fruit, &c., presented by parents to their children in honour of the day. To these gifts, a rod was frequently added, that they might be more easily governed, by the prospect of correction, in the event of their doing wrong.

CHRISTMAS SPORTS were various, according to the humour and taste of the people. Morris-dancers and Mummers are still found in some parts of the country: but their performances are probably like those of ancient days, in name only. M.

TWELFTH DAY, WHICH is so called from its being the twelfth after Christmas-day, is termed also the feast of the Epiphany, from a Greek word signifying manifestation, in memory of our Lord's having been on that day made manifest to the Gentiles.

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The customs observed on this day, in different countries, were originally intended to do honour to the Eastern Magi, or wise men, who came from a distance under the guidance of a star, to inquire after Christ, and, having been directed to Bethlehem, paid him homage, and offered him presents there. Various have been the conjectures of the learned, relating to these sages, both as to their station, and the particular country from which they travelled but it is most probable that they were Gentile Philosophers, who, by the Divine influence on their minds, had been led to improve their knowledge of nature, as the means of leading them to that of the one living and true God. From passages in the Sacred Writings, we may conclude that the word Magi denotes those who were proficients in learning, and especially in astronomy, and other branches of natural philosophy: and it is reasonable to suppose, that these wise men had heard the prophecies concerning

the Messiah from the Jews who lived upon their borders. They watched, therefore, with attention, for the tokens of his coming, and followed the sign given them, to do him homage, thus becoming the first representatives of the Gentile world. With regard to the country from which they came, Grotius and other writers think that it was Arabia, which is often in Scripture called the East, and was famous for gold, frankincense, and myrrh; and of which, we learn, they brought portions, as offerings to Him whom they recognised as a king. It is customary, even at this day, in Eastern countries, for people to offer some present to any illustrious person whom they visit, as a mark of respect to a superior.

M.

THE CUSTOM OF DRAWING KING AND QUEEN ON

TWELFTH NIGHT. SELDEN (in his Table Talk) says, "Our choosing Kings and Queens on Twelfth Night has reference to the three Kings." To explain this, we must observe that the Magi, or wise men, who followed the guidance of the star, after the Nativity, to Bethlehem, were, by a common, but not well-founded notion, supposed to be three kings: and some fanciful persons went so far, as not only to invent names for them, but to describe their persons. "Of these Magi, or Sages, (vulgarly called the Three Kings of Colen,) the first, named Melchior, an aged man, with a long beard, offered gold; the second, Jasper, a beardless youth, offered frankincense; the third, Baltasar, a black, or moor, with a large spreading beard, offered myrrh."

In consequence of this strange conceit, therefore, of the wise men having been kings, and from au idea of doing them honour, the

Anciently, the Kings and Queens of England washed and kissed the feet of as many poor men and women as they were years old, besides bestowing their Maundy on each. This was in imitation of Christ's washing the feet of his disciples. Queen Elizabeth performed this at Greenwich, when she was 39 years old; on which occasion, the feet of 39 poor persons were first washed by the yeomen of the laundry with warm water and sweet herbs, afterwards by the subalmoner, and lastly, by the Queen herself; the persons who washed, making each time a cross on the paupers toes, and kissing them. This ceremony was performed by 39 ladies and gentlemen. Clothes, food, and money were then given. James the Second is said to have been the last monarch who performed this ceremony in person. On the 5th of April, 1731, it being Maundy Thursday, the King being then in his 48th year, there was dispensed at the Banqueting-house, Whitehall, to 48 poor men and women, boiled legs and shoulders of mutton, and small bowls of ale, which is called dinner; after that, large platters of undressed fish, viz., one large old ling, and one large dried cod, twelve red-herrings and twelve white, and four half-quartern loaves. After this, shoes, stockings, linen and woollen clothes were given; likewise, leathern bags, with one, two, three, and four-penny pieces of silver, and shillings, to each about 47. in value. His Grace the Lord Archbishop of York, as Lord High Alimoner, performed the annual ceremony of washing the feet of the poor, in the Royal Chapel, Whitehall, as formerly done by the Kings themselves.

This day was also called Shere Thursday, and by corruption, Chare Thursday. Shere Thursday signid, that it was the day on which

the Clergy were wont to shere or shear their heads, or get them shorn or shaven, and to clip their beards against Easter day.

Maundy Thursday is nowhere observed in London, except at the Chapel Royal.

HARVEST IN NASSAU*. IN Langen-Schwalbach, in this province, the crops of oats, rye, and wheat, (principally bearded,) are much heavier than any one would expect from such light, and apparently poor land; but the heavy dews which characterize the summer climate of this high country impart a nourishment, which, in richer lands, often lies dormant from drought. In Nassau, the corn is cut principally by women, who use a sickle so very small and light, that it seems but little labour to wield it. They begin early in the morning; and, with short intervals of rest, continue till eleven o'clock, when the various village bells suddenly strike up a merry peal, which is a signal to the labourers to come home to their dinners. It is a very interesting scene to observe, over the undulating surface of the whole country,groups of peasants, brothers, sisters, parents, &c., all bending to their sickles; to see children playing round infants, lying fast asleep on blue smock frocks, placed under the shade of the corn-sheafs. It is pleasing to remark the rapid progress which the several parties are making; how each little family, attacking its own patch or property, works its way into the standing corn, leaving the crop prostrate behind them; and then in the middle of this simple, rural, busy scene, it is delightful indeed to hear

* A sovereign duchy of the German em

pire, bordered by the Prussian province of the Lower Rhine, Hesse-Darmstadt, Frankfort, and the Rhine.

from the belfry of their much revered churches a peal of cheerful notes, which peacefully sound "lullaby" to them all. In a very few seconds, the square fields and little oblong spots are deserted, and then the various roads and paths of the country suddenly burst in lines apon the attention, each being delineated by a string of peasants, who are straggling one behind the other, until paths in all directions, are seen converging towards the parental village churches, which seem to be attracting them all.

