Lost between good and ill, that shared thy life?
All now are vanish'd! Virtue sole survives,
Immortal never-failing friend of man,
His guide to happiness on high.

Cowper describes a forest walk in Winter-
The night was Winter in his roughest mood,
The morning sharp and clear. But now at noon,
Upon the southern side of the slant hills,

And where the woods fence off the northern blast,
The season smiles, resigning all its rage,
And has the warmth of May.-

No noise is here, or none that hinders thought:
The red-breast warbles still, but is content
With slender notes and more than half-suppress'd;
Pleased with his solitude, and flitting light
From spray to spray, where'er he rests he shakes
From many a twig the pendent drops of ice,
That tinkle in the wither'd leaves below,
Stillness accompanied with sounds so soft,
Charms more than silence.

COWPER.

Several of the wild quadrupeds now take to their Winter concealments, which they seldom or never quit during the Winter. Of these, some are in an absolutely torpid or sleeping state, taking no food for a considerable time; others are only drowsy and inactive, and continue to feed on provisions which they have hoarded up.

In our mild climate few become entirely torpid. Bats do so, and retire early to caves and holes, where they remain the whole Winter, suspended by the hind feet, and closely wrapped up in the membranes of the fore feet. As their food is chiefly insects, they can lay up no store for the Winter, and, therefore, must be starved, did not Nature thus render food unnecessary for them. Dormice also lie torpid the greatest part of the Winter, though they lay up stores of provision. A warm day sometimes revives them, when they eat a little, but soon relapse into their former condition.

Squirrels, and various kinds of field-mice, provide magazines of food against Winter, but are not known to become torpid. The badger, the hedge-hog, and the mole, keep close in their Winter quarters in the northern districts, and sleep away great part of the season.

The early vegetables which now flourish are the numerous tribes of mosses, and the lichens, or liver-worts. The mosses put forth their singular and minute parts of fructification during the Winter months; and offer a most curious spectacle to the botanist, at a time when all the

rest of Nature is dead to him. Lichens cover the ditch-banks, and other neglected spots, with a leather-like substance, which, in some countries, serves as food both to men and cattle. The reindeer lichen is the greatest treasure of the poor Laplanders, who depend upon it for the support of this their only species of domestic cattle, during their tedious Winters.

On the twenty-first of December happens the Winter solstice, or shortest day; when the sun is something less than eight hours above the horizon even in the southern parts of the island. Soon after this, frost and snow generally begin to set in for the rest of the Winter.

The farmer has little to occupy his attention in the course of this month. His chief care is bestowed on the feeding and management of his cattle, and various matters of household economy. Leaving the care of the seed which he has committed to the earth to the God of Seasons he can, with heart stirring feeling, exclaim—

Have mercy, Heaven! for now laborious man
Has done his part!

Or, as another and anonymous writer expands the idea

Have

mercy,

Winter! for we own thy power,
Thy flooding deluge, and thy drenching shower;
Yes, we acknowledge what thy prowess can;
But, oh! have pity on the toil of man!
And, though the floods thy adamantine chain
Submissive wear—yet spare the treasured grain ;
The peasants to thy mercy now resign

The infant seed-their hope, and future mine,

The festival of Christmas occurs very seasonably to cheer this comfortless period of the year. Great preparations are made for it in the country, and plenty of rustic dainties are provided for its celebration according to the rites of ancient hospitality. Thus the old year steals away unremarked and unlamented; and a new one begins with lengthening days and brighter skies, inspiring fresh hopes and pleasing expectations:

These as they change, Almighty Father, these
Are but the varied God. The rolling year
Is full of Thee. Forth in the pleasing Spring
Thy beauty walks, Thy tenderness and love.
Wide flush the fields; the softening air is balm;
Echo the mountains round; the forest smiles;
And every sense, and every heart is joy.
Then comes Thy glory in the Summer months,
With light and heat refulgent. Then Thy sun
Shoots full perfection through the swelling year:

To-night how changed the scene! his iron mood
Stern Winter has resumed; how wild, how rude
Drives the fierce blast along; the sky, how dark!
How fast the snow-flakes fall; and hark-oh, hark!
"The floods lift up their voice!" But whilst without
All is mad revelry and savage rout,

Within let all be cheerfulness and mirth.

THE WINTER NOSEGAY.