Gilbert signifies an illustrious pledge; Wilfred, peace to many; Edmund, happy peace; Conrad, powerful in counsel; Albert, all illustrious; with numberless others, which it would be impertinent here to produce.

The use of surnames, as applied to individuals, is as ancient as the time of Jacob; to whom the name of Israel, or a prince with God, was given, in remembrance of his having wrestled with the angel, and prevailed. We find, also, among the Greeks, such surnames as Poliorcetes, the destroyer of cities; Halicarnassensis, the Halicarnassian; with others of like import. Among the Romans, surnames began early to be used as hereditary distinctions; being derived, as names were anciently, from some qualification of the bearer, or event in his history. Thus the surname of Corvus was applied to a family whose ancestor supposed himself to have received assistance from a crow on the field of battle. One who was consul of Rome, after the kings were expelled, was surnamed Publicola, from his friendship for the people. The ancestor of the great orator Marcus Tullius, when he had successfully cultivated the Cicer or vetch, was surnamed Cicero. All these names, and numberless others of like import, descended to the posterity of those who first bore them.

I suppose the Romans were the only nation in old time who bore hereditary surnames. Amongst the barbarous people who possessed, in their room, the different countries of Europe, it is not unlikely that such might be applied to individuals distinguished among their brethren by some notable quality. was in the eleventh century that they began to be adopted universally throughout Europe, as hereditary marks of distinction, and they were introduced into this land by the Norman invaders.

It

At first, it would seem, they were confined to the gentry, or nobility; who, to their Christian names, commonly added the names of those towns or villages of which they were severally lords, whether in Normandy or England: as Roger de Montgomery, William de Courtney, Jocelinc de Percy, William de Copeland, Thomas de Stanley, &c.*.

"The most surnames in number," says Camden, "the most ancient, and of best account, have been local, deduced from places in Normandie and the countries confining, being either the patrimoniall possessions, or native places of such as served the conqueror, or came in after, out of Normandy; as Mortimer, Warren, Albigny, Gournay, Devereux, Tankerville, "Neither," says he, "is there any village in Normandy that gave not denomination to some family in England." Moreover, several surnames were formed by adding Fitz (or son), to the name of the bearer's father ; as Fitz Osborne, Fitz Stephen, Fitz Patrick, Fitz Gerald, &c.; this addition not being, at that time, the mark of illegitimacy. Others there were which denoted the quality or occupation of the bearer : as Basset, the fat; Giffard, the liberal; Howard, the high warden; Boteler, the grand butler; with others of the like sort.

In course of time the use of surnames was adopted by the other classes who added to their Christian names the titles of their crafts: as Smith, Baker, Fowler, Turner, &c.; or the names of their fathers: as Thomson, the son of Thomas; Dickson, the son of Dick; Lawson, the son of Lawrence; Hodgson, the son of Roger; Gibson, the son of Gilbert; &c. : or the qualities of body or mind for which they were distinguished: as Long, Grey, Brown, Love, Humble, Young, Slender, &c.

Of those surnames which are in use in our days,

There is yet, in the south-west part of Cumberland, a family whose forefathers have been lords, these eight centuries, of the village whose name they bear.

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many proceed from the causes above mentioned, as well as from others which it would be endless here to enumerate. It would be well, however, to mention

a few of the changes which many of those first alluded to have undergone: thus, for de Bello Monte, we read Beaumont; for de Cadurcis, Chaworth; for de Malo Lacu, Mawley; for de Nová Villa, Neville; for de Insula, Lisle; for de Altá Ripd, Dealtry; &c.

We can no more, at sight of a name, determine the rank of him who bears it. They whose fathers wielded the lance or the battle-axe, now handle the ploughshare, or strike the anvil; and the sons of those bold yeomen, who drew the bow or tilled the ground, now make laws for their fathers' land.

THE MONTH OF JANUARY. JANUARY was distinguished as the first month of the year by Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, when he added it and the month of February to the calendar or year of Romulus, the founder and first king of that city. This month, which consists of thirty-one days (originally only thirty), derived its appellation from the Latin Januarius, in honour of Janus, a Pagan deity, held in the highest veneration. The first month of the year was named after him, not only on account of his great reputation for judgment respecting things that were past, and his presumed foresight, or foreknowledge of events to come; but also, because he was supposed to have the gates of heaven committed to his particular charge; from which circumstance, Hence, too, every Roman door or gate had the name of he was always represented with a key in his right hand. Janua; therefore, the first month being styled JANUARIUS, many authors have considered that name to have denoted this period as a door, or opening to a new era, or renewal of time; for Janus presided over time, as well as over war and peace. The statue of Janus had two faces, turned from each other; one old, and expressive of experience in, or allusive to, things past; the other young, and typical of his looking forward to the future, or into time to come. On some occasions, he was represented with four faces, emblematic of the four seasons, over which he was supposed to have control. He was still further dis tinguished as the deity presiding over the year, by being Numa's division of the year into twelve months. On this exhibited as sitting in the centre of twelve altars; to denote

occasion figures were engraven on his hands, to mark the extent, or number of days, to which the year was augmented by that sovereign.

