enjoyed no higher title than that of portgrave, or bailiff of

the port.

Even from the days of Cerdic the first king of the West Saxons, down to the present day, Winchester has never been without the honour of possessing a royal palace, nor, till the Revolution, was ever without the happiness of being the place of the monarch's occasional residence. The first Saxon palace we read of was that of Wolvesey, so called some say, in after-times, from the tribute of wolves' heads paid by the Welch there; but this was given by Kenwalch, the son of Kinegilsus, who built it, to Agilbert and his successors, for the episcopal residence. In after-times, besides the stately castle at the top of the city, the ditches of which were sunk to the level with the river which then flowed round it, the king had a magnificent palace between the northern and western gates of the city, in a place where afterwards Edward III. established the woolstapling manufactory. It is true that, after the Confessor, who himself was crowned at Winchester, our monarchs affected to be crowned at Westminster; but this was not on account of any pre-eminence in the place itself, or of its vicinity to London, but merely out of a regard to that just benevolent prince, its founder, whose remains and whose regalia were both preserved there, the latter of which the prejudice of the times seems to have almost consecrated into the sole implements of a legitimate coronation. No doubt, it was with a view of strengthening the defectiveness of his title with this then so important a ceremony, that the jealous Norman caused himself to be crowned anew at each of the three principal festivals of the year, Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas; the first of which, being the greatest, he constantly passed at Winchester, the second at Westminster, and the third at Gloucester. In this practice he was imitated by his successor Rufus.

Finally, that Winchester, long before and long after the Conquest, was the seat of government, appears, Ist, from the public archives being kept there, as Giraldus, Camden, &c. assert; this circumstance is so notorious in regard of Doomsday Book, that from thence it obtained the name of Rotulus Wintoniæ. 2dly, From the Court of Exchequer, of which this book was the principal document, being established there by the Conqueror. 3dly, From the royal treasures being collected thither by the first Norman princes, which, Diceto tells us, Henry I. hastened to seize immedi ately after his coronation. And, lastly, from its possessing the royal mint, as appears by the charter of John to this

effect. I might here mention, that the great seal of England took it origin from this city, and that an office was at first established there by Edward the Confessor for the preservation and use of it.

With the reign of the monarch who derived his surname from Winchester, the precedency of this city may, in a great measure, perhaps, be said to have ended. It had, indeed, suffered a dilapidation in the civil war between the Empress Maud and Stephen, when two hostile armies were actually intrenched, one in the east and the other in the west quarter of it, which it could never afterwards recover; but it was chiefly the increasing commerce and consequence of London, by means of its foreign trade, the spirit of which was introduced at the Conquest, which consequence was still farther augmented by the charters of the Edwards, that gradually reduced Winchester to a condition which allows her little to boast of but her past honours:

Fuimus Troës: fuit Ilium, et ingens

Gloria Teucrorum.

ENEID.

How far, however, the unrestrained rage of increasing the present capital, by draining the provinces of their wealth and inhabitants, of whom indeed London may be called the general grave; how far, I say, this tends to the detriment of the common empire, it is not necessary at present to inquire.

I must not omit, that the struggle for precedency between these two rival cities, Winchester and London, was chiefly manifested, for about two centuries after the Conquest, on the occasion of the king's coronation, or of his solemnly wearing his crown; the question being, which of these cities, in the persons of their magistrates, should officiate then as butlers, and which as clerks of the kitchen. The former post was the more honourable, and probably the more lucrative, as it conferred the honour of presenting wine to the king from a golden cup, and the perquisite of retaining it, together with an ewer of the same metal. This point was so fiercely contested in the year 1269, that it occasioned Henry III. to lay aside his intention of wearing the crown, that he might avoid the necessity of determining this invidious question. But whether it was that the Wintonians, on this occasion, were determined to prove themselves better subjects or better corporation-men, I leave the reader to judge for himself from the following passage I have extracted out of the Annales Wigornienses.

"Anno 1269....... S. Edvardus a veteri feretro in novum translatus est presente Domino Henrico rege, qui secundum edictum suum coronam portare disposuit, sed non portavit. Unde vindicantibus sibi jus et consuetudinem de pincernaria Wintoniæ et Londoniæ civibus, noluit dom. rex ut quis eorum serviret propter discordiam et periculum quod posset imminere, sed jussit utramque partem discumbere, Unde Londonienses indignantes recesserunt; Wintonienses remanserunt comedentes et bibentes in curia, et cum licentia dom, regis recedentes remearunt ad propria."

1788, Nov.

Yours, &c.

