bination to be mutual pledges of security for each other's health and preservation: from hence arose the custom of pledging and drinking healths.

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Whatever might have been the origin, it is a vain and foolish practice; it would be as rational to use the ceremony of wishing health with every piece of bread, as glass of wine the absurdity of this, would readily be acknowledged by all: and it has a tendency as practised, to lead to inebriety, which appears to have been the opinion of that celebrated and pious man Sir Matthew Hale, who, in company with some students, was one day dining and making merry, when, from excessive drinking, a young man of the party fell down to all appearance dead, which greatly affected all the company: but its effects on Hale were such he went into another room, and on his knees fervently besought God to restore his friend, and to pardon the intemperance of which they had been guilty, promising he would never keep company in that free manner again, nor drink even a health for the future. His friend was restored, and Hale was enabled ever after religiously to keep his promise. Dear youth seriously weigh the matter and avoid the snare.

The first invention of Paper.

In Egypt there grows a kind of reed in the marshes, called papyrus nilatica, of a stringy filamental substance. From this the great Egyptian monarch, Philadelphus, first contrived to make a kind of paper, by soaking them in a certain kind of gummy water, then drying them in the sun, which afterwards being divided into sheets, were called Papyri, from the reed of which they were made; and of these the famous library of Philadelphus was originally composed.

Why the first of August is always called
Lammas-Day.

The origin of Lammas-day was at the time the popish priests began to make masses, that lambs and sheep might not die all that season after shearing, from whence it is called Lambs-mass-day, since corrupted to Lammas-day. On this day the tenants who formerly held lands of the cathedral church in York, were bound by their tenure to bring a lamb alive into the church at high mass.

The Minories, from whence named.

This street is named from certain poor

ladies of St. Clare, or minoresses, who had been invited into England by Blanch, Queen of Navarre, wife to Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, who founded here, in the year 1293, a convent for their reception. On the suppression, it fell into the gift of the crown, and was afterwards converted into a dwelling house; but has ever since retained its ancient name, with the trifling alteration we have mentioned.

Finsbury, why so called.

The manor of Finsbury, formerly called Finsbury Fields, was of considerable extent; it is mentioned in an old record as being granted by Richard the Second, to Robert de Willingham, then prebendary of the parish of St. Giles, Cripplegate. In the grant it is called the garden of Vinesbury ; from which it may be conjectured, that in those days it was a garden, or rather a vineyard.

Pall Mall, origin of the name.

This street appears by ancient maps to have been formerly appertaining to a large track of field, with here and there a noble

man's house, until the year 1560; after which the space between St. James's and Charing Cross was filled up. Pall Mall was then laid out into a walk, or rather a place for the exercise of the Mall, a game long since disused: the north side was also planted with trees, and on the other was the wall of St. James's Park.

Origin of Valentine's Day.

Valentine was a pope or bishop of Rome, who lived in the ninth century; who on this day, established an annual custom of the poorer clergy, drawing patrons by lots for the commenced year; and these patrons or benefactors were called Valentines. After his death he was canonized for a saint, and his feast day kept on the fourteenth day of February, which was thought to be his birth day. John Gordon, in his memoirs, and account of the popes, says, that “Valentine was too good a man to be a good pope, and died forty days after his consecration, or instalment; being choaked with a fish-bone."

This custom in Britain evidently appears to have been copied by the laity from the clergy, in the days of popery; and is a very ancient custom, being almost a thousand

years standing. The birds too are supposed to choose their mates, and pair on this day; which no doubt, is an additional reason to our youth of both sexes who are approaching to maturity, to write their verses, and with much ingenuity ply scissars, pen and pencil, in honour of their selected or alloted lovers.

Origin of Yew Trees being planted in Church Yards.

Before the invention of gunpowder, and use of fire-arms, every parish in England was obliged to have yew trees in their church yards, the branches of which were made into bows for the use of the archers; and to this it is owing that in many of those places we find yew trees still growing; although the use of shooting with bows has long been discontinued in the armies of Europe.

Origin of Barbers hanging out long poles for a sign.

The barber's art was so beneficial to the public, that he who first brought it up in Rome had a statue erected to his memory, as ancient authors relate; and in England they were in some measure the surgeons in