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factured at the royal establishment in the neighbourhood of Versailles during the preceding year.

Undoubtedly, new year's gifts originated in heathen observances, and were grossly abused in after ages; yet latterly they became a rational and pleasant mode of conveying our gentle dispositions towards those we esteein. Mr. Audley, in his compendious and useful "Companion to the Almanack," says, with truth, that they are innocent, if not praiseworthy; and he quotes this amiable sentiment from Bourne: "If I send a new year's gift to my friend, it shall be a token of my friendship; if to my benefactor, a token of my gratitude; if to the poor, which at this season must never be forgot, it shall be to make their hearts sing for joy, and give praise and adoration to the Giver of all good gifts." The Jews on the first day of their new year give sumptuous entertainments, and joyfully wish each other "a happy new year.' This salutation is not yet obsolete even with us; but the new year's gift seldom arrives, except to honest rustics from their equals; it is scarcely remembered with a view to its use but by young persons, who, "unvexed with all the cares of gain," have read or heard tell of such things, and who, with innocent hearts, feeling the kindness of the sentiment, keep up the good old custom among one another, till mixture with the world, and " long experience, makes them sage," and sordid.

New year's day in London is not observed by any public festivity; but little social dining parties are frequently formed amongst friends; and convivial persons may be found at taverns, and in publicans' parlours, regaling on the occasion. Dr Forster relates, in his "Perennial Calendar," that many people make a point to wear some new clothes on this day, and esteem the omission as unlucky: the practice, however, from such motives, must obviously be confined to the uninformed. The only open demonstration of joy in the metropolis, is the ringing of merry peals from the belfries of the numerous steeples, late on the eve of the new year, and until after the chimes of the clock have sounded its last hour.

On new year's day the man of business >pens new account-books. "A good beginning makes a good ending." Let every man open an account to himself; and 10 begin the new year that he may expect o say at its termination-it has been a

good year. In the hilarity of the season let him not forget that to the needy it i a season of discomfort.

There is a satisfaction

In doing a good action:

and he who devises liberal things will
find his liberality return to him in a ful!
tide of happiness. An economist can
afford to be generous. "Give me neither
poverty nor riches," prayed the wise man.
To him who is neither encumbered by
wealth, nor dispirited by indigence, the
stores of enjoyment are unlocked.
He who holds fast the Golden Mean,
And lives contentedly between

The little and the great,
Feels not the wants that pinch the poor,
Nor plagues that haunt the rich man's door,
Embitt'ring all his state.

The tallest pines feel most the pow'r
Of wintry blasts; the loftiest tow'r

Comes heaviest to the ground;
The bolts that spare the mountain's side
His cloud capt eminence divide,

And spread the ruin round.
The well-inform'd philosopher
Rejoices with a wholesome fear,

And hopes, in spite of pain;
If Winter bellow from the North,
Soon the sweet Spring comes dancing forth
And Nature laughs again.

If hindrances obstruct thy way,
Thy magnanimity display,

And let thy strength be seen;
But oh! if fortune fill thy sail
With more than a propitious gale,
Take half thy canvass in.

CHRONOLOGY.

Cowper.

1308. On the 1st of January in this year, William Tell, the Swiss patriot, associated himself on this day with a band of his countrymen, against the tyranny of their oppressors. For upwards of three centuries the opposition was carried on, and terminated by the treaty of Westphalia in 1648, declaring the independence of Switzerland.

1651. On the 1st of January Charles II. was crowned at Scone king of the Scots Charles, when a child, was weak in the legs, and ordered to wear steel - boots. Their weight so annoyed him that he pined till recreation became labour. An old rocker took off the steel-boots, and concealed them; promising the countess of Dorset, who was Charles's governess, that she would take any blame for the act

on herself.

Soon afterwards the king, Charles I., coming into the nursery, and seeing his boy's legs without the boots, angrily demanded who had done it?" It was I, sir," said the rocker, "who had the honour, some thirty years since, to attend on your highness, in your infancy, when you had the same infirmity wherewith now the prince, your very own son is troubled; and then the lady Cary, (afterwards countess of Monmouth) commanded your steel-boots to be taken off, who, blessed be God, since have gathered strength, and arrived at a good stature." Clare, chaplain to Charles II., at the time the affair happened, related this anecdote to old Fuller, who in 1660, contemplating "the restoration," tells the story, and quaintly exclaims, "the nation is too noble, when his majesty shall return from foreign parts, to impose any other steelboots upon him, than the observing the laws of the land, which are his own stockings, that so with joy and comfort he may enter on what was his own inheritance." The nation forgot the "steel-boots," and Charles forgot the "stockings."

