. To fay any thing, concerning the poetical merit of the poems, would be an anticipation on the judgment of the public. The poem which ftands first in the collection is truly epic. The characters are strongly marked, and the fentiments breathe heroifm. The subject of it is an invafion of Ireland, by Swaran king of Lochlin, which is the name of Scandinavia in the Galic language. Cuchullin, general of the Irish tribes in the minority of Cormac, king of Ireland, upon intelligence of the invafion, affembled his forces near Tura, a caftle on the coaft of Ulfter. The poem opens with the landing of Swaran, councils are held, battles fought, and Cuchullin, is, at laft, totally defeated. In the mean time, Fingal, king of Scotland, whofe aid was folicited before the enemy landed, arrived and expelled them from the country. This war, which continued but fix days and as many nights, is, including the epifodes, the whole ftory of the poem. The fcene is the heath of Lena, near a mountain called Cromleach in Ulfter.

All that can be faid of the tranflation, is, that it is literal, and that fimplicity is ftudied. The arrange ment of the words in the original is imitated, and the inverfions of the style obferved. As the tranflator claims no merit from his verkon, he hopes for the indulgence of the public where he fails. He wifhes that the imperfect femblance he draws, may not prejudice the world against an original, which contains what is beautiful in fimplicity, and grand in the fublime.

Some account of the marks on coin, called Mint marks,or privy marks; and likewise of the trial, called the

trial of the Pix, made from time to time by a jury of goldsmiths, as a check on the officers of the Mint; extracted from the table of English silver coins, published by the late ingenions Martin Folkes, Esq.

A

S in fpeaking of the money of this reign in particular (queen Elizabeth's] I have had frequent occafion to mention the Mint marks, or privy marks, as they have been ufually called in the Mint, it may be neceffary to fay a word of the nature and ufe of those marks. It may, therefore, be obferved, that it hath been usual from old time to oblige the mafters and workers of the Mint, in the indentures made' with them, to make a privy mark in all the money that they made, as well of gold as of filver, fo that another time they might know, if need were, and witte which moneys of gold and filver among other of the fame moneys, were of, their own making, and which not.' And whereas, after every trial of the Pix at Woftminfter, the masters and workers of the Mint, having there proved their money to be lawful and good, were immediately intitled to receive their quietus under the great feal, and to be discharged from all fuits or actions concerning thofe moneys, it was then ufual for the faid mafters and workers to, change the privy mark before used for another, that fo the moneys from which they were not yet difcharged might be diftinguithed from thofe for which they had already received their quietus; which new mark they then continued to stamp upon alt their moneys, until another trial of the Pix gave them alfo their qui tus concerning those.

The Pix is a firong box with three locks, whofe keys are refpectively kept by the warden, mafier, and MA comptroller

comptroller of the Mint: and in which are depofited, fealed up in feveral parcels, certain pieces taken at random out of every journey, as it is called, that is, out of every 15 pounds weight of gold, or 60 pounds weight of filver, before the fame is delivered to the proprietors. And this Pix is, from time to time, by the king's command, opened at Weftininfter, in the prefence of the lord chancellor, the lords of the council, the lords commiflioners of the treafury, the juftices of the feveral benches, and the barons of the exchequer before whom a trial is made, by a jury of goldfmiths impannelled and worn for that purpofe, of the collective weights of certain parcels of the feveral pieces of gold and filver taken at random from thofe contained in the Pix; after which thofe parcels being feverally melted, aflays are then made of the bullion of gold and filver fo produced, by the melting certain Imail quantities of the fame again equal weights taken from the refpective trial pieces of gold and filver, that are depofited and kept in the exchequer for that ufe. This is called the trial of the Pix, the report made by the jury upon that trial is called the verdict of the Pix for that time; and the indented trial-pieces juft above-mentioned, are certain plates of ftandard gold, and ftandard filver, made with the greateit care, and delivered in upon oath, from time to time as there is occafion, by a jury of the most able and experienced goldfmiths, fummoned by virtue of a warrant from the lords of the treafury, to the wardens of the miftery of goldfmiths of the city of London, for that purpofe; and which plates being fo delivered in, are divided each, at this time, into feven parts

