lieved a religious order) of persons among the old Britons. They were before the druids, though afterwards eclipsed by them in point of authority and reputation. They are taken notice of by several ancient authors, as Strabo, Hesychius, &c. They are wont to sing the praises, in words set to music, of eminent and renowned persons: whence they are called by those authors, poets, songsters, composers of verses, and the like. They were employed in the apotheosis, or deification of distinguished heroes. They received their mode of singing from the Phoenicians, who were the first, that, by the necessity of their affairs, and their extraordinary skill in navigation, under their great leader Hercules, (not the Grecian Hercules, but son to the king of Tyre,) traded with the inhabitants of Great Britain, but more especially with the more southern part of it, where there are still several remarkable relics of Phoenician antiquity.

Rome was not built in a Day.

This saying originated from the gradual advances of Rome, from an obscure original, to be the mistress of the universe, (which it was at one time) setting forth, that by patient

perseverance, and elaborate application to industry, the greatest blessings might be obtained.

Paradise-Etymology of the Word.

Paradise is a Persian word, and means a garden, or orchard; but from the delicious pleasantness of such places, it is metaphorically used to signify an invisible place of happiness.

England, when and by whom named.

Egbert, (son of Alemond) one of the kings of the Saxon heptarchy, and eighteenth king of the West Saxons, by his warlike achievements (for he was one of the famous heroes of the age) conquered the other six kings, and reduced their dominions under his obedience. Whereupon, in the year 819, he was crowned at Winchester sole monarch of South Britain, under the new title of England, which he established by royal procla mation, as derived from his ancestors the Angles, who assisted the Saxons in the conquest of this country.

Origin of the Marquis of Anandale's Cresta Spur.

One of the ancestors of the Marquis of Anandale, being at the court of England, many years back, a plot was laid to take away his life, when an unknown person privately put a pair of spurs in his hand. The Marquis immediately understood the meaning of the present, and fled; and from this incident the family took a spur for their crest, to which they added a wing as a mark of their activity.

Recluse-Origin of the word.

Agnes Rochier, a beautiful girl, was the daughter of a merchant, who had left her a great fortune. At the age of eighteen, she became a recluse, in the parish of St. Opportuna, on the 5th of October, 1403. The appellation of recluse was given to maidens, or widows, who caused a little room to be built for them against the wall of some church. A reclusion was performed with great solemnity: the church was hung with tapestry: masses were celebrated by a bishop, in his robes; to this succeeded a sermon preached by the bishop himself, who then, after copiously sprinkling the little

room with holy water, put his seal on the door. The only aperture was a small window, through which the recluse heard divine service, and received her necessaries. Agnes lived ninety-nine years.

Pilgrimage-Original meaning of.

The form of consecrating a person for a pilgrimage, in what are called the middle ages, was as follows:-The pilgrim elect, after confession, lay prostrate at the altar, while an appropriate mass was performed. After this he arose, and the priest consecrated his scrip and staff. The former of these he next sprinkled with holy water, and hung around the pilgrim's neck, accompanying the ceremony with certain prayers: the like was also done with his staff. The whole concluded with the mass de iter agentibus. To pilgrims going to the Holy Land, a garment was delivered marked with a cross: both cross and garment having been previously consecrated.

Anecdote-meaning of the word.

This word was originally given by the Greeks to every thing, of whatever nature,

that was made known to the people for the first time. In its literary acceptation, it sig nifies historical details of such events as have taken place in the courts of sovereigns, and which it was never intended should be published.

At present, the word is commonly appli ed to any detached account of celebrated sayings, or remarkable actions, which are either in general histories, or made to supply the place of a regular narrative.

The Devil and Dr. Faustus.

Fust, or Faustus, was a citizen of Mentz, and one of the earliest printers. He had the policy to conceal his art; and to this policy we are indebted for the tradition of "The Devil and Dr. Faustus," handed down to the present times. Faustus, in partnership with Peter Schoeffer, in the year 1462, printed off a considerable number of copies of the Bible, to imitate those which were commonly sold in manuscript. Fust undertook the sale of them at Paris, where the art of printing was then unknown. At first he sold his copies for so high a sum as five or six hundred crowns, the prices usually demanded by the scribes. He afterwards lowered his price to sixty crowns, which