has always been a favourite bird, and common custom has protected it in all countries, with as much care as the Swallow and Martin. Thomson has very beautifully described the annual visits of this little guest in the following lines:— The Redbreast, sacred to the houshold gods, And pecks, and starts, and wonders where he is; Attract his slender beak. Many more familiar verses and adages might be cited, to shew the veneration in which this bird was held. The Story of the Children in the Wood fed by Redbreasts is well known; and this bird is often coupled with the Wren Sylvia Troglodites, another familiar winter companion, as being both favourite birds, as in the old distich: Robin Redbreast and Jenny Wren Are God Almighty's cock and hen. The familiar habits of the Redbreast have occasioned it to be distinguished by a peculiar name in many countries: about Bornholm it is called Tomi Liden; in Norway, Peter Ronsmad; in Germany it is called Thomas Gierdet; and with us, Robin Redbreast or Ruddock. Rooks Corvi frugelegi at this time of year return early to their Rookeries. Between three and four o'clock on dark still mild November evenings, we may see them returning in large flocks of several hundreds, accompanied by Jackdaws Corvi monedulae. Sometimes Starlings join them during the day, when all the three sorts may be seen feeding toge ther. HECATE.-Apparition of an Armed Chair.-Although we admit, and have explained the causes of Spectral Apparitions, yet it is desirable to dispel, as much as possible, all superstitious opinions entertained concerning them; and one way to effect this end is, to shew that they are not confined to the ghosts of the dead, but that Spectral Images of the most unimportant and trifling objects will now and then appear. A Lady assured the Editor of the truth of the following story. She had ordered an armed chair which stood in her room to be sent to a sick friend, and thought it had been sent conformably to her orders. Waking, however, in the night, and looking by the light of the nightlamp at the furniture in her room, she cast her eyes on the place where the said chair used to stand, and saw it, as she thought, in, its place. She at first expressed herself to her husband, as being vexed that the chair had not been sent; but, as be protested that it was actually gone, she got out of bed to convince herself, and distinctly saw the chair, even on a nearer approach to it. What now became very remarkable was, that the spotted chaircover which was over it, assumed an unusual clearness, and the pattern assumed the appearance of being studded with bright stars. She got close to it, and putting her hand out to touch it, found her hand go through the spectrum unresisted. Astonished, she now viewed it as an illusion, and presently saw it vanish, by becoming fainter till it disappeared. The above affords a clue to one mode by which spectra are introduced, namely by local association. The Lady had anticipated seeing the chair in its place, from its always being associated with the rest of the furniture; and this anticipation of an Image of Perception was the basis of a corresponding Image of Spectral Illusion. See September 30th, p. 523. Ghost of a Hideous Pig.-We have also, but the relation of these stories would be endless, a story of a remarkable hideous form of a Pig, seen by a Child one night under a paling overspread with Yew trees. It might be brought forward to shew how early in life children are liable to spectral illusions; but we have said enough on these subjects. November 18. THE DEDICATION OF THE CHURCHES OF SS. PETER AND PAUL at Rome. SS. Alphaeus, Zachaeus, Romanus, and Barulus, Martyrs. St. Odo Abbot of Cluni, Confessor. St. Hilda Abbess. "The Vatican Church, dedicated in honour of St. Peter, is the second Patriarchal Church in Rome; and in it reposes one half of the Reliques of SS. Peter and Paul. The Religious multitude to this day repair in numbers to these sepulchres, to pay adoration to them. The Sepulchres of Saints, says St. Chrysostom, thus surpassing the Palaces of Kings, for even Kings and Emperours go to salute them." Butler, the Historiographer of the Saints, in expatiating on this habit of pilgrimages to shrines and reliques, expressly guards the reader against any false notion that Catholics worship the reliques themselves, or even dedicate holy edifices to Saints. They are, says he, in reality dedicated to God, and are so dedicated under the patronage of some saint, whose intercession we may invoke with the Almighty. The Sacred Vault of this church is called the Confession of St. Peter, or the Threshold of the Apostles Limina Apostolorum. And thousands of pilgrims have flocked to it ever since the primitive ages of the church. This was the Birthday of Rubens the Painter; hence CHRONOLOGY. christened Peter Paul. COELUM. This is, perhaps, the most foggy time of the whole year; a dense stratus frequently continuing through the whole night and day. Indeed, fogs are the usual concomitants of November in London and its neighbourhood, where one effect of a foggy night is often that of diminishing the combustion of oil in Lamps and other lights, which shews that misty and damp air cannot furnish oxygen so readily as that which is clear. We remember, frequently after foggy nights, seeing the lamps in the streets burning to a late hour next morning. Experiments on the power of the air at different times to furnish oxygen, might be made with