When as againe these Papistes fonde their foolish pageantes have
With pompe and great solemnitie, and countnaunce wondrous grave.
A woodden Asse they have, and Image great that on him rides,
But underneath the Asse's feete a table broad there slides,
Being borne on wheeles, which ready drest, and al things meete therfore,
The Asse is brought abroad and set before the churche's doore:
The people all do come, and bowes of trees and Palmes they bere,
Which things against the tempest great the Parson conjures there,
And straytwayes downe before the Asse, upon his face he lies,
Whome there an other Priest doth strike with rodde of largest sise;
He rising up, two lubbours great upon their faces fall,

In straunge attire, and lothsomely, with filthie tune, they ball:
Who, when againe they risen are, with stretching out their hande,
They poynt unto the wooden knight, and, singing as they stande,
Declare that that is he that came into the worlde to save,
And to redeeme such as in him their hope assured have:
And even the same that long agone, while in the streate he roade,
The people mette, and Olive bowes so thicke before him stroade.
This being soung, the people cast the braunches as they passé,
Some part upon the Image, and some part upon the Asse:
Before whose feete a wondrous heape of bowes and braunches ly:
This done, into the Church he strayght is drawne full solemly:
The shaven Priestes before them marche, the people follow fast,
Still striving who shall gather first the bowes that downe are cast:
For falsely they beleeve that these have force and vertue great
Against the rage of winter stormes and thunders flashing heate.
In some place wealthie citizens, and men of sober chere,

For no small summe doe hire this Asse with them about to bere,
And manerly they use the same, not suffering any by

To touch this Asse, nor to presume into his presence ny.
When as the priestes and people all have ended this their sport,
The boyes doe after dinner come, and to the Church resort:

The Sexten pleasde with price, and looking well no harme be done : They take the Asse, and through the streetes and crooked lanes they rone,

Whereas they common verses sing, according to the guise,

The people giving money, breade, and egges of largest sise.

Of this their gaines they are compelde the maister halfe to give,
Least he alone without his portion of the Asse should live.

Maundy Thursday. - This day is called, in Latin, Dies Mandati, the day of the command, being the day on which our Lord washed the feet of his disciples, as recorded in the second lesson. This practice was long kept up in the monasteries. After the ceremony, liberal donations were made to the poor, of clothing and of silver money; and refreshment was given them to mitigate the severity of the fast. A relic of this custom is still preserved in the donations dispensed at St. James's on this day; and the modern ceremonies at Rome are numerous.

Good Friday commemorates the sufferings of Christ on the Cross. Holy Friday, or the Friday in Holy Week, was its more ancient and general appellation; the name Good Friday is peculiar to the English church. It was observed

as a day of extraordinary devotion. Buns with crosses upon them are usually eaten in London and some other places on this day at breakfast. Very curious modern ceremonies at Rome, consisting of the Illuminated Cross of St. Peter's, and other shows, may be witnessed today.

It is

The following superstitious penance, according to a modern traveller, is still performed on Holy Friday, at Rome, at Barcelona, Madrid, and in other Catholic places. "The ceremony takes place at the time of vespers. preceded by a short exhortation, during which a bell rings; and whips, that is, strings of knotted whipcord, are distributed quietly among such of the audience as are on their knees in the middle of the nave. Those resting on the benches come to edify by example only. On a second bell, the candles are extinguished, and the former sermon having ceased, a loud voice issues from the altar, which pours forth an exhortation to think of unconfessed, or unrepented, or unforgiven crimes. This continues a sufficient time to allow the kneelers to strip off their upper garments: the tone of the preacher is raised more loudly at every word, and he vehemently exhorts his hearers to recollect, that Christ and the martyrs suffered much more than whipping -"Show, then, your penitence-show your sense of Christ's sacrifice-show it with the whip." The flagellation begins. The darkness, the tumultuous sound of blows in every direction" BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, pray for us!" bursting out at intervals - the persuasion that you are surrounded by atrocious culprits and maniacs, who know of an absolution for every crime-the whole situation has the effect of witchery, and, so far from exciting a smile, fixes you to the spot in a trance of restless horror, prolonged beyond expectation or bearing. The scourging continues ten or fifteen minutes, and, when it sounds as if dying away, a bell rings, which seems to invigorate the penitents, for the lashes beat about more thickly than before. Another bell rings, and the blows subside. At a third signal, the candles are relighted, and the minister, who has distributed the disciplines, collects them again with the same discretion; for the performers, to do them justice, appear to be too much ashamed of their transgressions to make a show of their penance; so that it is very difficult to say, whether even your next neighbour has given himself the lash or not."

Hospinian tells us, that the Kings of England had a custom of hallowing Rings, with much ceremony, on Good Friday, the wearers of which will not be afflicted with the falling sickness. He adds, that the custom took its rise

from a Ring which had been long preserved, with great veneration, in Westminster Abbey, and was supposed to have great efficacy against the cramp and falling sickness, when touched by those who were afflicted with either of those disorders.

The following is Barnabe Googe's account of Good Friday, in his English Version of Naogeogus, fo. 51. b. :

Two Priestes, the next day following, upon their shoulders beare
The Image of the Crucifix, about the Altar neare,

Being clad in coape of crimozen die, and dolefully they sing:

At length before the steps, his coate pluckt of, they straight him bring,
And upon Turkey carpettes lay him down full tenderly,

With cushions underneath his heade, and pillows heaped hie;
Then flat upon the grounde they fall, and kisse both hand and feete,
And worship so this woodden God, with honour farre unmeete;
Then all the shaven sort falles downe, and foloweth them herein,
As workemen chiefe of wickednesse, they first of all begin :
And after them the simple soules, the common people come,
And worship him with divers giftes, as golde, and silver some,
And others corne or egges againe, to pulshorne persons sweete,
And eke a long desired price, for wicked worship meete.

