This custom fubfifted at Rome in the time of Plutarch, who, in his Roman Questions, fays: Few or no marriages are known in the month of May; they ftay till Fune. 4. The worship of fprings and ponds: we learn from Seneca, that the Romans worshiped hot fprings, and ponds, and lakes; efpecially, when in a very high or dark place. Concerning the like ufage among the Gauls, Gregory of Tours gives us the following narrative: "On a mountain in Gevaudan, called Helanus, was a lake, whither the neighbourhood annually reforted, and, by way of offerings, threw in ftuffs, entire fleeces, cheeses, wax, loaves, and the like, every one according to his ability; this was accompanied with great feaftings for three days, till at length a pious bishop, building a church on the brink of the lake, by his powerful remonftrances and exhortations, turned that Pagan ceremony into Chriftian devotion." Something analogous to this is still observed in the country of Foix, where, on a high mountain, called Thabor, is a very deep lake, and clofe by it a church, which, on the 24th of Auguft, the inhabitants of the adjacent places made it a duty to affemble at, as thofe of Gevaudan used at the lake of mount Helanus. The people of the country of Foix, indeed, flock to the maffes which, on that day, are faid both in the church and at an altar which fands in the open air: but, it is very probable, the scope of this in ftitution, like that on mount Helanus, was only to fanctify a remnant of Paganifm, which it was not eafy to abolish. Thus, on the converfion of the English to Chriftianity, Gregory the Great allowed them to hold their ufual meetings at certain times of the year round their temples, which had been confecrated as churches, to make arbours, hold religious feafts as before, and flay the oxen, which used to be facrificed to idols, provided it was, now, with no other meaning than to eat them; the reafon given by that pope for fuch toleration, muft be allowed very wife; nam duris mentibus fimul omnia abfcindere impoffibile effe non dubium eft, i. e. with rude and infatuated minds, there is no retrenching every thing at once. 5. Three fuperftitious prefages, the ringing of the ears, fudden starts of the eye-lids, and freezing. Thefe Aufonius terms the tria omina, and as they are now received in most parts of Europe, fo they paffed current among the wife Greeks and Romans. The tinnitus aurium, or tingling of the ears, was thought to intimate to the perfon who felt it, that fomebody was talking of him; thus, the Lady in Aristenetus writing to her lover fays; When I think of my deareft, my ears tingle, a fure fign that I am also in your thoughts. Pliny hift. nat. lib. xxviii. cap. 2. has these words: Quin et abfentes tinnitu aurium præfentire fermones de Se receptum eft: on this chimera is. founded the following ancient epigram: Garrula quid totis refonat mihi xolli bus auris? Nefcio quem dicis nunc meminiffe mibi. Hie Further, if the right ear tingled, it denoted commendation and praife; if the left, blame and obloquy. The fubfultus palpebrarum, or a ftart of the eye-lids, the Greeks and Romans imagined to prefage good luck when in the right eye, and in the left, misfortune: accordingly, the enamoured fwain, in Theocritus, cries out in a rapture, Oh I fhall fee her! my right eye ftarted! and a flave in Plautus, barely on this happy omen, warrants his master that he fhall raife the money he flood in need of. Unde dicam nefcio, Nifi quia futurum eft, ita fupercilium falit. Pfeud. A. 1. f. 1. This infatuation ftill prevails; and in Languedoc fuch ftartings in the eye-lids are called le rat; at Paris, le petite fouris, i. e. the little moufe; and, among the vulgar, raise joy or fear, according to the eye where they are felt. This fuperftition is still more common in Afia than in Europe. The Mahometans carefully obferve all fuch involuntary ftarts of the eyelids, lips, &c. and, befides many other books, have one of great note, called Elm al Ekhtelage written by an eminent Iman, and which treats of the prefages deducible from fuch ftarts, with prayers to be ufed according to the parts of the body where the start or convulfion is felt. So true is it, that there is not that abfurdity, however grofs, which has not its partifans! The Sternutamentum, or fneezing, was among the Greeks and Romans a fure portent of good or evil, according as the perfon fneezed towards the right or left. Plutarch relates, that the priest who officiated at the folemn facrifice, previous to the fight off Salamin, hearing a fternutation on the right, affured Themiftocles of victory; and the meaning of Catullus's epigram every body knows: Amor finifter ante To the emperor Tiberius, the cuftom of an ejaculatory prayer for the perfon who had fneezed, appeared of fuch moment, that he was difpleafed if omitted to him, tho' on a journey. Cur fernutamentis falutamur, fays Pliny, H. N. 1. xxviii. c. 2. quod etiam Tiberium Cæfarem, triftiffimum, ut conftat, hominum, in vebiculo exegiffe tradunt. Though fternutation be no longer accounted ominous, to bow to a perfon fneezing, and adding a compli mental God bless ye! is ftill an article of good breeding in feveral parts of Europe, efpecially among the middle and lower claffes. 