March. MARCH is the third month of the year, according to our reckoning, but with the Romans it was the first, and called Martius from Mars, the God of war, because he was the father of their first prince. This month was under the protection of Minerva. It is only since the edict of Charles IX, issued in 1564, that they have in France reckoned the year from the beginning of January; for before, March was the first month of the year with the French. Astrologers also make it the first, because it is then that the sun enters Aries, by which they begin to reckon the signs of the Zodiac. The calends of this month was anciently very remarkable; they began with the Feast of Shields, or Sacred Bucklers. Ancylionum dies, which continued three days, whereat the Salli carried small bucklers. The festival terminated with grand feasting and merriment, which is the reason of giving the name of Cana Saliaris to sumptuous entertainments. On the sixth day, which is the day before the nones, solemnities were performed in honor of Vesta: and on the seventh, was celebrated the anniversary of the Dedication of the Temples, consecrated to Ve-Jupiter in the Wood of the Asylum, a wicked Deity to whom the Romans offered sacrifices to prevent his doing them mischief. The Junonalia was a feast to Juno, held on this day; and on the thirteenth there was horse-racing near the Tiber. On the fifteenth, or the Day of the Ides, was held the feast to the nymph Anna Perenna, which was celebrated by rejoicings, dancing, and feasting, on the banks of the Tiber; the day was also termed Parricidium, from the assassination of Julius Cæsar, by Brutus and the other conspirators. The sixteenth was the feast of the Liberalia, when the children assumed the Virile Robe; and on the same day was made the processions called Argei, to the places that was consecrated by Numa, in commemoration of certain Grecian princes that had been buried there. On the twenty-fifth day was held the feast called Hilaria, instituted in honor of the Mother of the Gods, and of Atys. On the twenty-sixth came on the feast of Washing the Grandmother of the Gods, Lavatio Matris Deum, which feast was instituted in commemoration of the day wherein she was brought from Asia, and washed in the river Almo. There were several feasts kept on the thirtieth, viz.:-to Janus, to Concord, to Salus, and Pax, and on the last day was held one to the Moon, or Diana, when a bull was sacrificed on the Aventine Hill. March, though generally rough, may be considered as beneficial and valuable as any month of the year, from its stormy winds drying up the superabundant moisture of winter, thus restoring us our paths dry and salutary through the verdant meads. Verstegan says that our Saxon ancestors called the month March, Lenct-Monat, or according to our present orthography, Lengthmoneth, because the length of the day excelled the night. This month being so named when our ancestors received Christianity, they called the ancient Christian custom of fasting at this period, the Fast of Lenct, because of the Lenct-monat,* whereon usually fell the greater part of the fasting, from which circumstance we derive the word Lent, and from it, the Fast of Lent. Among the old proverbs preserved which are explanatory of the blusterous weather, contained in this month are the following: The March sun causeth dust, and the wind blows it about, We cannot do better than conclude our notice of the origin of this month, than by giving the following expressive lines by Thomson :— "Be patient, swains: these cruel seeming winds Those deepening clouds on clouds, surcharg'd with rain, Diary and Chronology. DATE. DAYS. DIARY. DATE. CORRESPONDING CHRONOLOGY. Feb. 29 Frid. Sun ris 36m af. 6 Feb. 23 This year being Leap Year, the Bissextus, or the -set 24m af. 5 MARCH Odd Day, is added to this month that the year may equal the course of the sun. This intercalation was discovered by Julius Cæsar, who having observed that the sun finished its course in 365 days 6 bours, added one whole day in the calendar every fourth year, that the hours might be taken in. 1 St. David or Dewid, tutelar St. of Wales, was archbishop of Caerleon, now called St. David's, in which office he died in 544. During his life he founded 12 monasteries, and formed a hermitage and chapel in the vale of Lanthony, 1767. Alexander Balfour, born at Monikie, in Scotland, he was author of a volume of poems, the principal one bears the title "Contemplation." 2 St. Ceada, or Chad, bishop of Lichfield, and founder of the bishopric of Lichfield; he was educated in the monastery, of Lindisfarne, and died in the great pestilence of 673. 1711. Died the eminent French poet, Nicholas Boi. leau, AT 75.; his productions, especially his satires, gained him great fame. 1788. Died at his native place, Zurich, Solomon Gessner, author of the Death of Abel, ET. 58. 1802. Died Francis, Duke of Bedford, the promoter of Useful Science, and the patron of Agriculture. 3 These were Spanish Saints, and famed for quelling hail storms. 1605. Edmund Waller, the poet, born at Coleshill, in Buckinghamshire; some of his poems are elegant; he was a member of parliament, and often delighted the house by his eloquence and wit. 4 St. Lucius I, succeeded Cornelius in the papacy, in 253, and was martyred the year following. 