Good Friday Cross Buns.-Hutchinson, in the History of Northumberland, following Mr. Bryant's Analysis, derives the Good Friday Bun from the sacred Cakes which were offered at the Arkite Temples, stiled Boun, and presented every seventh day. These are constantly marked with the form of the Cross. Indeed, the country people in the North of England make, with a knife, many little cross marks on

their cakes.

March 12.

ST. GREGORY the Great, Pope. St. Maximilian. St. Paul Bishop of Laon.

rises at vi. 14'. and sets at v. 46'.

St. Gregory, surnamed the Great from his extraordinary virtues and great mind, was born at Rome about the year 540. The name in Greek signifies Watchman, and his unusual vigilance through life merited the appellation. He was Confessor and Pope, and died in 604.

FLORA. The cultivated gardens begin now to be gay with the Primaveral Flora. Various Daffodils begins to blow in abundance, while Crocuses are still abundant, particularly the blue sorts, which blow the latest. The Mazereon is in all its beauty, and stands up like a beautiful Pink bush amidst the budding shrubs of a cold March border, braving the keenest winds of this blowing season. The Pilewort now begins to adorn the shady grove; and

the Primrose to be more abundant on the warm banks exposed to the Sun. The Camelia Japonica is the ornament and pride of the greenhouse, and the various Hyacinths of divers hues, the gay Van Thol Tulip, and both the yellow and the white varieties of the Narcissus adorn the windows, growing in glasses, or in the bowpots of the lovers of Flora's early boon.

FAUNA. The early Fauna becomes now an interesting object. The Pigeons begin to sit; the Blackbird lays. The smallest Willow Wren or Pettychaps appears with the Wheatear. Fieldfares, Snipes, and Woodcocks now leave this Island, and proceed to Russia, Siberia, Norway, and Lapland, to breed.

POMONA. Few of the gifts of this goddess remain. A few Apples are still preserved of the most keeping sorts; and Nuts, Walnuts, Chesnuts, Almonds, Raisins, and preserves, make up the desserts of the table at this season.

CERES.-The Cereal observations in this month relate chiefly to sowing, ploughing, and preparing ground for seed and grain of various kinds; they are well described by Tusser in his Husbandry, who thus comments on the work of March:

MARCH'S HUSBANDRY.

On Sowing Pease in March.

White Peason, both good for the pot and the purse,
By sowing too timely, prove often the worse;

Because they be tender, and hateth the cold.

Prove March ere ye sow them, for being too bold.

On Spare eating of Meadow.

Spare meadow at GREGORY, marshes at PASQUE,
For fear of dry Summer no longer time ask;

Then hedge them and ditch them, bestow thercon pence,-
Corn, Meadow, and Pasture, ask alway good fence.

Of Mastiffs and Mongrils that many we see,
A number of thousands too many there be:
Watch therefore in Lent, to thy Sheep go and look,
For Dogs will have victuals, by hook or by crook.

On Sowing Hops and making Hop Gardens.
In March at the farthest, dry season or wet,
Hoproots so well chosen, let skillful go set:
The goodlier and younger, the better I love;
Well gutted and pared the better they prove.
Some layeth them crosswise, along in the ground,
As high as the knee, they do cover up round:
Some prick up a stick in the midst of the same,
That little round hillock the better to frame.

Some maketh a hollowness half a foot deep,
With fouer sets in it, set slantwise asteep;.
One foot from another, in order to lie,
And thereon a hillock as round as a pie.

Five foot from another, each hillock would stand,
As straight as a levelled line with the hand:
Let every hillock be fouër feet wide,

The better to come to on every side.

On Husbandry.

By Willows that growen thy hopyard without,
And also by hedges thy meadows about,

Good Hop hath a pleasure to climb and to spread,
If sun may have passage to comfort her head.

Get crow made of iron, deep hole for to make,
With cross overthwart it as sharp as a stake,
A Hone and a Parer like sole of a boot,
To pare away grass and to raise up the root.

In March is good graffing, the skillful do know,
So long as the wind in the east do not blow :
From Moon being changed till past be the prime,
For graffing and cropping is very good time.

Things graffed or planted, the greatest and least,
Defend against Tempest, the Bird, and the Beast;
Defended shall prosper, the tother is lost,

The thing with the labour, the time and the cost.

On the Sowing of Barley.

Sow Barley in March, in April, and May,
The later in sand, and the sooner in clay.
What worser for Barley, than wetness and cold?
What better to skillful, than time to be bold?

Who soweth his Barley too soon, or in Rain,
Of Oats and of Thistles shall after complain:
I speak not of Mayweed, of Cockle and such,
That noieth the Barley so often and much.

Let Barley be harrowed finely as dust,
Then workmanly trench it, and fence it ye must.
This season well plied, set sowing an end,

And praise and pray God, a good harvest to send.

The culture of Hops was introduced into England from the Netherlands in 1524; and they are first mentioned in the Statute Book in 1552, temp. Ed. VI.

No trees appear preferable to Willows for fencing hopgrounds; and none are said to be worse than Elms, as they attract mildews.

The iron crow is to let the poles into the ground. The hone is no other than a rubber to sharpen it.

As Barley requires a warm and dry soil, clay can never be adapted for it at any season, and least of all very early. The modern practice is not in favour of either extreme in