her octave; a vow which had an instantaneous effect, and caused Celestine to be elected to St. Peter's chair; though, as this nominal pope lived only eighteen days from his election, the vow was not fulfilled until Innocent IV. succeeded to that dignity. The long and uncourteous disregard, however, of the early church to the immaculate mother of our Lord, in respect to the day of her nativity, was amply compensated by other attentions, and there still remain many persons in catholic countries, in Spain and Italy in particular, who place a much greater reliance on the efficiency of the mediation of the virgin, than they do on that of our Lord himself; and if we are to credit the numerous authors who have made her divine powers their theme, and celebrated her extraordinary condescensions, our wonder and astonishment must be excited in a most eminent degree. Some of her courtesies are calculated for teaching a lesson of humility, which no doubt was the operating cause of her performing such offices, which in no other view appear of importance. At one time she descends from heaven to mend the gown of Thomas à Becket, which was ripped at the shoulder. Whilst the monks of Clervaux were at work, the virgin relieved their fatigue, by wiping the perspiration from their faces. That the important duties of an abbey should not be neglected, she for some time personally superintended them, whilst the abbess was absent with a monk who had seduced her from the path of virtue. She even descended from heaven to bleed a young man who prayed to her, and whose health required that operation. At the entreaty of a monk, who prayed to her for that purpose, she supplied his place when absent, and sung matins for him. And, we are solemnly assured, that when St. Allan was much indisposed, she rewarded him for his devotional attentions to her, by graciously giving him that nourishment which female parents are accustomed only to afford their offspring! To what depths of impious absurdity will not ignorance and credulity debase mankind!"*

Legendary stories in honour of the virgin are numberless. For edifying reading on this particular festival, the

Clavis Calendaria.

"Golden Legend" relates, among others, the following:

A bishop's vicar, by name Theophylus, on the death of his diocesan, was willed by the people to succeed him; but Theophylus refused, saying, he had rather be a vicar than a bishop. However, the new bishop displaced him from being vicar, whereupon Theophylus grieved, and falling into despair, consulted a Jew, who being a magician, summoned the devil to the help of Theophylus. The devil being duly acquainted with the state of affairs, wrote a bond with Theophylus's blood, whereby the said Theophylus was held and firmly bound to renounce the virgin, and the profession of christianity, and the same being by him duly sealed and delivered, as his act and deed, the devil was therewith content, and procured the bishop to re-establish Theophylus in his office. When Theophylus was a vicar again, he began to repent that he had given his bond, and prayed the virgin to relieve him from it. Wherefore she appeared to Theophylus in a vision, "and rebuked him of his felony, and commanded him to forsake the devil," and to confess himself in heart a christian man. This he accordingly did, and therefore the virgin obtained his pardon, and brought his bond from the devil, and laid it on his breast; and Theophylus became joyful, and related to the bishop and all the people what had befallen him, and they marvelled greatly, and gave praise to the virgin, and "three dayes after he rested in peas," and died in his vicarage, whereunto the devil had caused him to be presented.

At another time a widow, whose sor. had been taken prisoner, wept without comfort, and prayed to the virgin for his delivery, but he still remained prisoner; and at last, when she saw that her prayers availed not, she entered into a church where an image of the virgin was carved, and standing before the image, reminded the virgin of her importunities, and that she had not helped her ; " and therefore," said she, "like as my son is taken from me, so shall I take away thy son, and keep him as a hostage for mine." Then she took away from the image the child that it held," and shette it in her chest, and locked it fast ryght diligently, and was ryght joyfull that she had so good hostage for her sone." Wherefore, on the following night, the virgin liberated the widow's son, and desired him to go an

tell his mother that, as he was released, she desired to have her own son back. This he did, and the widow, in great joy, "toke the chylde of the ymage, and came to the chirche, and delyvered it to our lady, sayenge, lady, I thanke you, for ye have delivered to me my son, and here I deliver to you yours.”

One other story is of a thief who was always devout to the virgin. On a time he was taken and judged, and ordered to be hanged; but when he was hanged "the blyssed virgin Mary susteyned, and helde hym up, with her handes, thre dayes, that he dyed not." When they that caused him to be hanged, "found hym lyvying, and of glad chere," they supposed that "the corde had not been well strayned," and would have cut his throat with a sword; but "our blyssed lady" put her hands between his neck and the weapon, so that he could be neither killed nor hurt; and then they took him down "and let him go in the honour of the blyssed virgyn Marye;" and he went and "entred into a monastery, and was in the service of the moder of God as longe as he lyved."

Perhaps these three stories provided for the festival of the nativity of the blessed virgin Mary in papal times, may be deemed sufficient in our times.

