JANUARY.

Those "Cynthias of a minute," the Months, fleet past us so swiftly, that

though we never mistake them while they are present with us, yet the

moment any one of them is gone by, we begin to blend the recollection of

its features with those of the one which preceded it, or that which has

taken its place, and thus confuse them together till we know not "which

is which." And then, to mend the matter, when the whole of them have

danced their graceful round, hand in hand, before us, not being able to

think of either separately, we unite them all together in our

imagination, and call them the Past Year; as we gather flowers into a

bunch, and call them a bouquet.

Now this should not be. Each one of the sweet sisterhood has features

sufficiently marked and distinct to entitle her to a place and a name;

and if we mistake these features, and attribute those of any one to any

other, it is because we look at them with a cold and uninterested, and

therefore an inobservant regard. The lover of Julie could trace fifty

minute particulars which were wanting in the portrait of his mistress;

though to any one else it would have appeared a likeness: for, to common

observers, "a likeness" means merely a something which is not so

absolutely _un_like but what it is capable of calling up the idea of the

original, to those who are intimately acquainted with it.

Now, I have been for a long while past accustomed to feel towards the

common portraits of the Months, of which so many are extant, what St.

Preux did towards that of his mistress: all I could ever discover in

them was the particulars in which they were _not_ like. Still I had

never ventured to ask the favour of either of them to sit to me for her

picture; having seen that it was the very nature of them to be for ever

changing, and that, therefore, to attempt to _fix_ them, would be to

trace the outline of a sound, or give the colour of a perfume.

At length, however, my unwearied attendance on them, in their yearly

passage past me, and the assiduous court that I have always paid to each

and all of their charms, has met with its reward: for there is this

especial difference between them and all other mistresses whatever,

that, so far from being jealous of each other, their sole ground of

complaint against their lovers is, that they do not pay equal devotion

to each in her turn; the blooming MAY and the blushing JUNE disdain the

vows of those votaries who have not previously wept at the feet of the

weeping APRIL, or sighed in unison with the sad breath of MARCH. And it

is the same with all the rest. They present a sweet emblem of the

_ideal_ of a happy and united human family; to each member of which the

best proof you can offer that you are worthy of _her_ love, is, that you

have gained that of her sisters; and to whom the best evidence you can

give of being able to love either worthily, is, that you love all. This,

I say, has been the kind of court that I have paid to the Months--loving

each in all, and all in each. And my reward (in addition to that of the

love itself--which is a "virtue," and therefore "its own reward") has

been that each has condescended to watch over and instruct me, while I

wrote down the particulars of her brief but immortal life--immortal,

because ever renewed, and bearing the seeds of its renewal within

itself.

These instructions, however, were accompanied by certain conditions,

without complying with which I am not permitted to make the results

available to any one but myself. For my own private satisfaction I have

liberty to personify the objects of my admiration under any form I

please; but if I speak of them to others, they insist on being treated

merely as portions or periods of their beautiful parent the YEAR, as

_she_ is a portion of TIME, the great parent of all things; and that the

facts and events I may have to refer to, shall not be essentially

connected with _them_, but merely be considered as taking place during

the period of their sojourn on the earth respectively.

I confess that this condition seems to savour a little of the

fastidious, not to say the affected. And, what is still more certain, it

cuts me off from a most fertile source of the poetical and the

picturesque. I will frankly add, however, that I am not without my

suspicions that this latter may have been the very reason why this

condition was imposed upon me; for I am by no means certain that, if I

had been left to myself, I should not have substituted cold abstractions

and unintelligible fictions (or what would have seemed such to others),

in the place of that simple _information_ which it is my chief object to

convey.

Laying aside, then, if I can, all ornamental figures of speech, I shall

proceed to place before the reader, in plain prose, the principal events

which happen, in the two worlds of Nature and of Art, during the life

and reign of each month; beginning with the nominal beginning of the

dynasty, and continuing to present, on the birthday of each member of

it, a record of the beauties which she brings in her train, and the good

deeds which she either inspires or performs.

