1308. On the 1st of January in this year, William Tell, the Swiss
patriot, associated himself on this day with a band of his countrymen,
against the tyranny of their oppressors. For upwards of three centuries
the opposition was carried on, and terminated by the treaty of
Westphalia in 1648, declaring the independence of Switzerland.
1651. On the 1st of January Charles II. was crowned at Scone king of the
Scots. Charles, when a child, was weak in the legs, and ordered to wear
_steel-boots_. Their weight so annoyed him that he pined till recreation
became labour. An old rocker took off the _steel-boots_, and concealed
them; promising the countess of Dorset, who was Charles’s governess,
that she would take any blame for the act on herself. Soon afterwards
the king, Charles I., coming into the nursery, and seeing his boy’s legs
without the boots, angrily demanded who had done it? “It was I, sir,”
said the rocker, “who had the honour, some thirty years since, to attend
on your highness, in _your_ infancy, when _you_ had the same infirmity
wherewith now the prince, your very own son is troubled; and then the
lady Cary, (afterwards countess of Monmouth) commanded _your
steel-boots_ to be taken off, who, blessed be God, since have gathered
strength, and arrived at a good stature.” Clare, chaplain to Charles
II., at the time the affair happened, related this anecdote to old
Fuller, who in 1660, contemplating “the restoration,” tells the story,
and quaintly exclaims, “the nation is too noble, when his majesty shall
return from foreign parts, to impose any other _steel-boots_ upon him,
than the observing the laws of the land, which are his own _stockings_,
that so with joy and comfort he may enter on what was his own
inheritance.” The nation forgot the “steel-boots,” and Charles forgot
the “stockings.”
1801. January 1. The Union of Great Britain with Ireland commenced
according to act of parliament, and the event was solemnized by the
hoisting of a new royal flag on the Tower of London, accompanied by the
firing of guns there and in St. James’s Park. On the 3d the king
received the great seal of Great Britain from the lord chancellor, and
causing it to be defaced, presented to him a new great seal for the
United Kingdom. On the same day, January 1st, 1801, Piazzi, the
astronomer at Palermo, discovered a new primary planet, making an
eleventh of that order: he called it Ceres, from the goddess of that
name, who was highly esteemed by the ancients of Sicily.
* * * * *
Usually at this period the rigour of cold is severely felt. The
indisposition of _lie-a-beds_ to face its severity is pleasantly
pictured by Mr. Leigh Hunt, in a paper in the Indicator. He imagines one
of those persons to express himself in these terms:
“On opening my eyes, the first thing that meets them is my own breath
rolling forth, as if in the open air, like smoke out of a
cottage-chimney. Think of this symptom. Then I turn my eyes sideways and
see the window all frozen over. Think of that. Then the servant comes
in. ‘It is very cold this morning, is it not?’--‘Very cold, sir.’--‘Very
cold indeed, isn’t it?’--‘Very cold indeed, sir.’--‘More than usually
so, isn’t it, even for this weather?’ (Here the servant’s wit and good
nature are put to a considerable test, and the inquirer lies on thorns
for the answer.) ‘Why, Sir..... I think it _is_.’ (Good creature! There
is not a better, or more truth-telling servant going.) ‘I must rise,
however--Get me some warm water.’--Here comes a fine interval between
the departure of the servant and the arrival of the hot water; during
which, of course, it is of ‘no use’ to get up. The hot water comes. ‘Is
it quite hot?’--‘Yes, sir.’--‘Perhaps too hot for shaving: I must wait a
little?’--‘No, sir; it will just do,’ (There is an over-nice propriety
sometimes, an officious zeal of virtue, a little troublesome.) ‘Oh--the
shirt--you must air my clean shirt:--linen gets very damp this
weather.’--‘Yes, sir.’ Here another delicious five minutes. A knock at
the door. ‘Oh, the shirt--very well. My stockings--I think the stockings
had better be aired too.’--‘Very well, sir.’--Here another interval. At
length every thing is ready, except myself. I now cannot help thinking a
good deal--who can?--upon the unnecessary and villainous custom of
