civil computation, is their first month) have a splendid entertainment, and wish each other a happy new year; so that this feast may be termed their New Year's Day.

It appears from a curious MS. at the British Museum, of the date of 1560, that the boys of Eton School used, on the day of Circumcision, at that time to play for little New Year's gifts before and after supper; and that the boys had a custom that day, for good luck's sake, of making verses, and sending them to the Provost, masters, &c. as also of presenting them to each other.

Yes! after all that can be said or sung against it, winter, sullen and sad as it had been denominated, possesses still its joys, its honours, and its enticements. Magnificent and terrible as are the tempests, the clouds, and the storms that hover round it, still even these have their warnings, and their uses; and are all forgotten in the redeeming splendour and beauty of its holly-crowned brow, its frost-bespangled mantle, and its untainted carpet of snow, o'er-canopying the sleeping flowers, and supplying the exhausted stream. These soften the winter's rigour, and decorate its fury; and though the deep waters and the stilly lake shrink from the icy monarch's glances, and stiffen into adamant at the magic of his touch, yet the very manacles with which he binds them are equally useful and ornamental. Whoever it was that said that our seasons "Would be but gloomy weather,

If we had nothing else but spring," said well and wisely; and hence it is, that variety in every thing being both charming and requisite, the "summer's heat," and "winter's cold," have equally their delights and their triumphs. Now the summer's slackened frame is braced into ruddy health; joy and merriment have their annual holliday; and sociability and friendship oblate themselves at the shrine of mirth, music, and jollity. Discontent and ill-humour alone complain of winter's iron sway; and the season's

difference is irksome to those onl who, determined to see Nature in the reflection of their own jaundiced visages, fancy they behold in its acerbity the picture of human life. Some such beings as these the great Poet of England must, of a verity, have had in, view, when the caution, "let no such man be trusted," was bequeathed, amongst his other precious legacies, for our caution, our guidance, and our benefit. But, independent of, and in addition to, all this, winter brings along with its brightest of its joyous train, that most festive of all times and celebrations, Christmas;-that season so peculiarly and particularly devoted to the offerings of hospitality, and the pledges of friendship. It is not in its sacred character that I speak of the happy tide,-for that is a subject so confessedly above me, that to those, whose peculiar province it is to enforce its glorious lessons,-ours being to listen and obey,-do I leave the task. Their's be the duty to point out the holy season's enlivening promises, its deathless hopes, its assurances of immortality-ours to reverence and adore.

Its

I have already confessed my faith in, and love of, all old customs and commemorations, and one of the last of those which torture should wring from me, would be the Christmas Carol, which I annually lie awake to hear hymned by the voices of the village choir under my window, on the eve of that glorious festival. It is a memento of the olden time, perfectly delightful; a popular relique of the remotest antiquity, still fresh and fragrant to the heart. very title and derivation speak of great joy and glad tidings; whilst the unaffectedness and simplicity of its performance carry us back to that era, when the Judean star shed its unearthly effulgence over shepherds keeping their flocks by night, and its hallowed glory shone over and about them. Nor is its observance restricted to one particular spot; for in the populous city, and the thickly peopled hamlet, it is equally honoured; and the breach of it, so far from being considered, like many superstitions of buried days, an honour, would undoubtedly be deemed a profanation. Numerous, indeed, are. these characteristic offerings of thanksgiving; and to those of my readers who may be attached to such precious reliques, I would recommend "Ane Compendious Booke of Godly and

that pledges the several members of his family, sweetens the toast with a prayer for their increasing happiness. Meetings like these, reciprocally delightful to host and guests, defeat Time of his triumphs, and adversity of it's sting; these age can neither wither nor destroy, for they become daily brighter, and every anniversary addeth to them strength and durability. Year by year, renewed by the Season's pledge, they become less amenable to worldly attack, and by the last enemy alone are they vulnerable. These weave the bonds of affections into a Gordian knot, far more inseparable than that of Macedon; and which none of mortal race, though possessing the prowess of an hundred Alexanders, can unravel or dissever. These are, indeed, the scenes, which, to enjoy and to love once, is to enjoy and to love for ever. Now, too, how pleasant are our sports and gambols; how captivating the tales of wonder, and the essays of merriment, that accompany our hospitality. "Such, such are the joys of these dancing days!" and long and late may they flourish, with all the other honest commemorations of our beloved country. Long and late, may you and I, my good friends, enjoy them in the perfection in which they now surround us; and until we meet again in longer days, and sunnier weather, I bid you farewell, with the sincere and hearty old English wish, of a merry Christmas, a happy New Year, and very many of them. From the New European Mag.