Numa, who was a wise and peaceful prince, by taking away the honour of leading the year from March, which was dedicated to Mars, the pagan god of war, and by giving that preference to January, perhaps sought to induce his people to value the benefits of Peace, rather than those to be expected from a state of warfare;-but he was also actuated by the desire to begin the year at that period when the Sun should reach its greatest declension, or fall; and so keep pace with the progress of that luminary, until it had fulfilled its course, or until the same period next year. The temple dedicated to Janus, was ordered, however, to be kept shut in time of peace, and open during war: and so powerfully did the amiable example and precepts of Numa operate upon his subjects, that he had the satisfaction, during his reign, of seeing this temple closed;-although the Romans were usually so addicted to war, that in the space of 800 years, it was closed only six times. The first and longest period was during the life time of Numa himself; the second at the end of the First Punic War;-thrice during the reign of Augustus;-and the sixth-time during the reign of the emperor Nero.-It may be remarked in this place, that when Julius Cæsar made his alteration in the Roman Calendar, he made Juno supersede Janus, as the guardian deity of the Month of January.

VERSTEGAN observes, that our Saxon ancestors originally WOLF-MONAT;" because persons styled this month, were in greater danger of being devoured by Wolves in that season of the year than in any other;-for, the ground being covered with snow, and wild animals, generally, keeping within their dens and holes, as much as possible, these creatures, having ro flesh to feed upon, became so ravenous as to attack human beings. When Christianity began to prevail in Britain, "AEFTER-YULA," that is After Christmas, became the name of the month of January.

EDUCA

THE tree, or rather shrub, from the leaves of which that refreshing and now indispensable beverage called TEA is made, is a native of China and Japan, in which countries alone it is cultivated for use. It is an evergreen, somewhat resembling the myrtle in appearance, and grows to a height varying between three and six feet. It is capable of enduring great variations of climate, being cultivated alike in the neighbourhood of Canton, where the heat is at times almost insupportable to the natives; and around the walls of Pekin, where the winter is, not unfrequently, as severe as in the north of Europe. The best sorts, VOL II.

| however, are the production of a more temperate climate; the finest teas are said to be grown in the province of Nanking, occupying nearly the middle station between the two extremes mentioned above; and the greatest portion of what is brought to the Canton market, and sold to the European merchants, is the produce of the hilly, but populous and industrious, province of Fokien, situated on the sea-coast to the north-east of Canton. It appears to thrive best in valleys, or on the sloping banks of hills, exposed to the southern sun, and especially on the banks of rivers or rivulets.

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The first European writer who mentions tea is Giovanni Botero, an eminent Italian author, who published a treatise, about the year 1590, on the causes of the magnificence and greatness of cities. He does not mention tea by name, but he describes it in such a manner, that it is impossible to mistake it. "The Chinese," he says, "have a herb, out of which they press a delicate juice, which serves them for drink, instead of wine: it also preserves their health, and frees them from all those evils which the immoderate use of wine produces among us."

The tea-plant is propagated from the seed, and the manner of sowing it is represented in Plate I.

Holes are drilled in the ground at equal distances, and in regular rows; into each hole the planter throws as many as six, or even a dozen seeds, not above a fifth part of the seed planted being expected to grow. While coming to maturity, they are carefully watered; and though, when once out of the ground, they would continue to vegetate without further care, the more industrious cultivators annually manure the ground, and clear the crop from weeds. Amongst other stories relative to the tea-tree, it has been said that some of the finest specimens grow on the precipitous declivities of rocky mountains, where it is too difficult or too dangerous for human beings to gather them; and that the Chinese, in order to procure them, pelt a race of monkeys, which inhabit these inapproachable recesses, with stones, provoking them to return the compliment with a shower of tea-branches. This story, however, refutes itself: the tea-plant, whose leaves are worth gathering for home use or for commerce, is a cultivated, not a wild plant; and where man could not approach to gather, he certainly could neither sow, water, nor manure.

The leaves of the tea-plant are not fit for gathering until the third year, at which period they are in their prime, and most plentiful. When about seven years old, the shrub has generally grown to about the height of a man, and its leaves become few and coarse it is then generally cut down to the stem, which, in the succeeding summer, produces an exuberant crop of fresh shoots and leaves; this operation, however, is sometimes deferred till the plant is ten years old.

