way of crucifying by fastening the criminal with nails, one through each hand, and one through both feet, or one through each of them; for this was not always performed in the same manner. The ancients sometimes represent Jesus Christ crucified with four nails, and some. times with three. The criminal was fixed to the cross quite naked, and în all probability the Saviour of the world was not used with any greater tenderness than others upon whom this punishment was inflicted. The soldiers divided his clothes among, them, and cast lots for his tunic, which is an under garment worn over the skin like a shirt. The text of the gospel shews clearly that Jesus Christ was fastened to the cross with nails; and the Psalmist, xxii. 16, had foretold long before, that they should pierce his hands and his feet; but there are great disputes concerning the number of these nails. The Greeks represent our Saviour as fastened to the cross with four nails, (in which Gregory of Tours agrees with them,) one at each hand. and foot. But several are of opinion that our Saviour's hands and feet were pierced with three nails only; viz, one at each hand, and one through both his feet; and the custom of the Latins is rather for this last opinion, for the generality of the old crucifixes made in the Latin churches have only three nails.

Normus thinks that our Saviour's arms were besides bound fast to, the cross with chains; and St. Hilary speaks of the cords wherewith he was tied to it. Sometimes they who were fastened upon the cross lived a long while in that condition. St. Andrew is said to have continued three days alive upon it. Eusebius speaks of certain martyrs in Egypt who were kept upon the cross till they were starved to death. Pilate was amazed at Jesus Christ's dying so soon; because naturally he must have lived longer, if it had not been in his power to lay down his life, and take it up again. The thighs of the two thieves who were crucified with our Saviour, were broken, to hasten their death, that their bodies might not remain upon the cross on the sabbathday, and to comply with the law of Moses, which forbids the bodies to be left there after sun-set. But among other nations, they were suffered to remain upon the cross a long time. Sometimes they were devoured alive by birds and beasts of prey. Guards were appointed to observe that none of their friends or relations should take them down and bury them. The Roman soldiers who had crucified Jesus Christ and the two thieves, continued near the crosses till the bodies were taken down and buried.

MODES OF SALUTATION IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. GREENLANDERS have none, and laugh at the idea of one person being inferior to another.

Islanders near the Philippines take 'a person's hand or foot, and

rub it over their face.

Laplanders apply their noses strongly against the person they salute. In New Guinea they place leaves upon the head of those they salute.

In the Straits of the Sound they raise the left foot of the person they salute, passing it gently over the right leg, and thence over the

face.

The inhabitants of the Philippines bend very low, placing their hands on their cheeks, and raise one foot in the air with the knee bent.

An Ethiopian takes the robe of another and ties it about him, so as to leave his friend almost naked.

Two female Otaheitans placed themselves in a state of nudity before Sir Joseph Banks.

The Japanese take off a slipper, and the people of Arracan their sandals, in the street, and their stockings in the house, when they salute.

The Negro kings on the coast of Africa salute by snapping their middle finger three times.

The inhabitants of Caramania, when they would shew a particular attachment, open a vein, and present the blood to their friend as a beverage.

If the Chinese meet after a long separation, they fall on their knees, bend their face to the earth two or three times, and use many other affected modes. The Chinese have also a kind of ritual, or formulary, of compliments, by which they regulate the number of bows, genuoccasion. Ambassadors flections, and words, to be used on any practise forty days these ceremonies before they appear at court. In Otaheite they rub their noses together in saluting. The Dutch, who are considered as great eaters, have a morning Snaalkelyk eeten ;" salutation, which is common amongst all ranks: " "May you eat a hearty dinner." Another universal salutation this people is, "Hoe vaart awe ?"-How do you sail?" adopted, no doubt, in the early periods of the republic, when they were all navigators and fishermen.

among

The usual salutation at Cairo is, "How do you sweat?" a dry hot skin being a sure indication of a destructive ephemeral fever.

I think some author has observed, in contrasting the haughty Spaniard with the frivolous Frenchman, that the proud steady gait and inflexible solemnity of the former were expressed in his mode of salutation: "Come esta?". "How do you stand?" Whilst the "Comment vous portez vous?"-How do you carry yourself?" was expressive of the gay motion and incessant action of the latter.

The common salutation in the southern provinces of China, amongst the lower orders, is, “Ya fan ?" "Have you eaten your rice?"

