England and Scotland relative to goats: that they are never to be seen for twentyfour hours together; and that once in that space, they pay a visit to the devil in order to have their beards combed. Baxter, in his "World of Spirits," mentions an anecdote from whence Mr. Brand imagines, that "this infernal visitant was in no instance treated with more sang froid on his appearing, or rather, perhaps, his imagined appearance, than by one Mr. White of Dorchester." That gentleman was assessor to the Westminster Assembly at Lambeth, and "the devil, in a light night, stood by his bed-side: he looked awhile whether he would say or do any thing, and then said, 'If thou hast nothing else to do, I have; and so turned himself to sleep.' " King James I. told his parliament in a speech on a certain occasion, that "the devil is a busy bishop." It has been objected to this saying of "His Most Dread Majesty," that it would have sounded well enough from a professed enemy to the bench, " but came very improperly from a king who flattered them more, and was more flattered by them, than any prince till his time."* PRINTERS' DEVILS. As I was going the other day into Lincoln's-inn, (says a writer in the "Grubstreet Journal" of October 26, 1732,) under a great gateway, I met several lads loaded with great bundles of newspapers, which they brought from the stamp-office. They were all exceeding black and dirty; from whence I inferred they were "printers' devils," carrying from thence the returns of unfold newspapers, after the stamps had been cut off. They stopt under the gateway, and there laid down their loads; when one of them made the following harangue: "Devils, gentlemen, and brethren:-though I think we have no reason to be ashamed on account of the vulgar opinion concerning the origin of our name, yet we ought to acknowledge ourselves obliged to the learned herald, who, upon the death of any person of title, constantly gives an exact account of his ancient family in my London Evening Post. He says, there was one monsieur Devile, or De Ville, who came over with William the Conqueror, in company with • Gentleman's Magazine. De Laune, De Vice, De Val, D'Ashwood, D'Urfie, D'Umpling, &c. One of the sons of a descendant of this monsieur De Ville, was taken in by the famous Caxton in 1471, as an errand boy; was afterwards his apprentice, and in time an eminent printer, from whom our order took their name; but suppose they took it from infernal devils, it was not because they were messengers frequently sent in darkness, and appeared very black, but upon a reputable account, viz., John Fust, or Faustus, of Mentz, in Germany, was the inventor of printing, for which he was called a conjurer, and his art the black art, As he kept a constant succession of boys to run on errands, who were always very black, these they called devils; some of whom being raised to be his apprentices, he was said to have raised many a devil. As to the inferior order among us, called flies, employed in taking newspapers off the press, they are of later extraction, being no older than newspapers themselves. Mr. Bailey thinks, their original name was lies, taken from the papers they so took off, and the alteration occasioned thus. To hasten these boys, the pressmen used to cry flie, lie, which naturally fell into one single word lie. This conjecture is confirmed by a little corruption in the true title of the flying Post; since, therefore, we are both comprehended under the title of devils, let us discharge our office with diligence; so may we attain, as many of our predecessors have done, to the dignity of printers, and to have an opportunity of using others as much like poor devils, as we have been used by them, or as they and authors are used by booksellers. These are an upstart profession, who have engrossed the business of bookselling, which originally belonged solely to our masters. But let them remember, that if we worship Belial and Beelzebub, the God of flies, all the world agrees, that their God is mammon." The preceding is from the "Gentleman's Magazine" for October, 1732; and it is mentioned, that "at the head of the article is a picture emblematically displaying the art and mystery of printing; in which are represented a compositor, with an ass's head; two pressmen, one with the head of a hog, the other of a horse, being names which they fix upon one another; a flie taking off the sheets, and a devil hanging them up; a messenger with a greyhound's face kicking out the "Craftsman;" a figure with two faces, for the master, to show he prints on both sides; but the reader is September 17. LAMBERT There is an account of this saint of the cautioned against applying it to any par- church of England calendar, in vol. i. ticular person, who is, or ever was a printer; for that all the figures were intended to represent characters and not persons." col. 1295. REMARKABLE THIEF. On the 17th of September, 1737, the It is a proverbial expression, not con- robberies committed in Gray's-inn, while secret was discovered of some mysterious fined to our country, that "the devil is the inhabitants had been in the country. not so black as he is painted." The French, in their usual forms of speech, mention madhouse near Red Lion-square, one About a month before, there died at a him with great honour and respect. Thus, Mr. Rudkins, who had chambers up three when they would commend any thing, pair of stairs, at No. 14, in Holbornthey break out into this pious exclama- court, Gray's-inn. His sister-in-law and tion, "Diable! que cela est bon!" When executrix, who lived in Staffo they would represent a man honest, sincere, and sociable, they call him "un bon Diable." Some of our own countrymen will say, a thing is " devilish good;" a lady is " devilish pretty." In a mixture of surprise and approbation, they say, "the devil's in this fellow, or he is a comical devil." Others speak of the apostate angel with abhorrence, and nothing is more common than to say, "such a one is a sad devil." I remember when I was at St. Germains, a story of a gentleman, who being in waiting at the court of king James II.. II., and the discourse running upon demons and