Oh, think what a world we should have of it here, Nor is it only on holidays that nature tells us to enjoy ourselves. If we were wise, we should earn a reasonable portion of leisure and enjoyment day by day, instead of resolving to do it some day or other, and seldom doing it at all. Company is not necessary for it, at intervals, except that best and most necessary company of one's family-partners in life, or some one or two especial friends, truly so called, who are friends for every sort of weather, winter as well as summer. A warm car Moore. pet and curtains, a sparkling fire, a book, Lawrence, of virtuous father, virtuous son, The frozen earth, and clothe in fresh attire December 1. St. Eligius, or Eloy, Bp. of Noyon. a. D. 659. THE SEASON. It is observed by Dr. Forster in the "Perennial Calendar," that the weather at this time is usually mild, and wet, with fogs; we have an occasional interchange of frosts. On some occasions a kind o. weather occurs now which occasionally happens during all the winter months. The air becomes perfectly calm, the sky clouded and dark, without much mist below, the ground gets dry, and not a leaf stirs on the trees, and the sounds of distant bells, and other sounds and noises are heard at a great distance, just as they are on other occasions before rain. The thermometer is often from 45° to 52'. The barometer rises to "set fair" and remains steady, and the current of smoke from the chimnies either goes straight upright into Milton. the air in a vertical column, or inclines so little with the breath of air as to indicate sometimes one wind and sometimes another. At this time the crowing of the cocks, the noise of busy rooks and daws, which feed in flocks in the meadows, and fly at morning and eventide in flocks to and from their nests, the music of distant singing, and the strokes of the church clocks and chimes are heard for miles, as if carried along under the apparent sounding board of the clouds above. Even the voices of persons are heard at a vast distance, all being hushed around. FLORAL DIRECTORY. Dark Stapelia. Stapelia pulla, December 2. St. Bibiania, A. d. 363. CHRONOLOGY. On the 2d of December, 1823, the London Mechanics' Institution was formed, and on the anniversary of the day, in 1824, the first stone of its theatre for the delivery of the lectures, in Southampton Buildings, Chancery-lane, was laid by Dr. Birkbeck. In a cavity of the stone was placed a bottle, wherein were sealed up a book of the laws of the institutionthe tenth number of the "Mechanics' Magazine," which contained an account of This Stone, the first of the Lecture Room, LONDON MECHANICS' INSTITUTION, by GEORGE BIRKBECK, M. D PRESIDENT, John Borthwick Gilchrist, LL. D. After the stone was laid, Dr. Birkbeck addressed the meeting in nearly the following words :-" Now have we founded our edifice for the diffusion and advancement of human knowledge. Now have we begun to erect a temple, wherein man shall extend his acquaintance with the universe of mind, and shall acquire the means of enlarging his dominion over the universe of matter. In this spot, hereafter, the charms of literature shall be displayed, and the powers of science shall be unfolded to the most humble inquirers; for to the feast of reason' which will be here prepared, the invitation shall be as unbounded as the region of intellect. For an undertaking so vast in its design, and so magnificent in its objects (nothing short, indeed, of the moral and intellectual amelioration and aggrandizement of the human race), the blessing of heaven, I humbly trust, will not be implored in vain. If, in this institution, we seek to obey the mandate which has gone forth, that knowledge shall be increased; if we act in obedience to the injunction, that in all our gettings we should get understanding; if we succeed in proving, that for the existence of the mental wilderness, the continuance of which we all deeply deplore, we ought to blame the culture, not the soil;' if by rendering man more percipient of the order, harmony, and benevolence, which pervade the universe, we more effectually assert eternal Providence, and justify the ways of God to man;' and if thus we shall be the happy means of rendering it palpable, that the immortal essence within us, when freed from the deformity of ignorance and vice, has been created in the express image of God-then may we confidently hope that Omniscience will favourably behold our rising structure; and that in its future progress, Omnipotence, without whose assistance all human endeavours are vain, will confer upon us a portion of his powers. Whilst I remind you that the illustrious Bacon, long ago, maintained that 'knowledge is power,' I may apprize you that it has, since his time, been established that knowledge is wealth-is comfort-is security-is enjoyment-is happiness. It has been found so completely to mingle with human affairs, that it renders social life more endearing; has given to morality more sprightliness; and, politically, has produced more consistent obedience-it takes from adversity some of its bitterness, and enlarges the sphere, as well as augments the sweetness of every laudable gratification; and lastly, unquestionably one of its brightest influences, it becomes at once an avenue and a guide to that 'temple which is not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."" FLORAL DIRECTORY. Lemon Geodorum. Geodorum citrinum. Dedicated to St. Bibiania. December 3. St. St. Francis Xavier, A. D. 1552. Birinus, first Bp. of Dorchester, A. D. 650. St. Sola, A. D. 790. St. Lucius, King, A. D. 182. Royal Dance of Torches. The Berlin, December 3, 1821.