However frequently you are injured, if real penitence and contrition follow the offence, a Christian is always bound to forgive.----BISHOP PORTEUS. * * * * * The nominal professions of religion with which many persons content themselves, seem to fit them for little else than to disgrace Christianity by their practice.----MILNER. * * * * * A kind refusal is sometimes as gratifying as a bestowal: he who can alleviate the pain of an ungracious act is unpardonable unless he do so. ANNIVERSARIES IN JULY. MONDAY, 8th. 1397 _The Union of Calmar_, by which Norway, Sweden and Denmark, were formed into a single kingdom, under Margaret of Denmark, commonly called the "Semiramis of the North." This union lasted till 1520, when Sweden became again an independent state under Gustavus Vasa. 1797 Died, at Beaconsfield, _Edmund Burke_. TUESDAY, 9th. 1497 _Vasco de Gama_ sailed from Belem, near Lisbon, on a voyage of discovery, which terminated in his finding the passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope, while Columbus was seeking the shores of Asia, by sailing continually to the West, and in so doing discovered the _New World_. The Portuguese navigator, by patiently pursuing the Coast of Africa, and at length doubling the Cape, which terminates this continent on the south, actually arrived on this long-sought coast the 22nd of May, 1499 after a voyage of one year and ten months. 1762 _Catherine II._ deposed her husband, Peter III., and caused herself to be proclaimed Empress of all the Russias. 1816 The countries of La Plata and Paraguay declared themselves free, and assumed the name of the United Provinces of South America. WEDNESDAY, 10th. 1212 London Bridge was nearly consumed by a fire, which broke out at both ends at the same time. In this conflagration near 3000 persons perished, the sides of the bridge being occupied by rows of houses, there was, consequently, no escape for the unfortunate inhabitants, thus hemmed in by the fire on two sides, and the water behind. 1472 The Town of Beauvais saved from falling into the hands of the Burgundians by the courage and zeal of the women, who, when the garrison, exhausted by a long resistance, were on the point of giving way, came to their assistance, led by one Jeanne de Hachette. This heroine herself threw down from the walls the Burgundian officer, who was about to plant his standard on them. Louis XI. made an honourable marriage for her, and commanded that the event should be annually commemorated by a procession, in which the females should walk first; a custom which prevails to this day.