6. It is a very common cuftom in Languedoc, after eating boiled eggs never to fail quafhing them, or at leaft making feveral holes in the fhells, left, if intire, they should be ufed for compofing charms against thofe who had eaten the contents; this alfo obtained among thofe magnanimous lords of the world, the Romans; for Pliny, speaking of the fuperftitious practices of his countrymen, to prevent fascination, fays: Huc pertinet ovorum, ut exforbu erit quifque, calices_cochlearibus protinus frangi, aut perforari. 7. One of the ancient fuperftitions of the Belgians, was, to make human human figures of dough, about newyear's day, it being their chief feftival; and it appears by the council of Leptines, in the diocese of Cambrai, held 743, that the like cuftom then fubfifted: and in Lower Languedoc, during all the Chriftmas week, they make cakes fhaped like men, as prefents to children. 8. Nothing is more common in Upper Languedoc, than to hear the commonalty fwear by the fire, by the flame of the candle, &c. at Thouloufe, efpecially, scarce a sentence without per aquest fuec, per aquest lum; if these oaths are more ridiculous than that which Virgil puts in the mouth of Sinon, An hiftory of Coaches. TULIUS CÆSAR found chariots here eighteen hundred years ago for all wheel-carriages which warriors rode and fought in, are fairly comprehended under that name. This method of fighting in chariots is very ancient; we have it in Homer, and in the book of Exodus, and thenceforward to the books of Kings and Chronicles. But this way of fighting was inconvenient, and the Saracens, who were once the best foldiers in the world, ufed horfes. These Saracens, it is probable, were defcended from the ancient Parthians, who also fought on horseback, and used Voft æterni ignes, et non violabile to fly with an intention to disorder veftrum Teflor Numen, ait, they may furely be ranked with Socrates's per canem, and Zeno's per capparim. Many other like inftances of fuperftition may be added; as, confidence in amulets or charms, the ceremonies on the eve of Midfummer-day, the numberless fascinations practifed in drying up the milk in women and cattle, rendering men impotent, laming horses, bringing a mortality on beafts; the dread of ridiculous prefages, as the breaking of a looking-glafs, overfetting a falt-feller, burning the fieve, to difcover a theft, faith in dreams, &c. Thus credulity, fuperftition, and error, are, among the commonalty, maladies of every clime and age, and maladies which the remonftrances of learning and reflexion, it is to be feared, will never be able totally to eradicate, the array of their enemy's battle. From the Romans and Saracens, the nations of Europe might learn to reject the use of chariots in war (if they had not done it fooner) for almost all the nations of Europe fent great armies against them to recover the Holy Land. To come back nearer to our own times; coaches returned to England in the days of queen Elizabeth, by the way of France (as our fashions commonly do) and it is most certain that the judges rode on horseback to Westminster-hall, in termtime, all the reign of king James I, and poffibly a good deal later: at the reftoration, king Charles II rode on horfeback between his two brothers, the duke of York, and duke of Gloucester; and the whole cavalcade, which was very spendid, and confifted of a great number of perfons, was performed on horfeback. We shall add one remarkable fac concerning the increafe of coaches He fays the king and council pub land extraordinary, laid out for meadows, are more than enough to answer the increase of horses in London; and the greatness of the quantity of hay makes the price more regular and uniform, unless a season of extraordinary barrennefs fhould happen. A from the French BOUT the year 1390, cards were invented to divert Charles the fixth, then king of France, who was fallen into a melancholy difpofition. lifhed a proclamation againft them, Of the origin of Cards. Tranflated which he prints in his collections, alledging that they raised the price of provender against the king, nobility, and gentry; and then he proceeds to inform us, that they were about twenty in number, and did not ply in the streets, but kept at their inns till they were fent for, which befpeaks a vaft alteration! for we are credibly formed, that even in the city of Dublin (which is not more than a third part of what London was an hundred years ago) there