The talisman is of fine gold, of round
form, as our illustration shows, set with gems, and in
the centre are two rough sapphires, and a portion of
the Holy Cross; besides other relics brought from the Holy Land."
The rest of the description much resembles your correspondent's, and
asserts the talisman to be at that time the property of Prince Louis
Napoleon, then a prisoner in the chateau of Ham.
S.A.M.
_Sayers the Caricaturist._--In Wright's _England under the House of
Hanover_, vol. ii. p. 83 _n_., it is stated that James Sayer, the
caricaturist, "died in the earlier part of the present century, no
long time after his patron, Pitt." In _Sepulchral Reminiscences of a
Market Town_, by Mr. Dawson Turner (Yarmouth, 8vo. 1848), p. 73
_n_., the caricaturist is called Sayers, and is said to have died on
the 20th of April, 1823.
C.H. COOPER.
Cambridge, Dec. 29. 1849.
_May-Day_.--To what old custom does the following passage allude?
"It is likewise on the first day of this month [May]
that we see the ruddy milk-maid exerting herself in a
most sprightly manner under a pyramid of silver
tankards, and, like the virgin Tarpeia, oppressed by the
costly ornaments which her benefactors lay upon her."
--_Spectator_, No. 365.
MELANION.
[Our correspondent will find much curious illustration of this now
obsolete custom in Strutt's _Sports and Pastimes_ p.
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