ceed, as any noise or alarm might occasion the death of both lady and child. The captain inquired when the lady had been confined? "Within this hour," the servant answered:—Captain Macdonald stopped. The servant added, "They are just going to christen the infant." Macdonald, taking off his cockade, said, "Let her be christened with this cockade in her cap; it will be her protection now, and after, if any of our stragglers should come this way: We will await the ceremony in silence;"—which they accordingly did, and then went into the coach-yard, and were regaled with beef, cheese, ale, &c. They then went off, without the smallest disturbance.
My white cockade was safely preserved, and shewn to me from time to time, always reminding me to respect the Scotch, and the Highlanders in particular.—I think I have obeyed the injunction, by spending my life in Scotland, and also by hoping at last to die there.
P.S. If the above anecdote can be of any interest to you or the public, it is very much at your service. I have mentioned all the names of the persons concerned, which you may retain or leave out, as you think fit.
Miss Law, Prince's Street, hearing of the above anecdote, sent me a present of the Prince's picture, and that of his lady, the Princess Stollberg.
Edinburgh, April 21st, 1817.
INSCRIPTION IN THE CHURCH OF ST HILARY.
The following inscription was lately discovered when digging in the church of St Hilary, in the island of Jersey. If we except one barbarism, and one strong license, the epitaph may bear a comparison with most of the inscriptions in the Latin Anthology.
Enysea de stirpe meum Cornubia partum
Vindicat. Hillarius jam tenet ossa sacer.
Per Sporades Gallosque pium comitata maritum,
Deferor huc: visa est sors mihi nulla gravis.
Viximus unanimes, et prima prole beati;
In mundum duplici morte secunda venit.
Pignora dividimus: comitatur me morientem
Mortua; solatur filia prima patrem.
ON THE ORIGIN OF HOSPITALS FOR THE SICK.
The Greeks had no name to express what we understand by the word hospital. Νοσοχωμιον has a different meaning in the classical Greek writers, and is first used, as we now translate it, by St Jerome and St Isidore. At Athens, provision was made in the prytaneum for the maintenance of those who had been severely wounded in war, as well as for that of their wives and children; but there was no asylum for even these persons in case of sickness. Far less was any such accommodation within the reach of the poor citizens, or the mercenaries who always formed a large proportion of the Athenian force. At Lacedemon, where, according to the rule of Lycurgus, all the citizens eat in common, there was nevertheless no establishment which bore any resemblance to our hospitals. The Helots were abandoned in case of sickness; and a similar fate attended even the Ephori themselves, if they happened to have no private fortune. This neglect of the Athenian and Spartan legislatures was imitated by the other Grecian states. In the oath of Hippocrates, that illustrious physician swears, "that he will all his life visit the sick and give them his advice gratis." At that time the medical practitioners were both surgeons and apothecaries, so it would appear that Hippocrates furnished the sick in his neighbourhood with medicines without expecting any reward.
Among the Romans, in like manner, we should seek in vain for any establishments intended to alleviate the sufferings of the indigent sick. Nothing of the sort is mentioned among the pious institutions of Numa; and Servius, who distributed the people into classes, never thought of the numerous classes of poor, sick, and infirm. During the time of the republic there were frequent distributions of land, and divisions of the spoils taken from the enemies of the state, which ameliorated in some degree the lot of those who were called the capite censi, because they could offer nothing to the service of their country but their valour and their life. Yet all these largesses and gratifications were distributed among those who enjoyed good health, and no establishments for the sick were erected either under
