military talent, from the highest rank to the subaltern, are all engaged in our defence, we can have little to apprehend.

Some antiquaries, walking last Sunday up Primrosehill, discovered, in a place where the earth had been newly turned up, a leaden bullet, which engaged them to borrow a spade, and explore farther; when, after digging with a great deal of pains and caution, they obtained, at last, a considerable quantity of the same kind of bullets, all of a round form, from which they immediately drew the inference that some famous battle had been formerly fought on that ground.

Several volunteer corps had skirmished there the same week.

The Glass Slipper is put off; but whether owing to its not having fitted the principal performer, or to its not having been sent home in time, is not yet divulged to the public. I know the cause, but nullum numen abest si sit prudentia.

ERRATUM.-P. 108, 1. 14, add steak.

109, 1. 28, for ascending read ascend.

Z.

A HAPPY new year to my readers! may they enjoy a continuance of the blessings of the last, and be able to diminish all that remains of it unpleasant. May the untoward circumstances of ill success cease to annoy them, and may their enemies lose the power to do them harm. May they set out on the journey of another year with fresh hopes, and fresh spirits, accompanied by that Providence which for Moses brought water from a rock, and gave a safe passage to the Israelites through the Red Sea, and which every day (for every day is a day of mercy) still continues to work seeming miracles for those who have faith in the goodness and power of the Almighty.

I trust that some reflections upon this revolving æra will not be unacceptable. To think of what is past, and upon what may hereafter happen; I mean without darksome prospects of calamity. To take stock, as it were, of our good and bad habits, of the profits of our good managements, and of the loss occasioned by our mistakes and blunders, is opus diei in R

die suo. A work fit and proper for the day, and will not only prove a moral advantage, but, will, considered as a matter of business, assist every man in his future temporal concerns. Let none be disheartened at looking into the account, or at the number of bad debts on their books, which have arisen from trusting to pride, vanity, the promises of pleasure, or of vice; but rather let them put them at the back of the ledger, and think no more about them, any further than to take care not to trust them again.

ness.

The parable of our Saviour," Lord, let it alone this year also," is an excellent lesson for those who have unemployed or mis-spent the time, or neglected the various opportunities offered them of success and happiThe parable says:-that there was a certain man who possessed a vineyard, in which we may fairly suppose his chief profit, and much of his pleasure consisted. It represents him as viewing with anxious expectation the coming harvest of his tenderness and care; he notices, among other objects of his cultivation, a fig-tree, barren, and without fruit; he views it around with an anxious look, big with disappointment and sorrow at its appearance, he stops, looks at it again, and after a moment's hesitation calls out to the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none; cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?" Such were the orders given by the master of the vineyard, and to the fullest extent would they have been obeyed, had not the dresser of the vines, who had hopes of even

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this fig-tree, compassionately answered, “ LORD, LET IT ALONE THIS YEAR ALSO."

Let us endeavour to apply this parable.-I believe that it will need but a little fair examination to confess that too many, like the barren fig-tree, only cumber the earth. The great Lord of the vineyard, who planted man in a good and fruitful soil, and whose providential hand raised him to a fair and full growth, has, I am afraid, too often looked in vain for the harvest of his love and care; and after that full and perfect growth, three years perhaps have passed without even the blossom of the fruit appearing, the anxious care of the first dressers of the vineyard, his parents, have perhaps availed little, though they have anxiously removed from about their tender plants (as far as in them lay) every noxious weed, and pruned out numberless superfluous shoots of folly, and luxuriant error. After all, no promise of fruit appears; yet manured with the advantages of education, and fenced round with the experience and caution of aged vinedressers, much might have been expected.

The human mind is then the fig-tree in the parable, and the dresser of the vineyard, there represented, the Saviour himself; whose charity and love appears in the kind expressive language, LORD, LET IT ALONE THIS In the picturesque scenery of life, parents are the first dressers of the tender plants, committed by the great master of the vineyard to their care; until, at length, the young labourer is thought

YEAR ALSO.

of sufficient age and experience to take care of his own vine, and then it arrives that either it improves and comes to bear good fruit, or it is useless and unprofitable as the fig-tree in the parable; the weeds of sloth often choke our good intentions, numerous bad habits spring up which prevent the growth of virtue, the frequent blights of bad example destroy the opening blossom, and the tree withers just as it has begun to bloom. It is barren and without fruit. Wretched is the situation of that fig-tree, should the lord of the vineyard turn his all-seeing eye towards it at the moment, and exclaim, "Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?"

But the dresser of the vineyard answered, LORD, LET IT ALONE THIS YEAR ALSO; and it should appear by what follows in the parable, that the tree was spared, for he adds, "and if it bear fruit, well; and if not, then after that, thou shalt cut it down." There is something grateful and delightful to the human breast in the idea, to spare,' it is compounded of love, mercy and charity; and be it but for a dog, the heart warms up with a glow of honest affection to save an old acquaintance. Let us recollect seriously how mercifully from year to year we have been spared; and yet, alas! one day passes on after another, without the slightest appearance of blossom, the tree still remains barren, that with a little attention might have become fair and fruitful. Melancholy the idea, that it should remain so until the time may arrive when it must be cut down ; however, a happy circumstance it is, that the lord of