country, and the cause which induced them to come to, and remain in the capital. This was followed, in an hour after by another, stating, that as some evil-intentioned persons threatened to disturb the peace of the city, the troops of the line were not deemed sufficient for its protection; and it was therefore required, that every parish should immediately furnish one hundred armed men, to repair to their posts, to defend their properties and families. It was now four o'clock, when the amusements of the Corso commence; and notwithstanding the aspect of things, every one was repairing thither to enjoy the sport, when

another proclamation appeared, declaring, that grave circumstances required that the carnival should immediately cease, the horse-racing he suspended, the theatres closed, and that no person should, under any pretext whatever, appear in the streets in a masque; that whoever did so, should be immediately arrested, and punished with the utmost rigour of the law."

The cause of these precautions and cessation of the amusements were in consequence of the Government receiving information of the rapid progress of the revolution in the Tramontane provinces, and that those of the Campagna only waited for the signal from Rome, which was to have been attempted on that day: the disaffected mixing with the crowd, with arms under their cloaks, on a given signal, were to commence the revolt. The timely precaution of the government, however, prevented the scheme.

The revolution was subsequently quelled through the intervention of Austria, but not until after several slight engagements, and the Pope acceding to a portion of the demands of the people.

8. ST. LUCIAN.

Some doubt exists as to the identity of the first saint in the calendar, there being two of that name. Alban Butler believes it to be the one who came from Rome to preach in Gaul, where he suffered martyrdom about the year 290. Others affirm him to be the one who was born at Samosata in Syria, who, giving all his property to the poor, devoted himself to the study of the Scriptures. He suffered martyrdom for the profession of his faith, by order of Maximinus II. in the year 312.

8. FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY.

SABBATH MORNING.

BY ALLAN CUNNINGHAM.

Dear is the hallow'd morn to me,

When village bells awake the day;
And, by their sacred minstrelsy,
Call me from earthly cares away.

And dear to me the winged hour,
Spent in thy hallow'd courts, O Lord!
To feel devotion's soothing power,
And catch the manna of thy word.

And dear to me the loud Amen,

Which echoes through the blest abode, Which swells and sinks, and swells again, Dies on the walls, but lives to God.

And dear the rustic harmony,

Sung with the pomp of village art;

That holy, heavenly melody,

The music of a thankful heart.

In secret I have often pray'd,

And still the anxious tear would fall;

But on thy sacred altar laid,

The fire descends, and dries them all.

Oft when the world, with iron hands,
Has bound me in its six-days' chain,
This bursts them, like the strong man's bands,
And lets my spirit loose again.

Then dear to me the Sabbath morn;

The village bells, the shepherd's voice; These oft have found my heart forlorn, And always bid that heart rejoice.

Go, man of pleasure, strike the lyre,

Of broken Sabbaths sing the charms;

Our's be the prophet's car of fire,

That bears us to a father's arms.

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9. PLOUGH MONDAY.

Dr. Pegge, speaking of Derbyshire customs, says:Plough Monday, the Monday after Twelfth Day, is when the labour of the plough and the other rustic toils begin. On this day the young men yoke themselves, and draw a plough about, with music; and one or two persons, in antic dresses, like jack-puddings, go from house to house, to gather money to drink; if you refuse them they plough up your dunghill. We call them here the plough bullocks." Similar customs, with some variations, are observed in various parts of the country on this day.

The custom of opening the New Year with agricultural ceremonies, in which the plough was a chief agent, is of an extremely remote origin. The Chinese, the Persians, and the Greeks, observed them at the earliest periods to which their history has been traced; and in general they appear to have been connected with the sacred mysteries of religion. Sheridan, in his edition of Persius, mentions the "Competalia" of the ancients, which "were feasts instituted, some say, by Tarquinius Priscus, in the month of January, and celebrated by servants alone when their ploughing was over." Plutarch informs us that the Athenians were accustomed to celebrate "three sacred ploughings." Du Cange, in his Glossary, has a reference to some old laws which mention "the drawing a plough about;" and in a curious tract, printed by Pynson, in 1493, with the title A Compendiouse Treetise Dyalogue of Dives and Pauper, among the superstitions censured at the beginning of the year, is that of "Ledyng the ploughe aboute the fire, as for gode begynnyng of the yere that