1583. Died the learned and excellent divine, Bernard Gilpin, ET. 66. 1650. John Lord Somers, born at Worcester, he was made Lord Chancellor in 1637, and was deprived of the seals in 1700; and impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors, of which the lords acquitted him. He died in 1710. 5 St. Piran, is said to have been born in Ireland, and became a hermit there; he afterwards came to England, and settled in Cornwall, where he died. St. Piran's day is kept by the tinners as a holiday, from a tradition which remains of his having communicated to them many secrets regarding the manufacture of tin. 1778. Died, Dr. Arne, the celebrated musical composer. The music of his opera of Artaxerxes, for depth of science places him as a composer beyond the reach of rivalry. 1827. Died the Marquis de la Place, the eminent French astronomer and mathematician. 6 St. Baldrede was bishop of Glasgow, he died in London, A. D. 608. 1623. On this day prince Charles (the son of James 1.) arrived at Madrid with the Duke of Buckingham, to conclude a treaty of marriage between the Prince and the Infanta of Spain, which, though the articles were agreed on, never took place. In 1625, he married Henrietta, the daughter of Henry the fourth of France. 7 This Saint suffered martyrdom at the age of twentytwo, under the persecution of Severus, A. D. 708. 1702 Expired at Kensington Palace, King William III. ET, 52. 1303. Died, the Duke of Bridgewater, the father of canal navigation. 8 On this day was assassinated, the Italian musician, David Rizzio, at Holy-rood house, in the presence of Mary, Q. of Scots, his patroness. 1822. Died Dr. Dl. Clarke, the traveller, T. 54. ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF PUPPET PLAYS IN ENGLAND. FOR the following detail we are indebted to a laughter-moving volume entitled, Punch and Judy, which contains an elaborate account of all that belongs to these mirth creating worthies, the volume although of value in itself, is made still richer by the talented embellishments of George Cruikshank, who is certainly the ablest designer of humorous subjects we have at present. "When we mention than no less a man than Dr. Johnson was of opinion, that puppets were so capable of representing even the plays of Shakspeare, that Macbeth might be performed by them as well as by living actors, it will be evident, from such a fact only, that the inquiry is far from unimportant. In connection with this opinion and confirmation of it, we may add, that a person of the name of Henry Rowe, shortly before the year 1797, did actually, by. See Malone's Shakspeare, by Boswell, xi, p. 301. VOL. I. K wooden figures, for a series of years, go through the action of the whole of that tragedy, while he himself repeated the dialogue which belonged to each of the characters.† "Puppet plays are of very ancient date in England, and if they were not contemporary with our mysteries, they immediately succeeded them. There is reason to think that they were coeval at † He was also called the York Trumpeter, having been born in that city, and having "blown a battle blast" at Culloden. He was born in 1726, and after the rebellion he retired to his native place; where, for about fifty years, he graced with his instrument the en trance of the judges twice a year into York. He was a very well known character, and for a If not, poor Harry never will awake, He blew it all his life, with greatest skill, 9-SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 1828. least, with our moralities, and in Catholic times it is not a very violent supposition, to conclude that even the priests themselves made use of the images of the saints and Martyrs, perhaps for this very purpose, it is well ascertained, not only that they did not scruple to employ the churches, but that those sacred edifices were considered the fittest places for our earliest dramatic representations.‡ "Motions' is the most general term by which they are mentioned by our ancient authors, and especially by our dramatists, thus Shakspeare in the Winter's Tale, (Act IV, Scene 2) makes Autolycus say, Then he compassed a motion of the Prodigal Son, and married a tinker's wife within a mile of were my land and living lies." It would be easy to multiply quotations to the same point from nearly all his contemporaries, but one is as good as a thousand. The nature and method of their representation at hat period, and doubtless long before, See the new edition of Dodsley's Old Plays, vol. i, p. xliii, et seq. may be seen at the close of Ben Johnson's Bartholomew Fair. He there makes Lanthern Leatherhead convert the story of Hero and Leander, (then very popular from Marlow's and Chapman's translation, or rather paraphrase of it) into a "motion" or puppet-play, and he combines with it the well-known friendship of Damon and Pythias. The exhibitor, standing above and working the figures, "interprets" for them, and delivers the langhable and burlesque dialogue, he supposes to pass between the characters. In the same poets, Tale of a Tub, (Act V) In-and-in Medlay presents a "motion" for the amusement of the company, connecting it with the plot of the comedy itself. Here he explains the scenes as he proceeds, something in the manner of the ancient