Enough, to keep his harp in tune."

The care of a large family of orphan grandchildren, in indigent circumstances, having devolved upon him, he became per· plexed with extreme difficulties, and again experienced the truth of his own observation, that

"If two steps forward, oft' three back, Through life had been his constant track." Attracted by the "bodies of divinity,” and other theological works, which his antiquarian library" contained, his attenion was particularly directed to the fundamental truths of religion, and the doctrines of the various denominations of the Christian world." The result was, that without joining any, he imbibed such portions of the tenets of each sect, that his opinions on this subject were as singular as on every other. Above all sectaries, yet not entirely agreeing even with them, he "loved and venerated" the "Moravians or United Brethren," for their meek,unassuming demeanour, their ceaseless perseverance in propagating the gospel, and their boundless love towards the whole human race. Of his own particular notions, he tus says,

If I on doctrines have right view,
Here's this for me, and that for you;
Another gives my neighbour comfort,
A stranger comes with one of some sort.
When after candid scrutinizing,
We find them equally worth prizing;
'Cause all in gospel love imparted.
Nor is there any one perverted;
Only as they may seem unlike,
Nor can on other's fancy strike:
Whereas from due conformity,
O what a spread of harmony.
Each with each, bearing and forbearing.
All wishing for a better hearing.
Would in due time, then full improve
Into one family of love:

Instead of shyness on each other,
My fellow-christian, sister, brother

And each in candour thus impart,
You have my fellowship and heart;
Let this but be the root o' th' sense,
Jesus the Christ, my confidence,
As given in the Father's love,
No other system I approve."

clusion of his seventy-eighth year, death After a short illness, towards the con closed his mortal career. Notwithstanding his eccentricity, he was "devoid of guile, plain and sincere in all transactions, and his memory is universally respected."Peace to his ashes"-(to use his own expressions,)

"Let all the world say worst they can,
He was an upright, honest man.'

Winter.

For the Table Book.

WINTER! I love thee, for thou com'st to me Laden with joys congenial to my mind, Books that with bards and solitude agree,

K.

The horizontal sun, like an orb of molten gold, casts a dim religious light" upon the surpliced world: the beams, reflected from the dazzling snow, fall upon the purple mists, which extend round the earth: like a zone, and in the midst the planet appears a fixed stud, surpassing the ruby in brilliancy.

Now trees and shrubs are borne down with sparkling congelations, and the coral clusters of the hawthorn and holly are more splendid, and offer a cold conserve to the wandering schoolboy. The huntsman is seen riding to covert in his scarlet livery, the gunner is heard at intervals in the uplands, and the courser comes galloping down the hill side, with his hounds in ful

chase before him. The farmer's boy, who is forced from his warm bed, to milk cows in a cold meadow, complains it's a "burning" shame that he should be obliged to go starving by himself, while " their wench" has nothing else to do but make a fire, and boil the tea-kettle. Now, Mrs. Jeremy Bellclack, properly so called, inasmuch as the unmentionables are amongst her peculiar attributes, waked by the mail-coach horn, sounding an Introit to the day, orders her husband, poor fellow, to "just get up and look what sort of a morning it is;" and he, shivering at the bare idea, affects to be fast asleep, till a second summons, accompanied by the contact of his wife's heavy hand, obliges him to paddle across the ice-cold plaster floor; and the trees and church-steeples, stars, spears, and saws, which form an elegant tapestry over the windows, seem to authorize the excuse that he "can't see," while, shivering over the dressing-table, he pours a stream of visible breath on the frozen pane.

