to have a doubt either way. One thing is nearly certain— they do not visit the cramped grasses in the winter-night. Then is the time for the owls and the black ravens pitched upon the snow. Then gaunt su. perstition grizzles up in a spectral attitude athwart the dim light that lines the horizon, and through the interstices of ruins piled to the roof with ice that has grown dark in its rigidity. Hear what SHAKESPEARE says, who seldom went wrong in these matters. WINTER. When icicles hung by the wall, Avd Dick the shepherd blows his nail, And Tom bears logs into the hall, And milk comes frozen home in pail; When blood is nipt, and ways be foul, Then nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whoo! Ta-whit! tu whoo! a merry note, While greasy Jane doth keel the pot. When all aloud the wind doth blow, And congbing drowns the parson's saw, And birds sit brooding in the snow. Aud Marian's nose looks red and raw; When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl, Then nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whoo! Tu-whoo! tu-whit! a merry note, While greasy Jane doth keel the pot. our Old Books. Of poetry, the verse that is built upon pure thoughts, and that goes abroad through Nature to gather its materials, there is none like that which our own language affords. It is rich, fluent, various, and familiar. Now, as the rough storm welters against the panes that rock in their firm grooves, turn over a page of SACKVILLE, the statesman-poet. It is the complaint of the Duke of BUCKINGHAM, who mourns his own fall with the desolation of the flowery earth under the approach of winter. . The wrathful winter, 'proaching on apace, To warn the rest whom fortune left alive. Those last lines, most esteemed THOMAS SACKVILLE, Earl of Dorset, hath much of a tone like prophecy, as if, when you wrote them, you looked forward into this year, that sees the English peerage on the verge of a precipice with the storm roaring at their backs. Poor SACKVILLE, who gave this language of sorrow to the unfortunate BUCKINGHAM, died himself suddenly at the council table of James I. The Faeries were Roman Catholics. Here is our voucher—that facetious wine-bibber and mime of humanity, Bishop Corbett. He philosophically traces their elf-track to their tenets of the Church of the Tiara. To Witness those rings and roundelayes 21 Of theirs, which yet remaine, On many a grassy playne; E1 CHEBut since of late, Elizabeth, pleo And later, James came in lyn WoW To They never daunced on any heath As when the time hath bin. 753.6117 bo As when the time hath But -Terry By which we note the Faeries Tout Ist w Were of the old profession; Theyre songs were Ave Marges; Theyre daunces were procession: Or gone beyond tbe seas; Or elce they take theyre ease. So--the reformation banished the Faeries. A sorry reformation was that. But it could not drive its ploughshare through their well-trodden circles in the velvet of the vallies, and the mists of the hills. And how do we know that they do not still troop their moonlight rounds on the worn sward, and still float away into thin air in the rays that dissolve, like a dew, over their haunts? How do we know? How do we not know? We know nothing about it; and our faith must be large And winter, with its biting winds, and numbing frosts, is best enjoyed and employed in the country. How finely does Cowley, in spite of his metaphysics, paint this truth, in his verses on SOLITUDE. Here Nature does for me a house erect, Winter is beautiful in every aspect, and sublime in its terrors. The poor winged things, and herb-fed insects that live through the summer, and perish in the cold at the turn of the season, are the greatest sufferers. But how mighty is that death that rushes through the pores of myriad-breathing Nature in a single sweep of the dial! What a wondrous provision is there here in the ordained order of succession against the overstocking of life; and how irreverent and small-visioned do those miserable economists appear who would put a curb upon the operation of the Invisible Spirit of Existence, and inspire the arrangements of the Creator with the theories of the Worm of Books ? One of the most affecting pictures of death in the insect tribes is given in the verses of that gallant cavalier, LovELACE, whose own life was a tragedy pursued through all its moods, from the gay opening to the mournful catastrophe. Here is a specimen of them. THE GRASSHOPPER. The joys of earth and air are thine entire, Of the waves breaking on the chalky shore- All, all are English. Oft have I looked round With joy in Kent's green vales; but never found Myself so satisfied in heart before. Earope is yet in bonds: but let that pass, But alı, the sickle! golden ears are cropped ; Thought for another moment. Thou art free, Ceres and Bacchus bid good night; My Country! and 'tis joy enough and pride Sharp frosty fingers all your Aowers have topped, For one hour's perfect bliss, to tread the grass And what scythes spared, winds shave off quite. Of Eagland once again, and hear and see, With such a dear companion by my side. Put another log on the fire. Their floods with an o'erflowing glass. LONDON AND PARISIAN FASHIONS to the entrance. Whom doth he welcome? We must FROM A VARIETY OF THE MOST AUTHENTIC SOURCES not say; she is like the Magdalen of CRASHAWE with tears of joy trembling on her cheeks. A tear? INCLUDING COPIOUS EXTRACTS FROM. “ Le Petit Courrier des Dames"_" Journal des What bright soft thing is this ? Sweet Mary, thy fair eyes' expense? Dames et des Modes, L'Observateur des Modes et A moist spark'itis, L'Indiscret''-" Le Follet Courrier des Salons"-" Le Mercure des Salons," &c. &c. DRESSES.