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204 THE BOOK OF CHRISTMAS. |
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Here's to the soldier who bled! To the sailor who bravely did fa'! 0! their fame shall remain, though their spirits are fled, On the wings o' the year that's awa' !
Here's to the friend we can trust, When the sorrows of adversity blaw; Who can join in our song, and be nearest our heart, Nor depart—like the year that's awa'!"
And now are we in the humor, this New-Year's morning, for keeping such vigils as they did in Illyria :—for " were we " too " not born under Taurus !" No advocates do we mean to be for those whose zeal in symposiack matters, like that of Bardolph, " burns in their noses:"—but occasions there are—and this is one—when we hold it lawful to sound the wassail-bowl to some considerable depth. Like honest Isaac Walton, we love to keep within the bounds of " such mirth as does not make friends ashamed to look on one another next morning;"—but we feel that we may venture to be a little intemperate, in the present instance,—and yet hold our heads up, even if we should chance to meet one of those gentry whom Burns presumes to be wise, because they " are sae grave." What says Innocentius ?—and he was a father of the church !—" Foecundi calices quern non fecere disertum ?" " Carry Master Silence to bed !" therefore,— for we are about to be talkative, and expect to be answered. No man need sit with us longer than he likes : but it is the opening of another year, and we must see more of it. We find much virtue in Sir Toby's excellent reasoning, that "not to be a-bed after midnight, is to be up betimes ;"—and have no sympathy for those who would insist to-day with the stolid Sir Andrew, that " to be up late is to be up late." " A false conclusion !" says Sir Toby ; and so say we. So fill the, glasses, once more, from the wassail-bowl,—and let us " rouse the night-owl in" another « catch!"
But, alas! it is later than we thought,—and the owl is gone to bed ; for we hear the cry of that other bird whom Herrick calls "the Bellman of the night:"—
" Hark! the cock crows, and yon bright star Tells us the day himself's not far : |
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