doubted among us, not merely whether ourselves, but whether anybody else, ever had such a Twelfth Night : "For never, since created cake, Met such untiring force, as, named with these, Could merit more than that small infantry The evening began with such tea as is worth mention; for we never knew anybody make it like the maker. Dr. Johnson would have given it his placidest growl of approbation. Then, with piano-forte, violin, and violoncello, came Handel, Corelli, and Mozart. Then followed the drawing for king and queen, in order that the "small infantry" might have their due share of the night, without sitting up too too late (for a reasonable" too-late" is to be allowed once and away). Then games of all the received kinds, forgetting no branch of Christmas customs. And very good extempore blank verse was spoken by some of the court (for our characters imitated a court), not unworthy of the wit and dignity of Tom Thumb. Then came supper, and all characters were soon forgotten but the feasters' own: good and lively souls, and festive all, both male and female,—with a constellation of the brightest eyes that we had ever seen met together. This fact was so striking, that a burst of delighted assent broke forth, when Moore's charming verses were struck up;— "To ladies' eyes a round, boys, We can't refuse, we can't refuse; 'Tis hard to choose, 'tis hard to choose." The bright eyes, the beauty, the good humor, the wine, the wit, the poetry (for we had celebrated wits and poets among us, as well as charming women), fused all hearts together in one unceasing round of fancy and laughter, till breakfast; to which we adjourned in a room full of books, the authors of which might almost have been waked up and embodied to come among us. Here, with the bright eyes literally as bright as ever at six o'clock in the morning (we all remarked it), we merged one glorious day into another, as a good omen (for it was also fine weather, though in January); and, as luck and our good faith would have it, the door was no sooner opened to let forth the ever-joyous visitors, than the trumpets of a regiment quartered in the neighborhood struck up into the morning air, seeming to blow forth triumphant approbation, and as if they sounded purely to do us honor, and to say, "You are as early and untired as we." We do not recommend such nights to be "resolved on," much less to be made a system of regular occurrence. They should flow out of the impulse, as this did; for there was no intention of sitting up so late. But so genuine was that night, and so true a recollection of pleasure did it leave upon the minds of all who shared it, that it has helped to stamp a seal of selectness upon the house in which it was passed, and which, for the encouragement of good-fellowship and of humble aspirations towards tree-planting, we are here incited to point out : for, by the same token, the writer of these papers planted some plane-trees within the rails by the garden-gate (selecting the plane in honor of the Genius of Domesticity, to which it was sacred among the Greeks); and anybody who does not disdain to look at a modest tenement for the sake of the happy hours that have been spent in it, may know it by those trees, as he passes along the row of houses called York Buildings, in the New Road, Marylebone. A man may pique himself without vanity upon having planted a tree; and, humble as our performance has been that way, we confess we are glad of it, and have often looked at the result with pleasure. The reader would smile, perhaps sigh (but a pleasure would or should be at the bottom of his sigh), if he knew what consolation we had experienced in some very trying seasons, merely from seeing those trees growing up, and affording shade and shelter to passengers, as well as a bit of leafiness to the possessor of the house. Every one should plant a tree who can. It is one of the cheapest, as well as easiest, of all tasks; and, if a man cannot reckon upon enjoying the shade much himself (which is the reason why trees are not planted everywhere), it is surely worth while to bequeathe so pleasant and useful a memorial of himself to others. They are green footsteps of our existence, which show that we have not lived in vain. * "Dig a well, plant a tree, write a book, and go to heaven," says the Arabian proverb. We cannot exactly dig a well. The parish authorities would not employ us. Besides, wells are not so much wanted in England as in Arabia, nor books either; otherwise. we should be two-thirds on our road to heaven already. * Young trees from nursery-grounds are very cheap, and cost less than flowers. But trees are wanted, and ought to be wished for, almost everywhere, especially amidst the hard brick and mortar of towns; so that we may claim at least one-third of the way, having planted more than one tree in our time: and, if our books cannot wing our flight much higher (for they never pretended to be any thing greater than birds singing among the trees), we have other merits, thank Heaven! than our own to go upon; and shall endeavor to piece out our frail and most imperfect ladder with all the good things we can love and admire in God's creation. 127 RULES IN MAKING PRESENTS. F the present is to be very exquisite indeed, and no mortification will be mixed up with the receipt of it, out of pure inability to make an equal one, or from any other cause, the rule has often been laid down. It should be something useful, beautiful, costly, and rare. It is generally an elegance, however, to omit the costliness. The rarity is the great point; because riches themselves cannot always command it, and the peculiarity of the compliment is the greater. Rare present to rare person. If you are rich, it is a good rule in general to make a rich present; that is to say, one equal, or at least not dishonorable, to your means: otherwise you set your riches above your friendship and generosity; which is a mean mistake. Among equals, it is a good rule not to exceed the equality of resources; otherwise there is a chance of giving greater mortification than pleasure, unless to a mean mind; and it does not become a generous one to care for having advantages over a mind like that. But a rich man may make a present far richer than can be made him in return, provided the receiver be as generous and understanding as he, and knows that |