art and learning; had a readiness of conception, was of great observation, and a piercing judgment, both in things and persons. Clarendon and Rushworth.

How uncertain is the state

Of that greatness we adore!
When ambitiously we soar,

And have taken the glorious height,

'Tis but ruin gilded o'er,

To enslave us to our fate;

Whose false delight is easier got than kept,
CONTENT ne'er on its gaudy pillow slept.

Then how fondly do we try,

With such superstitious care,

To build fabrics in the air;

Or seek safety in the sky,

Where no stars but meteors are

To portend a ruin nigh:

And, having reached the object of our aim,
We find it but a pyramid of flame.'

*15. 1791.-WILLIAM BAKER DIED.

If to have had his funeral sermon preached, and his life written, by an eminent divine of the church of England, can give a person a claim to a place in our brief chronological biography, then may William Baker justly claim a place; for this was done for him, though a poor peasant, by WILLIAM GILPIN.

*17. 1653.-OLIVER CROMWELL.

His picture was affixed to a pillar in the Royal Exchange on this day. This singular incident, though it occurred nearly four years previous to the actual offer of the crown to Cromwell by the Parliament, yet may be thought to evince his desire, even at that early period, to assume the kingly dignity, as his connivance at it is not improbable.

6

It is thus quoted in Peck's Collection of Curi

These lines were occasioned by the impeachment of the Earl of Strafford, and are from the Rump, a collection of Songs and Poems on the times, from 1639 to 1661. See also Campbell's Poets, vol. iii, P. 407.

2 From Dr. Nalson's MS. Collections,

ous Historical Pieces,' printed in 1740. On Tuesday last (the 17th May, 1653), about the Exchange time, a gentleman well accoutred comes thither in a coach, and brings with him the LORD GENERAL'S PICTURE, which he fixed upon one of the pillars thereof. Which done, he walks two or three turns there, takes his coach, and returns. After the Exchange time was over, it was pulled down and brought to the Lord Mayor of this citie, who, that afternoon, carried it to Whitehall to the LORD GENERAL himself." Over the picture was written,

'TIS I,

and under it these verses:

Ascend three thrones, GREAT CAPTAIN and divine,
By th' Will of God, O Lyon!' for they're Thine.
Come, priest of God, bring oyl; bring robes; bring gold
Bring crowns and sceptres. 'Tis high time t'unfold
Your cloystered bagges, ye State-Cheats, lest the rod
Of steel and iron of this your KING and GOD
Pay you in's wrath, with interest.-Kneel and pray
T OLIVER, our torch of Sion, star of day.

Shout then ye Merchants, City, Gentry, sing,

And all bareheaded cry-God save the king!

Cromwell became Protector in the month of December in the same year.

19. SAINT DUNSTAN!

Dunstan was a native of Glastonbury, and nobly descended; Elphegus, Bishop of Winchester, and Athelm, Archbishop of Canterbury, being his uncles; he was also related to King Athelstan. He was a skilful painter, musician, and an excellent forger and refiner of metals: he manufactured crosses, vials, and sacred vestments; he also painted and copied good books.

Dunstan was promoted to the see of Worcester by King Edgar, he was afterwards Bishop of London, and Archbishop of Canterbury. He died in 988, in the 64th year of his age, and in the 27th of his archie

'His coat of arms (a lion rampant) is here alluded to.

M

piscopal dignity. His miracles are too commonly known to be repeated.

21.-WHIT-SUNDAY.

On Whit-Sunday, or White-Sunday, the catechumens, who were then baptized, as well as those who had been baptized before at Easter, appeared, in the antient church, in white garments. The Greeks, for the same reason, call it Bright Sunday; on account of the number of bright white garments which were then worn. The name of this Sunday, in the old Latin church, was Dominica in Albis, as was the Sunday next after Easter, on the same occasion. On this day the Holy Ghost descended upon the apostles and other Christians, in the visible appearance of fiery tongues. The celebration of divine service in St. Peter's church at Rome, on Whitsunday, is described in T.T. for 1815, p. 165.

22.-WHIT-MONDAY.

This day and Whit-Tuesday are observed as festivals, for the same reason as Monday and Tuesday in Easter. Their religious character, however, is almost obsolete, and they are now kept as holidays, in which the lower classes still pursue their favourite diversions. For an account of the Eton Montem, see T.T. for 1815, p. 168. The Whitsun Ales and other customs formerly observed at this season, are noticed in T.T. for 1814, pp. 119-120.

26. AUGUSTIN, or Austin.

This English apostle, as he is termed, was commissioned by Pope Gregory the Great to convert the Saxons. He was created archbishop of Canterbury in 556, and died about the year 610.---See a fuller account of him in T.T. for 1815, p. 174.

27.---VENERABLE BEDE.

Bede was born at Yarrow in Northumberland, in 673. His grand work is the Ecclesiastical History of the Saxons. Bede has obtained the title of Venerable, for his profound learning and unaffected piety, and not on account of any celebrity for miraculous and angelic operations.

28.---TRINITY SUNDAY.

Stephen, Bishop of Liege, first drew up an office in commemoration of the Holy Trinity, about the year 920; but the festival was not formally admitted into the Romish church till the fourteenth century, under the pontificate of John XXII.

'The wisdom of the church of God is very remarkable in appointing festivals or holy-days, whose solemnities and offices have no other special business but to record the article of the day; such as Trinity-Sunday, Ascension, Easter, Christmas-day : and to those persons who can only believe, not prove or dispute, there is no better instrument to cause the remembrance and plain notion, and to endear the affection and hearty assent to the article, than the proclaiming and recommending it by the festivity and joy of a holy-day.' (Taylor's Holy Living, ch. iv, sect. 1.)

To the HOLY TRINITY.

O holy, blessed, glorious Trinity
Of persons, still one God in Unity,
The faithful man's believed mystery,

Help, help to lift

Myself up to thee, harrowed, torn and bruised
By sin and Satan; and my flesh misused,
As my heart lies in pieces, all confused,
O take my gift.

All-gracions God, the sinner's sacrifice,
A broken heart, thou wert not wont despise;
But 'bove the fat of rams, or bulls, to prize
An off'ring meet,

For thy acceptance. O, behold me right,
And take compassion on my grievous plight.
What odour can be, than a heart contrite,

To thee more sweet?

Eternal Father, God, who didst create
This all of nothing, gav'st it form and fate,
And breath'st into it life and light, with state
To worship thee.

Eternal God the Son, who not deny❜dst

To take our nature; becam'st man, and dy'dst,
To pay our debts, upon thy cross, and cry'dst
All's done in me.

Eternal Spirit, God from both proceeding,
Father and Son; the Comforter, in breeding
Pure thoughts in man; with fiery zeal them feeding
For acts of grace.

Increase those acts, O glorious Trinity

Of persons, still one God in unity;
Till I attain the longed-for mystery

Of seeing thy face.

29.---KING CHARLES II RESTORED.

On the 8th of May, 1660, Charles II was proclaimed in London and Westminster, and afterwards throughout his dominions, with great joy and universal acclamations. In some parts of England it is customary for the common people to wear oak leaves, covered with leaf-gold, in their hats, in commemoration of the concealment of Charles II in an oak tree, after the battle of Worcester. An account of the king's escape to France, extracted from his own Narrative, will be found in T.T. for 1815, p. 176.

Mr. Evelyn has the following notice of King Charles's restoration in his Diary: 29 May, 1660.