1801. January 1. The Union of Great Britain with Ireland commenced according to act of parliament, and the event was solemnized by the hoisting of a new royal flag on the Tower of London, accompanied by the firing of guns there and in St. James's Park. On the 3d the king received the great seal of Great Britain from the lord chancellor, and causing it to be defaced, presented to him a new great seal for the United Kingdom. On the same day, January 1st, 1801, Piazzi, the astronomer at Palermo, discovered a new primary planet, making an eleventh of that order: he called it Ceres, from the goddess of that name, who was highly esteemed by the ancients of Sicily.

Usually at this period the rigour of cold Is severely felt. The indisposition of lie-abeds to face its severity is pleasantly pictured by Mr.Leigh Hunt, in a paper in the Indicator. He imagines one of those persons to express himself in these terms: "On opening my eyes, the first thing that meets them is my own breath rolling forth, as if in the open air, like smoke out of a cottage-chimney. Think of this symptom. Then I turn my eyes sideways and see the window all frozen over. Think of that. Then the servant comes

ın. 'It is very cold this morning, is it not?'- Very cold, sir.'- Very cold indeed, isn't it? Very cold indeed, sir.'- More than usually so, isn't it, even for this weather?' (Here the servant's wit and good nature are put to a considerable test, and the inquirer lies on thorns for the answer.) Why, Sir... .. I think it is.' (Good creature! There is not a better, or more truth-telling servant going.) I must rise, howeverGet me some warm water.'-Here comes a fine interval between the departure of the servant and the arrival of the hot water; during which, of course, it is of 'no use' to get up. The hot water comes. Is it quite hot?'-'Yes, sir.'

Perhaps too hot for shaving: I must wait a little?'-'No, sir; it will just do.' (There is an over-nice propriety sometimes, an officious zeal of virtue, a little troublesome.) Oh-the shirt - you

must air my clean shirt :-linen gets very damp this weather.'-'Yes, sir.' Here another delicious five minutes. A knock at the door. Oh, the shirt-very well. My stockings-I think the stockings had better be aired too.'- Very well, sir.'

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Here another interval. At length every thing is ready, except myself I now cannot help thinking a good deal-who can?-upon the unnecessary and villainous custom of shaving; it is a thing so unmanly (here I nestle closer)-so effeminate, (here I recoil from an unlucky step into the colder part of the bed.)-No wonder, that the queen of France took part with the rebels against that degenerate king, her husband, who first affronted her smooth visage with a face like her own. The emperor Julian never showed the luxuriancy of his genius to better advantage than in reviving the flowing beard. Look at cardinal Bembo's picture-at Michael Angelo's-at Titian's-at Shak speare's-at Fletcher's-at Spenser's-at Chaucer's-at Alfred's-at Plato's. could name a great man for every tick of my watch. Look at the Turks, a grave and otiose people-Think of Haroun Al Raschid and Bed-ridden Hassan-Think of Wortley Montague, the worthy son of his mother, a man above the prejudice of his time-Look at the Persian gentlemen, whom one is ashamed of meeting abou the suburbs, their dress and appearance are so much finer than our own-Lastly, think of the razor itself—how totally opposed to every sensation of bed-how cold, how edgy, how hard! how utterly

I

different from any thing like the warm and circling amplitude, which

Unto our gentle senses.

Sweetly recommends itself

may help you to cut yourself, a quivering body, a frozen towel, and an ewer full of ice; and he that says there is nothing to oppose in all this, only shows, at any rate

Add to this, benumbed fingers, which that he has no merit in opposing it."