J. MILNER.

CXI. Days of Public Commemoration, when and why instituted.

MR. URBAN,

THE most numerous classes of people in every nation are destined to lead a life of activity. Their daily wants, whether natural or artificial, demand frequent gratification; and an adequate supply of necessary sustenance can be procured for the generality by labour only. Amidst the constant succession of new engagements which occupy the man of laborious business, there can be found little Teisure for recollecting past events not immediately connected with his domestic concerns; there can be expected neither inclination nor ability for speculating on the effects derived from causes long ago antecedent. Should there happen then occurrences of a public nature, the remembrance of which it may be important to preserve, the attention of the people must at stated periods be recalled to those circumstances, by some external, visible, perceptible tokens; that so, by repeated appeal made to the most powerful of the senses, an impres sion may be wrought on their minds, and a combination of certain ideas, corresponding with those tokens, may habitually be formed, and strongly operate to the purpose of the

institutor.

Upon some principles of reasoning similar to these, and founded on experience, the chiefs of all clans, and legislators of all countries, have wisely instituted days of commemoration; that so, by connecting the expectation either of rest from common pursuits, or of festive hilarity, or of

solemn ceremony, with certain seasons, they might render either the celebration of the festival, or the observance of the solemnity, habitual; and might thus perpetuate, through succeeding generations, the names of public benefactors, and tradition of public events.

To the kings of the ancient Scythians, who are now the Tartars, were entrusted a plough, a yoke, axe, and bowl, all made of gold, which were said to have fallen from heaven, and were to be preserved with the most religious care. An annual sacrifice was offered to these implements, as they were deemed celestial; and at this ceremony the kings were obliged to assist. The origin of this anniversary arose, no doubt, from the policy of Lipoxais, Arpaxais, and Colaxais, who intended thereby to commemorate the first introduction of husbandry, and to render agriculture an employment honourable and almost sacred. (See Herodot. lib. 4, 5.) With the same view did the king of the Persians partake of a feast with the husbandmen one day in the year; and the custom is still continued, that the Emperor of China, on a particular festival, should hold a plough, and till some few furrows.

To the followers of Mahomet it is thus ordained: "The month of Ramadan shall ye fast, in which the Koran was sent down from heaven." (Sale's K. vol. I. p. 33.) To which fast succeeds the first of their beirams, or principal feasts; and this "is observed in an extraordinary manner, and kept for three days together at Constantinople, and in other parts of Turkey; and in Persia for five or six days, by the common people at least, with great demonstrations of public joy, to make amends, as it were, for the mortification of the preceding month." (Sale's Pref. Disc.)

The inhabitants of Aleppo are said to retain even yet some traces of the solemnities observed in honour of Adonis. Many have conjectured that the name of Adonis, and the rites practised first in lamenting the loss, and then in rejoicing for the recovery of him, are merely symbolical emblems, either of the sun's course, or of the manner in which the fruits of the earth are first buried, and then shoot forth again. But it is more probable, that this object of worship among the Assyrians, Egyptians, and Phonicians, whether he be called Adonis, Osiris, or Bacchus, was some real personage, whose introduction of luxurious improvements among uncivilized people procured him a superstitious regard when living, and an annual commemoration after his decease, though the real cause of his death be veiled in fable:

Thammuz came next behind,

Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur'd
The Syrian damsels to lament his fate
In amorous ditties all a summer's day,
While smooth Adonis from his native rock
Ran purple to the sea, suppos'd with blood
Of Thammuz yearly wounded: &c.

Paradise Lost, b. I. 446.

Newton has very properly illustrated this passage by the account which Maundrel gives of the bloody colour that ap pears annually in the river anciently named Adonis, but now called Ibraham Basa. It escaped his memory to observe, that the ETPAKOYEIAI of Theocritus contains a representation of the pomp and show with which the Adwa were celebrated, The reader may consult the note on v. 112 of the Syracusa, in Warton's edition, a work of much critical and philological merit.

Of all institutions ancient or modern, that which is observed by the native Americans, among some tribes on every tenth year, and among others on every eighth, is the most extraordinary. It is called the Feast of the Dead, or the Feast of Souls. On this occasion there is first a disinterment of all who have died since the last solemnity: the dust of some is collected, the corrupt bodies of others are cleansed; the corpses are carried by their respective friends to their huts, where, in honour of the deceased, a feast is prepared, at which their exploits are celebrated, and all their kind and good offices are affectionately remembered. A general interment of the remains then ensues, and one grave is the receptacle in which all are deposited. A more awful and striking scene cannot be conceived. The Athenians had their funeral orations repeated annually in honour of those who were slain in battle: the Platæans kept a solemn anniversary, and their Archon poured out a goblet of wine to those who had sacrificed their lives for the liberty of Greece: (see Plut. Aristid.) and EAEYOEPIA, or " Games for Liberty," were celebrated by delegates from each city of Greece at Plate every fifth year, in commemoration of the heroes who had defeated Mardonius. These Grecian ceremonies perpetuated sentiments of respect for the deceased, and excited in the people a generous desire of emulating the glorious atchievements which had occasioned such solemnities; yet to the spectators they could not be so interesting as to the Americans is the Feast of Souls, wherein "bones