Winter may be now considered as have ing set in; and we have often violent winds about this time, which sweep off the few remaining leaves from the trees, and, with the exception of a few oaks and beeches, leave the woods and forests nothing but a naked assemblage of bare boughs. December, thus robbing the woods of their leafy honours, is alluded to by Horace, in his Epod. xi.: Hic tertius December, ex quo desti Picture to yourself, gentle reader, one of these blustering nights, when a tremendous gale from south-west, with rattling rain, threatens almost the demolition of every thing in its way: but add to the scene the inside of a snug and secure cottage in the country, the day closed, the fire made up and blazing, the curtains diawn over a barricadoing of window the shutters which defy the penetration of Eolus and all his excarcerated host; table set for tea, and the hissing urn or the kettle scarce heard among the fierce whistling, howling, and roaring, produced alternately or together, by almost every species of sound that wind can produce, in the chimneys and door crannies of the house. There is a feeling of comfort, and a sensibility to the blessings of a good roof over one's head, and a warm and comfortable hearth, while all is tempest without, that produces a peculiar but real source of pleasure. A cheerful but quiet party adds, in no small degree, to this sitting up over a good fire to a late hour, pleasure. Two or three intelligent friends and interchanging their thoughts on a of ghosts-and the tales of olden times,— thousand subjects of mystery,-the stories may perhaps beguile the hours of such a stormy night like this, with more satisfaction than they could a midsummer evening under the shade of trees in a garden of roses and lilies. And then, when we retire to bed in a room with thick, woollen curtains closely drawn, and a fire in the room, how sweet a lullaby is the piping of the gale down the flues, and the peppering of the rain on the tiles and windows; while we are now and then rocked in the house as if in a cradle !* Yet wherefore joy I in the loud uproar Does still life cloy? has peace no charms for me? That bids the slumbers of the worldling close, My cot, like castled hall, can brave the storm; And piping winds, at home, secure and warm: W. T. M. ch th liv wa sw wh pos of an Fro vair agai to k ener look improprie sary he fail t his companions THE SEASON. The gloominess of the weather, and its frequently fatal influence on the mind, suggest the expediency of inserting the following: DISSUASIONS FRom DespondencY. 1. If you are distressed in mind, live; serenity and joy may yet dawn upon your soul. 2. If you have been contented and cheerful, live; and generally diffuse that happiness to others. 3. If misfortunes have befallen you by your own misconduct, live; and be wiser for the future. 4. If things have befallen you by the faults of others, live; you have nothing wherewith to reproach yourself. 5. If you are indigent and helpless, live : the face of things may agreeably change. 6. If your are rich and prosperous, live; and enjoy what you possess. 7. If another hath injured you, live; his own crime will be his punishment. 8. If you have injured another, live; and recompence it by your good offices. 9. If your character be attacked unjustly, live; time will remove the aspersion. 10. If the reproaches are well founded, live; and deserve them not for the future. 11. If you are already eminent and applauded, live; and preserve the honours ou have acquired. If your success is not equal to your merit, live; in the consciousness of having deserved it. 13. If your success hath exceeded your merit, live; and arrogate not too mech to yourself. 14. If you have been negligent and useless to society, live; and make amends by your future conduct. 15. If you have been active and indus trious, live; and communicate your improvements to others. 16. If you have spiteful enemies, live; and disappoint their malevolence. 17. If you have kind and faithful friends, live; to protect them. 18. If hitherto you have been impious and wicked, live; and repent of your sins. glory," and thene stanzas are very little more than an amplification of the well known lines of Lucretius, that "after sweet c Suave mari magno turbantibus æquora ventis, W. T. M. favour of him of the hat, o end "time hath written st tures." It is not so certain. Paris, John Hardouin, a learned Jesuit, especially celebrated for his condemnation of the writings of almost all the Greek and Latin authors as forgeries in the middle ages. He supposed that all history, philosophy, science, and even divinity, before the middle of the XIVth century, had been forged in the abbies of Germany, France, and Italy, by a set of monks, who availed themselves of the taking of Constantinople by the French in 1203, its recovery by the Greeks 1261, and the expedition of St. Louis to the Holy Land, to make the world believe that the writings of the Greeks and Romans were then first discovered, and brought into the west: whereas they had been compiling them in their cells, and burying them in their libraries, for their successors to draw forth to light. Though he was ably refuted by Le Clerc and other distinguished writers, and recanted his opinions, in consequence of the superiors of his church proscribing his works, yet he repeated these absurd notions in subsequent publications.* NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. Mean Temperature... 40. 