your reverence is in orders, and to rob an ecclesiastic is, according to the letters of excommunication, which we call the Pauline, an act of sacrilege."

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"I will answer for it that it is so," answered the melancholy Licentiate; for though I am not yet a priest, I am the Sacristan to a convent of nuns, and the money that was in the purse is the third part of the income of a small chapel which my uncle, the canon, resigned to me. It is sacred money, it is blessed money, and-" "Lord have mercy upon us," cried Rinconnet; good heavens! let him who has stolen it take care of himself; this purse will do him a mischief! Come, come, Mr. Licentiate, the day of judgment will happen some time or other, and then you will know the impudent fellow, the villain, the wretch, who has dared to steal, retain, and make use of the third part of the income of a small chapel resigned to you by his reverence your uncle, the canon. Now, will you have the goodness to tell me, Mr. Sacristan, how much the whole chapel may be worth to you?"" The devil take you!" replied the ecclesiastic; 66 am I obliged to give you an account of my benefices !" As he said these words he felt in his pocket for his handkerchief; but the handkerchief was no longer there. Cortadillo, while he had been talking all this nonsense to him, had got possession of it; and the unlucky Sacristan went away, disconsolate, without money, and without handkerchief, to tell his piteous story to his uncle, the canon.

While my two rogues were congratulating themselves on their adroitness, their joy was a little dashed by a marketporter like themselves, who said to them, as he slapped them on the shoulder, "Tell me, gentlemen, are you of the profession?"-"What do you mean?" answered Cortadillo."I mean that you manage your matters marvellously well; but how happens it that you take the liberty of robbing in this city without having paid your respects to Senior Monipodio? That is a piece of politeness with which no honest rogue can in conscience dispense. It is at least necessary to have your names entered by this brave man, who is the father, the master, the support of all our fraternity of cut-purses. I tell you too, as a friend, that it may perhaps, cost you dear, if you fail to perform this duty."

"I thought," said Cortadillo boldly," that thieving was an open trade, which every one might freely follow. But we

ought to respect the laws of the country in which we live; and if your worship will have the goodness to conduct us to the presence of this illustrious chief, we shall follow you with the more confidence, as we see plainly that you are a brother." "You are quite right in your guess, worthy sir," answered the young man. "In fact I am still in my year of probation; but I hope, in the course of three months, to receive -my degree as a sharper, for the service of the Lord and of all good people!"-" What! for the Lord's service!" exclaimed Cortadillo." I could not have believed that this had any thing to do with our trade!"-" Sir," replied the young man, "I am not much of a theologian; but I can assure you that Senior Monipodio has introduced such order into our society, that it would be difficult to live more holily than we live. We repeat the rosary every week, we should scruple very much to commit a robbery upon a Friday, and on Saturday we would not, for all the world, look at a girl who has the name of Mary."

All this conversation took place in the way to the house of Senior Monipodio.

Scipio. Have you much farther to go, before you reach it? Bergancio. No, my friend, we are there. Its appearance was not very striking. We were introduced into a lower room, all the furniture of which consisted of some rush seats, foils hung against the wall, a wretched image of the Virgin Mary, under which was an alms-box, and lower down an old earthern pan, filled with holy water. In this room were two bravoes by profession, with hanging mustachoes, large hats and swords of a formidable length, three porters, a blind man, and two old men dressed in black, each of whom held a string of enormously sized beads. Shortly after, there came in an old woman, who, without speaking to any one, went to the earthen pan, used some of the holy water, knelt before the image, kissed the ground thrice, raised her arm thrice towards heaven, and then rose and joined the company.

The famous Monipodio now made his appearance. I stared at him with all the eyes I had. He seemed to be about forty, he was tall, of a swarthy complexion, with a black beard, and eyes as red as a ferret's, which were overhung by bushy brows that reached from one eye to the other. A broad belt crossed his chest, and held a large cutlas. His hands were

short and hairy, his fingers thick and square, and from his nostrils, which made a noise as they opened and closed, exhaled a volume of steam.

As soon as he entered, every body bowed profoundly to him. Our guide presented to him my young masters, as being two subjects full of zeal, who were ambitious of the honour of serving under his orders. "I shall be happy to receive them," said Monipodio;" what can they do?"

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"We can play at cards," said Cortadillo, “ so as always to win; we can dive into pockets with tolerable dexterity; we can-"Oh fye! fye!" exclaimed the general, “all these tricks are worn out ones; there is not a beginner who does not know them. Do you know nothing more?"—“ Alas we do not," replied Rinconnet; " and we assure you that we are thoroughly ashamed of our ignorance." The tears started into his eyes as he spoke this. "Do not grieve yourselves my children," said Monipodio, you are in a school where no pains will be spared for your instruction; and, if you have but courage and zeal, you will soon be consummate masters of your art."