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THIS engraving represents simple methods by which, at this season especially, the health of young persons may be maintained, and the constitution invigorated. Two round parallel bars at two feet distance from each other, on round standards three or four feet high, firmly fixed in the ground, will afford boys the ineans of actively exerting their limbs and muscles: and if the ends of a pole be let into opposite walls or fastened to trees, the boys may be taught to climb single ropes, and hold on while swinging by them. The engraving is placed before the eyes of parents and teachers with the hope of directing their attention to gymnastic exercises, as diversions for youth, and they are referred to a practical treatise on the subject by Mr. Clias, that may be safely used. His judicious reasoning must convince every reader of their im portance to the rising generation, and that it is within the means of all classes of persons to let boys acquire a knowledge of the feats represented in the

plates to his work, for teaching which his explanations are numerous and clear.

An unseasonable occurrence in the cellar of the late sir Joseph Banks may be acceptable in the mention, and excite particular sympathy in persons who recreate with the juice of the vine: as a fact, it may tend to elucidate the origin and nature of vegetable fungi, particularly of that species termed mushroom. The worthy baronet had a cask of wine rather too sweet for immediate use; he therefore directed that it should be placed in a cellar, in order that the saccharine matter it contained might be more perfectly decomposed by age. At the end of three years, he directed his butler to ascertain the state of the wine, when, on attempting to open the cellar door, he could not effect it, in consequence of some powerful obstacle. The door was cut down, and the cellar found to be completely filled with a firm fungous vegetable production-so firm that it was

necessary to use the axe for its removal. This appeared to have grown from, or have been nourished by, the decomposed particles of the wine: the cask was empty, and carried up to the ceiling, where it was supported by the surface of the fungus.

At the close of this day he who can reflect with satisfaction on the past, may

anticipate with calm delight the entrance of the new year, and lift his eyes to the living lustres of the firmament with grate ful feelings. They shine cut their prismatic colours through the cold thin air, keeping watch while man slumbers, or cheering him, who contemplates their fires, to purposes of virtue. In this season

The night comes calmly forth,

Bringing sweet rest upon the wings of even
The golden wain rolls round the silent north,
And earth is slumbering 'neath the smiles of heaven.

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Adalard or Alard.

St. Macarius. A.D. 394. Alban Butler says he was a confectioner of Alexandria, who, in the flower of his age, spent upwards of sixty years in the deserts in labour, penance, and contemplation. "Our saint," says Butler, " happened one day inadvertently to kill a gnat, that was biting him in his cell; reflecting that he had lost the opportunity of suffering that mortification, he hastened from his cell for the marshes of Scetè, which abound with great flies, whose stings fierce even wild boars. There he continued six months, exposed to those ravaging insects; and to such a degree was his whole body disfigured by them, with sores and swellings, that when he returned he was only to be known by his voice." The Golden Legend relates of him, that he took a dead pagan out of his sepulchre, and put him under his head for a pillow; whereupon certain devils came to affright the saint, and called the dead pagan to go with them; but the body under the saint said he could not, because a pilgrim lay upon him, so that he could not move; then Macarius, nothing afraid, beat the body with his fist, and told him to go if he would, which caused the devils to declare that Macarius had Another time the vanquished them. devil came with a great scythe on his shoulder, to smite the saint, but he could not prevail against him, on account of his virtues. Macarius, at another time, being tempted, filled a sack with stones, and bore it many journies through the desert. Seeing a devil before him in the shape of a man, dressed like “a herawde," with bis clothing full of holes, and in every hole a phial, he demanded of this devil whither he went; and why he had so many phials?

BOWRING.

the devil answered, to give drink to the
hermits; and that the phials contained a
variety of liquors, that they might have
a choice, and so fall into temptation. On
the devil's return, the saint inquired how
he had sped; and the devil answered very
evil, for they were so holy that only one
Theodistus would drink on this inform-
ation Macarius found Theodistus under
the influences of the phial, and recovered
him. Macarius found the head of a pagan,
and asked where the soul of its body
was: in hell, said the head: he asked the
head if hell was deep;—the head said
deeper than from heaven to earth: he de-
manded again, if there were any there
lower than his own soul-the head said
the Jews were lower than he was: the
saint inquired if there were any lower
than the Jews-the head answered, the
false Christian-men were lower than the
Jews, and more tormented: there the
dialogue between the saint and the head
appears to have ended. Macarius seems,
by the Golden Legend, to have been much
annoyed by the devil. In a nine days'
journey through a desert, at the end of
every mile he set up a reed in the earth,
to mark his track against he returned;
but the devil pulled them all up, made a
bundle of them, and placed them at Ma-
carius's head, while he lay asleep, so that
the saint with great difficulty found his
way home again.

