1805.] ( 147 ) 



ExtraHs from the Portfolio of a Man of Letters. 



SAINT ROMUALD. 



IN the Monthiy Magazine (vol. xi. p. 

 501), fome inquiries concerning St. 

 Rumald, or Rumbold, are anfwered by 

 ftating, that a child of that name, born at 

 King's Sutton, was canonized. This 

 may be j but there is a far more celebrat. 

 ed faint of the name, of whom Muratori 

 thus fpeaks in the " Anr.als of Italy," 

 under the year 1010 : — "In quefti tempi 

 per la Tofcana fpezialmente, e pel ducato 

 ili Spoleti, San RomoalJo, abbate, fpar- 

 geva odore di gran fantita, edificava mo- 

 nafteri, e dilatava Tordine religiofi,che fi 

 chiamo Camaldolenfe." This faint, the 

 Bencdiftine reformtr, was promoted by 

 the Emperor Henry of Germany to be 

 abbot of the monailery of St. Adalberto, 

 in Ravenna, He lived to the unufual age 

 of 120, if one may credit the ♦' Vita S. 

 Romuaidi" of PetmsDiaconus. 



MARBLED-SOAr. 



Some years ago (vol. xv. p. 3*5) ""^ 

 of your Correfpondents inquired concern- 

 ing the make of marbled-foap, and ex- 

 prelTed a little difpleafure at the privacy 

 affefled by a foap-boiler to whom he had 

 applied for a defcription of the procefs. — 

 I do not perceive that the folicited infor. 

 tnation has ever bten communicated. I 

 know little of the matter ; but, when a 

 boy at fchool, I was in the habit of vifit- 

 ing at the houfe of a kinfman who manu- 

 faftured marbled-foap, and in whofe 

 work-rooms I have occafionally feen this 

 fubftance made. What I recollefl is this. 

 The fragments of white-foap which broke 

 cfF in the cutting it up for fale, were 

 thrown together in a binn. When boil- 

 ing-days were at hand, thefe fragments 

 were minced with a femicircular job- 

 knife, fuch as is uftd to fever whole 

 cheefes, and reduced nearly to the form in- 

 to which a cook chops fuet on a trencher. 

 Thefe dice of foap were next thrown pro- 

 mifcuoufly into the trough, or cooler, 

 where the next foap was to be refrigerated 

 and moulded. Into the kettle, or copper, 

 of hot foap, a certain quantity, fometimes 

 of cinnabar, and fometimes of pounded 

 indigo, was flung and (tirred up. The li- 

 quid hot foap, thus itained, was then 

 poured on the cold fragments, whole 

 edges it blunted and melted off, and wholie 

 inteiftices it filled up. When cold, a ho- 

 mogeneous mal's liad been formed, which 

 wu a beautifully inaibUd foap. 



DATE OF THE FIRST BOOK OF MACCA- 

 BEES. 



Calmet, Michaelis, and Eichhorn, are 

 at a lofs for the date of the firit book of 

 Maccabees. Among the fymptomatic 

 palTages which they plead in behalf of 

 their refpeftive fuppofitions, no mention 

 is made of the fixteenth verfe of the eighth 

 chapter : yet this verfe nearly decides the 

 quelHon. Speaking of the Romans, it 

 ebferves, " That they conimitted their 

 government to one man every year, who 

 ruled over all their country, and that all 

 were obedient to that ore, and that there 

 was neither envy nor emulation among 

 them." 



This defcription is not true of any pe- 

 riod during the Rom.in republic ; foe 

 then they had two confuls evuy year. — ■ 

 It is not true of the di6latorfliip of Julius 

 Ca;far; for that was not lenewed annu- 

 ally. It is not true of the interval domi- 

 neered by a triumvirate ; nor is it true of 

 any sera fubfequent to the alTumption of 

 the augull and imperial titles by Oftavius, 

 for thefe were conferred for ten years. It 

 applies only to that (hort period interven- 

 ing between the battle of Allium and the 

 acceptance of the emperorfhip ; while 

 Auguftus was yearly re-appointed thief 

 conful, and united in appearance the cha- 

 rafters of an annual and of a fole magif- 

 trate. 



The author of the firft book of Macca- 

 bees therefore obtained his ideas of the 

 Roman world during the four or five years 

 immediately fucceeding the battle of Ac- 

 tium J unlefs perhaps the impreffionfoitu- 

 dioufly made during thefe years continued 

 to prevail throughout the reign of Auguf- 

 tus in Egypt and the remote provinces, 

 which were flow in finding out that the 

 fenate had accepted a perpetual mafter. 



ORir.IN OF CHRISTMAS. 



Gibbon (vol. ii. p. 326) takes part 

 with thefe antiquaries who fuppole our 

 Chriftmas to have originated in the Pagan 

 Brunialia, or celebration of the winter- 

 folflice J this dilaccords with the precile 

 date. Is it not more probable that the 

 Jewifli feftival ordained by Judas Macca- 

 baeus (i Maccabees, iv. 59.) in honour 

 of the dedication of the altar, fliould have 

 become a Chrittian rite .> This feflival 

 took place on the twenty-fifth of thq n'onth 

 Caflem, which, as it nearly coincided with 

 December, would be in tranfkted. 



DIAPERS. 