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While the general was speaking, one of the sentinels came in to inform them that the police officer, who had the charge of seizing upon vagabonds, was coming straight to the place of meeting.

Scipio. I must own to you that I should not be sorry to see all your good friends arrested and hanged.

(To be resumed.)

HOT CROSS BUNS.

THE Custom of crying these buns in London, and in many parts of England, on Good Friday, is thought to have had its origin anterior to the solemn day of which this is kept in commemoration. But the Greeks were accustomed to present to the Gods a kind of consecrated bread, purchased at the gate of the temples. One species is said to have been called by them boun, which Hesychius describes as a kind of cake with horns, and another ancient author describes its composition to be of fine flour and honey. Jeremiah notices this kind of offering, when speaking of the Jewish women falling into idolatory in Egypt. Formerly a cake was much

in request on this day, called water-cakes, composed of water and flour only, but to compensate for the want of flavour, the tops of the cakes were smeared with turmeric, which made them of a fine yellow colour. These have given way to the sweet cross-buns.

ROYAL DISPUTATION.

KING JAMES VI. after an absence of fourteen years in England, resolved to visit his native country of Scotland. Being arrived in Edinburgh, he was willing, it seems, to shew his great dexterity and learning; to which end he intended to have a philosophical disputation in the college of Edinburgh : but by his great application to public affairs, could not accomplish his design in that city: wherefore he commanded the professors of the said college to attend him at his castle of Stirling, on the 29th of July following, for that purpose; whither James, with the flower of his nobility, and many of the most learned men, both of Scotland and England repaired, and, in the royal chapel, the disputation began about four o'clock in the afternoon. The subjects to be controverted were those which were thought would be most agreeable and entertaining to the King and the illustrious assembly.

The first thesis was, that sheriffs, and other inferior magistrates, ought not to be hereditary.

This was opposed by a variety of arguments brought by the opponent, wherewith the king was so well pleased, that after divers reasons given by him in support thereof, and hearing the respondent's answers, he turned to the Marquis of Hamilton, who stood behind his chair, (at that time hereditary sheriff of Clydesdale,) and said, "James, you see your cause is lost, and all that can be said for it clearly answered and refuted."

The second thesis was, on the nature of local motion.

The opposition to this was so very great, that the respondent produced numerous arguments from Aristotle in support of his thesis; which occasioned the King to say," these men know the mind of Aristotle as well as he did himself when alive."

The third thesis was concerning the origin of fountains or springs.

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The King was so well pleased with this controversy, although three quarters of an hour, the time allotted for the disputation, were expired, he caused them to proceed, sometimes speaking for and against both respondent and opponent, seldom letting an argument on either side pass without proper remarks.

The disputations being over, the King withdrew to supper; after which, he sent for the disputants, whose names were John Adamson, James Fairlie, Patrick Sand, Andrew Young, James Reid, and William King, before whom he learnedly discoursed on their several names: and said, these gentlemen, by their names, were destined for the acts they had in hand this day, and proceeded as followeth.

"Adam was father of all, and Adam's son had the first part of this act; the defender is justly called Fairlie (wonder;) his thesis had some fair lies in it, and he sustained them very fairly, and with many fair lies given to the oppugners.

"And why should not Mr. Sands be the first to enter the sands? But now I clearly see, that all sands are not barren, for certainly he hath shewn a fertile wit.

"Mr. Young is very old in Aristotle; Mr. Reid need not be red with blushing for his acting this day; Mr. King disputed very kingly, and of a kingly purpose, concerning the royal supremacy of reason above anger, and all passions." Adding, "I am so well pleased with this day's exercise, that I will be godfather to the college of Edinburgh, and have it called the college of King James: for, after its founding, it stopped sundry years in my minority. After I came to knowledge, I held my hand to it, and caused it to be established: and although I see many look upon it with an evil eye, yet I will have them know, that having given it my name, I have espoused its quarrel; and at a proper time will give it a royal godbarn-gift, to enlarge its revenues."

The King being told, that there was one in company his Majesty had taken no notice of, namely, Henry Charteris, Principal of the College, who though a man of great learning, yet, by his innate bashfulness, was rendered unfit to speak in such an august assembly.-James answered, his name agrees well with his nature; for charters contain much matter, yet say nothing; yet put great matters into men's mouths."