formed at his tomb. He was canonized in 1158 by Pope Adrian the Fourth.

February 16. St. Juliana, V. M.

St. Onesimus.

Orises at VI. 1'. and sets at Iv. 59'.

FLORA. PERSIAN IRIS Iris Persica flowers, but requires shelter. Sol in Piscibus.-Rom. Cal.

The entrance of the Sun into Pisces was described by the Romans as being accompanied by bad weather and uncertain gales of wind which the navigator could not trust to. Thus Ovid:

Orta dies fuerat: tu desine credere ventis :

Perdidit illius temporis aura fidem.

Flamina non constant: et sex reserata diebus
Carceris Aeolii janua lata patet.

Then follows an attempted explanation of the sign Pisces, for particulars concerning which, as well as other constellations, the modern reader would prefer consulting La Lande's Origine des Constellations, or Dupin's Origine de tous les Cultes. Ovid says:

:

Jam levis obliqua subsedit Aquarius urna.

Proximus aethereos excipe, Piscis, equos.

The reader will also find some observations on the Signs of the Zodiac in Volney's Ruines des Empires; but he must be guarded against the wild notions which some of the French adopted on this subject. It seems, however, that this emblem was assigned to a watery time of the year, even in northern latitudes: we say February fill dyke, and about this time we may often truly exclaim, with Virgil,

Rura natant fossis atque omnis navita ponto

Humida vela legit.

At the present day, and in still more northern climes, we find storms at sea are apt to prevail at this time of year.

For the entertainment of the reader we have introduced the following song from Shakespeare's Tempest, which our preceding remarks bring to mind :

Ariel's Song.

Full fathom five thy Father lies,
Of his Bones are Coral made;
Those are Pearls that were his Eyes;
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a Sea change

Into something rich and strange;

Sea Nymphs hourly ring his knell,

Hark, hark! I hear them: ding dong bell.

February 17. St. Flavian. St. Sylvin of Anchy, B. C.

Festum Quirini. Festum Stultorum et Fornacis.-Rom. Cal.

FLORA. SCOTCH CROCUS Crocus Susianus flowers.

This plant is described in Bot. Mag. 652, and its distinctness from the common sort is pointed out by the Editor, who refers to M. Carl König, an illustrious Botanist, and Editor of the Annals of Botany, for an illustration of the observations of Jacquin and Ehrhart on this genus.

It seems that the ancient like the modern Romans had a Feast of Fools, for an account of which we must refer to the observations on the 1st of April. The Romans, however, had their Festival of Follies today.

COELUM.-The weather now begins to be warmer, but we have sometimes very cold frosty days, and the bare trees and flowerless fields still appear winterly, while hasty showers of snow fall and cover the rambling flocks, who have begun already to extend themselves over the downs and pastures.

The Wish. Sung by S. D. 1797.

WHEN the trees are all bare, not a leaf to be seen,
And the meadows their beauty have lost;

When Nature's disrobed of her mantle of green,
And the streams are fast bound with the frost;
While the Peasant inactive stands shivering with cold,
As bleak the winds northernly blow;

When the innocent flocks run for ease to the fold
With their fleeces all covered with snow;

In the yard while the cattle are foddered with straw,
And send forth their breath like a steam;

And the neatlooking dairymaid sees she must thaw
Fleaks of ice that she finds in her cream:

When the sweet country maiden, as fresh as the rose,
As she carelessly trips often slides,

And the rustics loud laugh, if by falling she shows
All the charms that her modesty hides.

When the birds to the barndoor hover for food,
As with silence they rest on the spray,
And the poor tired hare in vain seeks the wood,
Lest her footsteps her cause should betray.
When the lads and the lasses, in company joined,
In a crowd round the embers are met,
Talk of fairies and witches that ride on the wind,
And of ghosts, till they're all in a sweat.

Heav'n grant in this season it may be my lot,
With the nymph whom I love and admire,

Whilst the icicles hang from the eaves of my cot,
I may thither in safety retire.

Where in neatness and quiet, and free from surprise,

We may live, and no hardships endure,

Nor feel any turbulent passions arise,

But such as each other may cure.

February 18. St. Simeon Bp. of Jerusalem, M.

FLORA.-WALL SPEEDWELL Veronica arvensis flowers.

Düs Manibus sacru Feralia. - Rom. Cal.

Ovid notices this day sacred to the Manes of departed Parents and Friends. It seems to correspond to the All Souls Day of more recent times-see November 2. The Feralia lasted eleven days, and was a sort of Fast: during the whole time presents used to be carried to the Tombs of the Dead. Marriages were not solemnized, and the Temples of the Gods were shut; and it was believed that the Spirits or Ghosts of dead Persons hovered over their graves, and that during this period their punishments in the infernal regions were suspended. Ovid thus notices the celebration of the Parentalia this day :

Est honor et tumulis animas placare paternas:
Parvaque in exstructas munera ferre pyras.

