14 



NEW ENGLAND FARIVIER. 



Jan. 



lavish hospitality, they dismissed all care, and 

 found utterance for sweet afFections in the 

 "merry New Year," and "happy New Year 

 to you" on New Year's day. These were 

 greetings that moved sceptred pride and 

 humble labor to smiles and kind feelings in 

 former times ; why should they not be encour- 

 aged in our own ? 



Why not ring every bell five minutes at a 

 time, morning, noon and evening, in New 

 York, Boston, and every other city in the land, 

 and in every village on hill or in valley, where 

 there is a tongue to utter forth the joyful 

 sounds ? Would not the effect be a good one 

 upon our people, as it was upon our English 

 brethren, or the people in Italy, hundreds of 

 years ago ? No doubt of it. English or Ital- 

 ian, Russian or Turk, the same nature impels 

 us all ; the same outpourings of spirit in sor- 

 row or in joy. 



Dr. Drake tells us, in his "Shakspeare and 

 his Times," that the ushering in of the new 

 year, or new year's tide, with rejoicings, pres- 

 ents and good wishes, was a custom observed 

 during the 16th century, with great regularity 

 and parade, and was as cordially celebrated in 

 the court of the prince as in the cottage of the 

 peasant. 



In Rome, the usual presents were figs and 

 dates covered with gold leaf. Among the 

 Saxons of the North, the festival of the new 

 year was observed with more than ordinary 

 jollity and feasting, and by sending new year's 

 gifts to one another. These practices were 

 prohibited by the Emperor Claudius, who died 

 in the year 54, poisoned by his wife Agrippina. 



A writer in "The Popish Kingdom," 1553, 

 after remarking on days of the old year, says : — 



The next to this is Newe Ycarea day 



Whereon to every friende, 

 They costJy presents in do liring. 



And Nen-e Yeares giftes do sende, 

 These giftes Ihe hasband gives his wife, 



And father eke the childe, 

 And maister on his men bestowes 



The like, with favour mllde. 



It is the opinion of Dr. Drake that the 

 wardrobe and jewelry of Queen Elizabeth 

 were principally supported by annual contribu- 

 tions on New Year's day. Not only the peers 

 and peeresses gave her money, but the apoth- 

 ecary, master cook and sergeant of the pastry, 

 had something to send. One lady gave her 

 majesty a little gold comfit-box and spoon 

 Ambrose Lupo gave her a box of lute strings 

 and a glass of sweet water; each of three 



other Italians presented her with a pair of 

 sweet gloves. These may have suggested the 

 lines in the "Winter's Tale," where the coun- 

 try girls are invited to buy — 



' Lawn, as white as driven enow ; 

 Cypress, black as e'er was crow ; 

 Gloves, as sweet as damask roses; 

 Masks for faces, and for iioeos ; 

 Bugle bracelfct, necklace amber, 

 Perfume for a lady's chamber; 

 Oolden quoifs, and stomachers, 

 For my lads to give their dears; 

 Pins, and poking sticks of steel, 

 What maids lack from head to heel 1" 



The word "pins," in the line above, will 

 have force when it is remembered that they 

 had just taken the place of wooden skewers, 

 which ladies were obliged to use for want of 

 something better. Gloves were more expen- 

 sive than in our day, and were esteemed as 

 more valuable than money. 



Sometimes the present would be the medi- 

 um of a lively joke or a grim rebuke. Hon- 

 est old Latimer, instead of presenting Henry 

 VIII. with a purse of gold, as was customary, 

 for a new year's gift, put into the King's hand 

 a New Testament, with a leaf conspicuously 

 turned down at Hebrews xiii. 4, which, on 

 reference, will be found to have been worthy 

 of all acceptation, though not perhaps well 

 accepted. Henry was an old scamp. One 

 good wife is enough for any man ; one ftt a 

 time, we mean. He had eight, each one of 

 whom was probably infinitely better than him- 

 self. So it is no wonder that the stern old 

 Latimer called his attention to the passage re- 

 ferred to in Hebrews. 



We began this homily with a piece of prose, 

 sparkling with short truths. Let us close it 

 with a few lines from the good Cowper. If 

 they are committed to memory, and repeated 

 occasionally through the year, they will be 

 found comforting and profitable. 



"He who holds fast the Golden Mean, 

 And lives contentedly between 



The little and the great, 

 Feels not the wants that pinch the poor. 

 Nor plngues that haunt the rich man's door, 



Embitt'ring all his state. 



If hindrances obstruct thy way, 

 Thy magnanimity display. 



And let thy streiglh be seen; 

 But oh I if fortune lill thy sail 

 With more than a propitious gale, 



Take half thy canvas in." 



WORK IN JANUARY. 



There are duties to be performed on the 

 farm which are appropriate to each month. 

 They cannot be wisely neglected now, and 



