and mutually pledged each other in a loving cup, as is still done, in France, at the feast of St. Martin.

The Romans celebrated their Dionysia in honour of Bacchus, who was also called Dionysius; the peasants and the vine-dressers holding this festival at the close of the vintage: at this period, games were celebrated, and they ran about the streets with crowns of ivy on their heads, and the vinc-leaved thyrsus in their hands. Of these customs, the feasting and debauchery of Martinmas alone remain among the vine-dressers and mechanics of the present day. It is still the custom, in many small towns in France, for the workmen to go to their masters who employed them during the year, to ask for St. Martin's wine, which is usually compounded for by a little money, scarcely ever refused, and which enables them to perpetuate the celebration of the little that remains of the Anthesteria and Dionysia.

13.-SAINT BRITIUS

Was a native of Tours, educated under St. Martin, and afterwards his successor. He died A.D. 444. 15.-SAINT MACHUTUS.

Saint Machutus, or Maclou, was son of Went, a noble Briton; he died on this day, A.D. 630, being then 130 years old. See T.T. for 1826, p. 272. 17. SAINT HUGH,

Bishop of Lincoln, died in the year 1200. There is every reason to believe that he was a man of learning and piety.

20.-EDMUND, KING AND MARTYR,

Was the last titular king of East Anglia, and a tributary king to Etheldred. He is said to have been killed by the Danes in 870, because he would not renounce Christianity.

22.-SAINT CECILIA

Was a native of Rome, and was martyred by being plunged into boiling water (A.D. 230), because she

refused to acknowledge the gods of the Pagans.-A beautiful Ode to Music,' by Dr. Percival, may be seen in his Poems,' vol. ii, p. 117.

23.-SAINT CLEMENT

Was converted by St. Peter, and was a zealous coadjutor of the apostles. He is mentioned in Phil. iv, 3. He was Bishop of Rome, and is generally thought to have suffered martyrdom about the year 100. 23.-0. MART.

Old Martinmas-day, an ancient quarter-day.

25.-SAINT CATHERINE,

Virgin and martyr, is said to have been tortured by wheels turning with great rapidity, having nails, knives, &c. fastened on their rims, A.D. 305.

*26. 1826.-JOHN NICHOLS, F.S.A., DIED, ÆT. 81.

He was born at Islington, and educated at an academy kept by Mr. John Shield, a man of considerable learning, who appears to have taken great pains in cultivating the talents of such as, like the subject of this notice, recommended themselves by attention and docility. At this period it was proposed by his friends to educate him for the naval service, and to place him, at a proper time, under the protection of his maternal uncle, Lieut. T. Wilmot, a rising officer, who had been serving in 1747 under Captain, afterwards Admiral Barrington. But Mr. Wilmot's death, in 1751, defeated this scheme; and the goodness of Providence ultimately guided him to a different profession, and to a patron who could justly appreciate his rising abilities-Mr. William Bowyer, one of the most learned printers of his time. It was in 1757, before he was quite thirteen, that he was placed under Mr. Bowyer, who appears to have quickly discovered in his pupil that amiable and honourable disposition which distinguished him all his life. He had a tenacious memory, and was very early a lover of books; but his reading was desultory, and for some years his choice depended on the works which were submitted to Mr. Bowyer's press. He had not been long in this advantageous situation, when his master gladly admitted him into his confidence, and intrusted him with cares which, in the case of many young men, would have been considered as unsuitable to their age, and requiring a more lengthened trial. But, besides the indispensable qualities of industry and integrity, Mr. Bowyer found another merit in his young apprentice; for he had brought with him no small portion of classical knowledge and taste, acquired at school,

and cultivated at his leisure hours. Mr. Bowyer appears to have been to him not only the instructive master, but the kind and indulgent friend. In 1760, when he was only in his sixteenth year, Mr. Bowyer enjoined him, as an evening's task, to translate a Latin poem of his own, published in 1733, and entitled 'Bellus homo et Academicus:' this was executed with considerable spirit and humour. In the following year (1761) Mr. Bowyer associated him with himself in translating the Westminster Verses on the previous coronation of George the Second. The applause bestowed on these efforts led Mr. Nichols to become a more constant votary of the Muses; and from 1761 to 1766, many of his productions appeared in the periodical journals. In 1763 he published two poetical pamphlets in 4to, viz. Islington, a Poem,' and The Buds of Parnassus,' which was republished in 1764, with additional poems. In 1765 he contributed several poems to a miscellaneous collection by Dr. Perfect, of TownMalling, entitled 'The Laurel Wreath,' 2 vols. 8vo. During his minority he also produced some prose essays on the manners of the age, which were published in a periodical paper, written chiefly by Kelly, entitled The Babbler,' and in a newspaper called 'The Westminster Journal.' So amply had he fulfilled Mr. Bowyer's expectations as to prudence and judgment, that, before his apprenticeship expired, he sent him to Cambridge to treat with that University for a lease of their exclusive privilege of printing Bibles; a negotiation which required great delicacy and presence of mind. His endeavours proved unsuccessful only because the University determined, on due consideration, to keep the property in their own hands. It was, perhaps, during this journey, and among the venerable foundations of Cambridge, that he first imbibed a portion of that taste for topographical history, which, in more advanced life, became so prominent a feature in his literary pursuits.-Mr. Bowyer had been long sensible of the essential importance of Mr. Nichols's services in his printing establishment; and in 1766 took him into partnership. This union, one of the most cordial that ever was formed, lasted until the death of Mr. Bowyer, in 1777. As the latter continued to be not only the printer, but the intimate friend and assistant in the learned labours of some of the first scholars of the age, Mr. Nichols had frequent opportunities, which he never neglected, of acquiring their notice and esteem. He had not, indeed, been long associated with Mr. Bowyer as a partner, before he began to be considered as his legitimate successor, and acquired the esteem and patronage of his friends in no common degree.

