morning, fell asleep in his memento'; and when he awoke, added, with a loud voice, The king drinketh." This mal-apropos exclamation must have proceeded from a foreign ecclesiastic: we have no account of the ceremony to which it refers, having prevailed in merry England. The name of Busby !-not the musical doctor, but a late magisterial doctor of Westminster school-celebrated for severe discipline, is a "word of fear" to all living who know his fame! It is perpetuated by an engraved representation of his chair, said to have been designed by sir Peter Lily, and presented by that artist to king Charles II. The arms, and each An excellent pen-and-ink picture of arm, are appalling; and the import of the other devices are, or ought to be, known by old Froissart, the French chronicler, as "Merry England" represents honest every tyro. Every prudent person lays in stores before they are wanted, and Dr. saying of some English in his time, that Busby's chair may as well be "in the fashion of their country;" whereon the "they amused themselves sadly after the house" on Twelfth-day as on any other; not as a mirth-spoiler, but as a subjectThey have indeed a way of their own. pourtrayer of Merry England observes, which we know to-day that we have " by Their mirth is a relaxation from gravity, us," whereon to inquire and discuss at a a challenge to 'Dull Care' to be gone more convenient season. Dr. Busby was a severe, but not an ill-natured man. It and one is not always clear at first, wheis related of him and one of his scholars, may still hang on the brow; the ice may ther the appeal is successful. The cloud that during the doctor's absence from his not thaw at once. To help them out in study, the boy found some plums in it, their new character is an act of charity. and being moved by liquorishness, began Any thing short of hanging or drowning to eat some; first, however, he waggishly is something to begin with. They do not cried out, "I publish the banns of matri- enter into their amusements the less mony between my mouth and these doggedly because they may plague others. plums; if any here present know just They like a thing the better for hitting cause or impediment why they should not them arap on the knuckles, for making their be united, you are to declare it, or here- blood tingle. They do not dance or after hold your peace;" and then he ate. sing, but they make good cheer-‘ eat, But the doctor had overheard the procla drink, and are merry. No people are mation, and said nothing till the next fonder of field-sports, Christmas gambols, morning, when causing the boy to be Blindman's buff, "brought up," and disposed for punish-hunt-the-slipper, hot-cockles, and snapor practical jests. ment, he grasped the well-known instrument, and said, "I publish the banns of matrimony between this rod and this boy: if any of you know just cause or impediment why they should not be united, you are to declare it."-The boy himself called out, "I forbid the banns!" "For what cause?" inquired the doctor. "Be cause," said the boy, "the parties are not agreed!" The doctor enjoyed the validity of the objection urged by the boy's wit, and the ceremony was not performed. This is an instance of Dr. Busby's admiration of talent: and let us hope, in behalf of its seasonableness here, that it was at Christmas time. The King drinks. We recur once more to this subject, for the sake of remarking that there is an account of a certain curate, "who having taken his preparations over evening, when all men cry (as the manner is) The king keth, chanting his masse the next dragon, are all approved English games, breadth 'scapes,' and serve to amuse the full of laughable surprises and hairwinter fireside after the roast beef and plum-pudding, the spiced ale and roasted crab, thrown (hissing-hot) into the foaming tankard. Punch (not the liquor, but the puppet) is not, I fear, of English origin; but there is no place, I take it, where he finds himself more at home or meets a more joyous welcome, where he collects greater crowds at the corners of streets, where he opens the eyes or distends the cheeks wider, or where the bangs and blows, the uncouth gestures, ridiculous anger and screaming voice of the chief performer excite more boundless merriment or louder bursts of laughter among all ranks and sorts of people. An English theatre is the very throne of pantomime; nor do I believe that the gallery and boxes of Drury-lane or Covent-gar In the New Monthly Magazine, Dec. 1825, "To our verie loving good freind sir Gilbert Loughton, knight, geave theis with speed: the several showes and devices of each combatant." Every challenger fought with eight several defendants two several "After our hartie commendacions unto combats at two several weapons, viz. at you. The prince, his highnes, hath push of pike, and