-Nothing can be more elegant for demi toilet dresses composed of rich materials, than a high Did we not some time ago inquire why Soutney mounting flat corsage, flat on the back and shoulders, omitted CRASHAWE in his collection of the English with a few light gathers at the waist. A pierrot of poets? Poor CRASHAWE has been all along neglected by tulle and blond may be employed with advantage, makers of anthologies—with one or two honourable closed by a brooch, or, if intended for a visiting or exceptions—as if he had no business in such company promenade dress, a tulle scarf round the throat, with as Drayton, HABINGTON, and WITHERS. But he long ends descending over the skirt. is worthy of his niche, and he must have it, one day All our fashions of the middle ages, all those resuror another. He was a Catholic priest, and yet wrote rections of old costumes, all that enormous rotundity such conceits as these: of materials and accoutrements imitated from the chro. Heavens thy fair eyes be, nicles of our ancestors, have not however, entirely exHeavens of ever-falling stars, cluded from our drawing rooms the apparition of those "Tis seed time still with thee, fanciful and tastful costumes, where the taste and spirit And stars thou sow'st, whose harvest dares Promise the Earth to counter-sbine of the lady wearing them is sometimes revealed by the Whatever makes Heaven's forehead shine. display of a feather, the choice of some particular The dew no more will weep, shade, or the plaiting of a gauze. Dress has also its The primrose's pale cheek to deck, physiology from which many exact indications might 'I he dew no more will sleep, be deducted, though we most certainly will not underVuzzled in the lily's neck. take to initiate in such a science, though as in duty Much rather would it tremble here, And lea ve them both to be thy tear. bound, and in fulfilment of our mission, we will notice these fancy costumes. There, we could run through the night with these High-mounting velvet dresses are perfectly comme il delicious fragments, but we are warned of the solem- | faut; deep blue, black, and emerald green are the nities before us that must be fulfilled. How one may favourite colours. prattle over the Christmas fire with these Apostles of We have seen a very elegant dress of the following Poetry, and grow, as it were, a part of themselves, description: it was composed of white tulle; the skirt almost sharing in the fervour of their inspiration. It trimmed from the ceinture to the hem with rose-cois the true religion, speaking in its own most glorious loured wide gauze ribbon, laid fiat, about four inches language. And that language is our own-for where, distant from one another, and slightly gathered in the except in the English Classics do we find the veins of upper part near the waist at the extremity, near the the living ore, the coinage from which is immortal? | hem, each ribbon terminated by a noud with two ends. Not even the stateliness of the Grecian march, nor the The corsage was in cour, and trimmed with a ruche of solemn music of the Latin, nor the silver cadences of 1 tulle forming mantilla on the back. . the Italian, nor the playfulness of the French, are. Pelisses and cloaks composed of the new material comparable with our English poetry, in its masses of foulard de Smyrne have a rich and striking appearance ; the picturesque, the didactic, the dramatic, and the the whole width of the cloak is of one single piece descriptive. But who is not proud of England-albeit without seams, and formed as it were by rich designs her carols are fainting into echo ? Let WORDSWORTII ; which extend to the upper part of the cloak, forming describe the thought for us. colonades; the large cape and small falling collar are SONNET. embellished with designs proportionately appropriated, The colours are bright and skilfully intermixed on Composed in the valley near Dover, on returning from France. green, violet, or dark brown grounds. This material Dear fellow-traveller! here we are once more. The Cock that crows, the Smoke that curls, that sound is very rich and elegant for evening dresses, open in Of Bells those Boys who, in your meadow-gronnd front and forming tunic as they are at present so much lo wbite sleeved shirts are playiug-and the roar worn; the aspect of their rich designs render them NO. XXXVII-VOL. IV. B 2 particularly appropriate for this sort of cost ome. Al with long end's descending on the skirt. We have a corsage deep cut in the back, the shoulder-bands very few novelties to notice in the fashion of evening and low, and draperies on the chest; wide sleeves gathered neglige dresses ; on satin redingotes, three equal plaits at the wrist; a cordeliere tied in front, the skirt of are made in the middle of the corsage and the skirt; the under dress of white crape, ornamented round the these plaits are an inch and a half wide; the rest of hem with white silk embroidery, forms a most beauti the corsuge in front is flat, the back is flat on the ful toilet. shoulders, and in light gathers in the middle under, For elegant and comfortable wrappers these foulards the ceinture. are no less perfect Wide sleeves terminated by de For plain dresses, plaits spreading out in a fan-like signs similar to those of the skirt, a silk lining wadded shape from the shoulders, and united on the chest by