shaving; it is a thing so unmanly (here I nestle closer)--so effeminate,
(here I recoil from an unlucky step into the colder part of the
bed.)--No wonder, that the queen of France took part with the rebels
against that degenerate king, her husband, who first affronted her
smooth visage with a face like her own. The emperor Julian never showed
the luxuriancy of his genius to better advantage than in reviving the
flowing beard. Look at cardinal Bembo’s picture--at Michael Angelo’s--at
Titian’s--at Shakspeare’s--at Fletcher’s--at Spenser’s--at Chaucer’s--at
Alfred’s--at Plato’s. I could name a great man for every tick of my
watch. Look at the Turks, a grave and otiose people--Think of Haroun Al
Raschid and Bed-ridden Hassan--Think of Wortley Montague, the worthy son
of his mother, a man above the prejudice of his time--Look at the
Persian gentlemen, whom one is ashamed of meeting about the suburbs,
their dress and appearance are so much finer than our own--Lastly, think
of the razor itself--how totally opposed to every sensation of bed--how
cold, how edgy, how hard! how utterly different from any thing like the
warm and circling amplitude, which
Sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses.
Add to this, benumbed fingers, which may help you to cut yourself, a
quivering body, a frozen towel, and an ewer full of ice; and he that
says there is nothing to oppose in all this, only shows, at any rate
that he has no merit in opposing it.”
[Illustration: ~Gymnastics for Youth.~]
This engraving represents simple methods by which, at this season
especially, the health of young persons may be maintained, and the
constitution invigorated. Two round parallel bars at two feet distance
from each other, on round standards three or four feet high, firmly
fixed in the ground, will afford boys the means of actively exerting
their limbs and muscles: and if the ends of a pole be let into opposite
walls or fastened to trees, the boys may be taught to climb single
ropes, and hold on while swinging by them. The engraving is placed
before the eyes of parents and teachers with the hope of directing their
attention to gymnastic exercises, as diversions for youth, and they are
referred to a practical treatise on the subject by Mr. Clias, that may
be safely used. His judicious reasoning must convince every reader of
their importance to the rising generation, and that it is within the
means of all classes of persons to let boys acquire a knowledge of the
feats represented in the plates to his work, for teaching which his
explanations are numerous and clear.
* * * * *
_An unseasonable occurrence_ in the cellar of the late sir Joseph Banks
may be acceptable in the mention, and excite particular sympathy in
persons who recreate with the juice of the vine: as a fact, it may tend
to elucidate the origin and nature of vegetable fungi, particularly of
that species termed mushroom. The worthy baronet had a cask of wine
rather too sweet for immediate use; he therefore directed that it should
be placed in a cellar, in order that the saccharine matter it contained
might be more perfectly decomposed by age. At the end of three years, he
directed his butler to ascertain the state of the wine, when, on
attempting to open the cellar door, he could not effect it, in
consequence of some powerful obstacle. The door was cut down, and the
cellar found to be completely filled with a firm fungous vegetable
production--so firm that it was necessary to use the axe for its
removal. This appeared to have grown from, or have been nourished by,
the decomposed particles of the wine: the cask was empty, and carried up
to the ceiling, where it was supported by the surface of the fungus.
* * * * *
At the close of this day he who can reflect with satisfaction on the
past, may anticipate with calm delight the entrance of the new year,
and lift his eyes to the living lustres of the firmament with grateful
feelings. They shine out their prismatic colours through the cold thin
air, keeping watch while man slumbers, or cheering him, who contemplates
their fires, to purposes of virtue. In this season
-------------- The night comes calmly forth,
Bringing sweet rest upon the wings of even:
The golden wain rolls round the silent north,
And earth is slumbering ’neath the smiles of heaven.