After breakfast, Dicky," with shining morning face," appears in the street, on his way to school, with his Latin grammar in one hand, and a slice of bread and butter in the other, to either of which he pays his devoirs, and "slides and looks, and slides and looks," all the way till he arrives at "the house of bondage,” when his fingers are so benumbed, that he is obliged to warm his slate, and even then they refuse to cast up figures," of their own accord." In another part of the school, Joe Lazy finds it "so 'nation cold," that he is quite unable to learn the two first lines of his lesson,and he plays at "cocks and dollars" with Jem Slack in a corner. The master stands before the fire, like the Colossus of Rhodes, all the morning, to the utter discomfiture of the boys, who grumble at the monopoly, and secretly tell one another, that they pay for the fire, and ought to have the benefit of it. At length he says, "You may go, boys;" whereupon ensues such a pattering of feet, shutting of boxes, and scrambling for hats, as beats Milton's busy hum of men" all to nothing, till they reach their wonted slide in the yard, where they suddenly stop on discovering that "that skinny old creature, Bet Fifty, the cook," has bestrewed it from end to end with sand and cinders. Frost-stricken as it were, they stare at one another, and look unnutterable things at the aforesaid "skinay old creature;" till Jack Turbulent, ringleader-general of all their riots and rebellions, execrates "old Betty, cook," with the fluency of a parlour boarder, and hurls

a well-wrought snowball at the Gorgon, who turns round in a passion to discover the delinquent, when her pattens, unused to such quick rotatory motion, slip from under her feet, and "down topples she," to the delight of the urchins around her, who drown her cries and threats in reiterated bursts of laughter

Now, the Comet stage-coach, bowling along the russet-coloured road, with a long train of vapour from the horses' nostrils, looks really like a comet. At the same time, Lubin, who has been sent to town by his mistress with a letter for the post-office, and a strict injunction to return speedily, finds it impossible to pass the blacksmith's shop, where the bright sparks fly from the forge; and he determines "just" to stop and look at the blaze "a bit," which, as he says, "raly does one's eyes good of a winter's morning;" and then, he just blows the bellows a bit, and finds it so pleasant to listen to the strokes of Vulcan's wit, and his sledge-hammer, alternately, that he continues blowing up the fire, till, at length, he recollects what a "blowing up" he shall have from his "Missis" when he gets home, and forswears the clang of horse-shoes and plough-irons, and leaves the temple of the Cyclops, but not without a longing, ling'ring look behind" at Messrs. Blaze and Company.

From the frozen surface of the pond or lake, men with besoms busily clear away the drift, for which they are amply remunerated by voluntary contributions from every fresh-arriving skater; and black ice is discovered between banks of snow, and ramified into numerous transverse, oblique, semicircular, or elliptical branches. Here and there, the snow appears in large heaps, like rocks or islands, and round these the proficients in the art

"Come and trip it as they go

On the light, fantastic toe," winding and sailing, one amongst another, like the smooth-winged swallows, which so lately occupied the same surface. While these are describing innumerable circles, the sliding fraternity in another part form parallel lines; each, of each class, vies with the other in feats of activity, all enjoy the exhilarating pastime, and every face is illumined with cheerfulness. The philosophic skater, big with theory, convinced, as he tells every one he meets, that the whole art consists merely in transferring the centre of gravity from one foot to the other," boldly essays a demonstra tion, and instantly transfers it from both

so as to honour the frozen element with a sudden salute from that part of the body which usually gravitates on a chair; and the wits compliment him on the superior knowledge by which he has "broken the ice," and the little lads run to see "what a big star the gentleman has made!" and think it must have hurt him "above a bit!"

It is now that the different canals are frozen up, and goods are conveyed by the stage-waggon, and "it's a capital time for the turnpikes;" and those who can get brandy, drink it; and those who can't, drink ale; and those who are unable to procure either, do much better without them. And now, ladies have red noses, and the robin, with his little head turned knowingly on one side, presents his burning breast at the parlour window, and seems to crave a dinner from the noontide breakfast In such a day, the "son and heir" of the "gentleman retired from business" bedizens the drawing-room with heavy loads of prickly evergreen; and bronze candlebearers, porcelain figures, and elegant chimney ornaments, look like prince Malcolm's soldiers at "Birnam wood," or chorister boys on a holy Thursday; and his "Ma" nearly falls into hysterics on discovering the mischief; and his "Pa" begins to scold him for being so naughty; and the budding wit asks, as he runs out of the room, 66 Why, don't you know that these are the holly days" and his father relates the astonishing instance of early genius at every club, card-party, or vestrymeeting for a month to come. Now, all the pumps are frozen, old men tumble down on the flags, and ladies "look blue" at their lovers. Now, the merry-growing bacchanal begins to thaw himself with frequent potations of wine; bottle after bottle is sacrificed to the health of his various friends, though his own health is sacrificed in the ceremony; and the glass that quaffs "the prosperity of the British constitution," ruins his own.