are two hundred licensed hackney-coaches. Since I am upon this fubject, it may be necessary to obferve, that under proper regulations, they are of excellent ufe in a great rich city. They affift the difpatch of bufinefs, are beneficial to the health of those who use them, and contribute not a little to keep up that breed of ftrong horfes fit for fervice, with which this land is stored, and is able, in time of war, to furnish her own armies, or in time of peace, to fell to other nations. It is obfervable (upon Mr. Rufhworth's story above-mentioned) that human forefight is very fhort; for it is highly probable that provender was dearer here an hundred years ago, in proportion to the scarcity of money, than it is at this day: we are fure the fact is fo with refpect to corn; for a large market is always fupplied. Ten thoufand acres of That they were not in ufe before, appears highly probable. Ift, Because no cards are to be feen in any painting, fculpture, tapestry, &c. more ancient than the preceding period, but are reprefented in many works of ingenuity, fince that age. 2dly, No prohibitions relative to cards, by the king's edicts, are mentioned, although fome few years before, a moft severe one was published, forbidding, by name, all manner of fports and paftimes, in order that the fubjects might exercife themfelves in fhooting with bows and arrows, and be in a condition to oppofe the English. Now it is not to be prefumed, that fo luring a game as cards would have been omitted in the enumeration, had they been in ufe. 3dly, In all the ecclefiaftical canons, prior to the faid time, there occurs no mention of cards; altho twenty years after that date, cardplaying was interdicted the clergy, by a Gallican fynod. About the fame time is found in the account-book of the king's cofferer, the following charge: Paid for a pack pack of painted leaves bought for the king's amufement, three livres." Printing and ftamping being then not discovered, the cards were painted, which made them fo dear. Thence in the above fynodical canons, they are called pagella picta, painted little leaves. 4thly, About 30 years after this, came a fevere edict against cards in France; and another by Emanuel, duke of Savoy; only permitting the ladies this pastime, pro fpinulis, for pins and needles. Of the defign of Cards. The inventor proposed by the figures of the four fuits, or colours, as the French call them, to reprefent the four states, or claffes of men in the kingdom. By the Cours (Hearts) are meant, the Gens de Chaur, choir men, or ecclefiaftics; and therefore the Spaniards, who certainly received the ufe of cards from the French, have copas or chalices, instead of hearts. The nobility or prime military part of the kingdom, are reprefented by the ends or points of lances or pikes, and our ignorance of the meaning or refemblance of the figure induced us to call them fpades. The Spaniards have efpadas (fwords) in lieu of pikes, which is of fimilar import. By diamonds, are defigned the order of citizens, merchants, and tradefmen, carreaux (fquare ftones, tiles, or the like). The Spaniards have a coin, dineros, which anfwers to it; and the Dutch call the French word carreaux, ftieneen, ftones, and diamonds from the form. Trefle, the trefoil leaf, or clover grafs, (corruptly called clubs) al fants. How this fuit came to be called Clubs I cannot explain, unlefs, borrowing the game from the Spaniards, who have baftos (ftaves or clubs) instead of the trefoil, we gave the Spanish fignification to the French figure. The hiftory of the four kings, which the French in drollery fometimes call the cards, is David, Alexander, Cæfar, and Charles (which names were then, and still are, on the French cards.) Thefe refpectable names reprefent the four celebrated monarchies of the Jews, Greeks, Romans, and Franks under Charlemaigne. By the queens are intended Argine, Efther, Judith, and Pallas (names retained on the French cards) typical of birth, piety, fortitude and wifdom, the qualifications refiding in each perfon. Argine is an anagram for Regina, queen by descent. By the knaves were defigned the fervants to knights; (for knave, originally, meant only fervant; and in an old translation of the bible, St. Paul is called the knave of Chrift) but French pages and valets, now indifcriminately used by various orders of perfons, were formerly only allowed to perfons of quality, efquires (Efcuiers) fhield or armour bearers. Others fancy that the knights themselves were defigned by thofe cards, because Hogier and Lahire, two names on the French cards, were famous knights at the time cards were fuppofed to be invented. An account of the celebration of the May-Games, and the reasons of their Suppreffion. I' T ludes to the husbandmen and pea- I was ufual, on the 1ft of May, for all the citizens, who were able, |