"This curious object of virtu is described in the Parisian journals as, 'la plus belle relique de l'Europe;' and it has, certainly, excited considerable interest in the archæological and religious circles of the continent. 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 château 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. 357. (ed. Hone), where the preceding passage from the _Spectator_ is quoted; and we are told "these decorations of silver cups, tankards, &c. were borrowed for the purpose, and hung round the milk pails (with the addition of flowers and ribands), which the maidens _carried upon their heads_ when they went to the houses of their customers, and danced in order to obtain a small gratuity from each of them." In Tempest's _Cryes of London_ there is a print of a well-known merry milk-maid, Kate Smith, dancing with the milk pail decorations upon her head. See also Hone's _Every Day Book_, i. p. 576.] _Dr. Dee's Petition_.--There is no mention of Dr. Dee's petition to King James in the list of his works in Tanner's _Bibliotheca Britannica_; but in Beloe's _Anecdotes_, vol. ii. p. 263., is an account of the preface to a scarce work of his, in which he defends himself from the charge of being a conjurer, or caller of divels, &c. Tanner mentions his _Supplication to Queen Mary for the Recovery of Ancient Writings and Monuments_. I fear, however, that your correspondent is {188} acquainted with these more easily obtained accounts of Dr. Dee's works. the _Dictionary_ of M. l'Abbé Ladoocat states that he died in England, A.D. 1607, at the age of 81; so that his petition to James must have been made at the close of his life. HERMES.