Parke says, in his Travels in Africa, " A young woman (his intended bride) brought a little water in a calabash, and kneeling down before him, desired him to wash his hands; when he had done this, the girl, with the tear of joy sparkling in her eyes, drank the water; this being considered as the greatest proof she could give of her fidelity and attachment."

ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN AND OFFICE OF CARDINAL.

A CARDINAL is one of the chief governors of the Romish church. The cardinals compose the pope's council or senate; in the Vatican is a constitution of pope John, which regulates the rights and titles of the cardinals; and which declares, that as the pope represents Mo

ses, so the cardinals represent the 70 elders, who, under the pontifical authority, decide private differences. Cardinals, in their first institution, were only the principal priests of the parishes of Rome. In the primitive church, the chief priest of a parish, next the bishop, was called presbyter cardinalis, to distinguish him from the other petty priests, who had no church. The term was first applied to them in A. D. 150; others say, 300. Under pope Gregory, cardinal priests and deacons were only such as had a church or chapel under their care; and thus was the original use of the word. Leo IV. in the council of Rome, held in 853, calls them presbyteros sui cardinis; and their churches, parochias cardinales. The cardinals continued on this footing till the eleventh century; but as the grandeur of his holiness became exceedingly augmented, he would have his councils of cardinals make a better figure than the ancient priests had done. It was a good while, however, before they had the precedence over bishops, or got the election of the pope into their hands; but they soon after got the red hat and purple, and became at length superior to the bishops, by the sole quality of being cardinals.

Others

Du Cange observes, that originally there were three kinds of churches: the first, or genuine churches, were properly called parishes; the second, deaconries, which were chapels joined to hospitals, and served by deacons; the third, oratories, where private masses were said, and were discharged by local and resident chaplains. He adds, that to distinguish the principal churches from the chapels and oratories, the name cardinales was given them. Accord- ́ ingly, parish churches gave titles to cardinal priests; and some chapels also, at length, gave the titles to cardinal deacons. are of opinion, that the title was given not only to priests, but likewise to such bishops and deacons as were attached to certain churches, to distinguish them from those who only served them en passant, and by commission. Titular churches, or benefices, were a kind of parishes, i. e. churches assigned each to a cardinal priest, with some stated district, and a font for administering baptism, in cases where the bishop himself could not do it. These cardinals were subordinate to the bishops; and accordingly, in councils, particularly that held at Rome in 868, subscribed after them. It was not,' however, only at Rome, that priests bore this title, for there were cardinal priests in France; thus the curate of the parish of St. John de Vignes is called in old charters the cardinal priest of that parish. The title is also given to some bishops,-quatenus bishops, e. g. to those of Mentz and Milan; the archbishop of Bourges is also, in ancient writings, called cardinal. The sacred college consists of seventy cardinals, divided into three classes, viz. bishops, priests, and deacons. The cardinal bishops, who are the pope's vicars, bear the titles of the bishoprics assigned to them; the rest take such titles as are given them; the number of cardinal bishops has been fixed, but that of cardinal priests and deacons, and consequently the sacred college itself, has often fluctuated. Till 1125, the college, only consisted of fifty-two or fifty-three; the council of Constance, reduced them to twenty-four; but Sixtus IV., about 1480, raised them again to fifty-three, and Leo X. to sixty-five. Thus, as!

the number of cardinal priests were anciently fixed to twenty-eight, new titles were to be established, in proportion as new cardinals were created. The cardinal deacons were originally no more than seventeen, for the fourteen quarters of Rome; but they were afterwards increased to nineteen, and after that were again diminished. Pope Pius IV. enacted, in 1562, that the pope should be chosen only by the senate of cardinals, exclusive of the clergy, in the time of Alexander III. in 1160. Others go higher still, and say, that Nicholas II. having been elected at Sienna, in 1058, by the cardinals alone, occasioned the right of election to be taken from the clergy and people of Rome; only leaving them that of confirming him by their consent, which was at length likewise taken from them. At the creation of a new cardinal, the pope performs the ceremony of opening and shutting his mouth; which is done in a private consistory. The shutting his mouth implies the depriving him of the liberty of giving his opinion in congregations; and the opening his mouth, which is performed fifteen days after, signifies the taking off this restraint. If the pope happens to die during the time a cardinal's mouth is shut, he can neither give his voice in the election of a new pope, nor be himself advanced to that dignity..