lamps, candles, and other lights. HYGEIA. It is our intention in our different medical articles, to intersperse all the popular useful information possible relating to the care of health, and to arrange them according to the time of year in which each becomes particularly applicable. According to this plan of arrangement, we shall notice today a practice which is frequently attended with very bad consequences, and which prevails when cold wintry weather sets in; namely, that of abiding in close rooms. The cheerful fire, closed doors, and drawn curtains of an evening, by which Jack Frost and his biting Aeolian companions are kept out, are admittedly very snug means of rendering our northern winter agreeable; but persons err by not having sufficient vent for air to pass freely in and out of their apartments, particularly their bedrooms, by night. People sit in draughts in warm summer weather, when they are really dangerous, and exclude all air in winter. The metallic wheels placed in window panes and door pannels, which whirl round with the passing current, and are called Ventilators, are very useful machines; as, besides tending to circulate the air, the rapidity of their motion indicates the comparative heat of our rooms. November 19. St. Elizabeth Widow. St. Pontean Pope and Martyr. St. Barlaam Martyr. St. Elizabeth was the daughter of Alexander the Second King of Hungary and his Queen Gertrude. She was born in 1207, and died in 1231. She founded many charitable and religious institutions, and was assisted in her devotions by her husband, the young Landgrave Lewis. Her marriage only increased her virtues, and she lived a life of more austerity than a Recluse, and spun wool with her own hands, and made woofs for the poor of the Religious Orders. After the death of the Landgrave, she was persecuted with violence and bigotry, and was turned out of the castle by her brother in law Henry, and otherwise ill used. At her ill treatment she only seemed to rejoice, and one evening, hearing the bell sound for matins at the church of the Franciscan Friars, she went thither, and implored them to sing a Te Deum for the trials of virtue with which God had proven her. See Butler's Lives, xi. 329. We have alluded above to the Franciscan orders. If the reader should desire an account of these and other orders, they may be found in Butler's Lives, and in a large folio French work, entitled, " Recueil des Costumes des Ordres," &c. par M. Bar, Paris, 1784. This work is beautifully illustrated by coloured engravings of the costumes. CHRONOLOGY.-Died today, in 1703, in the Bastille, the celebrated Man of the Iron Mask called Masque de fer by the French, whose history is still a political problem that has not been solved. See an account in Encyclopedia Britannica, article Mask. A curious novel founded on this story was written by Mrs. Yearsely the Milk Woman a native and selftaught female genius. HYGEIA. Colds and coughs being still the most commonly prevailing Epidemicks, the following curious alliteratory Epistle received from a friend, who was prevented by a cold from accepting an invitation to a music party, may amuse the Reader, every word beginning with the third letter of the Alphabet :- "Carissime, "Corpore correptus calamitate communi cui cognomen cold cras cognitos campos circumvagare cavendum crediderim, captus contrà cupidine citherarum cantusque, cras, claro coelo, currui corpus committere conabor concentus concertusque cantantium Claptonianos concelebraturus: complimenta committe casae capiti cure. The alliteration above alluded to, which we were induced to digress in order to give a specimen of, used to be much more common in the last age than it is at present. We have spoken before of the best mode of treating colds and coughs, that is, by gentle aperient medicines, keeping well clothed, avoiding draughts of air, and changes of temperature, and, above all, by taking care not to eat much, but to drink warm and diluting drinks; such as tea, apple tea, warm lemonade, or some similar posset. November 20. St. Edmund King and Martyr. St. Humbert Bishop and Martyr. St. Felix of Valois Confessor. St. Bernward Bishop and Confessor. St. Maxentia of Ireland Virgin and Martyr. rises at VII. 42'. and sets at Iv. 18. St. Edmund, King of the East Angles, having been attacked by the Danes in 870, and unable to resist them, heroically offered to surrender himself a prisoner, provided they would spare his subjects. The Danes, however, having seized him, used their utmost endeavours to induce Edmund to renounce his religion; but he refusing to comply, they first beat him with clubs, then scourged him with whips, and afterwards, binding him to a stake, killed him with their arrows. His body was buried in a town, where Sigebert one of his predecessors had built a church; and where afterwards, in honour of his name, a more spacious building was erected, which, together with the town, was named St. Edmundsbury; but it is now called Bury St. Edmunds. CHRONOLOGY.-Died, in 1737, Caroline the Queen of George II. of England, in the 55th year of her age. COELUM.-The Fogs of November are at this time often changed for boisterous winds, which sweep off the last of the decayed leaves, and leave the trees quite bare. The Saxons called November Wintmonat or Windmonth, on account of the prevalence of high winds in this month. Poor Robin says, in his Almanack for November, 1579. This month the long vacation 's o'er, |