As soon as each field of corn is eut, it is bound into sheafs, about the size they are in England; seven of these are then made to lean towards each other, and upon them all is placed a large sheaf reversed, the ears of which hanging downwards form a sort of thatch, which keeps this little stack dry until its owner has time to carry it home. It generally remains many days in this state; and after the harvest has been all cut, the country covered with these stacks resembles a vast encampment.

The carts and waggons used for carrying the corn are exceedingly well adapted to the country. Their particular characteristic is excessive lightness; and, indeed, were they heavy, it would be quite impossible for any cattle to draw them up and down the hills. Occasionally they are drawn by horses-often by small active oxen; but cows more generally perform this duty, and with quite as much patience as their mistresses, who, at the same moment, are labouring before them at the sickle. The yoke, or beam, by which these cows are connected, is placed immediately behind their horns; a little leather pillow is then laid upon their brow, over which passes a strap that firmly lashes their heads to the beam; and it is, therefore, against such soft cushions that the animals

push to advance: and thus linked together by this sort of Siamese band, it is curious to observe them eating together, then, by agreement, raising their heads to swallow, then again standing motionless chewing the cud, which is seen passing and repassing from the stomach to the mouth.

The Nassau cows, certainly, do not seem to suffer while working in their light carts; as soon as their mistress advances they follow her, and if she turns and whips them, then they seem to hurry after her more eagerly than ever.

Nothing can be better adapted to the features of the country, nothing can better accord with the feeble resources of its inhabitants, than the equipment of these economical waggons and carts: the cows and oxen can ascend any of the hills, or descend into any of the valleys; they can, without slipping, go sideways along the face of the hills; and in crossing the green, swampy, grassy ravines, I particularly remarked the advantage of the light waggon drove by animals with cloven feet; for had one of our heavy teams attempted the passage, they would soon have become unable to extricate themselves. But in making the comparison between the horse and the cow (as far as regards Nassau husbandry), I may further observe, that the former has a very expensive appetite, and wears very expensive shoes; as soon as he becomes lame he is useless, and as soon as he is dead he is carrion. Now, a placid, patient, Langen-Schwalbach cow, in the bloom of her youth, costs only two or three pounds; she requires neither corn nor shoeing; the leaves of the forest, drawn by herself to the village, form her bed, which in due time she carries out to the field as manure: there is nothing a light cart can carry which she is not ready to fetch, and from her work she cheerfully re

AMONG the beautiful and simple

hearted customs of rural life which still linger in some parts of England are those of strewing flowers before the funerals, and planting them at the graves of departed friends. These, it is said, are the remains of some of the rites of the primitive church; but they are of still higher antiquity, having been observed among the Greeks and Romans, and frequently mentioned by their writers, and were, no doubt, the spontaneous tributes of unlettered affection, originating long before

art had tasked itself to modulate sorrow into song, or story it on the monument. They are now only to be met with in the most distant and retired places of the kingdom, where fashion and innovation have not been able to throng in, and

There is also a most delicate and beautiful rite observed in some of the remote villages of the south at the funeral of a female who has died young and unmarried. A chaplet of white flowers is borne before the corpse by a young girl nearest in age, size, and resemblance, and is afterwards hung up in the church over the accustomed seat of the deceased. These chaplets are sometimes made of white paper, in imitation of flowers, and inside of them is generally a pair of white gloves. They are intended as emblems of the purity of the deceased, and the crown of glory which she has received in heaven.

In some parts of the country, also, with the singing of psalms and the dead are carried to the grave hymns: a kind of triumph, “to show," says Bourne, "that they have finished their course with joy, and are become conquerors." This, I am informed, is observed in some of the northern counties, particular

ly in Northumberland, and it has a pleasing, though melancholy effect, to hear, of a still evening, in some lonely country scene, the mournful melody of a funeral dirge swelling

from a distance, and to see the train

slowly moving along the landscape.

Thus, thus, and thus, we compass round
Thy harmlesse and unhaunted ground,
And as we sing thy dirge, we will
The daffodill

And other flowers lay upon
The altar of our love, thy stone.

HERRICK.

There is also a solemn respect

In Glamorganshire, we are told, the bed whereon the corpse lies is covered with flowers, a custom alluded to in one of the wild and plaintive ditties of Ophelia :

White his shroud as the mountain snow,
Larded all with sweet flowers:
Which be-wept to the grave did go,
7th true love showers.

funeral in these sequestered places; for such spectacles, occurring among the quiet abodes of nature, sink deep into the soul. As the mourning train approaches, he pauses, uncovered, to let it go by; he then follows silently in the rear; sometimes quite to the grave, at other times for a few hundred yards, and having paid this tri