When he went abroad among the scenes of rural verdure, beauty, and fruitfulness, like the bee in its industrious ranges for celestial sweets, he was solicitous to gather fresh food for heavenly contemplation, or fresh materials and ornaments for future compositions. The pastures covered with flocks and herds, the fields waving with the ripening harvests, the groves resounding with the melody of birds, enlivened his praises, and he saw, heard, and confessed his GOD in all. The skies by day struck his soul with admiration of the immense power, wisdom, and goodness of their divine Author: the moon and starry train by night increased his conceptions of the Deity; and in the OPEN MANUSCRIPT OF GOD, the wide-extended heavens, he read the letters of his great and wonderful name with profound homage and veneration. All that met his eye or ear was laid, as it were, under a tribute to yield him improvement, and consecrate and enrich his moments of leisure and necessary cessation from his studies; and, in short, NATURE was only a scale to his devout soul, by which to ascend to the knowledge and adoration of GOD.-Life of Dr. Watts.

What though I trace each Herb and Flower

That drinks the morning dew,

Did I not own JEHOVAH's power,

How vain were all I knew!

Say what's the rest but empty boast,
The pedant's idle claim,
Who, having all the substance lost,
Attempts to grasp a name?

Oratorio of Soloman.

TIME'S TELESCOPE

FOR

1819.

JANUARY.

THE name given to this month by the Romans was taken from Janus, one of their divinities, to whom they gave two faces; because, on the one side, the first day of this month looked towards the new year, and on the other towards the old one. It was called wolf-monat by our Saxon ancestors, on account of the danger then experienced from wolves; for that, through the extremity of cold and snow, those ravenous creatures could not find of other beasts sufficient to feed upon.

Remarkable Days

In JANUARY 1819.

1.-CIRCUMCISION.

THIS festival was instituted in the sixth century, in commemoration of the circumcision of our Saviour; a rite of the Jewish law, first enjoined to Abraham as a token of the covenant God made with him and his posterity. New Year's Day has ever been considered a season of joy and congratulation for blessings received and dangers escaped in the year past, as well as for gratitude to the kind Providence which permits us

A

to witness the commencement of a succeeding

one.

The Romans, at this time, sent presents of sweetmeats, as dried figs, honey, &c. (strenæ), expressing a wish that their friends might enjoy the sweets of the year into which they had entered. A relic of this custom is still observed in the south of Scotland, where the sweetie-skon, a sort of plum-cake, constitutes the New Year's Gift. Among the northern nations, it was customary for subjects to present gifts to their sovereigns, which were called jolagiafir, yule-gifts. In France, particularly in the south, early in the morning of New Year's Day, a round of visits is commenced to relations and friends, to wish them a happy new year, and to present them with bonbons (sweetmeats.)-See T. T. for 1815, p. 2.

The antient custom of going about with the wassail, a bowl of spiced ale,' is yet retained in many places. The composition was ale, nutmeg, sugar, toast, and roasted crabs or apples, and was called lamb's wool. Some verses still sung in Gloucestershire, on this day, may be seen in our volume for 1814, p. 3.

The New Year's Gift,' a relic of the most antient observances of the day, is yet general in our own country; and, however trifling the present, is at least a pleasing memorial of the friendship and good-will of the giver.

In 1765, Bishop Lyttleton shewed the Society of Antiquaries a large parchment roll, containing a list of New Year's Gifts presented to Queen Elizabeth at Greenwich, on the 1st of January, 1584-5, signed by the queen, and countersigned by John Astley, Esq. master and treasurer of the jewels; by which it appears, that the greatest part, if not all the peers and peeresses of the realm, all the bishops, the chief officers of state, and several of the queen's household ser

vants, even down to her apothecaries, mastercook, sergeant of the pastry, &c. gave New Year's Gifts to her majesty, consisting either of a sum of money, or jewels, trinkets, wearing apparel, &c. Most of the peeresses gave rich gowns, petticoats, kirtles, doublets, mantles, some embroidered with pearls, garnets, &c. bracelets, caskets studded with precious stones, and other toys. The queen's physician presented her with a box of foreign sweetmeats; her apothecary with a box of lozenges, and a pot of conserves; her master-cook with a fayre marchepayne' (a macaroon then in fashion), her sergeant of the pastry, a fayre pye oringed,' &c. On the back of this roll was a list of the gifts presented by the queen in return, the whole of which consisted of gilt plate: To the Earl of Leicester one hundred and thirty-two ounces;'To the Earl of Warwick one hundred and six ounces,' &c. &c., the sum total being 4809 ounces.

6

In Paris, on this day, there is an exhibition of some of the finest specimens of china manufactured during the preceding year in the royal establishment at Sevres, which is open to the royal family only for a few days, and afterwards to the public. Sevres, being not far distant from Versailles, is often visited by English tourists in their way either to or from that celebrated palace; but, notwithstanding the munificent support of both royal and imperial patronage, we may be allowed to say, that the far-famed productions of this splendid manufactory, as well as of the Paris exhibition, are not such as would lead us to undervalue the equal, if not superior, china made by public-spirited individuals in this country.

The commencement of a New Year is a period for serious reflection; it becomes us to be thoughtful, as the lapse of time suggests topics of intellectual and moral improvement.

Ye gladsome bells-how misapplied your peal!
A day like this requires a solemn chime;
Infatuate mortals! why with sportive heel
Dance ye exulting o'er the grave of Time?

Is he your foe that thus you ring his knell,
That festive notes announce his awful flight?
Tire ye of day-that sounds of triumph tell
How swift the wing that wafts your last long night?
While circling years o'er thoughtless myriads roll,
Long folly, but to lend, and length of shame;
Ye metal tongues swing slow, with mournful toll,
Virtue's departed season to proclaim!

Sons of delay! whose duties, yet undone,
Await from year to year your hand in vain,
Drown-drown that brazen music with a groan!
The years ye lost-shall ne'er be yours again!

6. EPIPHANY.

FAWCETT.

The rites of this day, the name of which signifies an appearance of light, or a manifestation, are different in various places, though the object of them is much the same in all; namely, to do honour to the memory of the Eastern magi, to whom Christ on this day was manifested, and who, according to a tradition of the Romish church, were three in number, and of royal dignity. This being the Twelfth-day after the Nativity of our Lord, is celebrated in the metropolis and in the south of England, by drawing lots, and assuming fictitious characters for the evening:-formerly the king or queen was chosen by a bean found in a piece of divided cake; and this was once a common Christmas gambol in both the English Universities. The day after Twelfth Day was called St. Distaff's Day. The customs on this day in Northumberland, France, and at Rome, are described at length in T. T. for 1815, p. 5. On the Epiphany, the king of England offers annually, by proxy, at the chapel royal, St. James's, gold, frankincense, and myrrh.