should be excluded from the party, he just gave himself a wink and a nod, twisted his mouth a little more on one side than usual, and assented without a word; and with the same facility did he relinquish the bough of mistletoe, which he had purposed to suspend from the bacon-rack-the ancient mistletoe bough, on passing under which our village lads are apt to snatch a kiss from the village maidensa ceremony which offended Hester's nicety, and which Jacob promised to abrogate; and, pacified by these concessions, the bride promised to make due preparation for the ball, whilst the bridegroom departed on his usual expedition to the coast. Of the unrest of that week of bustling preparation, words can give but a faint image. Oh, the scourings, the cleanings, the sandings, the dustings, the scoldings of that disastrous week! The lame ostler and the red-haired parish girl were worked off their feet" even Sunday shone no Sabbath day to them"-for then did the lame ostler trudge eight miles to the church of a neighbouring parish, to procure the attendance of a celebrated bassoon player to officiate in lieu of Timothy; whilst the poor little maid was sent nearly as far to the head town, in quest of an itinerant show-woman, of whom report had spoken at the bell, to beat the tambourine. The show-woman proved undiscoverable; but the bassoon player having promised to come, and to bring with him a clarionet, Mrs. Frost was at ease as to her music; and having provided more victuals than the whole village could have discussed at a sitting, and having moreover adorned her house with berried holly, china-roses, and chrysantherums after the most tasteful manner, began to enter into the spirit of the thing, and to wish for the return of her husband to admire and to praise. Late on the great day Jacob arrived, his cart laden with marine stores for his share of the festival. Never had the goodly village of Aberleigh witnessed such a display of oysters, muscles, perriwinkles, and cockles, to say nothing of apples and nuts, and two little kegs, snugly covered up, which looked exceed ingly as if they had cheated the revenue, a packet of green tea, which had something of the same air, and a new silk gown, of a flaming salmon-colour, straight from Paris, which he insisted on Hester's retiring to assume, whilst he remained to arrange the table and receive the company, who, it being now about four o'clock P. M. our good rustics can never have enough of a good thing-were beginning to assemble for the ball. The afternoon was fair and cold, and dry and frosty, and Matthews's, Bridgwaters', White's, and Jones's, in short, the whole sacmerage and shopkeepery of the place, with a goodly proportion of wives and daughters, came pouring in apace. Jacob received them with much gallantry, uncloaking and unbonnetting the ladies, assisted by his two staring and awkward auxiliaries, welcoming their husbands and fathers, and apologizing, as best he might, for the absence of his helpmate, who," perplexed in the extreme" by her new finery, which happening to button down the back, she was fain to put on hind side before, did not make her appearance till the greater part of the company had arrived, and the music had struck up a country dance. An evil moment, alas! did poor Hester choose for her entry! for the first sound that met her ear was Timothy's fiddle, forming a strange trio with the bassoon and the clarionet; and the first persons whom she saw were Tom Martin cracking walnuts at the chimney-side, and Simon Frazer saluting the widow Glen under the mistletoe. How she survived such sights and sounds does appear wonderful-but survive them she did, for at three o'clock, A. M., when our reporter left the party, she was engaged in a sociable game at cards, which, by the description, seems to have been long whist, with the identical widow Glen, Simon Frazer, and William Ford, and had actually won fivepencehalfpenny of Martha's money; the young folks were still dancing gaily, to the sound of Timothy's fiddle, which fiddle had the good quality of going on almost as well drunk as sober, and it was now playing solo, the clarionet being hors-decombat, and the bassoon under the table. Tom Martin, after shewing off more tricks than a monkey, amongst the rest sewing the whole card-party together by the skirts, to the probable damage of Mrs. Frost's gay gown, had returned to his old post by the fire, and his old amusement of cracking walnuts, with the shells of which he was pelting the little parish girl, who sat fast asleep on the other side; and Jacob Frost, in all his glory, sate in a cloud of tobacco-smoke, roaring out catches with his old friend George Bridgwater, and half-a-dozen other "drowthy cronies," whilst " aye the ale was growing better," and the Christmas party went merrily on.