heir branching jets, in air,
And all their sluices sealed. All, all is light;
Light without shade. But all shall pass away
With the next sun. From numberless vast trunks,
Loosened, the crashing ice shall make a sound
Like the far roar of rivers, and the eve
Shall close o'er the brown woods as it was wont."

Winter, itself, has never been more happily impersonated than by
dear old Spenser. We meant to close with his portrait of Winter,
but, on second thoughts, we give, as more seasonable, his
description of January. The fourth line can hardly fail to
remind the reader of the second line of Shakspeare's song, and
to suggest the query--whether Shakspeare borrowed from Spenser,
Spenser from Shakspeare, or both from Nature?

"Then came old January, wrapped well
In many weeds to keep the cold away;
Yet did he quake and quiver like to quell,
And blow his nayles to warme them if he may;
For they were numbed with holding all the day
An hatchet keene, with which he felled wood
And from the trees did lop the needlesse spray:
Upon an huge great earth-pot steane he stood,
From whose wide mouth there flowed forth the Romane floud."

* * * * *

As long as you are engaged in the world, you must comply with its
maxims; because nothing is more unprofitable than the wisdom of
those persons who set up for reformers of the age. 'Tis a part
a man can not act long, without offending his friends, and
rendering himself ridiculous.--_St. Gosemond_.

_THE PAVILIONS ON THE LAKE._

FROM THE FRENCH OF THEOPHILE GAUTIER.

In the province of Canton, several miles from the city, there
once lived two rich Chinese merchants, retired from business. One
of them was named Tou, the other Kouan. Both were possessed
of great riches, and were persons of much consequence in the
community.

Tou and Kouan were distant relatives, and from early youth had
lived and worked side by side. Bound by ties of great affection,
they had built their homes near together, and every evening they
met with a few select friends to pass the hours in delightful
intercourse. Both possessed of much talent, they vied with each
other in the production of exquisite Chinese handiwork, and spent
the evenings in tracing poetry and fancy designs on rice-paper
as they drank each other's success in tiny glasses of delicate
cordial. But their characters, apparently so harmonious, as time
went on grew more and mo