The dress of a cardinal is a red soutanne, a rocket, a short purple mantle, and a red hat. The cardinals began to wear the red hat at the council of Lyons, in 1243. The decree of pope Urban VIII. where by it is appointed, that the cardinals be addressed under the title of Eminence, is dated 1630; till then, they were called Illustrussimi. When cardinals are sent to the courts of princes, it is in quality of legates-a-latere; and when they are appointed governors of towns, their government is called by the name of legation.

THIS is the name of a superstitious custom observed in the Highlands of Scotland. "It is," says Mr. Pennant, in his Tour, "a kind of rural sacrifice performed by the herdsmen of every village on the 1st of May. They cut a square trench in the ground, leaving the turf in the middle; on that they make a fire of wood, on which they, dress a large sandell of eggs, butter, oatmeal, and milk; and bring, besides the ingredients of the caudle, plenty of beer and whisky, for each of the company must contribute something. The rites begin with spilling some of the caudle on the ground, by way of libation; on that, every one takes a cake of oatmeal, upon which are raised nine square knobs, each dedicated to some particular being, the supposed preserver of their floeks and herds, or to some particular animal, the real destroyer of them each person then turns his face to the fire, breaks off a knob, and, flinging it over his shoulder, says, This I give to thee, preserve thou my horses; this to thee, preserve thou my sheep; and so on. After that they use the same ceremony to the noxious animal. This I give to thee, O fox, spare thou my lambs; this to thee, O hooded crow; this to thee, O eagle! When the ceremony is over, they dine upon the caudle, and after the feast is finished, what is left, is had by two persons for that

purpose; but on the next Sunday they reassemble, and finish the relics of the first entertainment.

- Dr. James Robertson, minister of Callander, gives a very different and seemingly more credible, acebunt of this festival, în Sir John Sinclair's Stat. Accu vol. ii. 620. “ Upon the first day of May," says the Dr. which is called Beltan, or Baltein day, all the boys in a township or hamlet meet in the moors. They cut a table in the green sod, of a round figure, by casting a trench in the ground, of such circumference as to hold the whole company." After dressing the caudle, as above mentioned, they knead a cake of oatmeal, which is toasted at the embers, against a stone. After the custard is eaten up, they divide the cake into so many portions, similar as possible to one another in size and shape, as there are persons in the company. They daub one of these portions all over with charcoal, until it is perfectly black. They put all the bits of the cake into a bonnet. Every one, blindfold, draws out a portion: he who holds the bonnet, is entitled to the last bit. Whoever draws the black bit, is the devoted person who is to be sacrificed to Baal, whose favour they mean to implore, in rendering the year productive of the sustenance of man and beast. There is little doubt of those inhuman sacrifices having been once offered in this country, as well as in the east, although they now pass from the act of sacrificing, and only compel the devoted person to leap three times through the flames; with which the ceremonies of this festival are closed. The Dr. in a note traces the origin of this and other superstitions from our ancient Druidism. Balstein, signifies the fire of Baal: Baal, or Ball, is the only word in Gaelic for a globe. This festival was probably in honour of the sun, whose return, in his apparent annual course, they celebrated, on account of his having such a visible influence, by his genial warmth, on the productions of the earth. That the Caledonians paid a superstitious respect to the sun, as was the practice among many other natious, is evident not only by the sacrifice of Baltein, but upon many other occasions. When a Highlander goes to bathe, or to drink waters out of a conseerated fountain, he must always approach by going round the place from east to west on the south side, in imitation of the apparent diurnal motion of the sun. When the dead are laid in the earth, the grave is approached by going round in the same manner. The bride is conducted to her future spouse in the presence of the minister, and the glass goes round a company, in the course of the sun. This is called in Gaelic, going round the right, or the lucky, way. The opposite course is the wrong, or the unlucky, way.

FALL FOOLS' DAY (FIRST OF APRIL.)

"

CAMAURICE, in his Indian Antiquities," vol. vi. p. 71, speaking of "the First of April, or the ancient feast of the vernal equinox, equally observed in India and Britain," tells us : " The first of Aprit was anciently observed in Britain as a high and general festival, in which an unbounded hilarity reigned through every order of its inhabitants; for the sun, at that period of the year, entering into the sign Aries, the newer year, and with it the season of rural sports and verual