apparitions, the king asked him whether ever he had seen any thing of that sort. "Yes," replied he, "last night." His majesty asked him what he had seen. He answered, "the devil." Being asked in what shape,-" O sir," said he, with a sigh, " in his usual and natural shape, that of an empty bottle." * NATURALISTS' CALENDAR, September 16. FRAUDULENT DEBTOR. On the 16th of September, 1735, Mr. Yardley died in the Fleet prison, where he had been confined nearly ten years in execution for a debt of a hundred pounds. He was possessed of nearly seven hundred a year, and securities and other effects to the value of five thousand pounds were found in his room.t NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. * Gentleman's Magazine. ↑ Ibid. Staffordshire, wrote the effects in her behalf; and he having to Mr. Cotton, a broker, to take care of read a Mr. Warren's advertisement of his chambers having been robbed, found several of his writings there; several things of a Mr. Ellis, who had been robbed about two years before of above three hundred pounds, of a Mr. Lawson's of the Temple, and of captain Haughton's, whose chambers were broken open some years previously, and two hundred pounds' reward offered for his writings, which were a part found here. There were also found books to Mr. Osborne the bookseller in Gray'sto one hundred pounds' value, belonging inn. kins had any thing in view in this way, It is remarkable, that when Mr. Rudhe would padlock up his own door, and laundress that he was going into the take horse at noonday, giving out to his country. His chambers consisted of five rooms, two of which not even his laundress was ever admitted into, and in these was found the booty, with all his working tools, picklocks, &c. He had formerly been a tradesman in King-street, near Guildhall. It is further remarkable of went to Abingdon's coffee-house, in Holthis private house-breaker, that he always born, on an execution-day, to see from thence the poor wretches pass by to their dismal end; and at no other time did he frequent that coffee-house. NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. September 18. GEORGE I. AND II. LANDED. The "coming over" of these two kings of the house of Brunswick, is marked in the almanacs on this day, which is kept as a holiday at all the public offices, except the excise, stamps, and customs. NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. Mean Temperature... 58.97. September 19. UNIVERSITY OF GOTTINGEN. In September, 1737, a new university founded at Gottingen, by his Britannic majesty, which has since attained to great eminence, was "opened with a very solemn inauguration." In 1788, the black board, on the walls of its council-house, bore three edicts for the expulsion of three students named Westfield, Planch, and Bauer. These papers were drawn up in Latin by the celebrated professor Heyne, and are printed in the Gentleman's Magazine" for June, 1789. King George IV., when prince regent in 1814, sent a copy of every important work published in England during the ten preceding years, as a present to the library of the university, agreeable to a promise ne had made to that purport. NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. Mean Temperature... 57.87. September 20. HEALTH-Cholera Morbus. This is, of all times of the year, the most productive of epidemical disorders of the bowels, which are erroneously ascribed to fruits, but which, in reality, the autumnal fruits seem best calculated to mollify. If the diarrhea be very violent, or accompanied with incessant vomiting, as in cholera morbus, the best practice is, after the intestinal canal has been suffered copiously to evacuate itself, to take small doses of chalk, or of some other substance known to check the disorder, with which chemists are always prepared. But in ordinary cases, it is a safer plan to let the disease spend itself, as there is a great deal of irritation of the intestines, which the flux carries off. We should avoid eating animal food, but take tea, broths, gruel, and other diluents, and the disorder will usually soon subside of itself. After it has so subsided we should guard against its return, by taking great care to keep the bowels regular, by eating light and vegetable food and fruits, or now and then Hence-not unfrequently when all is still, And Cynthia walks serenely through the fore, ordered to be decimated by Maximian. Every tenth man was accordingly put to death, and on their continued resistance, a second decimation ordered, and Maurice and his companions encouraged them, and the whole legion consisting of six thousand Of this world's good and evil, when the eye six hundred men, well armed, being no Of contemplation takes a boundless range way intimidated to idolatry by cruelty, were slaughtered by the rest of the army, Sweet Autumn! thou'rt surrounded with the and relics of their bodies were gathered charms Of reason, and philosophy, and truth, And ev'ry " sound reflection" that disarms This life of half its terrors:-in our youth We feel no sense of danger, and the qualms Of conscience seldom trouble us forsooth, Because the splendour of its reign destroys Whatever checks our sublunary joys? But thou art far too rigid and severe To let these errors triumph for a day, Or suffer folly, in her mad career, To sweep our reas'ning faculties away! Thou pointest out the fun'ral of the year, The summer's wreck and palpable decay, Stamping a "moral lesson" on the mind, To awe, restrain, and meliorate mankind! and preserved, and worked miracles.