62. December 4. THE WALKING POST. In December, 1808, was living William Brockbank, whose daily pedestrian achievements occasioned public notice of him to the following effect. He was the Walking Post from Manchester to Glossop, in Derbyshire, a distance of sixteen miles, which he performed every day, Sundays excepted; returned the same evening, and personally delivered the letters, newspapers, &c. in that populous and commercial country, to all near the road, which made his daily task not less than thirty-five miles, or upwards. What is more extraordinary, he "This daily course of duty walk'd” in less than twelve hours a day, and never varied a quarter of an hour from his usual time of arriving at Glossop. Brockbank was a native of Millom, in Cumberland, and had daily walked the distance between Whitehaven and Ulverstone, frequently under the necessity of wading the river at Muncaster, by which place he constantly went, which is at least three miles round. Including the • Gentleman's Magazine. different calls he had to make at a short distance from the road, his daily task was not less than forty-seven miles. THE WEATHER. Now is the time when, in some parts of England, a person of great note formerly, in every populous place, was accustomed to make frequent nocturnal rambles, and proclaim all tidings which it seemed fitting to him that people should be awakened out of their sleep to harken to. For the use of this personage," the Bell-man," there is a book, now almost obsolete as regards its use, with this title explanatory of its purpose," The Bell-man's Treasury, containing above a Hundred several Verses fitted for all Humours and Fancies, and suited to all times and seasons." London, 1707, 8vo. From the riches of this "treasury," whence the predecessors of the present parish Bell-man took so much, a little may be extracted for the reader's information. First then, if the noisy rogue were thereunto moved by a good and valuable consideration, we find, according to the aforesaid work, and the present season, that we ought to be informed, by sound of bell, and public proclamtaion, Upon a Windy Night. Now ships are tost upon the angry main, g. 1595 MEN IN THE MOON. A few years ago, professor Gruithausen, of Munich, wrote an essay to show that there are many plain indications of inhabitants in the moon. In answer to certain questions, the "Munich Gazette" communicates some remarkable results, derived from a great number of observations 1. In what latitude in the moon are there indications of vegetation? 2. How far are there indications of animated beings? 3. Where are the greatest and plainest traces of art on the surface of the moon? With respect to the first question, it appears from the observations of Schroter and Gruithausen, that the vegetation on the moon's surface extends to fifty-five south latitude, and sixty-five north latiobservations tude. Many hundred show, in the different colours and monthly changes, three kinds of phenomena which cannot possibly be explained, except by the process of vegetation. To the second question it is answered, that the indications from which the existence of living beings is inferred, are found from fifty north latitude, to thirty-seven, and perhaps forty-seven, south latitude. The answer to the third question, points out the places on the moon's surface in which are appearances of artificial causes The author exaltering the surface. amines the appearances that induce him to infer that there are artificial roads in various directions; and he describes a colossal edifice, resembling our cities, on the most fertile part near the moon's equator, standing accurately according to the four cardinal points. The main cities are in angles of forty-five degrees and ninety degrees. A building resembling what is alled a star-redoubt, the professor pre tha ther 1596 sumes to be dedicated to religious purposes, and as they can see no stars in the daytime (their atmosphere being so pure) he thinks that they worship the stars, and consider the earth as a natural clock. His essay is accompanied by plates The sombre sadness of the evening shades Asunder rent the adamantine hills That cast deep shadows on the expanse below, Yon giant crag, the offspring of her throes, PENNY LOTTERIES AT BROUGH, WEST MORELAND. "the About this time, when gardens look in a dormant state, there are frequently Penuy Lotteries in the north of England; and very often a whole garden is purchased for one penny. There are sometimes twenty tickets or more, as the case may be, all written on them "blank," save prize." These are put into a hat, and a boy stands on a form or chair holding the hat on his head, while those who have bought a ticket ascend the form alternateone by one," and, shutting their eyes, ly, take a ticket, which is opened by a boy who is at the bottom for that purpose. The tickets are only a penny each, and sometimes a garden (worth a few shillings) or whatever the sale may be, is bought for so trifling a sum. For the Every-Day Book. SONNET TO WINTER. WINTER! though all thy hours are drear and chill, W. H. H. Ah! 'tis when daylight fades, and noise 'gins still, We trim the fire, the half-read book resign, Then, half asleep, life seems to us a dream,- Ah! when life fades, and death's dark hour draws near, W. T. M. St. Nicholas, who used in the night time to throw purses in at the windows of poor maids, for their marriage portions.† Mr. Brady says, that " St. Nicholas was likewise venerated as the protector of virgins; and that there are, or were until lately, numerous fantastical customs observed in Italy and various parts of France, in reference to that peculiar tutelary patronage. In several convents it was customary, on the eve of St. Nicholas, for the boarder to place each a silk stock ing at the door of the apartment of abbess, with a piece of paper encl recommending themselves to grec Nicholas of her chamber:' and the day they were called together to wi the saint's attention, who never fail fill the stockings with sweetmeats, other trifles of that kind, with which t credulous virgins made a general fea. A correspondent remarks, that it is now customary for boys to take their pigs by the hedgeways in the country to feed upon the haws,' which in the west are called pegalls, or pigalls. The boys go foremost with long poles, and beat the hedges, while the swine, after hearing where the fall, work most industriously for the provender till dusk, when they are dr the home till daylight. ⚫ Darkness visible.-Milton. Brady's Clavis Calendaria. hich, sess of legends nion, that ually exerts |