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

REMARKABLE EVENTS IN DECEIIBER.

December is the last month in the year, but named December,
or the tenth month, from de.cem " ten ;" because the Romans
began their year in March, in the time of Romulus. The month
of December was under the protection of Vesta. Romulus as-
signed it 30 days, Numa reduced it to 29, which Julius Czsar
increased to 31.

At the latter end of this month the Romans had the jurmiles
luai, or youthful sports ; and the country people kept the feast
of the goddess Vacuna in the fields, having t,hen gathered in
their fruits and sown their corn ; whence seems to be derived
our popular festival, called harvest-homet In our climate De-
cember is, however, one of the most unpUasant months- in the
whok year—
No mark of vegetable life is seen,
No bird to bird repeats his tuneful call,
Save the dark leaves of some rude evergreen,
Save the lone red-breast on the.moss grownwall.

2, 1796. Mr. Muncio PARE, our celebrated countryman,
departed from Pisania, about 200 miles front the mouth of the
Gambia, in the western
,part of Africa, to explore the interior
part of that country, which he accomplished to the extent of
1100 miles in the space of 18 months. This intrepid and intel-
ligent traveller is supposed t. have perished in a recent journey
of discovery in the same quarter of the globe. The Association
for promoting the discovery of the interior regions of Africa was
formed in 1788 ; and has been so fortunate in collecting geogra-
phical information, as to leave little doubt but that, in a few
years, all the great features of this Continent (within the reach of
their inquiries) will be so well known and described, that-the
following sarcastic lines by Swift, on the nakedness of the land,
and the absurdity of its map-makers, will soon lose their force :
Geographus, in Afric maps,

With savage pictures fill their gaps,
And o'er unhabitable downs,
Place elephants for want of towns !
—, 1804. In the cathedral church of Notre Dame, at Paris,
NAPOLEON BoxaraaTs was anointed and crowned Emperor of
the French.

4,1805. The Victory man of war arrived at Portsmouth
with the remains of Lord Nxxsox. His Lordship's body lay in
state in the I'ainted Ihil, at Greenwich, on the sth, 6th, and
7th of January, was removed by water to the Admiralty ran the
Bth, and was interred in St. Paul's, with unexampled ceremony
and splendour, on the 9th of January, 1806.
—, 1788. Admiral Gam was interred at Revel, a large and
rich town of the Russian Empire. 133 miles W. by S. of Pe-
tersburgh. This brave naval commander was a native of Inver-
keithing, in Fifeshire, and had the command of the Russian Beet,
which, on the 6th of Ju1y,1770, destroyed,that of the Turks near
Ghesme or Tschesme, a sea-port of Natolia, and adjacent to the
Island of Scio, in the Archipelago. At the conclusion of the
war between the Russians and the Turns, in 1774, the Empress
advanced him to the rank of Vice-Admiral, and appointed him
Commandant of Cronstadt, a famous town and fortress near Pe-
tersburgh, and the station of the Russian Bert. Nor did the dis-
tinction and honour ',Lid to him end with his life. Ilis funeral
was, by the express orders of the Empress, celebrated with the
greatest pomp, bring decorated and adorned by all those appro-
priate naval and military honours, which the martial nations
of Europe have assigned as the last tribute to the memory of
the brave.

—, 1805. A general thanksgiving for the victory obtained
off Trafalgar.
6, 1776. litmus ISLAND, an island of North America, in the
State of the sante name, was taken from the Americans by the
British forces. This island is a noted resort of invalids from the
southern climate, being extremely pleasant and healthful. It is
also celebrated for fine women ; and travellers call it, with pro-
priety, " The F.den of America."
8, 1542. Was horn, in the Palace of Linlithgow, Scotland,
the unlortunate Qum; Maar : her father, James V. then dying
of a broken heart for his misfortunes at-Solway Moss, predicted
the mi.efies s Inch hung over her atid Scotland. At Linlithgow
is still pointed out to strangers the house from which the Regent
3lurray was allot. •
11. Commences the fishing for salmon in the Tat-, a noble
Scotch river, which runs through Perth, and, it is said, pours into
the ocean a greater quantity of water than ail other river in
Britain.
I le, 10. Z. CalsetwELL was declared Protector of Enzlaud.