[LISTENS.]

But no one comes, no music charms mine ear,
Are they so bashful that they wont appear?
They wait a specimen of martial tact,

"A happy prologue to the swelling act,"
Well now the field's presented to your view,
Where many a battle will be fought for you;
The Sons of Thespis for dramatic fame
Present a modest unaspiring name,

All strenuously resolved the war to wage
And fret and strut with genius on the stage.
No Powers, no Farrens on the boards appear,
To rouse through laughing loud, the merry tear,
No: kind Thalia her sweet art endures,

To be performed by dauntless Amateurs,
""Tis from high life high characters are got"
We are aristocrats and they are not:

See, man to-night the woman shall assume
And pour
her sweetness forth in beauty's bloom,
O, save them then; from censure do forbear,
Protect their sweetness from the desert air
Mark them blush forth in powder and in paint
And see the would-be-handsome look the saint,
In this enlightened clime sure genius dwells
But strange, so few explore her hidden cells,
To-night you'll see her in her glory soar,
Rant and fall lifeless on an Indian floor,

[LISTENS]

But hark! strike up, the noble Thespians hear,
They've just concluded their last pint of beer,
I now but ask your generous applause,
Effect is every thing, don't mind the cause.

The delivery of this was received with great applause; and with hat in hand, and a low bow, the poetaster swung himelf off the stage; the curtain at length drew up, when in dashed a female with as bold an air as Madame Vestris, but divested of the fair proportions of that fascinating actress, the cause of which we discovered on retiring behind the scenes to be, that the rights of woman were being usurped by a Cavalry Officer 6 feet high, who played the woman not so well on the stage perhaps as off it; when he had said his say, with long strides he hurried off the boards, amid the triumphant laughter of the audience. The women were pretty, but rather tall, and drank beer and smoked cheroots behind the scenes. The plays were on the whole extremely well acted; two days after the play I met a young man who was so elated with his success, he said he was preparing to start home to engage himself at Covent Garden, I dissuaded him from the idea, telling him, there were too many greens already in the market.

Saturday, January 6, 1844.

No. 4.

Christmas-time in India.

A great issuing of orders to Tailors on the 31st of December, for apparel to be sent home the week following, and thus to evade re-appearing in the present year's bill. Awful events, which too plainly denote, that that Annus Mirabilis the year 1843, is hastening "to the tomb of all the Capulets."-JAMES SMITH'S DIARY,-1843, pro. 1822,

The first appearance of festivity at Christmas is dated as far back as the second century in the reign of the Emperor Commodus, who flourished, or rather was in the height of his profligacy about the 182. From that time to the preyear sent, it appears that Christmas has been celebrated by festivals and thanksgivings among Christians throughout the globe: what a merry time it is in our own country; still the merriment of it has vanished in a great measure even in England: we now sigh for the good old time when the Wassail Bowl came in steaming in the hands of the red-nosed butler, when the old squire smiled, and passed round the glass, in the midst of mirthful songs, when the old October ale, clear as oil, made the heart glad, and the people were not restrained in their potations by Temperance Societies, like those in modern days. To my bre

thren in the East-I shall now present, the best description I can find of the old English Christmas, and afterwards for the benefit of the "Gentlemen of England who live at home in ease" touch on our Oriental one. The following is short and pithy and is quoted by the author of the Sketch Book, "An English gentleman at the opening of the great day, (i. e.) on Christmas day in the morning, had all his tenants and neighbours in his hall by daybreak. The strong beer was broached, and the black jacks went plentifully about with toast, sugar and nutmcg, and good Cheshire cheese. The Hackin (the great sausage) must be boiled by daybreak, or else two young men must take the maiden (i. e. the cook) by the arms and run her round the market-place till she is shamed of her laziness." Christmas day and sitting up for the New Year give great delight to the British in the East, especially among those who can look back on 30 or 40 years, when the good old time, at Home, boasted no railways, and young men never wore tailed coats before they were 17. Burton says 66 no man should marry until he be 25, no woman till she be 20, nisi aliter dispensatum fuerit," but commence my description. Flowers, the sweet language used by Eastern

NOW!!! I shall

lovers, are presented early in the morning to the inhabitants of the mansion, or rather Bungalow; tis then the fair, skilled in the mystic language of flowers, sigh over the garland which contains the emblems of " their loves and cares," the church bells at eleven A. M., chant their pleasing song, when all are seen wending their way to church; at about half-past three or half-past seven (the usual dining hours in the East), the old officer, and his "dashing white sergeant," with three or four discontented su balterns, sit down to dinner, when justice is done to the Hodson's Pale Ale, and the well-fed capons, which act as capital substitutes for geese when they are not overplentiful: At dinner such a scene as that described by Fielding, viz. " Mrs. Water's attack upon the heart of Tom Jones" is not unlikely to take place; Christmas boxes are never or seldom presented in India, as the parents labour under the false idea that the presentation of a gift to a young lady carries two meanings along with it. On the last day of the year, a select company may be found assembled in the house of some favourite host to see in the new year, when the young ladies fall back asleep in the arm chairs, and while dormant, utter to the no small amazement of their mother and the com