drank to the guests, and libations to the gods, these latter however being of a much greater antiquity than the former, as the ancient Romans neither commenced or terminated their repast without invoking their deities, images of whom were often at the time placed upon the tables. In their festivals they did not use the expression of drinking to each other's health, but one analogous to a toast. In private parties they contented themselves while presenting the cup with simply pronouncing the word propino, (as did the Greeks,)" I drink before you;" not as Voltaire observes, as expressing a wish as to the health of the party addressed, but simply as inviting him to follow the example thus set. Sometimes a person challenging another drank a little from his cup, and then send it to his friend to finish, the slave afterwards bringing back the cup to him. On grand occasions both the cups and guests were crowned with flowers, generally roses, the petals being often detached and floating on the wind. This occurred only towards the end of the feast, and in honour of some persons of consanguinity or importance, as relations, patrons, the emperor, &c. Several Bacchanalian customs prevailed at these feasts, one of which was that what we should call the toast should be drunk in as many cups as there were letters in the individual's name; thus, six were assigned for Cæsar, and ten for Germanicus. Men of gallantry paid the same compliment to their mistresses; thus Martial says ; for the early Christians to drink to the memory of the dead; but this being afterwards regarded as an act of idolatry, was anathematized by a council of Nantes, written against by Hincmar, archbishop of Rheims, and forbidden by Charlemagne. The practice was discontinued, and the simple drinking of healths alone permitted. The Church strictly forbade ecclesiastics taking part in noisy festive customs, and especially in drinking healths. A council held at Petricaw, in Poland, prohibits clerks exciting others to drink during their repasts, or even to drink the healths of any one. In the earliest period of our era, when a sovereign or prince wished to honour any one, and testify his consideration for him, he sent to him his own cup with the remainder of the same liquor of which he had himself partaken. An anecdote is told of St. Martin, whe received this honour at the hands of the Emperor Maximus in the fourth century. Before, however, returning the cup to the emperor, he passed it on to his clerk, and he, having drank of it, returned to the emperor, who approved of the boldness of the saint and finished its contents. He esteemed (says Longueva) that holy bishop, for having preferred to all the imperial power a man honoured with the priesthood of Christ: so that every one exclaimed in the palace that Martin had done, at the table of the emperor, what no other bishop would have dared to do at the table even of a petty magistrate. This custom of passing the cup as a mark of nonour prevailed in France from the earliest times. Froissart relates that after the battle of Auray, in 1364, the Count Montfort, having called for a cup of wine to quench his thirst, while yet on the field of battle, Chandos, and other English captains, who had so much con the count, acknowledging the services he had received at his hand, desired Chandos to drink from his own cup. Six cups to Nævia's health go quickly round, And be with seven the fair Justina's crowned. Songs and music were mingled towards the end of the meeting with the praises of those whose healths were drank, yet, even amid their festivities was the barbarous nature of the Romans manifested, for the gladiatorial exhibitions were on some occasions then exhibited. The libations to the gods finished the cere-tributed to his victory, came up to congratulate him; monies. These consisted in throwing wine on the tables or on the ground. Dion Cassius relates that after the battle of Actium the senate decreed that libations should in like manner be offered to Augustus, and after this period several cups were often thus consecrated to different celebrated individuals. The festival terminated by the cup of Mercury, the god of night, the dispenser of sleep and agreeable dreams. Many of the entertainments given by the Romans took place in superb halls. Lucullus had several of these, which bore the names of different deities, and the name mentioned indicated to the servants the expense which was to be incurred for the entertainment. The cost of a supper in the one which bore the name of Apollo was fifty thousand drachmas. Plutarch informs us that Cæsar, after one of his triumphs, entertained the Roman people at twentytwo thousand tables, capable probably of accommodating two hundred thousand persons. It would not seem that the cotemporary pagan nations, called by the Romans Barbarians, as the Celts, the Gauls, Britons, Germans, &c., made use of any ceremonies or libations; but a pitcher of the liquor employed was brought to the common use of the guests, each one saluting his neighbour as he drank from it, and passing it on. All these nations were, however, passionately addicted to feasting. Their entertainments often lasted for several days, and no undertaking of importance was commenced or completed without one of these. By their liberality in providing such feasts, the chieftains frequently acquired maintained their influence. Athenæus describes one given by Arcamnes, a wealthy Gaul, which continued an entire year, during which whoever came was made welcome. The early Christians found no difficulty in adopting the custom of drinking healths, joining, however, with it something of a religious nature, by expressing their wishes for the eternal as