-Monthly Magazine. BROKEN HEARTS. BROKEN faith and broken glass, Broken legs and arms are seen; But for broken hearts, we pass To what are not, and ne'er have been. Valentia Harbour, Ireland.before blods (For the Mirror.) It was On the west coast of Ireland, in the county of Kerry, and barony of Iveragh, lies the harbour of Valentia. originally colonized by the Spaniards. Some months since, it was proposed as the port from whence the steam-packets were to start for North America, in cousequence of its having two entrances at east and west. The island of Valentia is seven miles in length and two miles broad, presenting towards the main land and harbour a gentle declivity, but guarded on the Dingle Bay side by tremendous precipices. The entrances to the harbour are extremely narrow; the east is the safest, although with a north-west wind, (which blocks both the east and west passages,) the sea breaks right across. The remains of an ancient fort still exist, seated on the Gun Rock; it is supposed to have been erected at the period Oliver Cromwell was in Ireland, and is called after him. Cahir Sivieu, a small post village, lies opposite the east entrance. From east to west, inside the harbour, there are four safe anchorages, in from three to five fathoms water, viz. the first, from the west entrance, is under Captain Spottiswood's house on the hill, bringing it to bear on the bow and port Magee astern. The second, in the bight opposite Belville-house, the seat of Whitwell Butler, Esq. The third, opposite the Knight of Kerry's lodge, on the island side. And the fourth, off the tide-surveyor's house, which lies on Valentia, opposite Cahir Sivieu. The west entrance, when the night is dark, would deceive a stranger, from Puffin Island being situated nearly in the centre of the channel; and if the south instead of the northern side is taken, it is certain destruction. Bray Head is a fine bold cliff, frowning majestically above the waves; it has a signal tower erected useful in war time, to communicate inon it, at present not inhabited, being only telligence to Cork of any suspicious ves sels. posed to the Atlantic waves; and as The shores of Kerry are entirely exa westerly or north-west wind prevails nine months out of the twelve, the largest ship in the navy would suffer materially. Skelligs, lie about six miles due west. Two pyramidical rocks, called the Lighthouses are now erected on them, and being in the direct track from North America, they must have proved highly serviceable to vessels navigating from that country. F. W. DUNNE. A LITHOPHAGUS. IN the Dictionnaire Physique of Father Paulian is the following curious case :The beginning of May, 1760, there was brought to Avignon a true lithophagus, or stone-eater, who had been found, about three years before that time, in a northern island, by the crew of a Dutch ship. He not only swallowed flints of an inch and a half long, a full inch broad, and half an inch thick; but such stones as he could reduce to powder, such as marble, pebbles, &c., he made up into paste, which was to him a most agreeable and wholesome food. I examined this man with all the attention I possibly could; I found his gullet very large, his teeth exceedingly strong, his saliva very corrosive, and his stomach lower than ordinary, which I imputed to the vast quantity of flints he had swallowed, being about twenty-five one day with the other. His keeper made him eat raw flesh with the stones, but could never induce him to swallow bread; he would, however, drink water, wine, and brandy. He usually slept twelve hours in the day, and passed the greater part of the night in smoking. O WINTER, ruler of the inverted year, A sliding car indebted to no wheels, BEFORE remarking generally on this This month has been generally noted as the coldest season of the year, and we have been, wont to keep within doors, snugly seated beside the blazing hearth, and listening to the roar of winds and pelting showers of driving sleet. But how changed! January is arrived-not in his "sliding car, indebted to no wheels," and" urged by storms along the slippery way;" not with "his forehead wrapt in clouds," not with an " icicle beard," but with an April face, with " wreathed smiles," bringing warmth and gladness, inspiring the woods with harmony, deck Time's Telescope. COWPER. ing the fields with verdure, and delighting us children of the earth with an early foretaste of spring! However, let us not deceive ourselves; our text is true, and