And now, dandies, in rough great coats and fur collars, look like Esquimaux Indians; and the fashionables of the fair sex, in white veils and swans-down muffs and tippets, have (begging their pardons) very much the appearance of polar bears. Now, Miss Enigmaria Conundrina Riddle, poring over her new pocket-book, lisps out, "Why are ladies in winter like teakettles?" to which old Mr. Riddle, pouring forth a dense ringlet of tobacco-smoke, replies, "Because they dance and sing;" but master Augustus Adolphus Riddle,

66

who has heard it before, corrects him by saying, "No, Pa, that's not it-it's because they are furred up." Now, unless their horses are turned up, the riders are very likely to be turned down; and deep weis are dry, and poor old women, with a well-a-day!" are obliged to boil down snow and icicles to make their tea with. Now, an old oak-tree, with only one branch, looks like a man with a rifle to his shoulder, and the night-lorn traveller trembles at the prospect of having his head and his pockets rifled together. Now, sedan-chairs, and servants with lanterns, are “flitting across the night," to fetch home their masters and mistresses from oyster-eatings, and quadrille parties. And now, a young lady, who had retreated from the heat of the ballroom, to take the benefit of the north wind, and caught a severe cold, calls in the doctor, who is quite convinced of the correctness of the old adage, "It's an ill wind that blows nobody good."

Now, the sultana of the night reigns on her throne of stars, in the blue zenith, and young ladies and gentlemen, who had shivered all day by the parlour fire, and found themselves in danger of annihilation when the door by chance had been left a little way open, are quite warm enough to walk together by moonlight, though every thing around them is actually petrified by the frost.

Now, in my chamber, the last ember falls, and seems to warn us as it descends, that though we, like it, may shine among the brilliant, and be cherished by the great (grate,) we must mingle our ashes. The wasted candle, too, is going the way of all flesh, and the writer of these night thoughts," duly impressed with the importance of his own mortality, takes his farewell of his anti-critical readers in the language of the old song,

"Gude night, an' joy be wi' you all!” Lichfield.

TAKE NOTICE.

66

J. H.

nal of the following notice, written at Bath A correspondent who has seen the origisays, it would have been placed on a board its author to the contrary: in a garden there, had not a friend advised

"ANY PERSON TRESPACE HERE

SHALL BE PROSTICUTED

ACCORDING TO LAW."

Some look at this thing, then at that,

But vow they're all too high;

How much is this?"—" Two guineas, "wiss !"

"Oh, I don't want to buy!"

Look at these pretty books, my love,

I think it soon will rain;

There's Mrs. Howe, I saw her bow,

Why don't you bow again?

With a "How do you do,
Ma'am?" "How are you?
How dear the things all are!"
Throughout the day
You hear them say,

At fam'd Soho Bazaar.

Just see that picture on the box,

How beautifully done!

"It isn't high, ma'am, won't you buy?

It's only one pound one."
How pretty all these bonnets look

With red and yellow strings;
Some here, my dear, don't go too near,
You mustn't touch the things.
With a "How do you do,
Ma'am?" "How are you?
How dear the things all are!"
Throughout the day
You hear them say,

At fam'd Soho Bazaar.

Miss Muggins, have you seen enough?

I'm sorry I can't stay;

There's Mrs. Snooks, how fat she looks She's coming on this way

"Tom! see that girl, how well she walks

But faith, I must confess,

I never saw a girl before

In such a style of dress."

"Why, really, Jack, I think you're right, Just let me look a while;

(looking through his glass

I like her gait at any rate,

But don't quite like her style."
With a "How dɔ you do,
Ma'am?" "How are you?

How dear the things all are !"
Throughout the day

You hear them say,

At fam'd Soho Bazaar.

"That vulgar lady's standing there

That every one may view her ;"—
Sir, that's my daughter;"-"No, not her:
I mean the next one to her:"

"Oh, that's my niece,"-" Oh no, not her,"-. "You seem, sir, quite amused;"

"Dear ma'am,-heyday !-what shall I say? I'm really quite confused."