well as the temporary felicity of their friends. This religious spirit, however, degenerated, and we find St. Ambrose, in the fourth century, lamenting the various profanities to which the custom of drinking healths had led. It became customary also THE AMMONITE. THIS curious fossil, which derives its name from its resemblance to the curved horn on the head of the statue of Jupiter Ammon, is very abundant in the Grauwacke group, in which it is found, from a minuteness scarcely perceptible, to the extraordinary size of four feet in width. It was formerly supposed by many persons, to be a species of serpent petrified, though in fact it is the shell of a fish, of a kind now extinct, of which there are various species, but although so many varieties have been discovered they are all pervaded with one peculiarity, namely, the greater part of the shell was a curve formed into numerous air-cells, while the fish itself resided in the outer part, as if a person were to have a long row of chambers, and live only in the front room. Their economy destined them to reside, principally, at the bottom of the ocean, but to be able to rise occasionally to the surface. As we have before observed, the interior curls of the shell were hollow, containing air, which made the fish about the same weight as the element in which it resided, which weight was so nicely adjusted to the water that, by filling, with air or water, a small central pipe, which ran through the entire curve, the fish was enabled to rise or sink as occasion might require. The pressure of the water at the bottom of a deep sea would undoubtedly break in the plates of any ordinary shell, but the Almighty has ordained that the Ammonite should be able to resist the weight of the incumbent fluid by providing it with a peculiar kind of internal arch-work, which so completely meets all human ideas of ingenious contrivance, for the purpose which it was destined to serve, as to form one of the most is universal in the works of nature, and which is so well fitted striking examples of that adaptation of means to ends which to impress the conviction of a great designing First Cause.— J. G. C. ESTEEM time as your most precious talent, which when you bestow it upon any you give them more than you can understand. All the power of men and angels cannot restore it to you.-M. QUEEN ELEANOR'S CROSSES. I. To our nation she was a loving mother, the column and pillar of the whole realm; therefore to her glory the king her husband caused all those famous trophies, wherever her noble corse did rest; for he loved her above all earthly creatures. She was a godly and modest princess, full of pity, and one that showed much favour to the English nation, ready to relieve every man's grief that sustained wrong, and to make them friends that were at discord.SPEED's Translation of WALSINGHAM. Such is the eulogium bestowed on Queen Eleanora of Castile, wife of our Edward I.; and that it is a just one, and fully borne out by the general voice of the nation in her times, a little examination will fully prove. We are about to describe those memorials of her husband's affection still remaining in our land, which are known as QUEEN ELEANOR'S CROSSES; and we shall attach a greater interest to our subject by relating the principal events in the life of this queen, thus enabling the reader to form a just estimate of her character, and of the share taken by her in the stirring events of the times in which she lived. Prince Edward was espoused to the young Infanta of Castile when they were both children, Edward being only fifteen years of age; and the Princess Eleanora about five years younger. The marriage had been planned by Henry III. to put an end to his contest with Alphonso, the brother of the bride, and it is remarkable that an union contrived for mere political purposes should have turned out so well. According to a stipulation on the part of Alphonso, the young prince, accompanied by his mother, Queen Eleanor of Provence, went to claim the hand of the princess at Burgos, the capital of Castile, August 5th, 1254. A tournament was held on the occasion, and the young prince was knighted by the sword of his brother-in-law. On the return of Queen Eleanor to England with the youthful pair, great enter tainments were made to celebrate the occasion. Henry III. created his son Prince of Wales, telling him to employ his youth in conquering that principality. A dower of one thousand pounds per annum was settled on Eleanora, in case the prince should die before his father. In 1256 Prince Edward and his young bride went to Bordeaux, where Eleanora was left to complete her education while the young prince visited tournaments, and led the wandering life of a knight errant. He was suddenly recalled to England by the dissensions between his father and the barons, which terminated in a civil war of three years' duration. During all this period the young princess resided in France, and the uncertainty of her future prospects, influenced as they would be by the result of the terrible struggle then going on, appears to have had a favourable effect on her character, and to have nurtured in her that union of patience, gentleness, and decision, which marked her after years, and operated so favourably in many instances, on the impetuons nature of her consort. The happy restoration of peace, brought about by means of the valour and intrepidity of the young prince, at length permitted of the return of the royal ladies to England. Eleanor of Provence, Queen of England, with her daughter-in-law, Eleanora of Castile, landed at Dover, October 29th, 1265, where they were received by King Henry III. and Prince Edward. The latter found his wife much altered