The process of gathering the tea, as represented in Plate II. is one of great nicety and importance. Each leaf is plucked separately from the stalk; the hands of the gatherer are kept carefully clean, and, in collecting some of the fine sorts, he hardly ventures to breathe on the plant. At a place called Udsi, in the island of Japan, is a mountain, the climate of which is supposed to be particularly congenial to the growth of tea, and the whole crop which grows upon it is reserved for the sole use and disposal of the emperor. A wide and deep ditch round the base of the mountain prevents all access, except to the appointed guardians of its treasures. The shrubs are carefully cleansed of dust, and protected from any inclemency of the weather. The labourers who collect the leaves, are obliged, for some weeks previous, to abstain from all gross food, lest their breath or perspiration might injure the flavour; they wear fine gloves while at work, and during that period bathe two or three times a day.

Notwithstanding the tediousness of such an operation, a labourer can frequently collect from four to ten, or even fifteen pounds a day. Three or four of these gatherings take place during the season; viz., towards the end of February or beginning of March; in April or May; towards the middle of June; and in August. From the first gathering, which consists of the very young and tender leaves only, the most

valuable teas are manufactured; viz., the green tea called Gunpowder, and the black tea called Pekoe. The produce of this first gathering is also denominated in China, Imperial tea, probably because where the shrub is not cultivated with a view to supplying the demands of the Canton market, it is reserved, either in obedience to the law, or on account of its superior value, for the consumption of the emperor and his court. From the second and third crops, are manufactured the green teas called in our shops Hyson and Imperial, and the black teas denominated Souchong and Congou. The light and inferior leaves separated from the Hyson by winnowing, form a tea called Hysonskin, much in demand by the Americans, who are also the largest general purchasers of green teas. On the other hand, some of the choicest and tenderest leaves of the second gathering, are frequently mixed with those of the first. From the fourth crop is manufactured the coarsest species of black tea called Bohea; and this crop is mixed with an inferior tea, grown in a district called Woping, near Canton; together with such tea as remained unsold in the market of the last

season.

Owing to the minute division of land in China, there can be few, if any, large tea-growers; the plantations are small, and the business of them carried on by the owner and his own family, who carry the produce of each picking immediately to market, where it is disposed of to a class of persons whose business it is to collect and dry the leaves, ready for the Canton tea-merchants.

The process of drying, which should commence as soon as possible after the leaves have been gathered, differs according to the quality of the tea. Some are only exposed under a shed to the sun's rays, and frequently turned. The process represented in the next cut, and which we shall now explain, is supposed to apply only to the green teas.

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A drying-house, as represented in Plate III., will contain from five to ten or twenty small furnaces, on the top of each of which is a flat-bottomed and shallow iron pan; there is also a long, low table, covered with mats, on which the leaves are spread and rolled, after they have gone through the first stage of the process, which we may call baking. When the pans are heated to the proper temperature, a few pounds of fresh-gathered leaves are placed upon them the fresh and juicy leaves crack as they touch the pan, and it is the business of the operator to stir and shift them about as rapidly as possible, with his bare hands, until they become too hot to be touched without pain. At this moment, he takes off the leaves with a kind of shovel, like a fan, and pours them on the mats before the rollers, who, taking them up by small quantities at a time, roll them in the palms of their hands, in one direction only; while assistants with fans are employed to fan the leaves, in order that they may be the quicker cooled, and retain their curl the longer. To secure the complete evaporation of all moisture from the leaves, as well as the stability of their curl, the operation of drying and rolling is repeated two or three times, or even oftener, if necessary, the pans being, on each successive occasion, less and less heated, and the whole process performed with increasing slowness and caution. The leaves are then separated into their several classes, and stored away for domestic use or for sale. It was, at one time, supposed that the green teas were dried on copper pans, and that they owed their fine green colour to that circumstance, which was also said to render a free use of them noxious to the human frame; but this idea is now held to be without any foundation, the most accurate experiments

After the tea has been thus gathered by the cultivator, and cured and assorted by those who, for want of a better name, we may call Tea-collectors, it is finally sold to the "Tea-merchants" of Canton, who complete the manufacture by mixing and garbling the different qualities, in which women and children are chiefly employed: the tea then receives a last drying, is divided according to quality, packed in chests, and made up into parcels of from one hundred to six hundred chests each, which are stamped with the name of the district, grower, and manufacturer, and called, from a Chinese word, meaning seal or stamp, CHOPS.

The use of tea as a beverage in China is of an antiquity beyond record, and is as universal as it is ancient; from the emperor to the lowest peasant or labourer, all alike drink tea, varying only in quality. That consumed by the common people must, however, be not only of an inferior class, but very weak; as the native attendants on Lord Macartney's embassy were continually begging the refuse leaves, which had been already used by the English, because, after pouring fresh water over them, they obtained a better beverage than what they had usually an opportunity of enjoying. On the other hand, some tea presented by the emperor KienLong to Lord Macartney was found to want somewhat of the astringency which the British tea-drinker is accustomed to look for and to value in the infusion. Thrice at least in the day every Chinese drinks tea, but all who enjoy the means have recourse to the refreshing beverage much more frequently; it is the constant offering to a guest, and forms a portion of every sacrifice to their idols. It is made in China as with us, by pouring boiling water on the dried leaves; but the Chinese use neither milk nor sugar.