with single sword. comanded us to signifie to you that whereas "The prince performed this challenge with he doth intend to make a challenge in his wonderous skill and courage, to the great owne person at the Barriers, with sixe joy and admiration of the beholders," he other assistants, to bee performed some "not being full sixteene yeeres of age tyme this Christmas; and that he hath, untill the 19th of February." These feats, made choice of you for one of the defend- and other "triumphant shewes," began ants (whereof wee have comandement to before ten o'clock at night, and continued give you knowledge), that theruppon you until three o'clock the next morning, may so repaire hither to prepare yourselfe, "being Sonday." The speeches at "the as you may bee fitt to attend him. Here- barriers" were written by Ben Jonson. unto expecting your speedie answer wee The next day (Sunday) the prince rode in rest, from Whitehall this 25th of Decem- great pomp to convoy the king to St James', ber, 1609. Your very loving freindes, whither he had invited him and all the Notingham. T.Suffolke. | E. Worcester." court to supper, whereof the queen alone On New-year's Day, 1610, or the day was absent; and then the prince bestowed after, the prince's challenge was pro- prizes to the three combatants best declaimed at court, and "his highnesse, in serving; namely, the earl of Montgomery, his own lodging, in the Christmas, did sir Thomas Darey (son to lord Darey), feast the earles, barons, and knights, as- and sir Robert Gourdon. In this way sailants and defendants, untill the great the court spent Twelfth-night in 1610. Twelfth appointed night, on which this great fight was to be performed." On the 6th of January, in the evening, "the barriers" were held at the palace of Whitehall, in the presence of the king and queen, the ambassadors of Spain and Venice, and the peers and ladies of the land, with a multitude of others assembled in the banqueting-house: at the upper end whereof was the king's chair of state, and on the right hand a sumptuous pavilion for the prince and his associates, from whence, with great bravery and ingenious devices, they descended into the middell of the roome, and there the prince performed his first feats of armes, that is to say, at Barriers, against all commers, being assisted onlie with six others, viz. the duke of Lenox, the earle of Arundell, the earle of Southampton, the lord Hay, sir Thomas Somerset, and sir Richard Preston, who was shortly after created lord Dingwell." To answer these challengers came fiftysix earles, barons, knights, and esquiers. They were at the lower end of the roome, where was erected" a very delicat and pleasant place, where in privat manner they and their traine reniained, which was so very great that no man imagined that the place could have concealed halfe so many." From thence they issued, in comely order, to the middell of the roome, where sate the king and the queene, and the court," to behold the barriers, with On Twelfth-night, 1753, George II. played at hazard for the benefit of the groom porter. All the royal family who played were winners, particularly the duke of York, who won 3000 The most considerable losers were the duke of Grafton, 'the marquis of Hartington, the earl of Holderness, earl of Ashburnham, and the earl of Hertford. The prince of Wales (father of George III.) with prince Edward and a select company, danced in the little drawing room till eleven o'clock, and then withdrew.† Old Christmas-day. Mr. Nichola's Progresses of James 1. To heighten the festivities of Christmas, 1825, the good folks of " London and its environs" were invited to Sadler's Wells, by the following whimsical notice, printed and distributed as a handbill: "SOVEREIGNS WILL BE TAKEN, during the Christmas holidays, and as long as any body will bring them to SADLER'S WELLS; nay so little fastidious are the Proprietors of that delectable fascinating snuggery, that, however incredible it may appear, they, in some cases, have actually had the liberality to prefer Gold to Paper. Without attempting to investigate their motives for such extraordinary conduct, we shall do them the justice to say, they certainly give an amazing quantum of amusement, All in One Night, at the HOUSE ON THE HEATH, where, besides the THREE CRUMPIES, AND THE BARON AND HIS BROTHERS, an immense number of fashionables are expected on MERLIN'S MOUNT, and some of the first Cambriam families will countenanceHARLEQUIN CYMRAEG, in hopes to partake of the Living Leek, which being served up the last thing before supper, will constitute a most excellent Christmas carminative, preventing the effects of night air on the crowds who will adorn this darling little edifice. In addition to a most effective LIGHT COMPANY engaged here, a very respectably sized Moon will be in attendance to light home a greater number of Patrons than ever this popular petted Palace of Pantomime is likely to produce. We say nothing of warmth and comfort, acquired by recent improvements, because these matters will soon be subjects of common conversation, and omit noticing the happiness of Half-price, and the cheering qualities of the Wine-room, fearful of wounding in the bosom of the Manager that innate modesty which is ever the concomitant of merit; we shall therefore conclude, by way of invitation to the dubious, in the language of an elegant writer, by asserting that the Proof of the Pud ding is in—VERBUM SAŤ." NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. January 7. 