in person and mind during their long separation. He had left her a simple uninformed girl, he found her a lovely and dignified woman, with qualities destined to be the support and joy of his future years. From the period of their reunion to the year 1269, when Prince Edward took up the cross, and joined the Syrian campaign, we meet with little to relate concerning the Princess Eleanora. Her favourite residence was the Castle of Windsor, where three of her children were born, John, Eleanora, and Henry. The 4 thereon, in 1361, a convent of Carthusians. But Sir | leave to change his original intention, and for the grant Walter united with the bishop in building and endowing the priory for twenty-four monks; and the munificence of his fortune and patronage probably secured to his name the honour of the foundation, of which the bishop had not been able to deprive him. The pious knight having augmented and established it, with a suitable revenue, King Edward the Third granted his charter in 1371; and the foundation, called "the Chartreux*," was recited to be in honour of God and the Virgin Mary, by the appellation of "The Salutation of the Mother of God." This charter is still preserved among the records of the present establishment. Of this ancient foundation, there remain at present few traces in an ancient tower is a room which is now used to preserve the archives of the Hospital; the ceiling of this room is beautifully ribbed, and the centre stone represents a large rose, inclosing the letters I. H.S. or Jesus Hominum Salvator. This room is carefully preserved, and access cannot be obtained to it without the presence of the master, the registrar, and the receiver, with their respective keys. On the suppression of this monastery in the year 1538, its revenues were valued at 6427. Os. 44d. of a Charter of Incorporation to found the hospital at Howard House in its stead, he undertaking to endow it with fifteen manors, and other lands and revenues, then of the annual value of 44937. 19s. 10 d. Accordingly letters patent were granted by James the First, and these were afterwards confirmed by Act of Parliament, in the fourth year of the reign of Charles the First, and a further exemplification was obtained in the eighth year of George the First. These letters vest the establishment and the property belonging to it, in certain governors; they provide for their election and conduct; confer upon them full power over the master, teachers, or other officers of the hospital, and empower them to increase the number of old gentlemen and children, according to the increase of the revenues. They also charge the governors to bestow their several ecclesiastical preferments belonging to the establishment, upon those scholars only who have been brought up on this foundation, and not to give more than one benefice to any one incumbent. It appears to have been the intention of Mr. Sutton to have presided as master of the hospital; but his health giving way, he nominated the Rev. John Hutton, M. A., vicar of Littlebury, first master on the 30th October, 1611. On the 1st November following, he executed a deed of gift of the estates mentioned in the letters patent, to the governors in trust for the hospital, and on the next day he made his will. He died at Hackney in the following December, at the age of 79. We propose in a separate article, to present a few of the interesting details of the life of this good man. After having changed owners many times, the Chartreux was purchased in 1565 by Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk, for 2500l. He greatly improved this place; and inade it his usual residence ::-some of the buildings erected by him form part of the present establishment. At length it became his prison, for having been committed to the Tower in 1569, he was permitted to return in custody to his own house, the plague at that time raging within the Tower liberties; but soon relapsing While it is admitted by the mass of mankind that into his romantic design of the marriage with the wealth cannot be disposed of more nobly and happily, unhappy Mary Queen of Scots, he was again seized, than by providing for the spiritual and temporal interests and conveyed to his former place of confinement, when of our fellow-creatures, yet the immediate relatives of he lost his head upon the scaffold. His estates too were a founder, not feeling or appreciating his benevolent confiscated, but Queen Elizabeth generously restored motives, are apt to regard with a jealous eye the disthem to the family, the members of which were after-posal of property, on which they conceive they have a wards gratefully remembered by James the First, for the sufferings which they had endured for his mother Queen Mary; and on entering his new capital, on the 7th May, 1604, his Majesty made his first visit to Lord Thomas Howard, at the Chartreux, and was splendidly entertained during four days. His lordship was here created Earl of Suffolk. In May, 1611, the earl sold this estate to Thomas Sutton, Esq., citizen and girdler, for 13,000l. The premises are described as "Howard House, commonly called the Charter-House, consisting of divers courts, a wilderness, orchards, walks, and gardens, with Pardon Church-yard, and two adjoining messuages, called Willbeck, with all the buildings, ways, &c." Stow in his Survey says, that the late dissolved CharterHouse by West Smithfield, as sold by the Earl of Suffolk, was sufficiently known to be a very large and goodly mansion, beautified with spacious gardens, walks, orchards, and other pleasures, enriched with divers dependencies of lands and tenements thereunto belonging, and very aptly seated for wholesome air, and many other