334 DECEMBER. 



in pleasent boudoirs, at rose-wood desks, where 

 lady-fingers pen lady-lays ; in ten thousand nooks 

 and recesses, the pile of books is growing, under 

 which shelves, booksellers and readers, shall groan, 

 ere many months elapse. Another season shall 

 come round, all these leaves, like those of the 

 forest, shall be swept away, leaving only those of a 

 few hardy laurels untouched. But let no one la- 

 ment them, or think that all this " labour under the 

 sun" has been vain. Literary tradesmen have 

 been indulged in speculation ; critics have been em- 

 ployed ; and authors have enjoyed the excitement of 

 hope, the enthusiasm of composition, the glow of 

 fancied achievement. And all is not lost : 



The following year another race supplies ; 

 They fall successive, and successive rise. 



The heavens present one of the most prominent 

 and splendid beauties of winter. The long and total 

 absence of the sun's light, and the transparent purity 

 of a frosty atmosphere, give an apparent elevation 

 to the celestial concave, and rich depth and intensity 

 of azure, in which the stars burn with resplendent 

 beauty; the galaxy stretches its albescent glow 

 athwart the northern sky, and the moon in her 

 monthly track sails amongst the glittering constella- 

 tions with a more queenly grace ; sometimes with- 

 out the visitation of a single cloud, and, at others, 

 seeming to catch from their wind-winged speed an 

 accelerated motion of her own. It is a spectacle 

 of which the contemplative eye is never weary ; 