Mr. Ellis, in an account of one of Lord Amherst's visits of ceremony to Kwang, a mandarin of high rank, says, "The tea served round was that only used on occasions of ceremony, called Yu-tien: it was a small-leafed highly-flavoured green tea. In Lord Amherst's and Kwang's cups there was a thin perforated silver plate, to keep the leaves down, and let the infusion pass through. The cups used by the Mandarins of rank, in form, resemble coffee-cups, and are placed in a wooden or metal saucer, shaped like the Chinese boats."

From Mr. Ellis's Journal we also transcribe the following passage, descriptive of a plantation, and of the Chinese method of irrigation. "Our walk led us through a valley, where we saw, for the first time, the tea-plant. It is a beautiful shrub, resembling a myrtle, with a yellow flower extremely fragrant. The plantations were not here of any extent, and were either surrounded by small fields of other cultivation, or placed in detached spots; we also saw the ginger in small patches, covered with a frame-work to protect it from the birds. Irrigation is conducted by a chain-pump, worked by the hand, capable, I think, of being employed in England with advantage. An axle, with cogs, is fixed at each end of the trough, over which the flat boards pass; at the end of the uppermost axle cross-bars are attached, serving as a wheel; to these again handles are fixed, which the man works, using each hand alternately. The labour is light, and the quantity of water raised considerable. The view from the top of the mountain repaid the labour of ascent. The scene was in the true mountain style, rock above rock in endless and sublime variety. This wildness was beautifully contrasted by the cultivation of the valleys, speckled with white cottages and farm-houses. We had been observed

descent were received by a crowd, who followed us with shouts, that might, had it not been for their subsequent civility in offering us tea, have been mistaken for insolence; as it was, they certainly were merely the rude expressions of astonishment."

In Japan, where tea is also a beverage common to most classes of persons, they reduce it to a fine powder, which they place before the company, in a box forming part of the tea-equipage. The cups being filled with warm water, the powdered tea is taken from the box, on the point of a knife, and thrown into the cups, which are then handed to the company.

It remains only to give a short account of the introduction of tea into England, and of the progress of a trade, which to use the words of Mr. M'Culloch, is, considering its late rise, and present magnitude, the most extraordinary phenomenon in the history of commerce. The Dutch are said to have brought tea to Europe early in the seventeenth century, but there is no trace of its being known in this country until after 1650; in 1660 it is coupled with coffee, chocolate, and sherbet, in an act imposing a duty of eight-pence a gallon on all quantities of these liquors sold in coffee-houses. That it was, however, in no very extensive demand, even among people of fashion, and as a foreign luxury, may be conjectured from a memorandum of Pepys, who says in his Diary, " 25th September, 1661, I sent for a cup of tea, a China drink, of which I had never drunk before."

Three years after, two pounds two ounces of it were considered a present which it was not unworthy the king (Charles the Second) to receive from the East India Company, and in 1667 that company, for the first time, gave an order to their agents to send some on their account, to England, limiting the order, however, to one hundred pounds of the best that could be got. The price of some brought from Holland about this time by the Earls of Arlington and Ossory, distinguished noblemen of the court of Charles the Second, is said to have been 60s. a pound.

The tea trade of England did not make much progress during the early part of the eighteenth century, for the importation between the years 1700 and 1710, amounted to less than 800,000 pounds. It was still a scarce luxury, confined to the wealthy: it was made in small pots of the most costly china, holding not more than half a pint, and drunk out of cups whose capacity scarcely exceeded that of a large tabie-spoon. It is probably to this period, or somewhat later, that we may refer the anecdote, if true, of the country lady, who receiving as a present, a small quantity of tea, in total ignorance of its real use, looked upon it as some outlandish vegetable, boiled it until she thought it was tender, and then, throwing away the water, endeavoured to eat the leaves.

Those of our readers who may wish for more information respecting the progress of this important trade than our limits enable us to give, will find it in M'CULLOCH's Dictionary of Commerce, to which valuable work we are indebted for some of the materials of this paper.

We have only room to add, that, in the century between 1710 and 1810, the eas imported into this country, amounted to upwards of 750 millions of pounds, of which more than than 630 millions were sold for home consumption; between 1810 and 1828, the total importation exceeded 427 millions of pounds, being on an average between twenty-three and twenty-four millions a year; and in 1831, the quantity imported, was 26,043,223 pounds.