commodities.' With the name of Sutton, the history of the present foundation properly commences. The original intention of the munificent and benevolent founder was to erect a hospital upon his estate at Hallingbury Bouchers, in Essex, and an Act of Parliament for that purpose had actually been obtained; but on the completion of this new purchase, he applied to King James the First for *This name (afterwards corrupted into "Charter") was derived from the place where Bruno, the first Carthusian monk, retired from the world, and about the year 1080 founded this order in France. It was situated on a steep rock, in a desert about five leagues from Grenoble; and has given rise to many similar, though inferior foundations in different countries, preserving at the same time its own pre-eminence, by the name of "The Grand Chartreux;" a short account of which is given in the Saturday Magazine, Vol. XVI., p. 201 sort of hereditary claim. Simon Baxter, the nephew and next heir of Mr. Sutton, felt himself thus aggrieved, and instituted a proceeding at common law, to regain possession of the property thus vested to charitable uses. This action was against the executors of the will, to try their right to the lands; but in July, 1612, they filed a bill in Chancery, which was brought to a hearing in the following February, when the action at law was directed to be tried, and a special verdict to be procured. This was accordingly done, and Sir Edward Coke, then chief justice of the Common Pleas, certified that the founder's incorporation was sufficient, good, and effectual in law. The governors held their first meeting on the 30th June, 1613, when they proceeded to assign apartments within the Charter-House for the different officers, and to make various orders. But the statutes for the good government of the hospital were not finally settled until the year 1627; when at an assembly holden on the 21st of June, certain orders were made and signed by the king, Charles the First. These statutes have at different times been altered and modified in some particulars, but they are still laid upon the table at every assembly of the governors, and are strictly observed in all cases wherein no special order to the contrary has been made. The orders, as far as they relate to the school, are as follow :— The scholars of the foundation shall not exceed the number of forty; nor shall any be admitted but such as the schoolmaster shall find and approve to be well entered in learning, answerable to his age at the time of his admit tance. The schoolmaster shall be of twenty-seven years of age at the least, a Master of Arts, of good reputation, both for his life and learning in the Latin and Greek tongues. The usher shall likewise be well qualified for his place, having taken degree of Bachelor of Arts two years at least before his election, aged twenty-four years. And if there be such in either University (no discontinuers), and that have been formerly members of this hospital, they shall, cæteris paribus, be chosen before any others. The schoolmaster shall have charge to admit no poor scholar without one new suit of apparel besides that he wears, two new shirts, three new pairs of stockings, three new pairs of shoes, and books for the form he is to be in, or money to buy them; and, if he fail therein, the charge of repairing the wants, shall be discounted out of his own wages. He shall have certificate, by good proof, from the place whence they came, of the just age of every boy to be admitted, and he shall admit none under the age of ten years and above fourteen, as he will answer the contrary. He shall keep a book of all such admissions, as also of all scholars sent to the university, or trade, with a particular and punctual setting down the day and year of their coming in and going out. They shall keep the accustomed hours of six in summer, and seven in winter, for their coming to school; and eight and three in the forenoon and afternoon for their collations; and of six in summer and winter, if the time of meals will permit, for their leaving off; not failing both morning and evening to begin and end their studies with the Latin prayers and collects now used. He shall read none but approved authors, Greek and Latin, as are read in the best esteemed Free Schools, and to see those of the upper form furnished with Greek Testaments for their use in the chapel. Besides the scholars' weekly exercise, they of the highest form shall every Sunday set up in the great hall four Greek and four Latin verses a-piece, upon any part of the second lesson appointed for that day, for the master of the hospital or any stranger to view and examine:-as also two shall be weekly appointed for reading the chapters, and saying grace at every meal in both the halls. It shall be his care and the usher's charge to teach the scholars to cypher, and cast an accompt, especially those that are less capable of learning, and fittest to be put to trades. He and the usher shall be diligent in the daily attendance on their charge, and shall not journey into the country without the master's leave. Nor shall they take into their tuition above sixty other scholars unless they entertain another under usher out of their own means, and to be dieted and lodged out of the hospital. Nor shall they receive for teaching those of the foundation any fee or wages from their friends. They shall be careful and discreet to observe the nature and ingeny of their scholars, and accordingly instruct and correct them. In correction they shall be moderate; in instruction, diligent: correcting according to the quality of the fault in matter of manners, and according to the capacity of the fault in matter of learning. All other