by indentures, one of which parts is kept in his majesty's court of exchequer at Weftminster, another by the faid company of goldfmiths, and two more by the officers of his majefty's Mint in the Tower: the remaining three being for the ufe of the Mint, &c. in Scotland. The Pix has fometimes been tried every year, or even oftener, but fometimes not more than once in feveral years: and from hence is understood how it comes to pafs that, among the pieces that are dated as well as marked, three or more different dates are fometimes found upon pieces impreffed with the fame mark, and again that different marks are found upon pieces bearing the fame date. Thefe marks are firft obfervable upon the coins of king Edw. III. the words above quoted concerning those marks, are from the indentures made with the lord Haftings, mafter and worker to king Edward IV. and the marks themfelves continued to be fiamped very confpicuously upon the moneys, till the coinage by the mill and fcrew was introduced and fettled after the Restoration, in the year 1662: fince which time the moneys being made with far greater regularity and exactnefs than before, thefe marks have either been totally laid afide, or fuch only have been ufed, as are of a more fecret nature, and only known to the officers and engravers concerned in the coinage and indeed the conftant practice that has ever fince prevailed, of dating all the feveral pieces, has rendered all fuch marks of much lefs confequence than before.

besides the entertainment it may give our reader, by their similarity with many, which unhappily are not obliterated among us, will afforda collateral indication that, at least, a part of the inhabitants of the two countries are originated from the same people.

THE

HE firft opinion is that of Fairies, who were imagined to be women of an order fuperior to human nature, yet fubject to wants, paffions, accidents, and even death; fprightly and benevolent, while young and handfome; morofe, peevith, and malignant, if ugly, or in the decline of their beauty; fond of appearing in white, whence they are often called the White Ladies. Concerning thefe imaginary beings, no lefs a perfon than Jervaife of Tilleberry, Marfhal of the kingdom of Arles, who lived in the beginning of the 13th century, writes thus in a work infcribed to the emperor Otho IV. "It has been afferted by perfons of unexceptionable credit, that Fairies ufed to chufe themselves gallants from among men, and rewarded their attachment with an affluence of all worldly goods; but if they married, or boafted of a fairy's favours, they as feverely fmarted for fuch indifcretion." The like tales ftill go current in Languedoc, and throughout the whole province there is not a village without fome ancient feat or cavern which had the honour of being a fairy's refidence; or, at leaft, fome fpring, where a fairy ufed to bathe. This idea of fairies has a near affinity with that of the Greeks and Romans, concerning the nymphs of the woods, mountains, and fprings; and an ancient fcholiaft on Theocritus fays, the nymphs are demons which appear on the mountains

in the figure of women; and what is furprizing, the Arabs, and other Orientals have their Ginn and Peri, of whom they entertain the like notions.

2. The dread of the Dracs, fuppofed to be malicious, or at least trickfome demons; but, which is very rare, if one of them happens to take a fancy to a man or woman, they are fure to be the better for it. They are ftill faid to lay gold cups and rings on the furface, over pits, in rivers, as a bait to draw in women and children; though their ufual dwelling be fome old empty houfe, whence they make excurfions in human form, invisible or visible, as beft fuits their purpofe. The country folks fhudder at the very name of the Drac; fome are pofitive they have feen him; for happy, indeed, is that village, in which there is not a houfe, execrated as the lurking place of this tremendous Drac.

3. Further, it is a received cuftom in Lower Languedoc, not to marry in the month of May, as both the parties infallibly die within a fhort time; to avoid this misfortune, matters are made up in April, or deferred till June. This fancy is derived from the Romans, who, in May, celebrated the feftival of Lemures, or Ghofts of the Dead; during which time, the temples were fhut up, and marriages intermitted, as fatal.

Fana tamen veteres illes clausere diebus,

Ut nunc ferali tempore operta vides.

Nec viduæ tædis eadem, nec virginis apta

Tempora: quæ nupsit non diuturna fuit.

Hac

This custom fubfifted at Rome in the time of Plutarch, who, in his Roman Questions, fays: Few or no marriages are known in the month of May; they stay till June.

4. The worship of fprings and ponds: we learn from Seneca, that the Romans worshipped hot fprings, and ponds, and lakes; especially, when in a very high or dark place.

Concerning the like ufage among the Gauls, Gregory of Tours gives "On as the following narrative:

a mountain in Gevaudan, called Helanus, was a lake, whither the neighbourhood annually reforted, and, by way of offerings, threw in ftuffs, entire fleeces, checfes, wax, loaves, and the like, every one ac cording to his ability; this was accompanied with great feaftings for three days, till at length a picus Bishop, building a church on the brink of the lake, by his powerful zemonftrances and exhortations, turned that Pagan ceremony into Chriftian devotion." Something analogous to this is ftill obferved in the country of Foix, where, on a high mountain, called Thabor, is a very deep lake, and clofe by it a church, which, on the 24th of Auguft, the inhabitants of the adjacent places made it a duty to aflemble at, as thofe of Gevaudan ufed at the lake of mount Helanus.