With a "How do you do,
Ma'am?" "How are you?

How dear the things all are!".
Throughout the day

You hear them say,

At fam'd Soho Bazaar.

Thus beaux and belles together meet,
And thus they spend the day;
And walk and talk, and talk and walk.
And then they walk away.

If you have half an hour to spare,
The better way by far

Is here to lounge it, with a friend,
In the Soho Bazaar.

With a "How do you do,
Ma'am?" "How are you?
How dear the things all are
Throughout the day
You hear them say,
At fam'd Scho Baraar.

Omniana.

THE SEASON OUT OF TOWN.
For the Table Book.

The banks are partly green; hedges and trees
Are black and shrouded, and the keen wind roars,
Like dismal music wand'ring over seas,

And wailing to the agitated shores.

The fields are dotted with manure-the sheep
In unshorn wool, streak'd with the shepherd's red,
Their undivided peace and friendship keep,
Shaking their bells, like children to their bed.

The roads are white and miry-waters run
With violence through their tracks-and sheds, that
flowers

In summer graced, are open to the sun,

Which shines in noonday's horizontal hours.

Frost claims the night; and morning, like a bride, Forth from her chamber glides; mist spreads her vest;

The sunbeams ride the clouds till eventide,
And the wind rolls them to ethereal rest.

Xerxes, Ximenes, Xanthus, Xaviere

Yield, yield, ye youths! ye yeomen, yield your ye!l,
Zeno's, Zampatee's, Zoroaster's zeal,
Attracting all, arms against acts appeal!

NAMES OF PLACES.

For the Table Book.

The names of towns, cities, or villages, which terminate in ter, such as Chester, Caster, Cester, show that the Romans, in their stay among us, made fortifications about the places where they are now situated. In the Latin tongue Castra is the name of these fortifications-such are Castor, Chester, Doncaster, Leicester: Don signifies a mountain, and Ley, or Lei, ground widely overgrown.

In our ancient tongue wich, or wick, means a place of refuge, and is the termination of Warwick, Sandwich, Greenwich, Woolwich, &c.

Thorp, before the word village was borrowed from the French, was used in its stead, and is found at the end of many towns' names.

Bury, Burgh, or Berry, signifies, metaphorically, a town having a wall about it, sometimes a high, or chief place.

Wold means a plain open country.
Combe, a valley between two hills
Knock, a hill.

Hurst, a woody place.

Magh, a field.

Innes, an island.

Worth, a place situated between two rivers.

Ing, a tract of meadows.

Minster is a contraction of monastery.

Cossack commanders cannonading come,

Dealing destruction's devastating doom;

SAM SAM'S SON.

Every endeavour engineers essay,

For fame, for fortune fighting-furious fray!

Generals 'gainst generals grapple, gracious G-d!
How honours heaven heroig hardihood!
Infuriate-indiscriminate in ill-

Kinsmen kill kindred-kindred kinsmen kill:
Labour low levels loftiest, longest lines,

Men march 'mid mounds, 'mid moles, 'mid murder. ous mines:

Now noisy noxious numbers notice nought
Of outward onstacles, opposing ought,-
Poor patriots-partly purchased-partly press'd.
Quite quaking, quickly, “Quarter! quarter!" quest:
Reason returns, religious right redounds,
Suwarrow stops such sanguinary sounds.
Trace to thee, Turkey, triumph to thy train
Unwise unjust, unmerciful Ukraine!
Vanish, vain victory vanish, victory vain!

Why wish we warfare? Wherefore welcome were

SONNET

For the Table Book.

The snowdrop, rising to its infant height,
Looks like a sickly child upon the spot
Of young nativity, regarding not

The air's caress of melody and light
Beam'd from the east, and soften'd by the bright
Effusive flash of gold:-the willow stoops

And muses, like a bride without her love,

On her own shade, which lies on waves, and droop Beside the natal trunk, nor looks above:The precipice, that torrents cannot move, Leans o'er the sea, and steadfast as a rock, Of dash and cloud unconscious, bears the rude Continuous surge, the sounds and echoes mock: Thus Mental Thought enduring, wears in solitude. 1827.