the benefit of the soul in former days, is in the present time appropriated to the sensual gratifications of the body; as what the priests got for fasting and praying, is now spent by the laity in eating and drinking.

ORIGIN OF THE ORDER OF THE GARTER.

King Edward the Third, so deservedly celebrated in English history, was a prince of the most exalted soul and undaunted bravery, and capable of undertaking the greatest enterprises: for forty years of his reign, he not only maintained his people's rights from the invasion of foreigners, and private sedition at home, but even vastly added to his dominions, by his glorious acquisitions abroad. By the right of Queen Isabel, his mother, he had some pretensions to the crown of France, which he so well improved by the force of his arms, that he defeated the French in many memorable battles with incredible loss; and, by his continued victories, reduced them to such extremities, that he at last took their king prisoner, and brought him to London, where,

after a few years, upon very advantageous conditions, he set him at liberty, and quartered the arms of France with those of England.

After a long succession of foreign conquests, he met with some domestic disturbances, occasioned by the discontent of a dethroned king of Scotland, who taking advantage of the king's absence, had raised a considerable army, and committed several outrages, destroying and burning many towns, and plundering whole countries, and in his way set down before Roxburgh Castle, defended by the beautiful Countess of Salisbury, and her brother Sir William Montague; but, by the unexpected and timely arrival of King Edward, the Scots raised the siege, and returned home, leaving the castle as they found it. But all sublunary beings are subject to the vicissitudes of fortune; so he, that had heretofore vanquished so many thousands, was himself now wholly subdued by that little tyrant love, who dis. daining to be rivalled by any human power, and ambitious of being the conqueror of conquerors, now triumphed over this hero. Nor is it any wonder that his exalted soul should be at once so susceptible of that noble passion, since we find

love and war are not incompatible: so, after the flight of the enemy, the king disarmed himself, and with several persons of quality entered the castle, where he no sooner saw, but he was inflamed with, and even adored the charming Countess of Salisbury: and now looked upon all his former victories to be so many additional honours, to render him the more worthy the esteem of that incomparable lady.

From that moment he forgot not any kind of gallantry that might make him acceptable, and used all his endeavours to ingratiate himself with her, from whom he always met with the most obliging respect, but a continual discouragement to all his hopes, which heightened his passion to such a degree, that he made several efforts on her virtue; but she still refused all his temptations with the greatest constancy and most steady resolution.

Among the many honours the king did her, he made a royal entertainment at Windsor, to which she with all the nobility of both sexes were invited; and as in the midst of their diversion, he was dancing with her, she happened to drop one of her garters, which the king perceiving, took up,

whilst the rest of the bright assembly were in a general smile: to countenance the blushing lady, and to put a better gloss upon so pretty an action of gallantry, the king turned, and addressing them in French, said, Honi soit qui mal y pense, i.e. Evil be to him who evil thinks. But not being satisfied with this, and still desirous to lay the Countess under greater obligations to him, he embraced the pleasing opportunity this accident gave him, and resolving to make her yet more sensible of his love, and how much he esteemed even the least trifle that belonged to her, he instituted on this occasion, the most noble Order of the Garter; the ensign or badge of which is a blue ribbon worn under the left knee, and on this Edward caused the above French sentence to be inscribed as a motto. Such was the origin of this august Order, which has ever since dignified so many kings, princes, and nobles. And the Garter continues to be the most extraordinary badge of honour and mark of distinction the crown of England is capable of conferring on its noblest subjects, or even its possessors themselves.

ORIGIN OF VEGETABLES.

Turnips and carrots are thought indigenal roots of France. Our cauliflowers came from Cyprus; our artichokes from Sicily; lettuce from Cos, a name corrupted into gause. Shallots, or eschallots, from Ascalon.

I have been reading on the subject, and was struck with the numerous ideas on commerce and civilization, which may arise from a dinner. Will you have a desert from memory? The cherry and filbert are from Pontus, the citron from Media, the chesnut from Castana in Asia Minor, the peach and the walnut from Persia, the plum from Syria, the pomegranate from Cyprus, the quince from Cydon, the olive and fig from Greece, as are the best apples and pears, though also found wild in France, and even here. The apricot is from Armenia.

ORIGIN OF TEA BEING USED.

The following story concerning the origin of Tea goes current among the Chinese. Darma, the son of an Indian king, came into China about