ST. RONAN'S WELL. [Concluded from page 309.] "We have no means of knowing whether she actually sought Tyrrel, or whether it was, as in the former case, the circumstance of a light still burning where all around was dark, that attracted her but her next apparition was close by the side of her unfortunate lover, then deeply engaged in writing, when something suddenly gleamed on a large, old-fashioned mirror, which hung on the wall opposite. He looked up, and saw the figure of Clara, holding a light (which she had taken from the passage) in her extended hand. He stood for an instant with his eyes fixed on this fearful shadow, ere he dared turn round on the substance which was thus reflected. When he did so, the fixed and pallid countenance almost impressed him with the belief that he

saw a vision, and he shuddered when, stooping beside him, she took his hand. 'Come away!' she said, in a hurried voice-come away, my brother follows to kill us both. Come, Tyrrel, let us fly-we shall easily escape him. -Hannah Irwin is on before-but, if we are overtaken, I will have no more fighting-you shall promise me we shall not-we have had but too much of that-but you will be wise in future.'

6

"Clara Mowbray !' exclaimed Tyrrel, Alas! is it thus ?-Stay-do not go,' for she turned to make her escape -stay-stay-sit down.'

"I must go,' she replied, 'I must go-I am called-Hannah Irwin is gone before to tell all, and I must follow. Will you not let me go ?—Nay, if you will hold me by force, I know I must sit down-but you will not be able to keep me for all that.'

"A convulsive fit followed, and seemed by its violence, to explain that she was indeed bound for the last and darksome journey. The maid, who at length answered Tyrrel's earnest and repeated summons, fled, terrified at the scene she witnessed, and carried to the Manse the alarm which we before mentioned.

"The old landlady was compelled to exchange one scene of sorrow for another, wondering within herself what fatality could have marked this single night with so much misery. When she arrived at home, what was her astonishment, to find there the daughter of the house, which, even in their alienation, she had never ceased to love, in a state little short of distraction, and attended by Tyrrel, whose state of mind seemed scarce more composed than that of the unhappy patient. The oddities of Mrs. Dodds were merely the rust which had accumulated upon her character, but without impairing its native strength and energy; and her sympathies were not of a kind acute enough to disable her from thinking and acting as decisively as circumstances required.

"Mr. Tyrrel,' she said, "this is nae sight for men folk-ye maun rise and gang to another room.'

"I will not stir from her,' said Tyrrel-' I will not remove from her either now, or as long as she or I may live.'

"That will be nae long space, Master Tyrrel, if ye winna be ruled by common sense.'

"Tyrrel started up, as if half com

Lieutenant and Lieutenant in the regiment of La Victoria, which afterwards took the name of the regiment of Death. Having been made Captain, he passed into the regiment of the Union, formed by General Morillo, under whom he served during the whole of the campaign, in December, 1811; and on the 21st of the same month, in 1812, he was appointed Colonel. At the close of the war he was made LieutenantColonel, and sent as Secretary to General La Llave, President of the permanent Council of War at Corunna. Quiroga was at Santiago when Porlier made his bold attempt to raise his country's glory; and on the failure of it, was sent by General St. Marc to Madrid, in great haste, to inform the Government of the result of that unfortunate enterprize. On his arrival in the capital, he obtained, by the influence of a high personage, a post of activity in the expeditionary army at Cadiz; a circumstance which proved highly fortunate for his country, and which placed him in a situation to act upon the minds of the soldiers, among whom there reigned a great ferment. Being one of the chiefs of the conspiracy formed under the auspices of Abisbal, who notwithstanding betrayed them, he was arrested, with several of his companions in arms, and shut up in a fortress, where he remained till delivered by the regiment of Spain, who attended him to the Isle of Leon. Having obtained his liberty, Quiroga was made Commander-in-Chief. He directed the operations of his troops with much skill and intrepidity; he hoisted the standard of liberty at the Isle de Leon, and sent forth many energetic Proclamations, calling on his countrymen to step forward to assert their rights, by re-establishing the Constitution of 1812. The voice of the Patriots of the Isla being responded by every lover of his country, the King acceded to the earnest wishes of his people, and Quiroga went to the capital, where his Majesty raised him to the rank of Field-Marshal. In the same year (1820) he was elected a member of the Cortes for Galicia, and afterwards appointed General of that province. When the French invaded Spain, under the Duke of Angouleme, the nomination of General Morillo to the chief command of the 2d military district, deprived Quiroga of rendering to his country the services which he was ready and capable to perform, but

