Star.
London, England, 1822-12-04 00:00:00

GENUINE MASONRY.

The well known sign we marki and Sy
The...round to heal--pt still the sigh—
And wipe the tear front Sorrow's eye $
For ore's the aim is, our's the art,
To meliorare the human heart ;
Of wild desires, to stem the Sood,
And act as if of kindred blood!

ST. ANDREW'S DAY.

We have already stated that St. Andrew's Day was'
on Saturday celebrated with its usual festivities -and
observances. Legandgives us a curious acount of
this Saint, and ofthe circumstances which occasioned
him to be adopted as the patron Saint of Scotland:—
St. Regulus, or Rule, a-pious Greek, being warned
in a vision to visit a distant country, called Albion,
and to take with him the arm-bone, three fingers, and
three toei of St. Andrew, relics, it seems, which he
bad in his possession, or could procure, he obeyed;
'and setting sail' ith his companions, after being
grievously tempest-tost, was at length shipwrecked
on the coast of Othoninia, in the territory of Her-
gustus, King of the Picts. This happened in the year
370. His Majesty no sooner heard of the arrival of
the pious strangers, and their precious cargo of re-
liques, than he gave orders for their reception ; pre-
sented St. Regulus with his own Palace, and built
near it the Church which to this day bears the name
of St. Regulus, and the remains of which, together
with its magnificent Monastery, form one of the
finest ruins in Scotland. Ungus, another King of the
Picts, gave this triGoo and St. Andrew, and ordained
that it should be the mother and head of all the
Churches in his dominions. This spot afterwards
came to be called. St. A ndrew's, and was subsequently
erected into the archiepiscopal See of the same name.'
This Prince also first directed that the Cross of St.'
Andrew should become the badge of the country.
The Festival of St. Andrew, though more parti-
cularly celebrated in Scotland, is not aline noticed
by the natives of that country. Luther, in his
66 Colloquia," says, that on the evening of the Feast,
of St. Andrew the young maidens in his country un-.
dress thernselve;, and in order to learn what sort of
husbands they shall have, recite the following prayer
in Latin:
" Dens, De" 0 sancte AndrcT office ut bonum piam aeqpi-
tam virum ; !ludic milu osteade qualis sit cui me in %norm
ducere debet."
And George, in his translation of Necogeorgiusßr-
gum Papisticum, seems also to allude to some such
observances in the folloss ing lines :

"To Andrew all the lovers and the lustie wooers come, '
Believing through his ayde, and certain ceremonies done.
'While as to him they prosecute, bring, and conjure all the night,
To have good luck e, and to übtaine their chicle and sweet delight."
It is not stated in what way St. Andrew gave rise
to these sort of amorous incantations, but, from the
above quotations, they seem to have been common
to more than one country. •

In the Statistical account of Scotland, Duddington
parish, distant from Edinburgh about a mile, we
read, that many of the opulent citizens resort thither
in the summer months, to solace themselves over one
of the ancient homely dishes of Scotland, for which
the place has been long celebrated. use of singed
sheep's heads, boiled or baked, so frequent in this
village, is supposed to have arisen from the practice
of slaughtering the sheep fed on the neighbouring
hill, for mat ket ; removing the carcases to town, and'
leaving the heads, &c. to he consumed in thii place.
And accordingly singed sheep's heads arc borne in'
ills procession of the Scots on St. Andrew's D.ty.
Ifastel mentions a singular local custom on this
day in the county of Kent, but which does not ap-
pear to have any telation to the Festival or Saint.—;
Speaking of the parish of Easling, he snys—" That
on,St. Andrew's Day (November SO) there is yearly
a diversion, called squirrel-hunting, in this and the
neighbouring parishes, when the labourers and lower
kind of people, assembling together, form a lawless
rabble, and being accoutred wit!' guns, poles, clubs,
and other such weapons, spend the greatest part of
the day in parading through the woods and grounds
with loud shoutings ; and under pretence of demo,
lishing the squirrels, some few of which they kill,
they destroy numbers of hares, pheasants, partridges,
and, in short, whatever comes in their way ; bteak-
Ing down the hedges, and doing much other mischief ;
and in the evening betake themselves to the ale-
houses, and finish their career there as is usual with
such like gentry."

MIRACLE-MONGERS DEFEATED.—A singular plot
to save the life of a condemned rebel, and to derive
from that circumstance an influence over the minds
of the superstitious part of the population, has been'
discovered at Oviedo, in Spain. The criminal, named.
Roces Dorado alias Lantana, was ordered for execu-•
tion on the 9th. He was put in Capilla, and per-,
formed all his religious duties with an appearance of:
remarkable devotion ; and he ate a good supper, and'
slept soundly on' the preceding night. NVilen the
usual hour arrived, and he'was led out from his pri-
son; he shevred no Alarm ; he looked coolly on, and
his countenance retained the natural colour cone-
sponding with his youth and vigorous state of health.
He was delivered into the hands of the executioner,
who very carefully covered his head, neck, and part
of his breast. He then proceeded to perform the
office of.garreting or strangling . the culprit ; and it
appeared that he applied to the instrument of death
the forcemeeessary for that purpose. The executioner,
however, contrived to avoid giving the fatal turn.—
The result and the explanation of this affair are thus
stated in the Madrid Papers :
44 This diabolical plot was the work of the friars who accom-
panied the etitninal to the scaffold, and was got up for the pur-
pose of fascinating the people, by setting up a cry that the un-
happy man had been saved from death by a mine*. One re-
claimed that be was opening his. eyes, and that Heaven bad
saved bins. Another friar said, that though there was no

(mercy on earth, there was still mercy in Heaven.' This infa.
minis stratagem, which might have produced Dome effect among
the ignorant and superstitious, was completely defeated by the
Milker/ Commandant, who ordered four soldiers to discharge
their,eices-iil the cidpiff; and thUs completed the sentence.--
The .yebrl expired immediately, and the friars appeared very
vela& at being disappointed -af their •asiracle. The executioner
be. been committed to prison, and an innstigation into this
soadalotia affair has commenced."