fortitude. In this he is thought to have resembled our Dr. Johnson, but, in other respects, his character and habit seem to approach nearer to those of Cowper. He was an agreeable and fertile writer, the poet of religion and virtue, and an able reformer of public morals. He aimed also at the reformation of the stage, and wrote several plays of the best moral tendency.

*15. 1683.-IZAAK WALTON DIED,

During the great frost, for which that year was remarkable. His 'Complete Angler' will ever be read with pleasure by those even who have no taste for that pursuit, for its delightful pictures of rural scenery, and its unfeigned piety.

INSCRIPTION on his TOMB.

Alas! he's gone before,
Gone to return no more;
Our panting breasts aspire
After their aged sire,
Whose well spent life did last
Full ninety years and past;
But now he hath begun

That which will ne'er be done;
Crowned with eternal bliss,

We wish our souls with his.

*15. 1810.-MRS. TRIMMER DIED,

A lady who did much for the present and for future generations, by her works of instruction in moral and religious knowledge. She sank into death as into a sleep, while sitting in her chair at her meditations.

16.-0 SAPIENTIA.

This is the beginning of an anthem in the Latin service to the honour of Christ's advent, which used to be sung in the church from this day until Christmas Eve.

21.-SAINT THOMAS THE APOSTLE. Thomas, surnamed Didymus, or the Twin, was a Jew, and in all probability a Galilean. There are but few passages in the gospel concerning him. Thomas

is said to have suffered martyrdom in the same city, being killed by the lances of some people instigated by the Bramins.

This is the shortest day, and is, at London, 7 h. 44 m. 17 s.; allowing 9 m. 5 s. for refraction.

25. CHRISTMAS DAY.

Much of the festivity of this season, which formerly gladdened the hearts of the old and young, has now disappeared; a refinement of manners (with little real improvement we fear), and the increasing difficulties of the times, have, we are sorry to say, in a great measure abolished the hospitality of our forefathers. May the following lines, and the subsequent reflections (taken from a periodical print), have some effect in restoring good old customs!

-Frame your mind to mirth and merriment,
Which bars a thousand harms, and lengthens life.

SHAKSPEARE.

Why, gentlemen, doe you know what you doe, ha?
Would you ha' kept me out? Christmas, old Christmas?

Then as ye sit about your embers,
Call not to mind those fled Decembers,

But think on these that are to appear,

As daughters to the infant year;

BEN JONSON.

And thus throughout, with Christmas plays,
Frolic the full twelve holidays.

Up, then, up, lovers of old English pleasures as well as freedom;-lovers of what the SHAKSPEARES and SYDNEYS loved, and what helped to make them the great men they were,-lovers of manly and rural sports, lovers of the freesward and the snow-ball, lovers of song and dance, lovers of mutual happiness in-doors and out of doors, lovers of Nature, and of the Author of the flowers of summer-time and the evergreens of winter. Up, and do what you can, and

what you ought. You, who are able, do as the old gentry did, and set your village neighbours in motion with cakes and ale; you, who are able, go out and fetch home your boughs, your laurels, your misletoe, your glad holly with its shining winter cheeks,

Till Birnam-wood do come to Dunsinane;

and you, who are not (very few of you, ye rogues), rouse as much mirth as possible nevertheless in doors; study your books, or your good old grandmothers, and revive as many sports, and make them last as many days, as you can. Do not be always plodding and getting; you see what others have got by it, no ideas, no enjoyments, and the bile. Get enough to live by, but not to die by; and, above all, do honour to the memory of merry old England this week, till you hear more about her the next.'

We cannot do better than close these remarks with a Christmas carol, held to be the most antient drinking song, composed in England, extant. The original is in the old Norman French, of which, as well as of the translation, we annex a specimen:

Lordlings, it is our host's command,
And Christmas joins him hand in hand,
To drain the brimming bowl;
And I'll be foremost to obey:

Then pledge me, sirs, and drink away,
For Christmas revels here to-day,

And sways without controul.

Now wassel to you all! and merry may ye be;

But foul that wight befall, who drinks not health to me! The feast of our Saviour's nativity was undoubtedly celebrated in the early ages of Christianity; for we are told that, under the persecution of Maximinus, that emperor burnt a church at Nicomedia, which was filled with Christians assembled to keep this festival. St. Gregory terms it the festival of festivals ; and St. Chrysostom, the chief of all festivals. It is named Christmas-day, from the Latin Christi Missa, the Mass of Christ, and thence the Roman Catholic Liturgy is termed their Missal or Mass Book. About the year 500, the observation of this day became general in the Catholic church.

In the primitive church, Christmas-day was always preceded by an eve or vigil. When the devotion of the Eve was completed, our forefathers used to light up candles of an uncommon size, which were called Christmas candles, and to lay a log of wood upon the fire, called the yule-clog or log.

For many other customs formerly observed in England at this season, see T.T. for 1814, pp. 309-315; T.T. for 1816, p. 337; and for an account of the strange and ridiculous Ass's Feast,' formerly celebrated in this country at Christmas, consult T.T. for 1815, p. 318.

6

26. SAINT STEPHEN.

Stephen was the first deacon chosen by the apostles. He was cited before the Sanhedrin, or Jewish Council, for prophesying the fall of the Jewish Temple and economy; and while vindicating his doctrine by several passages of the Old Testament, he was violently carried out of the city, and stoned to

death, in the year 33.-See Acts vii, for his admirable defence.

We know not whether we shall give offence to our catholic friends by the admission of the following jeu d'esprit; it is, however, so appropriate to the occasion on which it was written, that we cannot refuse our protestant readers the perusal of this choice morceau, hitherto only privately printed and circulated. Let those who are of opposite sentiments receive it with a smile of good humour, forgive the author, and forget the satire. It was written in consequence of the decision of the House against the Catholics, by the single vote of the late Speaker, the Hon. Charles Abbot (now Lord Colchester). It is entitled THE ABBOT OF ST. STEPHEN,' and may, we believe, be sung to the tune of Three Friars of Orders Grey.'

1.

Saint Stephen he looked on his antient chair,
And he smiled to see what an ABBOT was there;
When Popery came,

With her mischievous flame,

Contriving the doom

Of that TRIFLE the PLUME,
This Abbot he spoke

And the juggle was broke;

Through the Calendar now let her pray to the rest,
But Stephen for England of saints was the best.
Then hail to the Abbot of Saint Stephen,
Sound we his praise from morn to even.
No begging monk, or mumping friar,
No droning priest, or lazy prior,
Can rule so well in his convent choir,
As the Abbot of Saint Stephen.

2.

Harry the Eighth-Heaven bless his hand!
Hunted the crew from English land:
He plucked the cowls

From their pampered jowls;

Saint Francis he stript,
And Saint Dominic clipt,
Their talons he pared,

But Saint Stephen he spared,