upon adjacent boughs,-the glossy laurel and the pink-eyed laurestine (not to speak of the red berries of the May-bush, the purple sloes of the black thorn, or others which show their clusters upon leafless boughs-nor of the ever-green trees, the pine, the fir, the cedar or the cypress),—are all so many pleasant remembrances of the past, and so many types to man of that which is imperishable in his own nature. And it is, probably, both because they are such remembrancers of what the heart so much loves, and such types of what it so much desires, that they are gathered about our doors, and within our homes, at this period of natural decay and religious regeneration; -and mingle their pic turesque forms and hopeful mcrals with all the mysteries and cere monies of the season.

SIGNS OF THE SEASON.

We have said that the coming festivities of the season "fling their shadows" long before:—the avant-couriers of the old man are to be seen advancing in all directions. At home and abroad, -in town and in country—in the remote farm-stead and on the king's highway-we are met by the symptoms of his approach, and the arrangements making for his reception.

We will not dwell here on the domestic operations, which are so familiar to all—the ample provision for good cheer, which has long been making in every man's home, who can, at any time, afford to make good cheer at all. We need not remind our townreaders of the increased activity visible in all the interior departments of each establishment, and the apparent extent and complication of its foreign relations ;—the councils held with the housekeeper and cook-the despatches to the butcher, baker, poulterer, and confectioner, which are their consequence, and the efficient state of preparation which is arising out of all these energetic movements. To our country-readers we need not dwell upon the slaughter of fowls in the poultry-yard, and game in the field; or the wholesale doings within doors for the manufacture of pastry of all conceivable kinds, and in all its conceivable forms. And to neither the one nor the other is it necessary that we should speak of the packages, in every shape and size, which both are getting ready, for the interchange, between friends, of the commodities of their respective positions. Here, however, the town has clearly the advantage in point of gain, and the country in point of character;—the former having little besides barrels of oysters and baskets of Billingsgate fish, to furnish to the country larders, in return for the entire range of the products of the dairy, farm-yard, and game-field.

But however lightly we may allude to the other articles which enter into the charge of the commissariat department, and have no distinctive character, at this particular season, beyond their unimaginable abundance,—we are by no means at liberty, without a more special notice, to pass over the mystery of MINCE-PIE ! We speak not here of the merits of that marvellous compound; because a dish which has maintained, without impeachment, since long before the days of honest old Tusser (who calls these marvels shred-pies), the same supreme character which it holds amongst the men of these latter days, may very well dispense with our commendation: and every school-boy knows, from his own repeated experience, the utter inadequacy of language to convey any notion of the ineffable flavor of his unapproachable viand. The poverty of speech is never so conspicuous, as when even its richest forms are used for the purpose of describing that which is utterly beyond its resources; and we have witnessed most lamentable, although ludicrous failures, on the part of eloquent, but imprudent men, in their ambitious attempts to give expression to their sensations, under the immediate influence of this unutterable combination. It is, therefore, to other properties than those which make their appeal to the palate, that we must confine ourselves, in our mention of mince-pie.

The origin of this famous dish, like that of the heroic in all kinds and classes, is involved in fable. By some it has been supposed, from the oriental ingredients which enter into its composi tion, to have a reference (as probably had also the plum-porridge of those days) to the offerings made by the wise men of the East; and it was anciently the custom to make these pies of an oblong form, thereby representing the manger in which, on that occasion, those sages found the infant Jesus. Against this practice (which was of the same character with that of the little image called the Yule Dough, or Yule Cake, formerly presented by bakers to their customers, at the anniversary of the Nativity), the puritans made a vehement outcry, as idolatrous ;-and certainly it appears to us somewhat more objectionable than many of those which they denounced, in the same category. Of course, it was supported by the Catholics with a zeal, the larger part of which (as in most cases of controversy where the passions are engaged) was de

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rived from the opposition of their adversaries ;-and the latter having pronounced the mince-pie to be an abomination, the eating thereof was immediately established as a test of orthodoxy by the former. Sandys mentions that, even when distressed for a comfortable meal, they would refuse to partake of this very tempting dish, when set before them,-and mentions John Bunyan, when in confinement, as an example. He recommends that, under such extreme circumstances, they should be eaten with a protest, as might be done by a lawyer, in a similar case.

In a struggle like this, however, it is clear that the advocates of mince-pie were likely to have the best of it,-through the powerful auxiliary derived to their cause, from the savoriness of the dish itself. The legend of the origin of eating roast-pig, which we have on the authority of Charles Lamb, exhibits the rapid spread of that practice, against the sense of its abomination, on the strength of the irresistible appeals made to the palate by the crackling. And, accordingly, in the case of mince-pie, we find that the delicious compound has come down to our days (stripped of its objectionable forms and more mystic meanings, from the moment when they ceased to be topics of disputation)—and is freely partaken of by the most rigid presbyterian-who raises no question" thereon, "for conscience sake."

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It may be observed, however, that relics of the more recondite virtues ascribed to this dish, by the Catholics, in the days of its sectarian persecution, still exist—in the superstitions which attach certain privileges and promises to its consumption. In some places the form of this superstition, we believe, is, that for every house in which a mince-pie shall be eaten, at the Christmas season, the eater shall enjoy a happy month in the coming year. As, however, this version would limit the consumption (as far as any future benefit is attached to it), to the insufficient number of twelve, we greatly prefer an edition of the same belief which we have met with elsewhere, and which promises a happy day for every individual pie eaten, during the same period; thereby giving a man a direct and prospective interest in the consumption of as large a number out of three hundred and sixty-five, as may happen to agree with his inclination.

Leaving, however, those proceedings which are going on within

our homes,—and of which the manufacture of mince-pies forms so important an article,—we must turn to the symptoms of the approaching holiday that meet the eye, at every turn which we make out of doors. He who will take the king's highway, in search after these,—planting himself on the outside of a stagecoach,—will have the greater number of such signs brought under his observation, in the progress of a journey which whirls him through town and village, and by park and farm-house.

The road is alive with travellers; and along its whole extent there is an air of aimless bustle, if we may so express ourselves -an appearance of active idleness. No doubt, he who shall travel that same road, in the days of hay-making or harvest, will see as dense a population following their avocations in the open air, and swarming in the fields. But then, at those periods of labor, the crowds are more widely scattered over the face of the country; and each individual is earnestly engaged in the prosecution of some positive pursuit, amid a silence scarcely broken by the distant whistle or occasional song, that comes faintly to the ear, through the rich sunny air. People are busier without being so bustling. But now, all men are in action, though all men's business seems suspended. The population are gathered together in groups, at the corners of streets, or about the doors of alehouses; and the mingling voices of the speakers, and the sound of the merry laugh, come sharp and ringing through the clear frosty air. There is the appearance, every way, of a season of transition. The only conspicuous evidence of the business of life going forward, with a keen and steady view to its ordinary objects, exists in the abundant displays made at the windows of every shopkeeper, in every village, along the road. Vehicles of all kinds are in motion ;-stage-coach, post-chaise, and private carriage are, alike, filled with travellers, passing, in all directions, to their several places of assembling, and give glimpses of faces bright with the reawakened affections that are radiating, on all sides, to common centres. Everywhere, hearts are stirred, and pulses quickened, by pleasant anticipations ;—and many a current of feelings which, for the rest of the year, has wandered only in the direction of the world's miry ways, and been darkened by its pollutions, met by the memories of the season, and

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