We may take occasion, from the Festival of the Romans today, to say something on the subject of the Apparition of departed Persons. Ghosts have in all ages and countries been believed in; and to doubt that something is seen in the many instances of this kind on record, would be to discredit the most positive human testimony altogether. Dr. Ferriar has published an ingenious Treatise on Apparitions, wherein he justly refers them to imagination taking place so vividly as to acquire the force of really existing objects. They are closely allied to dreams. The Author of Somatopsychonoologia, published by Hunter, London, 1823, observes thus on the subject: Dreams then are clearly cerebral phenomena, but this doctrine will not invalidate the proof of the prophetic use God may have formerly made of them for his omnipotence may excite material organs in a definite manner, so as to convey true prophecies. It is not the Spectra themselves that are wonderful, but their coincidence with Events. The same argument holds good with regard to Ghosts and other Apparitions. The phantoms themselves may, as Dr. Ferriar observes, be referrible to motions of the Organs of the Brain, like Ocular Spectra in the retina, or the imaginary Sounds and Noises that some nervous people hear; but their coincidence with the events which they seem to predict or accompany constitutes the astonishing part of their history. It is not wonderful that I should have a very vividly marked Spectrum, either sleeping or musing, of an absent friend; but it would become exceedingly impressive if I should next morning get an unexpected letter to say that he were just

F

dead! I have felt it necessary to introduce this digression, in order to guard against any misapplication of my doctrine, to the detriment of the belief we are taught to entertain, that God has at different times operated at once on our minds, and conveyed information by dreams, by visions of angels, of bloody crosses seen in the air, by raising spectres of the dead, and by other unusual apparitions. For in whatever way these spectra may be accounted for, either as being real existences in some cases, or as being always mere nervous actions, their divine and miraculous character will ever be sufficiently marked by the future or coincidental development of the express object of their mission."

February 19. St. Barbas, Bp. of Benvenuto, Conf.

FLORA.-FIELD SPEEDWELL Veronica agrestis flowers.

St. Barbas or Barbatus was born in Italy during the pontificate of St. Gregory the Great, early in the seventh century, and died in 682. He is regarded as a chief patron of Benvenuto his native city.

The Goddess of Silence called Tacita was celebrated by the Romans on this day, of which Ovid pertinently remarks in his Fasti ::

Ecce anus in mediis residens annosa puellis,

Sacra facit Tacitae, nec tamen ipsa tacet.

The following is a translation of the above lines and of the sequel, the original Latin of which we have forborne to quote:

To Tacita the silent rites belong,

And yet the chatterer cannot hold her tongue;
Three grains of incense, with three fingers pressed,
Beneath the threshold of the door are placed;
And then three thrums to a black reel she ties,
With magic words the thrums of different dyes;

While seven black beans she mumbles in her mouth,
A Pilchard's head she sews up in a cloth;
A slender needle made of polished brass,
With pitch instead of wax, completes the case;
The case and head into the fire are thrown,
And then some wine is gently poured thereon;
What wine remains the company drinks with care,
But the old gossip topes the greatest share;
Now have I tied all slanderous tongues, she cries,
Now are we safe from all malicious lies;
And having said her tittle tattle say,
With tipsy steps, she tottering reels away.

We shall finish our observations of today, with a good old Song, whose moral may instruct and whose melody may amuse the reader.

Song: :- Plato's Advice.

Says Plato, why should man be vain?

Since bounteous Heaven hath made him great,

Why look with insolent disdain

On those undecked with wealth or state?

Can costly robes, or beds of down,

Or all the gems that deck the fair;
Can all the glories of a crown

Give health, or ease the brow of care!

The sceptred king, the burdened slave,
The humble, and the haughty die;
The rich, the poor, the base, the brave,
In dust, without distinction, lie.
Go search the tombs where monarchs rest,
Who once the greatest titles wore,
Of wealth and glory they're berest,
And all their honours are no more.

So flies the meteor through the skies,
And spreads along a gilded train :
When shot-'tis gone; its beauty dies,
Dissolves to common air again.
So 'tis with us, my jovial souls

Let friendship reign while here we stay:
Let's crown our joy with flowing bowls;
When Jove commands we must obey.

February 20.

SS. Tyrannio of Tyre and others. St. Mildred, V. A. St. Ulric, Recluse. CHRONOLOGY.-R. Gough, the Antiquary, died in 1809. Charistia, Rom. Cal. signifies a festival held in Rome on this day, and distinguished by the interchange of mutual gifts and presents among friends, and it was instituted for the purpose of mutual reconciliation. The Quakers ought, therefore, to celebrate this friendly feast, if they reject all the rest.

Ovid observes, in his Fasti:

Fly far from hence, you who polluted are,
Nor at this holy festival appear;

Let mothers who have used their children ill,
And brothers, who a brother's blood would spill;
Let those who pry into their parents' age,
And wish their exit from the mundane stage;
Let stepdames who their husbands' children chase
From home, and force 'em to destructive ways;
Let none of these the friendly feast disgrace;
Or those, who for the sake of sordid gain
Will not from stealth or sacrilege refrain;