and quilted, forms a neglige quite different from all a narrow cord reaching half way down, the same on those we have hitherto seen, uniting lightness with the back. Sometimes there are five plaits originating warmth, and when employed for pelisses is the best from the shoulders, diminishing in width, uniting in material that can possibly be adapted over ball dresses the middle, and closed under the ceinture. or coming out of the theatre. Several ladies have had With the deep cut Sevignés are sometimes seen a them disposed so that the large cape or collar might be number of noeuds sprinkled over the corsage; this mode turned into very wide sleeves and a hood to cover the is not so becoming as six noeuds distributed thus: in head; this is uniting prudence to elegance, and agrees front and behind at the upper and lower part of the perfectly with the Smyrna foulard, as the disposition dra pery, and the other two on each shoulder. of the designs are so happily combined that it can be Pelerine-mantelets are still in fashion, trimmed employed with effect to all shapes and any part of round with silk fringe. Plainer pelerines are also dress. made of this same shape, nearly similar to those of last Cloaks are now generally fastened round the waist year; a point over the chest and one on the back; a by a cordeliere with the ends terminated by tassels ; point on the shoulders descending on the sleeve; the a similar cordeliere, only smaller, fastens the collar pelerine trimmed with a double blond. round the neck. Almost all the small collars are of Many morning and evening neglige dresses are velvet, as also the piping round the cloak. They are made with high-mounting flat corsages, slightly equally worn with or without sleeves. All cloaks are gathered behind under the ceinture. now made with a pocket inside. The long cape is ac High mounting corsages for promenade and evening cording to taste, sometimes en biais or thickly gathered negliges, are flat in front; those deep cut round the on the straight edge, but in every instance it should shoulders trimmed with a Aat-laid blond are also with form numerous plaits. fat corsayes. A very handsome make is à la vierge, Reticules of a new description have just appeared, the front terminating en pointe and trimmed with short they are called sacs-manchons, never was denomination nauds. We have seen a beautiful dress composed of better applied, the lower part of these bags are com very fine light organdi, the corsage flat, trimmed with posed of fur, they are made of all sorts of fur, marten, a superb mantilla of British lace; the sleeves short · Kolinska, ferret, etc. The upper part is of satin or with sabots of the same description, disposed at equal velvet, embroidered or plain to correspond with the distances, on the mantilla and the edge of the corsage dress. Some very elegant ones are of crimson or were small bows of cherry-coloured satin ; the sabots green velvet embroidered in gold, and closed by a divided in the middle hy bows with long ends. cordeliere terminated with gold tassel. A black Velvet dress, pointed corsage, the sleeves A new sort of collar is composed of gauffered gauze divided in the middle, add trimmed with large salots of two colours, rose and black, green and white, etc.; of white tulle fastened by a long noud of black satin. they are fastened in front by a gauze ribbon; the two A handsome evening redingote of blue satin, figured gauzes are turned spiral ways one within the other. with large flowers ; shawl corsage deep cut; the pe - Young ladies at evening parties or at the theatres, lerine round on the back, crossed with the skirt, and wear demi-scarfs of black tulle embroidered with co both bordered with a dent formed by three pipings. loured silk, the ends terminated with a fringe of various We have seen the same arrangement on two other colours. dresses ; one of white crape, lined with satin, and The fashion of pockets is becoming every day more edged with a narrow white blond ; tis other of rosegeneral. They are worn with pelisses, evening dresses, coloured crape edged with black blond. etc. The opening is marked by an embroidery, a Black blond turbans are worn by the most elegant fringe, lace, etc. fashionables, their appearance by candle light is very Ball Toilets.-Out of twenty ball dresses more rich, soft and brilliant. Those turbans can be made than the half are of thick, rich materials. These are with a scarf, by supporting them with a long piece of mostly with pointed corsayes, the back flat, and blond | rolled satin. mantillas. The figured dark satins are the most ele | Cashmere turbans are more difficultly managed in gant. We have seen one of violet coloured satin with consequence of the shawl being generally too large, and bouquets, of gold and green the skirt open in front, the a scarf too sinall; they are very elegant with an evencorsage forming a point, terminated by a cordeliere ; ing or even a ball dress. the sleeves short and separated in the middle by a The reign of boas is irrevocably passed. A very few cordeliere, the ends falling on the arms. The coiffure, may yet be seen three or four times twisted round a a small wreath of thin gold flowers across the forehead, pretty chilly neck, but this must be considered as the and on the summit of the head a few sprigs of gold last lutte against fashion, flowers disposed en aigrelte. Palatines have a decided advantage, which will be . With light toilets, gauze or satin ribbon ceintures still more so next winter. |