The first work in which he was concerned as an author was 'The Origin of Printing, in two Essays,' 1774, "the original idea of which was Mr. Bowyer's, the completion of it his partner's." The foreign journals spoke of this work with respect, as well as those at home; and Mr. Nichols derived considerable

fame from it. He was now enabled to add to the number of his literary friends the names of Sir James Burrough and Sir John Pringle, as he had before acquired the esteem and acquaintance of Dr. Birch, Dr. Parsons, Dr. Warton, Dr. Farmer, and the Earl of Marchmont. Sir John Pringle was accustomed to submit his prize-medal speeches, which he intended for the Royal Society, to Mr. Nichols's perusal, before delivery, an honour of which so young a man may be forgiven, if he was somewhat proud.-Mr. Nichols, very early in life, conceived a high opinion of the merits of Dean Swift, in consequence of Mr. Bowyer's printing the 13th and 14th volumes of his Works in 1762. From this time he appears to have applied himself closely in search of the then uncollected writings of the Dean, and produced, in 1775, a supplemental volume to Dr. Hawkesworth's edition. This was afterwards incorporated, with many additions and valuable biographical notes, in what may be now considered the standard edition, first printed in 19 vols. 8vo, in 1800, reprinted in 1808; and to Mr. Nichols, incontestably, the public is indebted for the very complete state in which Dean Swift's Works are now found. His next publication, "The Original Works, in Prose and Verse, of William King, LL.D. with Historical Notes,' 3 vols. 8vo, 1776, afforded another decisive proof of that taste for literary history and illustration, to which we owe the more important obligations conferred by his recent voluminous contributions to the biography of men of learning. In both the above-mentioned works, he acknowledges having been assisted by his amiable friend, Isaac Reed, of Staple Inn, who never was consulted on points of literary history without advantage.-In 1778, Mr. Nichols obtained a share in the Gentleman's Magazine, of which he became the editor; and from this period to the time of his death, not only actively superintended that publication, but was a constant contributor to its pages.-Many of the additional articles in the Biographical Dictionary, which he edited, in conjunction with Dr. Heathcote, in 1784, came from Mr. Nichols's pen; and to the much improved edition of that work in 1817, in 32 vols., by A. Chalmers, F.S.A., Mr. Nichols was happy in contributing much valuable assistance.

Although Mr. Bowyer's press had not issued many works interesting to English Antiquaries, Mr. Nichols appears, before the period to which we are now arrived, to have formed such connexions as gradually encouraged his early partiality for the study of the antiquities of his own country. Among these preceptors were Dr. S. Pegge, Borlase, Hutchins, Denne, and Dr. Ducarel. With the latter he was long linked in friendship; and in conjunction with him published, in 1799, the History of the Royal Abbey of Bec, near Rouen,' and 'Some Account of the Alien Priories, and of such Lands as they are known to have possessed in England and Wales,' 2 vols. But he had another coadjutor. Dd

in these two works, of incalculable value, Richard Gough, Esq. one of the most eminent antiquaries of the last century. Mr. Gough was his senior by ten years, and a higher proficient in his favourite studies. Their acquaintance commenced about the year 1770, when the first volume of the Archæologia was printed by Mr. Nichols; and their intimacy probably was perfected whilst Mr. Gough was superintending his friend Mr. Hutchins's ‘History of Dorsetshire' through the press, in 1774. Their connexion, at whatever time begun, ended in a strict intimacy and cordial friendship, which terminated only in the death of Mr. Gough in 1809. Mr. Nichols lost no opportunity of honouring the memory of his departed friend; and his last office of duty was to select and transfer to the Bodleian Library, the valuable collection of Topography which Mr. Gough bequeathed to that noble repository.

In 1780, Mr. Nichols published a very curious Collection of Royal and Noble Wills,' 4to, originally suggested by Dr. Ducarel, probably in consequence of the publication of the Will of Henry VII, by Mr. Astle, some years before. -Amidst these more serious employments, Mr. Nichols diverted his leisure hours by compiling a work, which seems to have bee entirely of his own projection, and the consequence of early pretion. This appeared in 1780, with the title of A Select Colection of Miscel laneous Poems, with Historical and Biographical Notes,' 4 vols. small 8vo. To these were added, in 1782, four other volumes. In this work he has not only revived many pieces of unquestionable merit, which had long been forgotten, but produced some originals from the pens of men of acknowledged genius. In the same year (1780), on the suggestion and with the assistance of Mr. Gough, he began to publish the Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica,' a work intended to collect such articles of British Topography, MS. or printed, as were in danger of being lost, or were become so scarce as to be out of the reach of most collectors. He had ready assistance in this undertaking from many eminent antiquaries of that day; and in 1790 the whole was concluded in fifty-two numbers, making eight large quarto volumes, illustrated by more than three hundred plates. A complete copy of this work is rarely to be found. In a pecuniary point of view, Mr. Nichols was a considerable loser by this work: he was rewarded, however, in the pleasure of the employment, and the consciousness that he was contributing much valuable information for the use of the public. He thought as little of expense as of fatigue, and to the fear of either he seems to have been an entire stranger. The publication of the Bibliotheca Topographica occupied teu years; but such was his unwearied industry, that within the same period no less than eighteen other productions appeared, of all which he was either editor or author. In 1781 he published, in &vo, Biographical Anecdotes of William Hogarth? This was