Spain, as a catholic country, is profuse in adoration of the virgin. On her festivals a shrine is erected in the open street, decorated with flowers, and surrounded by a number of wax candles. A flight of stairs leads to an altar, where on is placed an image of the virgin mother, with an embroidered silk canopy above. On these stairs a priest takes his station, and preaches to the multitude, while other priests go round, at intervals, with a salver, to collect oblations from the devotees. To those who give liberally, the priest presents little engravings of the virgin, which are highly valued. An obliging correspondent, who communicates these particulars, (J. H. D. of Portsmouth,) says, "I have two of them,

which I obtained on one of those occasions at Cadiz, in 1811, one of which I herewith send you." Of this consecrated print, the engraving at the head of the present article is a fac-simile.

FLORAL DIRECTORY Amellus. Aster Amellus. Dedicated to St. Adrian.

September 9..

Sts. Gorgonius, Dorotheus, and Compa nions A. D. 304. St. Omer, A. D. 607. St. Kiaran, Abbot A. D. 549. St. 08mana of Ireland. St. Bettelin.

St. Bettelin, or Beccelin.

The town of Stafford is honoured by this saint being its patron, where "his relics were kept with great veneration." He is said to have served St. Guthlac, and been of all others most dear to him, and to have led an "anchoretical life in the forest near Stafford."

FANNY BRADDOCK.

The fate of this unhappy young woman who committed suicide at Bath, on the 9th of September, 1731, is still remembered in that city. She resided with Mr. John Wood, the architect, and on the night of the 8th went well to bed, nowise disordered in behaviour. Her custom was to burn a candle all night, and for her maid to lock the door, and push the key under it, so that she always got up in the morning to let her maid into the room. After she had retired, on the evening mentioned, she got out of bed again, and, it is supposed, employed some time in reading. She put on a white night-gown, and pinned it over her breast; tied a gold and a silver girdle together, and at one end having made three knots about an inch asunder, that if one slipped another might hold, she opened the door, put the knotty end of the girdle over it, and locking the door again, made a noose at the other end, through which she put her neck, by getting on a chair and then dropped from it. She hung with her back against the door, and had hold of the key with one of her hands; she had bit her tongue through, and had a bruise on her forehead; this was occasioned, probably, by the breaking of a red girdle she had tried first, which was found in her pocket with a noose on it; there were two marks on the door. The coroner's inquest sat on her that day, and brought in their verdict non compos men

. Butler.

tis.

She was daughter to the late general Braddock, who at his death left her and her sister 60001. By her sister's death about four years before, she became mistress of the whole fortune, but being infatuated by the love of gaming, met "an unlucky chance" which deprived her of her fortune. She had been heard to say, that no one should ever be sensible of her necessities, were they at the last extremity. She was generally lamented, and in life had been greatly esteemed for courteous and genteel behaviour, and good sense. She was buried in a decent manner in the abbey church, in the grave of her honest brave old father, a gentleman who had experienced some undeserved hardships in life; but who might be said to have been thus far happy, that he lived not to see or hear of so tragical a catastrophe of his beloved daughter. The following verscs were written by her on her window :

"O, death! thou pleasing end to human

woe!

Thou cure for life! thou greatest good be

low!

Still may'st thou fly the coward and the slave,

And thy soft slumbers only bless the brave."

Mr. Wood who wrote "an Essay towards a Description of Bath," speaks of many circumstances which unite to prove that Fanny Braddock had long meditated self-destruction. In a book entitled New Court Tales, she is called "the beautiful and celebrated Sylvia,"

which Wood

says

"she was not very

improperly styled, having been a tenant under my roof during the last thirteen months of her life; and at the time of her unhappy death, her debt of two and fifty pounds three shillings and fourpence for rent, &c. entitled me to the sole possession of all her papers and other effects, which I seized on Monday, the 13th of September, 1731." Though Wood propably knew better how to draw up an inventory, and make an appraisement, than a syllogism, yet at the end of five months the creditors drew "a new inventory" of what was in his possession, and made a new appraisement. "The goods were then sold," says Wood, " and people striving for something to preserve the memory of the poor deceased lady, the price of every thing was so advanced that the creditors were all paid, and an overplus

• Gentleman's Magazi..e

remained for the nearest relation; though it ought to have come to me, as a consi deration towards the damages I sustained on the score of Sylvia's untimely death"

Whatever was Wood's estimation of his unhappy tenant when alive, he could afford to praise her dead. "Nothing can be more deplorable than the fate of this unfortunate young woman; a fate that I have heard hundreds in high life lament their not suspecting, that they might have endeavoured to prevent it, though it should have been at half the expense of their estates; and yet many of those people, when common fame every where sounded Sylvia's running out of her fortune, would endeavour to draw her into play to win her money, and accept of whatever was offered them from her generous hand!" She was ensnared by a woman named Lindsey, who kept a house for high play. "When I came down to Bath," says Wood," in the year 1727, Sylvia was entirely at the dame's com:nand, whenever a person was wanting to make up a party for play at her house. Dame Lindsey's wit and humour, with the appearance of sanctity in a sister that lived with her, strongly captivated the youth of both sexes, and engaged them in her interest." The reputation of this "dame Lindsey" was at a low ebb, but Wood observes, "in the course of three years I could never, by the strictest observations, perceive Sylvia to be tainted with any other vice than that of suffering herself to be decoyed to the gaming-table; and, at her own hazard, playing for the amusement and advantage of others. I was therefore not long in complying with a proposal she made to me in the summer of the year 1738, for renting part of a house I then lived in, such as manifested nothing but virtue, in Queen-square; her behaviour was regularity, and good nature. She was ready to accept of trifling marks of friendship, to give her a pretence of making great returns; and she was no sooner seated in my house than ladies of the highest distinction, and of the most unblemished characters were her constant visiters: her levee looked more like that of a minister of state than of a private young lady. Her endowments seemed to have had a power of attraction among her own sex, even stronger than that of all the riches of a court among the gentlemen that are allured by them."