duties of their place they shall faithfully perform; namely, to see that the scholars be of modest and mannerly behaviour, well and decently clothed, orderly and seasonably dieted, cleanly and wholesomely lodged:-and that the matron, butler, tailor, and groom, perform their duties to these purposes, otherwise their tutors to be censured by us the governors, and their servants to be punished by the master of the hospital. We do not pray to inform God of our wants, but to express our sense of the wants which He already knows. As He has not so much made his promises to our necessities, as to our requests, it is resonable that our requests should be made, before we can hope that our necessities will be relieved. God does not promise to those who want that they shall "have," but to those who "ask;" nor to those who need, that they shall "find," but to those who 'seek."-HANNAH MORE. LET those who inquire into religion recollect, that what is above reason is not, therefore, unreasonable; that where difficulties are found, the word of God is the only sufficient arbiter; and that the best means of understanding any single passage of scripture, is to acquire an accurate and long acquaintance with the whole of the sacred volume. HEBER. DRINKING HEALTHS. I. IN no one particular has this country more cause to congratulate itself than in the changes which have taken place among its inhabitants during the present century, in respect to drinking customs. Many of our readers must recollect the period when, among the richer classes, the affording an unlimited facility for, nay a warm encouragement to intoxication at table, was regarded as a sign often esteemed in proportion to the number of bottles of the hospitality of the entertainer, and guests were becoming mere matter of history: the time for remainthey could empty. Happily this state of things is now ing at table has been much abridged; and no one, but some warm admirer of the "good old times," or some young bon-vivant, upon whom reflection and example have not yet produced their due effect, ventures now-aday to boast of his exploits at table; at least, not in decent Nor need these observations be confined to society. these classes; an organized change in this respect has spread far and wide among what have been termed the lower orders of society, which is destined to work out a great moral revolution in their habits and modes of thought: all the effects of this cannot be at this time anticipated or predicted; but one of the number will assuredly be the increase of happiness and health in proportion to the abandonment of practices of a sensual and debasing character in favour of those of an intellectual, moral, and elevated nature. Even the custom of drinking healths seems to be upon the decline, and we have thought that a few historical particulars respecting it will not prove uninteresting to the reader. There can be no doubt that the meeting together of families and friends, at the time of a repast, is a most agreeable and important custom. It has received the sanction and approval of almost all nations, whether savage or civilized. When uncontaminated by excesses it becomes, as has been well observed," one of the most precious ties of society, causing the temporary disappearance of many invidious distinctions and prejudices.' Aristotle regards as contrary to all sociability the custom of the Egyptians of making solitary repasts, and praises the laws of Minos and Lycurgus, which ordered the citizens to eat in common. Many of the customs and ceremonies observed by the Greeks and Romans in drinking at table much resembled those in use in our own times. The poems of Homer prove that from the earliest periods of Grecian history it was customary for the guests to rise and salute each other during the repast. Subsequent writers show us, that the guests were in the habit of circulating a cup in common, and to drink to the health of each other in succession. In the course of time a methodical system of doing this became established. A king or director of the festival, equivalent to the modern chairman, was elected by lot amidst those assembled, that post not being conferred as a matter of course upon the person who gave the entertainment. A cup of wine was at once presented to him which he pressed lightly to his lips, and it was then passed on from person to person. This preliminary was considered as a symbol of that friendship which should prevail upon these occasions. He took care that during the repast the healths of all the individuals present should be drank, for it was considered as a calamity for any one to quit the entertainment without having been pledged. Towards the end of the repast the healths of celebrated persons were drank in a more solemn manner, and the entertainment terminated by libations to the gods and heroes. Music and singing were listened to at intervals. The Romans at first contented themselves with wishing each other's mutual good health while they drank; but after their Asiatic conquests had introduced luxuries and abundance into their capital, much more ceremony and Healths were importance were attached to the custom. drank to the guests, and libations to the gods, these latter however being of a much greater antiquity than the former, as the ancient Romans neither commenced or terminated their repast without invoking their deities, images of whom were often at the time placed upon the tables. In their festivals they did not use the expression of drinking to each other's health, but one analogous to a toast. In private parties they contented themselves while presenting the cup with simply pronouncing the word propino, (as did the Greeks,)" I drink before you;" not as