even with the light resources left him, he made a gallant defence at Corunna, and repulsed the French in the sortie he made from that place, killing a great number of the enemy. From Corunna he embarked for Cadiz. At Cadiz he was received with the greatest enthusiasm by his brethren in arms; but the Government destroyed all the hopes he had raised, by opposing themselves to every measure he proposed, and by a criminal mismanagement of their affairs and abuse of their power. On the fall of Cadiz, he retired to Gibraltar, and from thence to London, where his lady and child had arrived some months before. In a second floor of a miserable house this brave Patriot is now mourning, in comfortless exile, over the miseries of his unfortunate country. His destiny is, however, softened by the consolations of his amiable and interesting wife, and by the tender caresses of his charming little daughter. Quiroga is a man of great frankness and sincerity. He speaks well; when the subject in debate is important, he becomes, indeed, truly eloquent. His discourses in the Cortes were full of energy and feeling. He has a fine person, though a little inclined to corpulency. His manners are elegant and commanding; he has an agreeable physiognomy, a wellformed head, and a voice sonorous and powerful.

L'ALLEGRO.

Two bucks, who were sitting over a pint of wine, made up for their deficiency of port by the liveliness of their wit. After many jokes had passed, one of them took up a nut, and holding it to his friend said, "if this nut could speak, what would it say?" " Why." rejoined the other, "it would say, Give me none of your jaw."

The late Sir Charles M. Ormsby having been sent to a country district during one of the last rebellions in Ireland, to investigate some matter there, he found it necessary to call in the assistance of one of the government police of the time, from whom he inquired if he knew one Murphy of that district. "I do, plase your Reverence," answered the sergeant. "Take him up then quietly, and without noise," said Sir Charles," and bring him over to me." Our police sergeant. went on the duty, and shortly returned

to the house where Sir Charles dined. Having sent up word that the man he wanted was in the parlour, Sir Charles came down, and found the sergeant keeping guard outside the door, who joyfully remarked, in a whisper, "he's in here, your honour." Sir Charles opened the door, looked in, and saw upwards of a dozen fellows sitting in the parlour in frize coats. He immediately shut to the door, and turning to the sergeant, asked him "which was Murphy?" who, grinning, replied, "they are all Murphys, your honour; plase yourself."

46

The late Brinsley Sheridan, being on a canvassing visit to his constituents, the independent electors of Stafford, was met in the streets by one of his old voters, who accosted him as follows:-"Well, Maister Sheridan, I'm glad to see you. How, be ye, ek?"-" Why, thank you my friend, very well. I hope you and your family are well," replied Sheridan. Ay, ay," answered the elector," they are pretty nobbling; but they tell me, Master Sheridan, as how you are trying to get a Parliamentary Reform. Do ye think ye shall get it?"-"Why, yes," says Sheridan, "I hope so."-"And so do I," replied his constituent, "for then you'll be able to pay off the old election scores, shan't ye?"-When Sheridan was appointed Treasurer of the Navy, under the Whig administration, his constituents at Stafford deputed two of their body to wait upon him for the purpose of putting him în mind of certain promises which he had made them, and which were to be fulfilled on his getting into office. Accordingly, two of these enlightened and patriotic electors waited upon the orator, at his residence in London. Preliminary compliments having been disposed of, Sheridan asked them what was the more immediate purport of their visit? "Why," replied the electors, "we are come to congratulate you upon your getting into a good place, and you know, sir, there are some old bills standing." "Yes, yes," was the answer, "but I can do nothing for you now. I have not received a farthing yet from my office." Why," said the electors, we can hardly expect it at present, but, you know, you have always promised to treat us all alike-to show no favour." Sheridan having assured them that there should be no partiality manifested in the distribution of his favours, the visitors left the One of them, however, returned, without being observed by his companion,

room.

AGRICULTURAL CALENDAR FOR

JANUARY.

(To be continued monthly.)

The weather of the ending month, has been till near the close, singularly wild and dry, and therefore highly favourable for the operations of tillage; for continuing light stock upon dry pastures, and for the young wheats, artificial grasses, and herbage plants. A moderate price for hay and fodder, and a consequent small price in the sale of live stock in Spring, may therefore be anticipated. As much ground will have been ploughed in December, an early seed spring tine, and clean well worked fallows for 18:4, may be expected at least for the active farmer.

The operations to be performed this month, are, ploughing when dry and mild, carting out dung when it freeks severely, threshing during rains and snows, and draining, ditching, hedgemaking, road-making, and mending, in all weathers that men stand out n. Live stock of every kind must be carfully attended to, especially lambing ewes.

The Agricultural productions for anuary present nothing remarkable. Has and ducks begin to lay eggs; though if they have been well fed, and kept wam, they will begin in December or soone