The last night of her life she had spent in

Mr.Wood's study, where she took her supper, and dandled two of his children on her knees till the hour of retiring. She then went to the nursery and taking leave of a sieeping infant in its cradle, praised the innocence of its looks. Passing to her own room she undressed and went to bed, and, as her servant left the room, bade her good night; she had never done so before. It is probable that at that moment she thought on her fatal purpose, and some passages in Harrington's translation of "Orlando Furioso," are supposed to have strengthened it. It was found that after she had arisen she had been reading in it; the book lay open at pp. 74 and 75, the story of Olympia, who, by the perfidy and ingratitude of her bosom friend, was ruined.

Dr Forster is of opinion that autumn commences on the 10th of September. "It occupies ninety days. The mean temperature is 49.37°, or 11.29° below the summer the medium of the day declines in this season from 58° to 40°. The mean height of the barometer is 29.781 inches; being .096 inches below the mean of summer. The range in creases rapidly during this season; the mean extent of it is 1.49 inches. The prevailing winds are the class SW., throughout the season. The evapora tion is 6.444 inches, or a sixth part less than the proportion indicated by the temperature. The mean of De Luc's hygrometer is seventy-two degrees. The average rain is 7.441 inches: the proportion of rain increases, from the beginning to near the end of the season: this is the true rainy season with us; and the earth, which had become dry to a considerable depth during the spring and summer, now receives again the moisture required for springs, and for the more deeply rooted vegetables, in the following year.

"The fore part of this season is, nevertheless, if we regard only the sky, the most delightful part of the year, in our climate. When the decomposition of vapour, from the decline of the heat, is as yet but in commencement, or while the electricity remaining in the air continues to give buoyancy to the suspended particles, a delicious calm often prevails for many days in succession, amidst a perfect sunshine, mellowed by the vaporous air, and diffusing a rich golden tint, as the day declines, upon the landscape. At this period, chiefly, the stratus or fallcloud, the lowest and most singular of the modifications, comes forth in the evenings, to cccupy the low plains and vallies, and shroud the earth in a veil of mist, until revisited by the sun. So perfectly does this inundation of suspended aqueous particles imitate real water, when viewed in the distance at break of day, that I have known the country people themselves deceived by its unexpected appearance."

Mr. Howard remarks that "A phenomenon attends this state of the air, too remarkable to be passed over in silence. An immense swarm of small spiders take advantage of the moisture, to carry on their operations, in which they are so industrious, that the whole country is soon covered with the fruit of their labours, in the form of a fine network, commonly called

gossamer. They appear exceedingly active in the pursuit of the small insects, which the cold of the night now brings down; and commence this fishery about the time that the swallows give it up, and quit our shores. Their manner of locomotion is curious: half volant, half aëronaut, the little creature darts from the papillæ on his rump a number of fine threads which float in the air. Mounted thus in the breeze, he glides off with a quick motion of the legs, which seem to serve the purpose of wings, for moving in any particular direction. As these spiders rise to a considerable height, in very fine weather, their tangled webs may be seen descending from the air in quick succession, like small flakes of cotton.”*

FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Autumnal Crocus. Crocus autumnalis. Dedicated to St. Pulcheria.

September 11.

Sts. Protus and Hyacinthus, ▲. D. 257. St. Paphnutius, A.D. 335. St. Patiens, Abp. of Lyons, a. D. 480.

NICKNACKITARIANISM.

On the 11th of September, 1802, the following cause was decided by a jury in the sheriff's court.

Hurst v. Halford

The plaintiff was a nicknackitarian, that is, a dealer in curiosities, such as Egyptian mummies, Indian implements of war, arrows dipped in the poison of the upas-tree, bows, antique shields, helmets, &c. He was described as possessing the skin of the cameleopard exhibited in the Roman amphitheatre, the head of the spear used by king Arthur, and the breech of the first cannon used at the siege of Constantinople; and, in short, of almost every rarity that the most ardent virtuoso would wish to possess.

The defendant was the executor of a widow lady of the name of Morgan, who, in the enjoyment of a considerable fortune, indulged her fancy, and amused herself in collecting objects of natural and artificial curiosity.

It was stated that this lady had been long in the habit of purchasing a variety of rare articles of the plaintiff: she had bought of him models of the temple of

Howard's Climate of London,