218 
grave, and a highly respectable man, 
and I for one wish he may long re- 
main here, and so postpone even the 
commencement of his portion of im- 
mortality to a very distant day. 
1 append the inscription on the pre- 
sent stone. J. M. Lacey. 
Here lie the remains of 
honest Joe Miller, 
who was 
a tender husband, 
a sincere friend, 
a facetious companion, 
and an excellent comedian. 
He departed this life the 15th day of 
. August, 1738, aged 54 years. 
Tf humour, wit, and honesty, could save 
The humrous, witty, honest, from the 
grave, 
‘The grave had not so soon this tenant 
found, 
Whom honesty, and wit, and humour, 
crown’d. 
Could but esteem and love preserve our 
breath, 
And guard us longer from the stroke of 
death, 
The stroke of death on him had later fell, 
Whom all mankind esteem’d and lov’d so 
well. $. DUCK. 
From respect to social worth, 
mirthful qualities, and histrionic excel- 
lence, commemorated by poetic talent in 
humble life, the above inscription, which 
time had nearly obliterated, has been pre- 
‘served, and transferred to this stone, by 
order of Mr. Jarvis Buck, churchwarden, 
A.D. 1816. 
; yee 
Tothe Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
OUR correspondent of July, on 
the Ancient Games and Diver- 
sions of the British People, seems to 
have been led into a mistake by Spel- 
man, in supposing that our country 
wakes were derived from apparently 
an unknown Saxon word vak, which 
signified drinking. Our wakes and 
fairs. corresponded with the Latin 
vigilie and feria. The Saxon wacian 
is the Gothic waka, to wake, to watch; 
and a wake was originally a sitting-up 
with a corpse until it was interred, or 
a passing the night previous to some 
religious festival in mirth and feasting, 
which is the French veill/e, from Latin 
vigilia. The Gothic vauk, Anglo-Saxon 
vae, vec, signified a vigil, and also a 
watch or guard; and produced the 
Swedish bewak, German bewach, lite- 
rally be awake or on the watch, which 
the French pronounce bivouac, now a 
military term for remaining on guard 
Derivatives.— Actual State of the Greek Islands. 
[Oct. 1, 
during the night. The same amusing 
paper contains also a small etymolo- 
gical error concerning the word was- 
sail. The Anglo-Saxon wes hale, wes 
thu hale, be hale, be thou hale, is 
from the regular verb wesen, to be, 
which in English is used only in the 
preterit tense. T. 
— 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
The AcTUAL sTATE of the GREEK 
ISLANDS; by MARKAKY ZALLONI, @ 
native of TINOS, physician to PRINCE 
ALEXANDER SU2ZZO. 
(Concluded from our last, p. 116.) 
RY. the peasant cannot be 
persuaded to quit the spot that 
gave him birth without the prospect of 
some great advantage; and it is with 
the utmost difficulty that a well-bred 
female is prevailed upon to marry out 
of the island ; and, even then, she ne- 
ver sells, but reserves her patrimony, 
in the hope of enjoying it some future 
day. Inthis island neither Turks, nor 
Jews, or Armenians, are to be seen. 
The Latin Catholics are inferior in 
number to the Greek Christians; and 
the inhabitants form three classes,— 
the nobles, the citizens, and the pea- 
santry. The first class, full of pride 
and hauteur, disdains the other two; 
the second is distinguished by its mild- 
ness and urbanity ; and the third, with 
the manners of the lower classes, still 
possesses some civility and politeness 
in their habits. The women of 'Tinos 
generally live to a greater age than 
the men, who, notwithstanding, pre- 
serve their strength and vigour to a 
“considerable period. The fecundity 
of the female is remarkable; mothers 
suckle their own children. Here are 
few unnatural births: on the contrary, 
the kindness of nature is such, that 
there are no professed accouchenrs in 
the island. A few ignorant women, 
very proud of their profession, answer 
all the purposes for which they are 
wanted. 
The clergy of both churches are nu- 
merous, and parishes of sixty-six vil- 
lages are served by their curates, 
whose salaries are very trifling. 
The young people, till the period of 
their marriage, remain in absolute de- 
pendance upon their parents, who ne- 
ver permit them to drink wine or 
spirits before they are twenty or twen- 
ty-five years of age. Cards and other 
games are also severely prohibited ; 
their education in general, however, 
is badly managed, and of course fails 
is 
