MARTILMAS TIDE. 



32 i 



NOV. 16. St. Edmund, bishop of Canterbury, 

 A.D. 1242. 

 St. Eucherius, bishop of Lyons, 460. 



Obs. St. Edmund, whose family name was Ricli, was a nafive of Abimrdou 

 in Berkstiire. His paieiils were very devout people, and tau;!lit him early to 

 ilespise the world and its transitory honours. How grievously, says Butler, 

 are those foolish parents the spiritual murdrers of their own cliildren who 

 bring them uu to place their happiness in the gratification of their passions, 

 and who oy pampering their humours and caprices render their appetites iii- 

 controlaliie, and themselves unfit for the duties of penance and the labours of 

 life. Butler then i;oes on to give his readers the edifying particulars of the 

 austere and laborious life of St. Edmund, who at length, after manv travels 

 and labours iu the cause of the Catholic faith, was made Archbishop of Canter- 

 bury, but retire, before he died to the Cistercian abbey of Pontigny in 

 Champagne, and afterwards to Soissy, where he died after a short illness add 

 the holy oils. His death was without pain or convulsions, calmly expiring in 

 the midst of his last prayers, and never interrupting, as it seemed, from jllness, 

 those holy exercises which conducted his happy soul to the eternal mansions of 

 the blessed Saints and Angels, there and with them to continue the same 

 praises world without end. His inteicession has been powerfully exerted 

 since his death ; and, among other things, Steplien the historian is recorded to 

 have got rid of a violent toothache by his prayers. His reliques are enshrined 

 and kept in his convent. 



African Hemp Sanseiviera Guineanad. 



The Robin Redbreast Sylvia rubecolu now approaches more closely to the 

 habitations of man, and amuses us with its familiarity. In open mild wea- 

 ther, when we are digging up the earth in the garden or field, this little bird 

 comes and hops upon tlie newly turned up mould inquest of some small insects 

 on which it feeds, and seems to come tearlessly within a few inches of the 

 spade. In frosty weather this is the first bird to appear tapping with his bill 

 against the windows for food. 



Our notice yesterday of the origin of Clocks brings to our mind the follow, 

 ing lines : 



On Midnight in a Cloisler. 



All is now hush'd, except the deepening tones 



Of Abbey Clock striking the pon.ierous Bell, 



That even shakes the sear leaves from the spray, 



And tells the hour of midnight: darkness now 



Keigiis o'er the plain triumphant ; not a branch 



Of you long avenue of massie trees 



Moves to the breath of heaven ; the woods are still. 



That Flies might slumber on the topmost boughs, 



And such the constitution of the aire, 



That even the tingling of the Vestal's Beads, 



Escaping fiom her cell, might greete the ears 



Ot the lorn Palmer wending on his waye ! 



Who, startling at the votive sound, would stop. 



And liend beneath some spreading beachen shade 



In solemn silence, to put up bis prayers 



To the pure Virgin Mother of our Lord, 



And piay tier kind protection while he takes 



The sweet refreshment of a little sleepe, 



Till the shrill Cock proclaim another day. 



Thus may we all at lyife's last midnight hour, 



Faithful, tho' weary of our pilgrimage. 



While the sad Passing Bell is yet our l lock, 



In confidence invoke thy tender care, 



spotless Virgin, through the lethe posse 



That leads to our last penance. how soon 



The Angels' trump will be my morning Cock, 



And the great Judgment Day will dawn ; the last 



That t:locks can measure, or that Time can span. 



The blissful portal of Eternity. 