Hail! then, hail to thee, JANUARY!--all hail! cold and wintry as thou

art, if it be but in virtue of thy first day. THE DAY, as the French

call it, par excellence; "Le jour de l'an." Come about me, all ye little

schoolboys, that have escaped from the unnatural thraldom of your

taskwork--come crowding about me, with your untamed hearts shouting in

your unmodulated voices, and your happy spirits dancing an untaught

measure in your eyes! Come, and help me to speak the praises of New

Year's Day!--_your_ day--one of the three which have, of late, become

yours almost exclusively, and which have bettered you, and been bettered

themselves, by the change. Christmas-day, which _was_; New-year's-day,

which _is_; and Twelfth-day, which _is to be_; let us compel them all

three into our presence--with a whisk of our imaginative wand convert

them into one, as the conjurer does his three glittering balls--and then

enjoy them all together,--with their dressings, and coachings, and

visitings, and greetings, and gifts, and "many happy returns"--with their

plum-puddings, and mince-pies, and twelfth cakes, and neguses--with their

forfeits, and fortune-tellings, and blind-man's-buffs, and snap-dragons,

and sittings up to supper--with their pantomimes, and panoramas, and new

penknives, and pastrycooks' shops--in short, with their endless round of

ever new nothings, the absence of a relish for which is but ill supplied,

in after life, by that feverish hungering and thirsting after excitement,

which usurp without filling its place. Oh! that I might enjoy those

nothings once again in fact, as I can in fancy! But I fear the wish is

worse than an idle one; for it not only may not be, but it ought not to

be. "We cannot have our cake and eat it too," as the vulgar somewhat

vulgarly, but not the less shrewdly, express it. And this is as it should

be; for if we could, it would neither be worth the eating nor the having.

If the reader complains that this is not the sober style which I just

now promised to maintain, I cannot help it. Besides, it was my subject

that spoke then, not myself; and it spoke to those who are too happy to

be wise, and to whom, therefore, if it were to speak wisely, it might as

well not speak at all. Let them alone for awhile, and they will grow too

wise to be happy; and then they may be disposed and at leisure to listen

to reason.

In sober sadness, then, if the reader so wills it, and after the

approved manner of modern moral discourses, the subject before us may be

regarded under three distinct points of view; namely, January in

London--January in the country--and January in general. And first, of

the first.

Now--but before I proceed further, let me bespeak the reader's

indulgence at least, if not his favour, towards this everlasting

monosyllable, "Now," to which my betters have, from time to time, been

so much indebted, and on which I shall be compelled to place so much

dependence in this my present undertaking. It is the pass word, the

"open sesame," that must remove from before me all lets and impediments;

it is the charm that will alternately put to silence my imagination when

it may be disposed to infringe on the office of my memory, and awaken my

memory when it is inclined to sleep; in fact, it is a monosyllable of

infinite avail, and for which, on this as on many other occasions, no

substitute can be found in our own or any other language; and if I

approve, above all other proverbs, that which says, "There's nothing

like the time present," it is partly because "the time present" is but a

periphrasis for NOW!

Now, then, the cloudy canopy of sea-coal smoke that hangs over London,

and crowns her queen of capitals, floats thick and threefold; for fires

and feastings are rife, and every body is either "out" or "at home,"

every night.

Now schoolboys don't know what to do with themselves till dinner-time;

for the good old days of frost and snow, and fairs on the Thames, and

furred gloves, and skaiting on the canals, and sliding on the kennels,

are gone by; and for any thing in the shape of winter one might as well

live in Italy at once!

Now, on the evening of Twelfth-day, mischievous maid-servants pin

elderly people together at the windows of pastry-cooks' shops, thinking

them "weeds that have no business there."

Now, if a frosty day or two does happen to pay us a flying visit, on its

way home to the North Pole, how the little boys make slides on the

pathways, for lack of ponds, and, it may be, trip up an occasional

housekeeper just as he steps out of his own door; who forthwith vows

vengeance, in the shape of ashes, on all the slides in his

neighbourhood; not, doubtless, out of vexation at his own mishap, and

revenge against the petty perpetrators of it, but purely to avert the

like from others!

