THE 



MONTHLY MAGAZINE, 



OF 



POLITICS, LITERATURE, AND THE BELLES LETTRES. 



VOL. XVI.] NOVEMBER, 1833. [No. 95. 



A CHAPTER ON ANNUALS. 



SANCHO, that fine embodiment of all that is round, rosy, fat, 

 witty, simple and wise, in one of his moments of gratitude for the 

 good things of this life, affectionately blessed ee the man who invented 

 SLEEP :" we, who are not so popular as that best of philosophers, can 

 yet, when in the vein, be as grateful as " any he in Illyria ;" and are 

 therefore tempted to exclaim, Blessed be he who invented Annuals ! 

 And we say this, not so much for our own sake, and because we are 

 yet young enough at heart, and wise enough in mind to take pleasure 

 in whatever is good and beautiful, as for the sake of the hundreds of 

 thousands of the lovely and the manly which these splendid creations 

 of pen and pencil delight ; the lovely, because all that is beautiful in 

 Nature and Artis theirs by prescription and right of beauty j the manly, 

 because these objects find the more favour in their eyes the more 

 they are admired by those whom it is their fc being's end and aim " to 

 adore, adorn and cherish. Once more, therefore, would we express 

 our gratitude with the fervour of the immortal Sancho, and with 

 Wordsworth exclaim, 



" Blessings be with them and eternal praise !" 



At this season of the year, when our English sky puts on its ac- 

 customed gloom when the greater portion of our day out-of-doors 

 would be an intolerable night to the inhabitants of sunnier climes 

 when November, muffled in mists and fogs, steals on us with solemn 

 steps, wrapt in more solemn gloom, unseen, but not unheard, as his 

 frosty feet rustle among the fallen leaves now, when warm rooms 

 and cheerful hearths, and taper-lighted tables, covered with book 

 and print, are as pleasant to the eye as to the mind, what more 

 delightful companions can we have, if alone, or if socially clustering 

 round a bright fire-side with congenial men and maids, than books 

 like these ? 



Look at this volume ! Its subject is the East, that wondrous 

 region of the world where imagination, poetry, science, and the 

 arts had birth where all is beautiful, gigantic, and magnificent, from 

 the palm, whose height is two hundred feet, and the banyan-tree, 

 with its inexplicable and inextricable roots, to the gorgeous temples, 

 dedicated to the unknown gods, and mausoleums, more magnificent 



M.M. No. 95.. 3 Q 