-Of all the entertainments which took place in this capital, on the occasion of the marriage of the prince royal with the princess of Bavaria, none appeared so extraordinary to foreigners, as the dance o torches, (Fakeltanz.) It was executed after the grand marriage feast, in the following manner:-"The royal family, followed by all the personages who had partook of the feast at separate tables, proceeded to the white saloon. dance was immediately opened by the privy councillor, marshal of the court, the baron de Maltzahn, bearing his baton of order. After him followed two and two, according to seniority of rank, the privy councillors and the ministers of state, bearing wax torches. The august bride and bridegroom preceded the above dancers, and walked round the saloon. The princess royal stopped before the king, and making him a profound reverence, invited him to dance. After having danced one turn with his majesty, she danced with all the princes. The prince royal, in like manner, danced with all the princesses. After the ball, the royal family passed into the apartment of Frederick I., where the grand mistress, countess of Norde, distributed the garter of the bride. FLORAL DIRECTORY. Indian Tree. Euphorbia Tirucalli. Dedicated to St. Francis Xavier. December 4. St. Peter Chrysologus, A. D. 450. St. Barbara, A. D. 306. St. Anno, Abp. of Cologn, A. D. 1075. St. Osmund, Bp. A. D. 1099. St. Maruthas, Bp. 5th Cent. St. Siran, or Sigirannus, a. D. 655. St. Clement, of Alexandria, A. D. 189. Ancient Divinations in Advent. From the following lines of Barnaby Googe, it appears that rustic young girls in ancient times, indulged at this season in attempting to divine the name of the man they were to marry, from forcing the ech man gives willinglee, For these three nightes are always thought unfortunate to bee: Wherein they are afrayde of sprites, and cankred witches spight, And dreadfull devils blacke and grim, that then have chiefest might. these same dayes yong wanton gyrles that meete for marriage bee, search to know the names of them In Doe that shall their husbands bee. and best do thinke upon. Thus neere the chimney them they set, and that same onyon than, That first doth sproute, doth surely beare the name of their good man. Their husbandes nature eke they seeke to know, and all his guise, When as the sunne hath hid himselfe, and left the starrie skies, Unto some woodstacke do they go, and while they there do stande Eche one drawes out a faggot sticke, the next that commes to hande, Which if it streight and even be, and have no knots at all, A gentle husband then they thinke shall surely to them fall. But if it fowle and crooked be, and knottie here and theare, A crabbed churlish husband then, they earnestly do feare. These thinges the wicked papistes beare, and suffer willingly, Because they neyther do the ende, nor fruites of faith espie: And rather had the people should obey their foolish lust, Than truely God to know; and in him here alone to trust. Lifting the Banner of the House of Buccleugh, From the brown crest of Newark its summons extending, Chorus. Then up with the banner, let forest winds fan her, A stripling's weak hand to our revel has borne her, No mail glove has grasp'd her, no spearmen around ; We forget each contention of civil dissension, And hail, like our brethren, Home, Douglas, and Car; Then up with the banner, &c. Then strip lads, and to it, though sharp be the weather, Then up with the banner, &c. And when it is over, we'll drink a blythe measure To each laird and each lady that witness'd our fun, May the forest still flourish, both borough and landward Then up with the banner, &c. QUOTH THE SHERIFF OF THE FOREST. *Abbotsford, Dec. 1, 1815. He is in the almanacs, and church of England calendar. He is patron or titular saint of virgins, boys, sailors, and the worshipful company of parish clerks of the city of London. Mr. Audley briefly observes of him, that he was remarkable in his infancy for piety, and the knowledge of the scriptures; that he was made bishop of Myra, in Lycia, by Constantine the Great, and that "he was present in the council of Nice, where, it is said, he gave Arius a box on the ear."* According to catholic story, St. Nicholas was a saint of great virtue, and disposed so early in life to conform to ecclesiastical rule, that when an infant at the breast he fasted on Wednesday and Friday, and sucked but once on each of those days, and that towards night. A story is related to his credit which is of considerable curiosity. It is told, that "an Asiatic gentleman" sent his two sons to "Athens" for education, and ordered them to wait on the bishop for his benediction. On arriving at Myra with their baggage they took up their lodging at an inn, purposing, as it was late in the day, to defer their visit till the morrow; but in the mean time the innkeeper, to secure their effects to himself, wickedly killed the young gentlemen, cut them into pieces, salted them, and intended to sell them Audley's Companion to the Almanac. for pickled pork. Happily St. Nicholas was favoured with a sight of these proceedings in a vision, and in the morning went to the inn, and reproached the cruel landlord with his crime, who immediately confessed it, and entreated the saint to pray to heaven for his pardon. Then the bishop, being moved by his confession and contrition, besought forgiveness for him, and supplicated restoration of life to the children; whereupon the pickled pieces reunited, and the reanimated youths stepping from the brine-tub threw themselves at the feet of St. Nicholas, who raised them up, exhorted them to return thanks to God alone, gave them good advice for the future, bestowed his blessing on them, and sent them to Athens with great joy to prosecute their studies. The Salisbury missal of 1534, fol. xxvii. contains a prayer to St. Nicholas, before which is an engraving on wood of the bishop with the children rising from the tub; but better than all, by a licence that artists formerly assumed of representing successive scenes in the same print, the landlord himself is shown in the act of reducing a limb into sizes suitable for his mercenary purpose. There are only two children in the story, and there are three in the tub of the engraving; but it is fairly to be conjectured, that the story was thought so good as to be worth making a little better. It is deemed seemly to introduce this narration by a fac-simile Rev. Mr. Cole; see Gentleman's Magazine. |
