SMOKING AND TAKING SNUFF.

Tobacco is said to have been first brought into England by Captain R. Greenfield and Sir Francis Drake about the year 1586, during the reign of Elizabeth. Alehouses are at present licensed to deal in tobacco, but it was not so from the beginning; for so great an incentive was it thought to drunkenness, that it was strictly forbidden to be taken in any alehouses in the reign of James I. A pamphlet on the "Natural History of Tobacco," in the Harleian Miscellany, says, "The English are said to have had their pipes of clay from the Virginians,” who were styled barbarians; and the origin of manufacturing tobacco into snuff is thus given to the sister kingdom. "The Irishmen do most commonly powder their tobacco, and snuff it up their nostrils."

HOWLING AT IRISH FUNERALS.

The Irish howl at funerals originated from the Roman outcry at the decease of their friends, they hoping thus to awaken the soul, which they supposed might lie inactive. The conclamatio over the Phoenician Dido, as described by Virgil, is similar to the Irish cry. From which it is clear the custom is of Phoenician origin.

GRACE AT MEAT.

The table was considered by the ancient Greeks as the altar of friendship, and held sacred; and they would not partake of any meat till they had offered part of it as the first-fruits to their gods. The ancient Jews offered up prayers always before meat, and from their example the primitive Christians did the same.

GOOSE ON MICHAELMAS DAY.

There is a current, but erroneous report, assigning to Queen Elizabeth the origin of this custom.

The joyful tidings of the defeat of the Spanish armada arrived on Michaelmas day, and were communicated to Queen Elizabeth whilst at dinner partaking of a goose; but there is evidence to prove that this custom was practised long before the destruction of the Spanish armada. Brand, in his "Popular Antiquities," traces it as far back as the tenth year of the reign of King Edward IV.

WELSH LEEK AS A BADGE OF HONOUR.

Upon the first of March King Cadwallo met a Saxon army in the field. In order to distinguish his men from their enemies, he, from an adjoining field of leeks, placed one in each of their hats; and having gained a signal and decisive victory over the Saxons,

the leek became the future badge of honour among the Welsh, and particularly worn on the 1st of March, or St. David's Day.

SHAMROCK, THE IRISH BADGE OF HONOUR.

The wild trefoil was very highly regarded in the superstitions of the ancient Druids, and has still medicinal virtues of a particular kind accredited to it by the more remote Highlanders of Scotland, where it is culled according to the ancient rites.

"In the list of plants," says a Scotch statistical writer," must be reckoned the seamrog, or the wild trefoil, in great estimation of old by the Druids. It is still considered as an anodyne in the diseases of cattle; from this circumstance it has derived its name, seimh, in the Gaelic, signifying pacific or soothing. When gathered, it is plucked with the left hand. The person thus employed must be silent, and never look back till the business be finished."

This is the seamrog, or shamrog, worn by Irishmen in their hats, as O'Brien says, "by way of a cross on St. Patrick's day in memory of this great saint." It is said, that when St. Patrick landed near Wicklow to convert the Irish in 433, the Pagan inhabitants were ready to stone him; he requested to be heard, and endeavoured to explain God to them as the Trinity in Unity, but they could not understand him; till, plucking a trefoil, or shamrog, from the

ground, he said, "Is it not as possible for the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as for these three leaves, to grow upon a single stalk?" "Then," says Brand, "the Irish were immediately convinced, and became converts to Christianity; and in memory of which event, the Irish have ever since worn the shamrog, or shamrock, as a badge of honour."

THE SCOTTISH THISTLE.

The origin of the national badge is thus handed down by tradition :-When the Danes invaded Scotland, it was deemed unwarlike to attack an enemy in the darkness of night, instead of a pitched battle by day; but, on one occasion, the invaders resolved to avail themselves of stratagem, and, in order to prevent their tramp from being heard, they marched barefooted. They had thus neared the Scottish force unobserved, when a Dane unluckily stepped with his foot upon a superbly prickled thistle, and uttered a cry of pain, which discovered the assailants to the Scots, who ran to their arms, and defeated the foe with great slaughter. The thistle was immediately adopted as the insignia of Scotland.

ELECTION RIBBONS.

These party emblems were first introduced March 14th, 1681.-The "Protestant Intelligencer" states,

after mentioning the Parliament that was held at Oxford this year, "on which occasion the representatives of the city of London assembled at Guildhall on the 17th of March, for the purpose of commencing their journey. Many of the citizens met them there, intending to accompany them part of their way, together with others who were deputed to go to Oxford as a sort of Council to the city members. Some of our ingenious London weavers had against this day contrived a very fine fancy, that is, a blue satin ribbon, having these words plainly and legibly wrought upon it, 'No Popery,' 'No Slavery,' which, being tied up in knots, were worn in the hats of the horsemen who accompanied our members." Such was the origin of wearing ribbons on electioneering

occasions.

PERAMBULATING PARISHES ON ASCENSION DAY.

This custom is of considerable antiquity. Spelman thinks it was derived from the heathens, and that it is an imitation of the feast called Terminalia, which was observed in the month of February, in honour of the god Terminius, who was supposed to preside over bounds and limits, and to punish all unlawful usurpations of land.

According to other authorities, it was derived from an ancient custom among the Romans, called Termi