The people of the country of Foix, indeed, flock to the maffes which, on that day, are faid both in the church and at an altar which ftands in the open air: but, it is very probable, the scope of this in

ftitution, like that on mount Helinus, was only to fanctify a remnant of Paganifm, which it was not easy to abolish. Thus, on the converfion of the English to Chriftianity, Gregory the Great allowed them to hold their ufual meetings at certain times of the year round their temples, which had been confecrated as churches, to make arbours, hold religious feafts as before, and flay the oxen, which used to be facrificed to idols, provided it was, now, with no other meaning than to eat them; the reafon given by that pope for fuch toleration, must be allowed very wife; nam duris mentibus simul omnia abscindere impossibile esse non dubium est, i. e. with rude and infatuated minds, there is no retrenching every thing at once.

5. Three fuperftitious prefages, the ringing of the ears, sudden starts of the eye-lids, and sneezing. Thefe Aufonius terms the tria omina, and as they are now received in moti parts of Europe, fo they paffed current among the wife Greeks and Romans. The tinnitus aurium, or tingling of the ears, was thought to intimate to the person who felt it, that fomebody was talking of him ; thus, the Lady in Ariftenetus writing to her lover fays; When I think of my dearest, my ears tingle, a sure sign that I am also in your thoughts. Pliny hift. nat. lib. xxviii. cap. 2. has thefe words: Quin et absentes tinnitu aurium præsentire sermones de se receptum est: on this chimera is founded the following ancient epigram:

Garrula quid totis resonat miki

noctibus auris?

Nescio quem dicis nunc memi nisse mihi.

Further, if the right ear tingled, it denoted commendation and praife; if the left, blame and obloquy.

The subsultus palpebrarum, or a ftart of the eye-lids, the Greeks and Romans imagined to prefage good luck when in the right eye, and in the left, misfortune: accordingly, the enamoured fwain, in Theocritus, cries out in a rapture, Oh, I shall see her! my right eye started! and a flave in Plautus, barely on this happy omen, warrants his mafter that he fhall raife the money he stood in need of.

Unde dicam nescio, Nisi quia futurum est, ita supercifium salit. Pfeud. A. 1. f. 1.

This infatuation ftill prevails; and in Languedoc fuch ftartings in the eye-lids are called le rat; at Paris, le petite souris i. e. the little moufe; and, among the vulgar, raife joy or fear, according to the eye where they are felt.

This fuperftition is still more common in Afia than in Europe. The Mahometans carefully obferve all fuch involuntary ftarts of the eyelids, lips, &c. and, befides many other books, have one of great note, called Elm al Ekhtelage, written by an eminent Iman, and which treats of the prefages deducible from fuch ftarts, with prayers to be ufed according to the parts of the body where the ftart or convulfion is felt. So true is it, that there is not that abfurdity, however grofs, which has not its partifans!

The sternutamentum,or fneezing, was among the Greeks and Romans

a fure portent of good or evil, according as the perfon fneezed towards the right or left. Plutarch relates, that the priest who officiated at the folemn facrifice, previous to the fight off Salamin, hearing a fternutation on the right, affured Themiftocles of victory; and the meaning of Catullus's epigram every body knows:

Amor sinister ante Dextram sternuit approbationem.

To the emperor Tiberius, the cuftom of an ejaculatory prayer for the perfon who had fneezed, appeared of fuch moment, that he was difpleafed if omitted to him, tho' on a journey. Cur sternutamentis salutamur, fays Pliny, H. N. 1. xxviii. c. 2. quod etiam Tiberium Caesarem, tristissimum, ut constat, hominum, in vehiculo exegisse tradunt.

Though fternutation be no longer accounted ominous, to bow to a perfon fneezing, and adding a compli mental God bless ye! is ftill an article of good breeding in feveral parts of Europe, efpecially among the middle and lower claffes.

6. It is a very common custom in Languedoc, after eating boiled eggs never to fail quafhing them, or at leaft making feveral holes in the fhells, left, if intire, they fhould be ufed for compofing charms against thofe who had eaten the contents; this alfo obtained among thofe magnanimous lords of the world, the Romans; for Pliny, fpeaking of the fuperftitious practices of his countrymen, to prevent fafcination, fays: Huc pertinet ovorum, ut ex sorluerit quisque, calices cochlearibus protinus frangi, aut perforari.

7. One of the ancient fuperf tions of the Belgians, was, to make

hume.