* BATTLE OF THREEKINGHAM. For the Every-Day Book. The village of Threekingham, in the county of Lincoln, was known by the name of Laundon, previous to this day, A. D. 870, when a battle was fought between the English and Danes, of which Ingulphus, a monk of Crowland abbey, has left the following account. The Danes entered England in the year 879, and wintered at York; and in the year 880 proceeded to the parts of Lindsey, in Lincolnshire, where they comAnd pass thee by, regardless of thy worth, menced their destructive depredations by But men are callous to thy warning voice, Making a false and perishable choice Of all the fleeting pleasures of the earth: The Bacchanalian's ebriating mirth, But had they been observant of thy pow'rs, And ponder'd o'er thy ruin and decay, They might have well applied them to those hours Which nothing, for an instant, can delay; But whilst health, strength, and competence are our's, And youth is basking in the summer's ray, Life's autumn scenes reluctantly are view'd, And folly's visions joyously pursued! B. W. R. NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. September 22. ST. MAURICE. This saint, to whom and his companions a festival is celebrated by the Romish church on this day, received a similar honour in England. They are said to have been officers in the Theban legion, which refused to sacrifice to the gods on their march into Gaul, and were, there laying waste the abbey of Bardney. In the month of September in the latter year, earl Algar, with two of his seneschals, (Wibert, owner of Wiberton, and Leofric, owner of Leverton,) attended by the men of Holland (Lincolnshire), Toly, a monk (formerly a soldier), with two hundred men belonging to Crowland abbey, and three hundred from Deeping, Langtoft, and Boston, Morcar, lord of Bourn, with his powerful family, and Osgot, sheriff of Lincolnshire, with the forces of the county, being five hundred more, mustered in Kesteven, on the day of St. Maurice, and fought with the Danes, over whom they obtained considerable advantage, killing three of their kings and many of their private soldiers, and pursued the rest to their very camp, until night obliged them to separate. In the same night several princes and earls of the Danes, with their followers, who had been out in search of plunder, came to the assistance of their countrymen; by the report of which many of the English were so dismayed that they took to flight. Those, however, who had resolution to face the enemy in the morning, went to prayers, and were marshalled for battle. • Butler Among the latter was Toly with his five hundred men in the right wing, with Morcar and his followers to support them; and Osgot the sheriff, with his five hundred men, and with the stout knight, Harding de Riehall, and the men of Stamford. The Danes, after having buried the three kings whom they had lost the day before, at a place there called Laundon, but since, from that circumstance, called Three-king-ham, marched out into the field. The battle began, and the English, though much inferior in numbers, kept their ground the greater part of the day with steadiness and resolution, until the Danes feigning a flight, were rashly pursued without attention to order. The Danes then took advantage of the confusion of the English, returned to the charge, and made their opponents pay dearly for their temerity; in fine, the Dares were completely victorious. In this battle, earl Algar, the monk Toly, and many other valiant men, were slain on the part of the English; after which the Danes proceeded to the destruction of the abbeys of Crowland, Thorney, Ramsey and Hamstede (Peterborough) and many other places in the neighbourhood. Thus far is from Ingulphus the monk. A fair, said to have arisen from the above circumstance, is annually held at Three-king-ham, on a remarkable piece of ground, called Stow Green Hill, reported to be the spot whereon the battle was principally contested, and Domesdaybook in some degree corroborates the statement; for in the Conqueror's time, A. D. 1080, when that survey was taken, we find that there was then a fair held here, which yielded forty shillings, accounted for to Gilbert de Gand, lord of Foldingham. This fair, however, is not held now in the month of September, but commences on the 15th of June, and continues till the fourth of July, and was very probably changed in the fifty-second year of the reign of king Henry III., who according to Tanner's "Notitia Monastica," granted a charter for a fair at this place to the monastery of Sempringham. September 23. OPENING OF THE WINTER THEATRES. For the Every-Day Book. To cultivate pleasant associations, may well be deemed a part and parcel of the philosophy of life. Now that spring, that sweet season redolent of flowers and buds hath passed away, and summer mellowing into autumn, has well nigh fallen into the "sere the yellow leaf," we in " lous city pent," gladly revert to those social enjoyments peculiar to a great metropolis, and among which stand conspicuous, the amusements of the acted drama. popu The opening of the winter theatres may be reckoned as one of the principal fasti of cockney land, an epoch which distinctly marks the commencement of a winter in London. How changed from the auspicious season, when the bright sun glancing into our gloomy retreats, tantalizes us with visions of the breathing sweets of nature, and when we in our very dreams "babbled of green fields," -to the period when even the thronged and dirty streets are endurable, as we wend our way perchance through a fog, (a London particular,) towards the crowded and gaily lighted theatre, by contrast made more brilliant. "My first play" forms an era to most young persons, and is generally cherished among our more agreeable juvenile reminiscences: but the subject has been re cently expatiated upon so delightfully and in so genial a spirit by ELIA, as almost to make further comment "a wasteful and ridiculous excess." I well remember the vast and splendid area of old Drurylane theatre, where the mysterious green curtain portico, to that curious microcosm the stage, first met my youthful gaze. The performances were, the "Stranger" and Blue Beard," both then in the very bloom of their popularity: and whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the moral tendency of the first, all must allow that never piece was more effective in the representation, when aided by the unrivalled talents of Kemble, and Mrs. Siddons, at that time in the zenith of their powers. I confess, that to my unsophisticated boyish feelings, subdued by the cunning of the scene, it seemed quite natural, that the sufferings of bitter remorse and repentance should suffice to ensure the pity and forgiveness of outraged society. Happy age, when the generous impulses of our |