we must truly tell of it, and of what is not. Perhaps the greatest difficulty we have to master is to adhere to our text. The sunbeams play into our room-our winter plants revive, and "laugh the frost to scorn"-then our eye catches a glimpse of the fine January figure that heads this article and we are reminded that we must describe his " fickle reign," in spite of "out-of-door" evidence and appearances. We must now expect the most intense cold; a few bright sunny days are generally succeeded by showers of snow and blustering winds. It is now the depth of winter; and to her power all nature yields. Cowper's accurate and beautiful description of the season is not unfre quently realized at this season of the year. The streams are frozen, the trees are bare, 9 "Their beauty withered, and their verdure lost." Yet, when we explore these dreary scenes, the mind is amply gratified in contemplating, that were there no winter, neither the spring, nor summer, nor autumn, would display such a variety of beauties, for the earth itself would lose those rich stores of nourishment and fertility to which even the winter so copiously contributes. But we must cease this strain. Our paper already begins to warn us of "our limits ;" and we have not even given a farewell to the Old Year, or a greeting to the New one! The commencement of a new year cannot be witnessed without emotion. We have all our hopes and fears. We have outlived the pains and perils of the past one, (and its pleasures too, for pleasures are sometimes fatal,) and we hope to be the actors in another " strange, eventful history." "Though of different tastes and fancies," says a writer in the pleasant volume above quoted," there should yet be but one heart and mind amongst us upon this festival, even although we may deem it fitting to cast a Parthian glance, as it were, back upon the glories or the griefs that now lie buried in the tomb of time. Such ought not to spoil our appetite for the present, or rob us of hope for the fuWhat, albeit that age doth steal with noiseless tread, ture. And ere we fear, The sad unwelcome visitant is here,' though day buries day, and month the month,' still we shall find enough of food for content, and gratitude, and contemplation, to exist upon, in the knowledge of what has been, in the anticipation of what may be. Nay, even though some of us should labour under those griefs that crack the heart strings,' though others may bear seared and shrivelled-up hopes, yet we should rather be content to bear those ills we have, than, as the bard of Avon writes, fly to others which we know not of."" 6 The merry bells have announced the departure of one thousand, eight hundred and twenty-six, they have as merrily ushered in one thousand, eight hundred and twenty-seven, and now we are journeying onwards with high anticipations to celebrate its close, and hail another New Year's Day. Aye, and anotherand another and another. But let us not calculate rashly. Time hurries us on to death, and it were well for us to improve our time. A fine moral tone of feeling is conveyed in the following reflections on the new year; they may be read again and again with profit. From the pages of The Literary Magnet we copy them and we close our January article with LINES ON THE NEW YEAR. WHILE midnight's chime beats deep and drear- I will not bail another's birth A smile, the new-born year to greet, Assembled in the festal room- A narrower circle seems to meet Around the board-each vacant seat To hail the sacred season's call, THE NEW YEAR. ANOTHER year-another! say- Why on thy pinions, swift as thought, Which one short year, alas! has made; See these, and more-then own 'tis clear, } Then let us hail the coming year, INSCRIPTION ON A SMALL PAPER TABLET ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF TOP-KNOT, A FAVOURITE BIRD. (For the Mirror.) Ir modest worth can dim thy pensive eye, He flattered none where truth the damage pays, ORIGIN OF THE BILLS OF MORTALITY. (For the Mirror.) BILLS of Mortality took rise (says Pennant) in 1592; in which year began a great pestilence, which continued till the 18th of December, 1595. During this period they were kept in order to ascertain the number of persons who died; but when the plague ceased, the bills were discontinued. They were resumed again in 1603. At the original institution there were only a hundred and nine parishes; others were gradually added, and, by the year 1681, the number was a hundred and thirty-two. Since that time fourteen more have been added, so that the whole amounts to one hundred and forty-six; viz. 97 within the walls. 23 out-parishes in Middlesex and Sur |