Now, Bond Street begins to be conscious of carriages; two or three

people are occasionally seen wandering through the Western Bazaar; and

the Soho Ditto is so thronged, that Mr. Trotter begins to think of

issuing another decree against the inroads of single gentlemen.

Now, linen drapers begin to "sell off" their stock at "fifty per cent.

under prime cost," and continue so doing all the rest of the year; every

article of which will be found, on inspection, to be of "the last new

pattern," and to have been "only had in that morning!"

Now, oranges are eaten in the dress-circle of the great theatres, and

inquiries are propounded there, whether "that gentleman in black"

(meaning Hamlet) "is Harlequin?" And laughs, and "La! Mammas!" resound

thence to the remotest corners of the house; and "the gods" make merry

during the play, in order that they may be at leisure to listen to the

pantomime; and Mr. Farley is consequently in his glory, and Mr. Grimaldi

is a great man; as, indeed, when is he not?

Now, newspapers teem with twice-ten-times-told tales of haunted houses,

and great sea-snakes, and mermaids; and a murder is worth a Jew's eye to

them; for "the House does not meet for the despatch of business till

the fifth of February." And great and grievous are the lamentations that

are heard in the said newspapers, over the lateness of the London

season, and its detrimental effects on the interests of the metropolis;

but they forget to add--"erratum--for _metropolis_, read _newspapers_."

Now, Moore's Almanack holds "sole sovereign sway and mastery" among the

readers of that class of literature; for there has not yet been time to

nullify any of its predictions; not even that which says, "we may expect

some frost and snow about this period."

Finally, now periodical works put on their best attire; the old ones

expressing their determination to become new, and the new ones to become

old; and each makes a point of putting forth the first of some pleasant

series of essays (such as this, for example!), which cannot fail to fix

the most fugitive of readers, and make him her own for another twelve

months at least.

Let us now repair to the country. "The country in January" has but a

dreary sound, to those who go into "the country" only that they may not

be seen "in town." But to those who seek the country for the same reason

that they seek London, namely, for the good that is to be found there,

the one has at least as many attractions as the other, at any given

period of the year. Let me add, however, that if there _is_ a particular

period when the country puts forth fewer of her attractions than at any

other, it is this; probably to try who are her real lovers, and who are

only false flatterers, and to treat them accordingly. And yet--

Now, the trees, denuded of their gay attire, spread forth their thousand

branches against the gray sky, and present as endless a variety of form

and feature for study and observation, as they did when dressed in all

the flaunting fashions of midsummer. Now, too, their voices are silent,

and their forms are motionless, even when the wind is among them; so

that the low plaintive piping of the robin-redbreast can be heard, and

his hiding-place detected by the sound of his slim feet alighting on the

fallen leaves. Or now, grown bolder as the skies become more inclement,

he flits before you from twig to twig silently, like a winged thought;

or like the brown and crimson leaf of a cherry-tree, blown about by the

wind; or perches himself by your side, and looks sidelong in your face,

pertly, and yet imploringly,--as much as to say, "though I do need your

aid just now, and would condescend to accept a crum from your hand, yet

I'm still your betters, for I'm still a bird."

Now, one of the most beautiful sights on which the eye can open

occasionally presents itself: we saw the shades of evening fall upon a

waste expanse of brown earth, shorn hedge-rows, bare branches, and miry

roads, interspersed here and there with a patch of dull melancholy

green. But when we are awakened by the late dawning of the morning, and

think to look forth upon the same, what a bright pomp greets us! What a

white pageantry! It is as if the fleecy clouds that float about the sun

at midsummer had descended upon the earth, and clothed it in their

beauty! Every object we look upon is strange and yet familiar to

us--"another, yet the same!" And the whole affects us like a vision of

the night, which we are half conscious _is_ a vision: we know that it is

_there_, and yet we know not how long it may remain there, since a

motion may change it, or a breath melt it away. And what a mysterious

stillness reigns over all! A white silence! Even the "clouted shoon" of

the early peasant is not heard; and the robin, as he hops from twig to

twig with undecided wing, and shakes down a feathery shower as he goes,

hushes his low whistle in wonder at the unaccustomed scene!