Voltaire observes, as expressing a wish as to the health of the party addressed, but simply as inviting him to follow the example thus set. Sometimes a person challenging another drank a little from his cup, and then send it to his friend to finish, the slave afterwards bringing back the cup to him. On grand occasions both the cups and guests were crowned with flowers, generally roses, the petals being often detached and floating on the wind. This occurred only towards the end of the feast, and in honour of some persons of consanguinity or importance, as relations, patrons, the emperor, &c. Several Bacchanalian customs prevailed at these feasts, one of which was that what we should call the toast should be drunk in as many cups as there were letters in the individual's name; thus, six were assigned for Cæsar, and ten for Germanicus. Men of gallantry paid the same compliment to their mistresses; thus Martial: says; for the early Christians to drink to the memory of the dead; but this being afterwards regarded as an act of idolatry, was anathematized by a council of Nantes, written against by Hincmar, archbishop of Rheims, and forbidden by Charlemagne. The practice was discontinued, and the simple drinking of healths alone permitted. The Church strictly forbade ecclesiastics taking part in noisy festive customs, and especially in drinking healths. A council held at Petricaw, in Poland, prohibits clerks exciting others to drink during their repasts, or even to drink the healths of any one. In the earliest period of our era, when a sovereign or prince wished to honour any one, and testify his consideration for him, he sent to him his own cup with the remainder of the same liquor of which he had himself partaken. An anecdote is told of St. Martin, whe received this honour at the hands of the Emperor Maximus in the fourth century. Before, however, returning the cup to the emperor, he passed it on to his clerk, and he, having drank of it, returned to the emperor, who approved of the boldness of the saint and finished its contents. He esteemed (says Longueva) that holy bishop, for having preferred to all the imperial power a man honoured with the priesthood of Christ: so that every one exclaimed in the palace that Martin had done, at the table of the emperor, what no other bishop would have dared to do at the table even of a petty magistrate. This custom of passing the cup as a mark of nonour Froissart prevailed in France from the earliest times. relates that after the battle of Auray, in 1364, the Count Montfort, having called for a cup of wine to quench his thirst, while yet on the field of battle, Chandos, and other English captains, who had so much con Six cups to Nævia's health go quickly round, And be with seven the fair Justina's crowned. Songs and music were mingled towards the end of the meeting with the praises of those whose healths were drank, yet, even amid their festivities was the barbarous nature of the Romans manifested, for the gladiatorial exhibitions were on some occasions then exhibited. The libations to the gods finished the cere-tributed to his victory, came up to congratulate him; monies. These consisted in throwing wine on the tables or on the ground. Dion Cassius relates that after the battle of Actium the senate decreed that libations should in like manner be offered to Augustus, and after this period several cups were often thus consecrated to different celebrated individuals. The festival terminated by the cup of Mercury, the god of night, the dispenser of sleep and agreeable dreams. Many of the entertainments given by the Romans took place in superb halls. Lucullus had several of these, which bore the names of different deities, and the name mentioned indicated to the servants the expense which was to be incurred for the entertainment. The cost of a supper in the one which bore the name of Apollo was fifty thousand drachmas. Plutarch informs us that Cæsar, after one of his triumphs, entertained the Roman people at twentytwo thousand tables, capable probably of accommodating two hundred thousand persons. It would not seem that the cotemporary pagan nations, called by the Romans Barbarians, as the Celts, the Gauls, Britons, Germans, &c., made use of any ceremonies or libations; but a pitcher of the liquor employed was brought to the common use of the guests, each one saluting his neighbour as he drank from it, and passing it on. All these nations were, however, passionately addicted to feasting. Their entertainments often lasted for several days, and no undertaking of importance was commenced or completed without one of these. By their liberality in providing such feasts, the chieftains frequently acquired maintained their influence. Athenæus describes one given by Arcamnes, a wealthy Gaul, which continued an entire year, during which whoever came was made welcome. The early Christians found no difficulty in adopting the custom of drinking healths, joining, however, with it something of a religious nature, by expressing their wishes for the eternal as well as the temporary felicity of their friends. This religious spirit, however, degenerated, and we find St. Ambrose, in the fourth century, lamenting the various profanities to which the custom of drinking healths had led. It became customary also the count, acknowledging the services he had received at his hand, desired Chandos to drink from his own cup. THE AMMONITE. THIS curious fossil, which derives its name from its resem- Jupiter Ammon, is very abundant in the Grauwacke group, ESTEEM time as your most precious talent, which when you bestow it upon any you give them more than you can understand. All the power of men and angels cannot restore it to you.-M. |