opinion that it was a dish which had derived its origin from the heathen Fornacalia, a festival instituted by Numa,[62] in honour of the goddess Fornax; and was intended to commemorate the making of bread before the invention of ovens. Upon the subject of cross-buns he displayed great profundity; he observed, that the word _bun_ was derived from _boun_, a species of sacred bread described by Hesychius, and which was anciently offered to the gods; in support of which opinion he quoted Julius Pollux and Diogenes Laertius; nor did he relinquish the subject, until he had ably descanted upon the address with which heathen customs had been, as it were, naturalized, and perpetuated as Christian observances. The _boun_, he would say, lost its idolatrous impurity by receiving the sign of the cross; in the same manner that Druidical idols, and _stones erect_, by having crosses cut upon them, continued to receive a justifiable reverence, even as late as the seventh century. In short, the extent to which our excellent but eccentric vicar was carried, on such occasions, can scarcely be credited, except by those who are acquainted with the extravagant whimsies of a genuine antiquary. We have never contemplated this part of his character without congratulating the rising generation at Overton on the circumstance of the offices of village schoolmaster and vicar of the parish not having centered in the same individual; for we have not the shadow of a doubt, so great was his veneration for ancient usages, but he would have whipped up every child within his jurisdiction, on the morning of Childermas-day, or that of the Holy Innocents, as we are informed was the ancient custom, “in order that the memorial of Herod’s murder of the Innocents might stick the closer.” On the other hand, he would readily have forgiven any offence had the boy only cited a few lines from a favourite classic; for often had he been heard to relate with much satisfaction the well-known story of the Athenian Captives, whose lives were preserved in Sicily, from their being able to repeat portions of the dramas of Euripides. Whether, in spite of the censure and remonstrance of St. Austin, he would have ventured to continue the half-holiday on a Thursday, it is difficult to say; although the high antiquity of a custom originally established in honour of Jupiter, would, doubtless, have produced its influence upon the judgment of the antiquary.