sion. But it is very different when he has exercised his mental powers; when he has learned to find his own superiority, and to make it subservient to his commands. It is then that his dignity begins to appear, and that the True Deity is adored, for having been mindful of man; for having given him the earth for his habitation, and the sea for his inheritance'.

-Some pertinent reflections on this subject we subjoin from M. Savary's entertaining Letters on Greece. We enjoy the finest weather imaginable; not a cloud obscures the sky, and a south-east wind wafts us directly toward the port to which our wishes tend. We have now entirely lost sight of land, and, as far as the eye can reach, only view the immense abyss of the waters, and the vast expanse of the heavens. How awful is this sight! How does it inspire the mind with great ideas! How adventurous is man, who trusts his fortune and his life to this frail vessel he has built, which a worm may pierce, or a single blast dash to pieces against a rock. Yet in this he braves the fury of the ocean! But how admirable is his ingenuity! He commands the winds, enchains them in the canvas, and forces them to conduct him where he pleases. He sails from one end of the world to the other, and traverses the immense liquid plains, without any signals to direct him. He reads his course in the heavens. A needle, which wonderfully points perpetually to the pole, and the observation of the stars, inform him where he is. A few lines and points mark out to him the islands, coasts, and shoals, which his skill enables him to approach or avoid at pleasure. Yet has he cause to tremble, notwithstanding all his science and all his genius! The fire of the clouds is kindling over his head, and may consume his dwelling. Unfa

See the Contemplative Philosopher, vol. ii, p. 177, and the subject continued at the end of our Diary for October.

thomable gulfs are yawning beneath his feet, and he is separated from them only by a single plank. His confidence might make us imagine he knew himself immortal; yet he must die-die never to revive again, except in another state of being.'

When o'er the surface of the dark-green seas
With gentlést motion steals the rippling breeze,
While pleasing tremors agitate my mind,
The Muse I shun, to placid ease inclined.
But when the whitening surge like thunder roars,
And the curved wave aloft impetuous soars,
I flee the terrors of the troubled main,
And turn my eyes to fields and woods again.
Safe o'er the land I then delight to rove,
And seek the shelter of the shadowy grove;
Where the full gust a constant murmur keeps,
And thro' the pine's close foliage whistling sweeps.
Evil and toilsome is the fisher's lot,

The luckless tenant of a fragile boat;

Doomed o'er the deep to take his dangerous way,
And oft, in vain, pursue his finny prey.

Mine be the fate to sink in calm repose,

Where a deep shade the broad-leaved plane-tree throws;
Near may a murm'ring fount my senses charm,
With sound too soft the rustic's breast t' alarm.

MOSCHUS.

OCTOBER.

THIS month was called Domitianus in the time of Domitian; but after his death, by the decree of the Senate, it took the name of October, every one hating the name and memory of so detestable a tyrant.

Remarkable Days

In OCTOBER 1820..

1.-SAINT REMIGIUS.

REMIGIUS was born at Landen, where he so closely pursued his studies, that he was supposed to lead

a monastic life. After the death of Bennadius, he was, on account of his exemplary piety and extraordinary learning, chosen bishop of Rheims. Having held his bishopric 74 years, he died at 96 years of age, A.D. 535.

*4. 1683.-ENGLISH MANNERS.

Many curious customs of our ancestors are now obsolete; and when we hear of great men going after dinner to attend a council of state, or the business of their particular offices, or the Bowling Green, or even the Church; of an hour's sermon being of a moderate length; of ladies painting their faces being a novelty; or, of their receiving visits of gentlemen while dressing'; of the female attendant of a lady of fashion travelling on a pillion behind one of the footmen, and the footmen riding with swords; the contrast between these and modern customs renders any allusion to, or account of them, extremely interesting.

6.-SAINT FAITH.

This virgin martyr suffered death under Dacianus, about the year 290, the most cruel torments being inflicted upon her,

9.-SAINT DENYS,

Saint Denys, or Dionysius, the Areopagite, was converted to Christianity by St. Paul. See Acts xvii. He was, at first, one of the Judges of the celebrated court of the Areopagus, but was afterwards made Bishop of Athens, where he suffered martyrdom for the sake of the gospel. For an account of the immense treasures formerly contained in the Abbey Church of Saint Denis, near Paris, see our last volume, p. 247; and reflections on its past and present state in T. T. for 1818, p. 250.

1

See an instance of this in Mr. Evelyn's piquant and truly delightful Memoirs, vol. i, p. 563.

13.-TRANSLATION OF KING EDWARD THE

CONFESSOR.

He was the youngest son of King Ethelred; but as all his elders brothers were either dead, or had fled away, he succeeded to the crown of England in the year 1042. He collected all the most useful laws made by the Saxon and Danish kings. The additional title of Confessor was probably given him by the pope, for settling what was then called Rome Scot, but now is better known by the name of Peter's Pence. For some pretty lines on this subject, see T.T. for 1815, p. 281.

*14. 1066.-BATTLE OF HASTINGS.

This important battle is thus ably narrated by MR. LINGARD, in his new History of England.' The spot which Harold had selected for this important contest was called Senlac, nine miles from Hastings, an eminence opening to the south, and covered on the back by an extensive wood. As his troops arrived, he posted them on the declivity in one compact and immense mass. In the centre waved the royal standard, the figure of a warrior in the act of fighting, worked in thread of gold, and ornamented with precious stones. By its side stood Harold and his two brothers Gurth and Leofwin; and around them the rest of the army, every man on foot. In this arrangement the king seems to have adopted, as far as circumstances would permit, the plan which had lately proved so fatal to the Norwegians, and which now, from the same causes, was productive of a similar result. Probably he feared the shock of the numerous cavalry of the Normans. Both men and horses were completely cased in armour, which gave to their charge an irresistible weight, and rendered them almost invulnerable by ordinary weapons. For the purpose of opposing them with more chance of success, Harold had brought with him engines to discharge stones into their ranks, and had recommended to his soldiers to confine themselves

in close fight to the use of the battle-axe, a heavy and murderous weapon.

On the opposite hill, William was employed in marshalling his host. In the front he placed the archers and bowmen: the second line was composed of heavy infantry clothed in coats of mail: and behind these the duke arranged, in five divisions, the hope and the pride of the Norman force, the knights and men at arms. That he would strive both by words and actions to infuse into this multitude of warriors from different nations an ardour similar to his own, is not improbable: but the two harangues, which William of Poitou, and Henry of Huntingdon, have put into his mouth, may with equal probability be attributed to the historians themselves. nine in the morning the army began to move, crossed the interval between the two hills, and slowly ascended the eminence on which the English were posted. The papal banner, as if auspicious of victory, was carried in the front by Toustain the Fair, a dangerous honour, which two of the Norman barons had successively declined.

About

'At the moment when the armies were ready to engage, the Normans raised the national shout of "God is our help," which was as loudly answered by the adverse cry of "Christ's rood, the holy rood." The archers, after the discharge of their arrows, retired to the infantry, whose weak and extended line was unable to make any impression on their more numerous opponents. William ordered the cavalry to charge. The shock was dreadful: but the English in every point opposed a solid and impenetrable mass. Neither buckler nor corslet could withstand the stroke of the battle-axc, wielded by a powerful arm and with unerring aim; and the confidence of the Normans melted away at the view of their own loss, and the bold countenance of their enemies. After a short pause the horse and foot of the left wing betook themselves to flight: their opponents X