} city being there joined by Sir Robert Knolles, and a body of well armed veteran soldiers, who had been secretly drawn together, he strictly prohibited that officer from falling on the rioters, and committing an undistinguished slaughter upon them: and he peaceably dismissed them with the same charters which had been granted to their fellows. Soon after, the nobility and gentry, hearing of the king's danger, in which they were all involved, flocked to London with their adherents and retainers; and Richard took the field at the head of an army 40,000 strong. It then behoved all the rebels to submit. The charters of enfranchisement and pardon were revoked by parliament; the low people were reduced to the same slavish condition as before; and several of the ringleaders were severely punished for the late disorders: some were even executed without process or form of law. 17. SAINT ALBAN. St. Alban, the first Christian martyr in this island, suffered in 303. He was converted to Christianity by Amphialus, a priest of Caerleon in Monmouthshire, who, flying from persecution, was hospitably entertained by St. Alban, at Verulam, in Hertfordshire, now called, from him, St. Albans. Amphialus being closely pursued, made his escape, dressed in St. Alban's clothes. This, however, being soon discovered, exposed St. Alban to the fury of the Pagans; and our saint refusing to perform the sacrifice to their gods, was first miserably tortured, and then put to death. *19. 1215.-MAGNA CHARTA SIGNED. 20.—TRANSLATION OF EDWARD, King of the West Saxons. Edward, being barbarously murdered by his mother-in-law, was first buried at Warham, without any solemnity; but, after three years, was carried by Duke Alferus to the minster of Shrewsbury, and there interred with great pomp. 21-LONGEST DAY. This day is, in London, 16 h. 34 m. 5 s., allowing 9 m. 16 s. for refraction. *21. 1377.-RICHARD II BEGAN TO REIgn. He was violent in his temper, profuse in his expenses, fond of idle show and magnificence, devoted to favourites, and addicted to pleasure; passions, all of them, the most inconsistent with a prudent economy, and consequently dangerous in a limited and mixed government. Had he possessed the talents of gaining, and, still more, of overawing his great barons, he might have escaped all the misfortunes of his reign, and been allowed to carry much further his oppres sions over his people, if he really was guilty of any without their daring to rebel or even murmur against him. But when the grandees were tempted, by his want of prudence and rigour, to resist his authority, and execute the most violent enterprises upon him, he was naturally led to seek for an opportunity of retaliation; justice was neglected; the lives of the chief nobility sacrificed; and all these evils seem to have proceeded more from a settled design of establishing arbitrary power, than from the insolence of victory, and the necessities of the king's situation.-Hume. · *22. 1476.-BATTLE OF MORAT. Not far from Morat, a considerable town of Switzerland, a celebrated battle was fought, in which the heroic Swiss nearly destroyed the entire army of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. On the high road, there was formerly a chapel filled with the bones of the Burgundian soldiers, who were slain at the siege of the town and in the battle. Lord Byron, who visited this spot in 1816, observes,' The chapel is destroyed, and the pyramid of bones diminished to a small number by the Burgundian legion in the service of France, who anxiously effaced this record of their ancestors' less successful invasions. A few still remain notwithstanding the pains taken by the Burgundians for ages (all who passed that way removing a bone to their own country), and the less justifiable larcenies of the Swiss postilions, who carried them off to sell for knife-handles, a purpose for which the whiteness imbibed by the bleaching of years had rendered them in great request. Of these relics I ventured to bring away as much as may have made the quarter of a hero; for which the sole excuse is, that, if I had not, the next passer-by might have perverted them to worse uses than the careful preservation which I intend for them.' The following lines on this subject are from the 63d and 64th stanzas of the third canto of Childe Harold: There is a spot should not be passed in vain,— Themselves their monument ;-the Stygian coast 24.-ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, and MIDSUMMER DAY. This festival is first noticed by Maximus Tauricensis, who lived about the year 400. According to Bourne, strange divinations were formerly used on the vigil of this day: Men and women were accustomed to gather together in the evening by the sea side, or in some certain houses, and there adorn a girl, who was her parent's first begotten child, after the manner of a bride. Then they feasted, and leaped after the manner of bacchanals, and danced and shouted as they were wont to do on their holidays; after this they poured into a narrow-necked vessel some of the sea water, and put also into it certain things belonging to each of them; then, as if the devil gifted the girl with the faculty of telling future things, they would inquire with a loud voice about the good or evil fortune that should attend them: upon this the girl would take out of the vessel the first thing that came to hand, and show it, and give it to the owner, who, upon receiving it, was so foolish as to imagine himself wiser, as to the good or evil fortune that should attend him.’—See also T. T. for 1814, pp. 142-146; and our last volume, p. 164. 29.-SAINT PETER. Peter's original name, Simon, was not abolished by Christ, but that of Cephas was added to it, which, in Syriac, the vulgar language of the Jews, signifies a stone or rock; hence the Greek Пérpos, and our Peter. The apostle's father was Jonah, probably a fisherman of Bethsaida. His brother Andrew, being first converted, was said to be an instrument of Peter's conversion, John i, 40, 41. Astronomical Occurrences In JUNE 1818. THE Sun enters Cancer at 25 m. past 2 in the morning of the 22d of this month; and his rising and setting for the same period will be as stated in the following TABLE Of the Sun's Rising and Setting for every Fifth Day. June 1st, Sun rises 53 m. after 3. Sets 7 m. after 8 6th, 49 3. 11 8 46 3. 14 44 3. 43 44 11th, 16th, 21st, 26th, 3. 3. · 17 16 8 8 Equation of Time. When it is required to find mean or true time from apparent time, as marked on a good sun-dial, the quantities contained in the following table must be subtracted from or added to those given by the dial for every fifth day of the month. Find the quantities corresponding to the intermediate times by proportion. TABLE. m. s. Monday, June 1st, from the time by the dial subtract 2 40 1 51 Tuesday, - 16th, to the time by the dial add June 14th, at 22 m. past 8 at night. 15th, 16 9 16th, 14 17 31 17th, Moon's Passage over the Meridian. The Moon may be seen on the first meridian, if the weather be favourable, at the following suitable times for observation; viz. 10 11 3. morning. 4 0 55 0 7 1 11 2 15 Eclipses of Jupiter's Satellites. The eclipses of Jupiter's first and second satellites during this month will be as follow:→ |