Now, the labour of the husbandman is, for once in the year, at a stand;

and he haunts the alehouse fire, or lolls listlessly over the half-door

of the village smithy, and watches the progress of the labour which he

unconsciously envies; tasting for once in his life (without knowing it)

the bitterness of that _ennui_ which he begrudges to his betters.

Now, melancholy-looking men wander "by twos and threes" through

market-towns, with their faces as blue as the aprons that are twisted

round their waists; their ineffectual rakes resting on their shoulders,

and a withered cabbage hoisted upon a pole; and sing out their doleful

petition of "Pray remember the poor gardeners, who can get no work!"

Now, the passengers outside the Cheltenham night-coach look wistfully at

the Witney blanket-mills as they pass, and meditate on the merits of a

warm bed.

Now, people of fashion, who cannot think of coming to their homes in

town so early in the season, and will not think of remaining at their

homes in the country so late, seek out spots on the seashore which have

the merit of being neither town _nor_ country, and practise patience

there (as Timon of Athens did), en attendant the London winter, which is

ordered to commence about the first week in spring, and end at

midsummer!

But we are forgetting the garden all this while; which must not be; for

Nature does not. Though the gardener can find little to do in it, _she_

is ever at work there, and ever with a wise hand, and graceful as wise.

The wintry winds of December having shaken down the last lingering

leaves from the trees, the final labour of the gardener was employed in

making all trim and clean; in turning up the dark earth, to give it air;

pruning off the superfluous produce of summer; and gathering away the

worn-out attire that the perennial flowers leave behind them, when they

sink into the earth to seek their winter home, as Harlequin and

Columbine, in the pantomimes, sometimes slip down through a trapdoor,

and cheat their silly pursuers by leaving their vacant dresses standing

erect behind them.

All being left trim and orderly for the coming on of the new year. Now

(to resume our friendly monosyllable) all the processes of nature for

the renewal of her favoured race, the flowers, may be more aptly

observed than at any other period. Still, therefore, however desolate a

scene the garden may present to the _general_ gaze, a particular

examination of it is full of interest, and interest that is not the less

valuable for its depending chiefly on the imagination.

Now, the bloom-buds of the fruit trees, which the late leaves of autumn

had concealed from the view, stand confessed, upon the otherwise bare

branches, and, dressed in their patent wind-and-water-proof coats, brave

the utmost severity of the season,--their hard unpromising outsides,

compared with the forms of beauty which they contain, reminding us of

their friends the butterflies when in the chrysalis state.

Now, the perennials, having slipped off their summer robes, and retired

to their subterranean sleeping-rooms, just permit the tops of their

naked heads to peep above the ground, to warn the labourer from

disturbing their annual repose.

Now, the smooth-leaved and tender-stemmed Rose of China hangs its pale,

scentless, artificial-looking flowers upon the cheek of Winter;

reminding us of the last faint bloom upon the face of a fading beauty,

or the hectic of disease on that of a dying one; and a few

chrysanthemums still linger, the wreck of the past year,--their various

coloured stars looking like faded imitations of the gay, glaring

China-aster.

Now, too,--first evidences of the revivifying principle of the new-born

year--for all that we have hitherto noticed are but lingering remnants

of the old--Now, the golden and blue crocuses peep up their pointed

coronals from amidst their guarding palisades of green and gray leaves,

that they may be ready to come forth at the call of the first February

sun that looks warmly upon them; and perchance one here and there,

bolder than the rest, has started fairly out of the earth already, and

half opened her trim form, pretending to have mistaken the true time; as

a forward school-miss will occasionally be seen coquetting with a smart

cornet, before she has been regularly produced,--as if she did not know

that there was "any harm in it."

