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I am the more pleased with having love made the principal end and design of these meetings, as it seems to be most agreeable to the intent for which they were at first instituted, as we are informed by the learned Dr. Kennet, with whose words I shall conclude my present paper.

'These wakes, says he, were in imitation of the ancient ayana, or love feasts; and were first established in England by pope Gregory the Great, who, in an epistle to Melitus the Abbot, gave order that they should be kept in shades or arbories made up with branches and boughs of trees round the church.'

He adds, 'That this laudable custom of wakes prevailed for many ages, until the nice puritans began to exclaim against it as a remnant of popery; and by degrees the precise humour grew so popular, that at an Exeter assizes the lord chief baron Walter made an order for the suppression of all wakes: but on bishop Laud's complaining of this innovating humour, the king commanded the order to be reversed.'

X.

END OF VOL. III.

APPENDIX.

NOTES, CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY.

No. 108.

(a) An account of this Yorkshire gentleman is given No. 269; his name was Thomas Morecraft. See also Nos. 109, 126, 131.

No. 114.

(a) "Hence, ye profane, I hate ye all,

Both the great vulgar and the small."

No. 122.

(a) This day is published, "The Farthingale revived, or more work for the Cooper," A Panegyric on the late but most admirable invention of the Hoop petticoat, written at the Bath. Silent miracula Memphis. Spec. in Fol.

No. 127.

(a) In the comedy so called, act iv. scene 6, Dufoy, a Frenchman, carries a tub about the stage on his shoulders, his head coming through a hole at the upper end.

No. 129.

(a) The Steenkirk was a kind of military cravat of black silk, probably worn first at the battle of Steenkirk in August 1692.

No. 133.

(a) The name of his friend here so pathetically lamented was Stephen Clay, a barrister. There are two poems of his in Steele's correspondence, vol. 2. p. 315.

No. 136.

(a) He was prime minister of Charles XII.

No. 138.

(a) This advertisement is said to have brought Lillie into such notice, that he soon raised a fortune from his trade.

No. 139.

(a) The colours taken at Blenheim, in 1704, were fixed up in Westminster-hall after having been carried in procession through the city.

No. 140.

(a) It is to be regretted that this promise never was fulfilled.

No. 141.

(a) (a) The names of two of the actors.

(b) (b) Different incidents in the play of the Lancashire Witches.

No. 142.

(a) These letters are all genuine, and were sent by Steele to Mrs. Scurlock, afterwards Lady Steele.

No. 144.

(a) Aristotle. (b) Plato. (c) Socrates. (d) Theophras tus. These apophthegms are taken from Diogenes Lærtius. (e) Antisthenes,

No. 146.

(a) Burnet's theory of the earth.

No. 148.

(a) No postscript was printed with this letter; it may, therefore, be supposed to have contained matter merely of a private nature or personal application.

No. 152.

(a) The Frenchman was the Chev. de Flourilles, a general under the Prince of Conde.

No. 160.

(a) Or the French prophets. They were a set of enthusiasts of Cevennes in France, who worked themselves into strange distortions of the body, pretending gifts and miracles.

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