"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 licen tia 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 la borious business, there can be found little leisure 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 Phoenicians, 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 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 Adania were celebrated. The reader may consult the note on v. 112 of the Syracuse, 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 EAETOEPIA, or "Games for Liberty," were celebrated by delegates from each city of Greece at Platææ 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 hearsed in death," (Haml. Shakesp.) are presented to view; a sight that must raise the most vehement and frantic emotions in the undisciplined breast of artless savages. Athenæus after Berosus, and the upright Alexander ab Alexandro after them, inform us that the Babylonians, every year, for five successive days, celebrated a feast, on which the slaves assumed authority over their masters, and one of them, who on this occasion was distinguished by a regal habit, was chosen to preside over the other domestics, and was called Zafarns, Zogana.-M. Goguet, indeed, (B. VI. c. ii. n.) says, "I would not, however, affirm, that the custom here spoken of had place in the ages now in question. It might have been only an imitation of the Saturnalia, and introduced among the Babylonians after the conquests of Alexander." But as the KPONIA were of very early institu tion, and celebrated at a period when probably the greater part of the customs existing in Greece were imported from the more oriental countries, by the first planters of its colonies, it may with reason be concluded, that the Greeks were the imitators in this particular, and not the Babylonians. Macrobius cites the authority of L. Accius to prove the establishment of the Kona, or Saturnalia, among the Greeks, even before the foundation of Rome: Maxima pars Graiûm Saturno et maxime Athenæ Conficiunt sacra, quæ Cronia esse iterantur ab illis : Eumque diem celebrant : per agros urbesque fere omnes Exercent epulas læti: famulosque procurant Quisque suos: nostrique itidem: et mos traditus illinc Iste, ut cum dominis famuli epulentur ibidem. MACR. Sat. i. 7. edit. Zeunii. These Kgona continued so late as to the times of Lucian and A. Gellius. The latter of these authors tells us the pleasant and liberal manner in which the Roman students, who were at Athens, spent the Saturnalia: they discussed questions of poetry, criticism and philosophy; and to him, who best solved a difficulty proposed, was given a crown of laurel. A. Gell. N. A. 1. 18. c. 2. Lucian has taken occasion from the Kgona to write a Dialogue, a Code of Saturnalian Laws, and three Epistles. In the dialogue, Saturn speaks thus on the effects of gaming with dice: "From hence, many who have a lucky cast have gotten food to satiety. But others, on the contrary, when their vessel has been wrecked on a rock so small as a die, have swum out quite naked.” In his Crono-Solon, or Code of Saturnalian Laws, it is ordained, "Let there be perfect equality among slaves and free, among poor and rich. Let no one be permitted to be angry, or to express dissatisfaction, or to menace. The day before the feast, let some purifying sacrifice be carried round (by the rich), and let them banish from their houses, meanness, avarice, covetousness, and whatever similar vices cohabit with the generality of them." In the second Saturnalian Epistle, to the poor, who had complained of that inequality with which wealth and its appendages are distributed, in consolation it is replied, "Upon the whole, be assured you poor are deceived, and judge not rightly respecting the rich, if you think they are completely happy, and that they only lead a pleasant life-if you knew the fears and anxieties they experience, you would determine to avoid wealth." The third epistle exhorts the rich to a more humane treatment of the poor, and for this sensible and cogent reason, “You cannot inhabit cities, or govern states, unless the poor make part of your body politic, and if they contribute not to your happiness in ten thousand instances." It were to be wished that this satirist had always mixed with his raillery instruction equally salutary with this suggested by the Kona. There was among the Greeks another festival of a similar nature, as to the relaxation which was allowed slaves. The festival of Avberngia was held at Athens for three days, in the month Anthesterion; which, according to Gaza's computation, answers to the latter end of our November, and beginning of December. This was a season of licentiousness and ebriety to the slaves, over whom there was no controul, till, at the expiration of the three days, proclamation was made, Θυραζε καρες, εκ ετ' Ανθεσήρια. Slaves get ye out, the Anthesteria are at an end. See POTTER and ERASM. In imitation of the Keona were instituted the Saturnalia at Rome by Numa Pompilius, whom Plutarch therefore affirms Ελληνικωτέραν γεγονεναι Νομοθετην “ to have been a more humane legislator" than Lycurgus. The Roman law-giver was induced to adopt this festival, either from the equitable persuasion that those, who had laboured to procure the fruits of the earth, should annually enjoy a share of them; or else as a memorial of that equality which prevailed in Saturn's reign, when there was no such distinction as that of master and servant, but all were deemed equal and related. (See Plut. Num. et Lycurg.) The "Libertas Decembris" is well known to every reader of Horace. The delicate satirist, |