Merrie England in the Olden Time. George Daniel

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       “O you merry, merry souls,

       Christmas is a-coming:

       We shall have flowing bowls,

       Dancing, piping, drumming.

       Delicate minced pies,

       To feast every virgin;

       Capon and goose likewise,

       Brawn, and dish of sturgeon.

      We hate to be everlastingly bewailing the follies and vices of mankind; and gladly turn to the pleasanter side of the picture, to contemplate something that we can love and emulate. We know

      Then for Christmas-box,

      Sweet plum-cake and money;

      Delicate holland smocks,

      Kisses sweet as honey.

      Hey for Christmas ball,

      Where we will be jolly;

      Coupling short and tall,

      Kate, Dick, Ralph, and Molly.

      To the hop we go,

      Where we'll jig and caper;

      Cuckolds all a-row—

      Will shall pay the scraper.

      Tom must dance with Sue,

      Keeping time with kisses;

      We'll have a jolly crew

      Of sweet smirking Misses!”—Old Song.

      There are such things as opaque wits and perverse minds, as there are squinting eyes and crooked legs; but we desire not to entertain such guests either as companions or foils. We come not to the conclusion that the world is split into two classes, viz. those who are and those who ought to be hanged; that we should believe every man to be a rogue till we find him honest. There is quite virtue enough in human life to make our journey moderately happy. We are of the hopeful order of beings, and think this world a very beautiful world, if man would not mar it with his pride, selfishness, and gloom.

      It has been a maxim among all great and wise nations to encourage public sports and diversions. The advantages that arise from them to a state; the benefit they are to all degrees of the people; the right purposes they may be made to serve in troublesome times, have generally been so well understood by the ruling powers, that they have seldom permitted them to suffer from the assaults of narrow-minded and ignorant reformers.

      Our ancestors were wise when they appointed amusements for the people. And as religious services (which are the means, not the end—the road to London is not London) were never intended for a painful duty, the “drum ecclesiastic,” which in latter times called its recruits to pillage and bloodshed, often summoned Punch, Robin Hood, and their merry crew, to close the motley ceremonies of a holy-appointed day! Then was the calendar Devotion's diary and Mirth's manual! Rational pleasure is heightened by participation; solitary enjoyment is always selfish. Who ever inquires after a sour recluse, except his creditors and next heir? Nobody misses him when there are so many more agreeable people to supply his place. Of what use is such a negative, “crawling betwixt earth and heaven?” If he hint that Diogenes, * dying of the dumps, may be found at home in his tub, who cares to disinter him? Oh, the deep solitude of a great city to a morose and selfish spirit! The Hall of Eblis is not more terrible. Away, then, with supercilious exclusiveness! 'Tis the grave of the affections! the charnel-house of the heart! What to us is the world, if to the world we are nothing?

      We delight to see a fool ** administer to his brethren.

      * Diogenes, when he trod with his dirty cobbled shoes on the

       beautiful carpets of Plato, exclaimed triumphantly, “I tread

       upon the pride of Plato!”—“Yes,” replied Plato, “but with

       a greater pride!”