Dumb-shows before the different acts of Ferrex and Porrex, the Misfortunes of Arthur, and other old tragedies, but the puppets are not represented as speaking among themselves. Ben Johnson may always be relied on, matters relating to the customs and amusements of our ancestors, as he was a very minute observer of them, and from his evidence, we may infer, that there were, at least, two varieties in the puppet-plays of his time, one with the dialogue, as in Bartholomew Fair, and the other without it, as in the Tale of a Tub. 66 "It is evident, from many passages in our old writers, that might be adduced if necessary, that motions," were very popular with the lower orders, they frequently rivalled and imitated the performers, on the regular stages. Hence, perhaps, a portion of the abuse with which they were commonly assailed by some of our dramatic poets, who were, of course, anxious to bring them as much as possible into contempt. It is established, on the authority of Dekker, and other pamphleteerists, and play-writers of about the same period, that the subjects of the "villainous motions, were often borrowed from the most successful dramatic entertainments. Shakspeare's Julius Cæsar, was performed by mammets," (another term in use for the wooden representatives of heroes,) as well as the Duke of Guiso, a name that was perhaps given to Marlow's Massacre of Paris, or it may refer to a tragedy by Webster, under that title. If inference were not sufficient, testimony might be adduced, to shew that the puppets were clothed as nearly as possible, like the actors at the regular theatres, in those plays, which were thought fit subjects for the motions.' The minute fidelity of Ben Johnson, to the manners of his day, in depreciating the "humors" of his characters, has led him in several places to introduce the name of a principal proprietor of puppet-shows, who was known by the title of Captain Pod. He mentions him in his Every Man out of his Humour, as well as in his Epigrams, from which last it appears, that the word "motion," which properly means the representation by puppets, was also sometimes applied to the figures employed in the performance. "The formidable rivalship of puppetplays to the regular drama, at a later date is established by the fact, that the proprietors of the theatres in Drury Lane, and near Lincoln's Inn Fields, formerly petitioned Charles II., that a puppet-show stationed on the present site of Cecil-street Henslowe probably refers to this play, as "the tragedy of the Guyes," in his papers. See Mal. Sh. by Boswell, iii. 299. See the Dedication to Webster's White Devil, as quoted in note in the new edition of Dodsley's Old Plays, vol. vi. 207, Thus also, Speed," in the Two Gentle men of Verona, exclaims "O excellent motion! O exceeding puppet! now will he interpret to her." (Act 1, Scene 1.) in the Strand, might not be allowed to exhibit, or might be removed to a greater distance, as its (attractiveness materially interfered with the prosperity of their concerns. It is not unlikely, that burlesque and ridicule were sometimes aimed at the productions of the stage, by the exhibitors of " motions.” "There is little doubt that the most ancient puppet-shows, like the Mysteries, dealt in stories taken from the Old and New Testaments, or from the lives and legends of Saints. Towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth, as we have seen historical and other fables, began to be treated by them; but still scriptural subjects were commonly exhibited, and Shakspeare, in the quotation we have made from his Winter's Tale, mentions that of the " Prodigal Son." Perhaps none was more popular than" Ninevah with Jonas and the whale." It is noticed by Ben Johnson twice in the same play, (Every Man out of his Humour,) and not less than twenty other authors speak of it. From a passage in Cowley's Cutter of Coleman Street, (Act V., and Scene ii.) we recollect, that even the Puritans, with all their zealous hatred of the " profane stages," did not object to be present at its "holy performance." The motion of "Babylon," is also frequently noticed; but " London," and "Rome," likewise figured in the metropolis at the same time. "Fleet Street and Holborn Bridge, both great thoroughfares, were the usual places where puppet-plays were exhibited in the reign of Elizabeth; and the authority of Butler has been quoted by Mr. Gifford, (Ben Johnson ii. 66, note) to shew that Fleet Street continued to be infested by "motions" and "monsters" at least down to the restoration.††Scriptural motions were not wholly laid aside within the last fifty or sixty years; and Goldsmith in his comedy, She Stoops to Conquer, refers to the display of Solomon's Temple in a puppet-show. The current joke (at what date it originated seems uncertain) of Punch popping his head from behind the curtain, and addressing the Patriarch in his ark, while the floods were pouring down with hazy weather, master Noah," proves that, at one period, the adventures of the hero of comparatively modern exhibitions of the kind were combined with stories selected from the bible. 66 "The late Mr. Joseph Strutt, in his ++ Somerville, in his "Happy Disappointment," speaks of masquerades and puppetshows in the same line, and as if equally popular. |