St. Adalard, according to Butler, was grandson of Charles Martel, brother to king Pepin, and cousin-german to Charlemagne, who created him a count: he left his court in 773, became a monk at Corbie in Picardy, died in 827, aged seventythree, and wrought miracles, which procured his body to be enshrined with great pomp in 1010, a history of which solemnity is written by St. Gerard, who com posed an office in St. Adalard's honour, be

cause through his intercession he had been cured of a violent head-ache. The same St. Gerard relates seven other iracles by S. Adalard of the same nature. Butler says, his relics are still at Corbie, a rich shrine, and two smaller cases, except a small portion given to the abbey of Chelles.

The first Monday after new year's day 's called Handsel Monday in some parts of Scotland, and is observed by merry inaking. In sir J. Sinclair's "Statistical Account," it is related of one William Hunter, a collier, that he was cured in the year 1758 of an inveterate rheumatism or gout, by drinking freely of new ale, full of barm or yeast. "The poor man had been confined to his bed for a

year and a half, having almost entirely lost the use of his limbs. On the evening of Handsel Monday, as it is called, some of his neighbours came to make merry with him. Though he could not rise, yet he always took his share of the ale, as it passed round the company; and, in the end, became much intoxicated. The consequence was, that he had the use of his limbs the next morning, and was able to walk about. He lived more than twenty years after this, and never had the smallest return of his old complaint." This is a fact worth remembering, as connected with chronical complaints.

CHRONOLOGY.

On the 2d of January, A. D. 17, Ovid the celebrated Roman poet died; he was born at Sulmo on the 20th of March, forty-three years before the Christian era. His father designed him for the bar, and he became eminently eloquent, but every thing he wrote was expressed in poetical numbers; and though reminded by his father, that even Homer lived and died in poverty, he preferred the pleasures of imagination to forensic disputation He gained great admiration from the learned. Virgil, Horace, Tibullus, and Propertius, were his friends, and Augustus became his liberal patron, till he banished him for some unknown cause. In his exile he was cowardly, and prostituted his pen to fatter baseness; and though he desired the death of the emperor, he fawned upon him in his writings to meanness. He died ut Tomos on the Euxine sea, the place of his banishment, under the reign of Tiberius, who had succeeded Augustus, and was deaf to the poet's entreaties for per

mission to return to Rome. Whatever subject Ovid wrote on, he exhausted; he painted nature with a masterly hand, and his genius imparted elegance to vulgarity; but he defiled the sweetness of his numbers by impurity, and though he ranks among the splendid ornaments of ancient literature, he sullied his fame by the grossest immorality in some of his finest productions.

Livy, the Roman historian, died at Padua Ovid. His history of the Roman Empire on the same day and in the same year with was in one hundred and forty books, of which only thirty-five are extant. Five of these were discovered at Worms in 1431, and some fragments are said to have been lately discovered at Herculanæum. Few particulars of his life are own, but his his history has rendered him immortal fame was great even while he lived, and He wrote some philosophical treatises the merit of authors, which Dr. Lemand dialogues, with a letter to his son on priere says, ought to be read by young

men.

In the Literary Pocket Book there are some seasonable facts which may be transplanted with advantage to the reader, and, it is hoped, without disadvantage to the writer of the articles. He says that a man is infinitely mistaken, who thinks there is nothing worth seeing in wintertime out of doors, because the sun is not warm, and the streets are muddy. "Let him get, by dint of good exercise, out of the streets, and he shall find enough. In the warm neighbourhood of towns he may still watch the field-fares, thrushes, and blackbirds; the titmouse seeking its food through the straw-thatch; the red-wings, field-fares, sky-larks, and tit-larks, upon the same errand, over wet meadows; the sparrows and yellow-hammers, and chaffinches, still beautiful though mute, gleaning from the straw and chaff in farmyards; and the ring-dove, always poetical, coming for her meal to the ivy-berries. About rapid streams he may see the various habits and movements of herons, wood-cocks, wild-dacks, and other waterfowl, who are obliged to quit the frozen marshes to seek their food there. The red-breast comes to the windows, and often into the house itself, to be rewarded for its song, and for its far-famed pain ful' obsequies to the Children in the Wood."

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