1826. Distaff's Day.* STANZAS ON THE NEW YEAR. I stood between the meeting years, The coming and the past, Wilt thou be like the last? The same in many a sleepless night, For Sorrow like a phantom sits Upon the last Year's close. I I How. have they chang'd from what they were ! Cold, colourless, and dead. think on many a wasted hour, And many darker are behind, On worse than nought employ'd. How widely hast thou stray'd think on many a once-loved friend As does an alter'd brow? That sever'd Friendship's chain; Less sad, albeit more terrible, To think upon the dead, Lay down their weary head. For faith and hope, and peace, and trust, Thus thinking of the meeting years, I needs must ask the future one, *See vol. i. p. 61. There came a sound, but not of speech, That waits a mortal bride : "But lift thine hopes from this base earth, NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. January 8. 1826. First Sunday after Epiphany. CHRONOLOGY. MONEY AND THE MOON. Gentle reader, If thou art not over-much prejudiced by the advances of modernization, (I like a long new-coined word,) so that, even in these" latter days," thou dost not hesitate to place explicit reliance on ancient, yet infallible" sayings and doings," (anL. E. L. cient enough, since they have been handed down to us by our grandmothers-and who would doubt the weight and authority of so many years?-and infallible enough, since they themselves absolutely believed in their "quite-correctness,") I will tell thee a secret well worth knowing, if that can be called a secret which arises out of a well-known and almost universal custom, at least, in "days of yore." It is neither more nor less than the possession throughout "the rolling year" of a pocket never without money. Is not this indeed a secret well worth knowing? Yet the means of its accomplishment are exceedingly simple (as all difficult things are when once known); On the first day of the first new moon of the new year, or so soon afterwards as you observe it, all that you have to do is this:-on the first glance you take at "pale Luna's silvery crest" in the western sky, put your hand in your pocket, shut your eyes, and turn the smallest piece of silver coin you possess upside down in your said pocket. This will ensure you (if you will but trust its infallibility!) throughout the whole year that "summum bonum" of earthly wishes, a pocket never empty. If, how ever, you neglect, on the first appearance of the moon, your case is hopeless; nevertheless and notwithstanding, at a future new moon you may pursue the same course, and it will be sure to hold good during the then current month, but not a "whit" longer. On the 8th of January, 1753, died sir Thomas Burnet, one of the judges of the court of Common Pleas, of the gout in his stomach, at his house in Lincoln's-inn fields. He was the eldest son of the celebrated Dr. Gilbert Burnet, bishop of Salisbury; was several years consul at Lisbon: and in November, 1741, made one of the judges of the Common Pleas, in room of judge Fortescue, who was appointed master of the rolls. On November 23, 1745, when the lord chancellor, judges, and association of the gentlemen of the law, waited on his majesty with their address, on occasion of the rebellion, he was knighted. He was an able and upright judge, and a great benefactor to the poor.t THE NEW YEAR NEW MOON. To the Editor of the Every-Day Book. Sir, Encouraged by your various expressions of willingness to receive notices of customs not already "imprinted" in your first volume, I take the liberty of presenting the first of several which I have not yet seen in print. This mention of the new moon and its crest brings to mind a few verses I wrote some time ago, and having searched my scrap-book, (undoubtedly not such a one as Geoffery Crayon's,) I copied them from thence, and they are here under. Although written in the "merry merry month of May," they may be read in the "dreary dark December," for every new moon presents the same beautiful phenomenon. A Simile. Hast thou ne'er marked, when first the crescent moon O'er her whole orb a slight soft blush o'erspread, |