For the august ceremonies performed at Rome on this day, Whitsuntide, and other great festivals, we refer to T. T. for 1815, p. 165. The magnificent ceremony of the Resurrection, at Moscow, is also described at p. 90 of the same volume. A variety of old English customs observed at Easter are mentioned in T. T. for 1814, pp. 82-84.

15, 16.-EASTER MONDAY AND TUESDAY.

Every day in this week was formerly observed as a religious festival, sermons being preached and the sacrament administered. In many places, servants were permitted to rest from their usual employments, that they might constantly attend public worship. During fifteen days, of which the paschal solemnity consisted, the courts of justice were shut, and all public games, shows, and amusements, were prohibited: it is unnecessary to observe, that this practice has long ceased, and that the Easter week is usually devoted to relaxation and amusement; this is parti cularly the case at Moscow, and in Catholic countries. See T. T. for 1815, p. 93.

The 16th of April is commemorated by the Jews, on account of the death of Eli the High-priest and his two sons, and the loss of the Ark.

19. SAINT ALPHEGE.

A native of England, Alphege was first Abbot of Bath, then Bishop of Winchester, in the year 984, and, twelve years afterwards, Archbishop of Canterbury. In the year 1012, the Danes being disappointed of some tribute money which they claimed as due to them, they entered Canterbury, and burnt both the city and church, and the greater part of the inhabitants were put to the sword. After seven months' miserable imprisonment, the good archbishop was stoned to death at Greenwich.

21.-LOW SUNDAY.

It was a custom among the primitive Christians, on the first Sunday after Easter-day, to repeat some

part of the solemnity of that grand festival'; whence this Sunday took the name of Low Sunday, being celebrated as a feast, though in a lower degree. In Latin, this day is called Dominica in Albis, or rather post Albas (i. e. depositas), that is, the Sunday of taking off the chrysoms, or white robes; because those who were baptized on Easter-eve now laid aside these garments, and deposited them in the churches, to be used as evidence against them, if they should at any time violate or deny that faith which they had professed at their baptism.

23. SAINT GEORGE.

This illustrious saint, termed, by the Greeks, the 'great martyr,' was born in Cappadocia, of noble Christian parents. He was strong and robust in body, and, having embraced the profession of a soldier, was made a tribune or colonel in the army under Dioclesian: his courage and constancy soon induced the emperor to promote him. But that prince having declared war against the Christian religion, St. George laid aside the marks of his dignity, threw up his commission and posts, and complained to the emperor himself of his severities and bloody edicts. He was immediately cast into prison, and tried first by promises; and afterward put to the question, and tortured with great cruelty: but nothing could shake his constancy. The next day he was led through the city and beheaded, in the year 290. Under the name and ensign of St. George, Edward III, in 1330, instituted the most noble order of knighthood in Europe. See T. T. for 1815, p. 124.

25.-SAINT MARK.

St. Mark's Gospel was written in the year 63. The order of Knights of St. Mark at Venice, under the protection of this evangelist, was instituted in the year 737, the reigning doge being always grand master their motto was, Pax tibi, Marce, Evangelista Meus.'

On the 25th of April, or 15th day of Nisan, is ce

lebrated the Jewish festival of the Passover, or the Paschal Lamb, according to the directions given in the twelfth chapter of Exodus from the third to the twentieth verse, beginning with the words, Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, in the tenth day of this month (Nisan) they shall take to them every man a lamb without blemish, a male of the first year.' On this occasion, every house was not only ordered to provide a lamb to be killed on the fourteenth day in the evening, but its blood was to be sprinkled on the door-posts, and the lamb eaten by the people in their travelling attire, because it was known, that, in consequence of the dreadful plagues, the Egyptians would send them forth in haste. They were also ordered to take of the blood, and strike it on the two side-posts of the door, and on the upper door-post of their houses, in order that, when the destroying angel passed through to smite all the first-born of the land of Egypt, seeing this blood, he would pass over the children of Israel, so that the plague should not be upon them to destroy them. This feast of the Paschal Lamb, or the Passover, was therefore ordered to be kept throughout all generations, by an ordinance, for ever.

This festival is also called the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is commanded to be eaten seven days: -the particular precepts for its observance are to be found in the twelfth chapter of Exodus, from the fifteenth to the twentieth verses. The prohibition against eating any kind of leavened bread, during seven days, is enforced from several considerations, but, principally, because on this self-same day the Lord brought the armies of the Israelites out of the land of Egypt; and because whoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger or born in the land.

In order that the wonderful deliverance of the Israelites should be perpetuated for ever by the Jewish

nation, it was commanded that the Paschal lamb should be killed yearly on the fourteenth day of Nisan, which they now call Erev Pasach, or Passover Eve. This is the season during which, instead of bread, Passover cakes only are eaten. It is proper to add to the Scripture account, that, after the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews found it requisite to make a law that the first two days of the Passover should be kept with peculiar strictness, instead of one; and, also, on the seventh and eighth days, instead of ending on the seventh; so that, according to this regulation, the Passover is now kept eight days. All the other festivals which, before that time, were celebrated only one day, are now ordered to be observed two days, Yom Kipur, or the Day of Atonement, excepted; and this is still celebrated, as originally commanded, from eve to eve.

Among the antient Jews at Jerusalem, it was customary, when criminals had been condemned to death, to reserve them for execution till the celebration of the most solemn feasts, of which there were three in the year; viz. the Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Then, when the Jews came up to Jerusalem to sacrifice, these malefactors were executed, in order that all Israel might see and fear.

History of Astronomy.

[Continued from p. 82.]

Astronomy of Modern Europe.

Ir is, says La Place, to the Arabians that modern Europe is indebted for the first rays of light that dissipated the darkness in which it had been enveloped during twelve centuries. They transmitted to us the treasures of knowledge which they received from the Greeks, who were themselves disciples of the Egyptians but, by revolutions not uncommon in

the history of the world, though greatly to be deplored by those who are attached to the principles of true knowledge, and who wish well to the progress of the human mind, the arts and sciences disappeared among all those nations almost as soon as they had communicated them to others. Despotism has, for a long series of years, extended its barbarism over those beautiful regions in which science first had its origin; and those names which formerly rendered their countries illustrious, are now unknown even to them.

Alphonso, King of Castile, who has been surnamed the Wise, on account of his attachment to and patronage of literature and science, was one of the first sovereigns who encouraged the revival of astronomy in Europe. This department of true knowledge can reckon but few such zealous protectors as this prince. He understood astronomy, philosophy, and history, and he himself composed books upon the motions of the heavens, which led the historian to exclaim,

• What can be more sur

prising than that a prince, educated in a camp, and handling arms from his childhood, should have such a knowledge of the stars, of philosophy, and of the transactions of the world, as men of leisure can scarcely acquire in their retirements? There are extant some books of Alphonso on the motions of the stars, and the history of Spain, written with great skill and incredible care.' In his astronomical studies he discovered that the tables of Ptolemy were full of errors, and thence he conceived the resolution of correcting them. For this purpose, about the year 1240, and during the life of his father, he assembled at Toledo the most skilful astronomers of his time, Christians, Moors, and Jews, when a plan was formed for constructing new tables. La Place observes, on this subject, that he was but ill seconded by the astronomers whom he had assembled, and that the tables which they published did not an