ingenious children, therefore, their attention should be gradually turned from curious trifles, to subjects of the highest value and importance! OF COACHES. Du Plessis shews that the name of FIACRE was given to hired coaches, because they were first made use of for the convenience of pilgrims who went from Paris to visit the shrine of St. Fiaker, and because the inn where these coaches were hired was known by the sign of St. Fiaker. HACKNEY COACHES derive their appellation from the village of HACKNEY, which was, at the time of their introduction by Captain Bayley in 1634, so much resorted to for pleasure and recreation by the citizens of London, that numbers of coaches and horses were constantly employed in conveying them thither. Before the modern invention of spring coaches, the ancient lofty chariots or cars were chiefly used in war, or on certain solemn occasions only, they being too painful vehicles for ordinary journeys of pleasure. Our Queens rode behind their Masters of Horse; our Members of both Houses of Parliament came up to London on horse-back, with their wives behind them. In France, in 1585, the celebrated M. du Thou, first President of the Parliament of Paris, appeared in the fourth coach which had ever been seen in that kingdom. The military men used horses; but those that belonged to the parliament, or professed the law, rode on mules. In M. du Thou's time, three brothers, all eminent for their honourable employments in the law, had but one mule amongst them. 1580. Years Fifteen, Eighty, COACHES introduced I ON THE CUSTOM OF DRINKING HEALTHS. The custom of drinking healths is very ancient. It is mentioned by Homer, and other writers of antiquity. The following ceremony was observed in drinking to the health of any person. The master of the feast poured some wine into a cup, and spilled a few drops in honour of the Gods, whom he invoked in the same manner as |