We are now to consider the pretensions of January in general.

When the palm of merit is to be awarded among the Months, it is usual to

assign it to May by acclamation. But if the claim depends on the sum of

delight which each witnesses or brings with her, I doubt if January

should not bear the bell from her more blooming sister, if it were only

in virtue of her share in the aforenamed festivities of the Christmas

Holidays. And then, what a happy influence does she not exercise on all

the rest of the Year, by the family meetings she brings about, and by

the kindling and renewing of the social affections that grow out of, and

are chiefly dependent on these. And what sweet remembrances and

associations does she not scatter before her, through all the time to

come, by her gifts--the "new year's gifts!" _Christmas-boxes_ (as they

are called) are but sordid boons in comparison of these; they are mere

money paid for mere services rendered or expected; wages for work done

and performed; barterings of value for value; offerings of the pocket to

the pocket. But new year's gifts are offerings of the affections to the

affections--of the heart to the heart. The value of the first depends

purely on themselves; and the gratitude (such as it is) which they call

forth, is measured by the gross amount of that value. But the others owe

their value to the wishes and intentions of the giver; and the

gratitude _they_ call forth springs from the affections of the receiver.

And then, who can see a New Year open upon him, without being better for

the prospect--without making sundry wise reflections (for _any_

reflections on this subject _must_ be comparatively wise ones) on the

step he is about to take towards the goal of his being? Every first of

January that we arrive at, is an imaginary mile-stone on the turnpike

track of human life; at once a resting-place for thought and meditation,

and a starting point for fresh exertion in the performance of our

journey. The man who does not at least _propose to himself_ to be better

_this_ year than he was last, must be either very good or very bad

indeed! And only to _propose_ to be better, is something; if nothing

else it is an acknowledgment of our _need_ to be so,--which is the first

step towards amendment. But in fact, to propose to oneself to do well,

is in some sort to _do_ well, positively; for there is no such thing as

a stationary point in human endeavours; he who is not worse to-day than

he was yesterday, is better; and he who is not better, is worse.

The very name of January, from Janus, two-faced, "looking before and

after," indicates the reflective propensities which she encourages, and

which when duly exercised cannot fail to lead to good.

And then January is the youngest of the yearly brood, and therefore

_prima facie_ the best; for I protest most strenuously against the

comparative age which Chaucer (I think) has assigned to this month by

implication, when he compares an old husband and a young wife to

"January and June." These poets will sacrifice any thing to

alliteration, even abstract truth. I am sorry to say this of Chaucer,

whose poetry is more of "a true thing" than that of any other, always

excepting Mr. Crabbe's, which is too much of a true thing. And nobody

knew better than Chaucer the respective merits of the Months, and the

peculiar qualities and characteristics which appertain to each. But, I

repeat, alliteration is the Scylla and Charybdis united of all who

embark on the perilous ocean of poetry; and that Chaucer himself chose

occasionally to "listen to the voice of the charmer, charmed she never

so _un_wisely," the above example affords sufficient proof. I am afraid

poets themselves are too self-opiniated people to make it worth while

for me to warn _them_ on this point; but I hereby pray all prose

writers pertinaciously to avoid so pernicious a practice. This, however,

by the by.

I need scarcely accumulate other arguments and examples to show that my

favourite January deserves to rank first among the Months in merit, as

she does in place. But lest doubters should still remain, I will add,

ask the makers-out of annual accounts whether any month can compare with

January, since then they may begin to _hope_ for a settlement, and may

even in some cases venture to _ask_ for it; which latter is a comfort

that has been denied them during all the rest of the year; besides its

being a remote step towards the said settlement. And on the other hand,

ask the contractors of annual accounts whether January is not the best

of all possible months, since then they may begin to _order_ afresh,

with the prospect of a whole year's impunity. The answers to these two

questions must of course decide the point, since the two classes of

persons to whom they are addressed include the whole adult(erated)

population of these commercial realms.