The celebrity of Covent Garden as a depot for vegetable produce is of considerable antiquity; and it is but reasonable that such an improvement should be made, consistent with the increased and increasing wants of this overgrown metropolis, and the augmented supplies which are poured in from all quarters.  When this improvement is completed, it may lead to the finishing of the quadrangle.  The parish (in extent, not in feeling) is, perhaps, one of the most compact in London; but when its proximity to the theatres is considered, little surprise can reasonably be felt at the immorality of the district.  It may not be so easy a matter to mend the public morals as to build new markets; but the links of popular improvement are too closely connected to make the case hopeless.

It would be amusing to compare this emporium of fruits and vegetables in ancient and modern times.  At the first enclosure of Covent Garden, in 1635, the supply must have been very scanty.  Upon the authority of Hume, we learn that when Catherine, queen of Henry VIII., was in want of any salads, carrots, or other edible roots, &c. she was obliged to send a special messenger to Holland for them.  But the mention of water-cresses, kales, gooseberries, currants, &c., by old writers, appears to invalidate the pursy historian.  The garden must, nevertheless, have presented a very different appearance to that of our day.  Only let the gourmand take a walk through the avenues of the present Covent Garden—­from the imperial pine, to the emerald leaves sprinkled with powdered diamonds—­vulgo, savoys.  Then the luscious list of autumnal fruits, and the peppers, or capsicums, and tomatas, to tickle the appetite of the veriest epicure of east or western London—­not to mention the exotic fragrance of oranges, which come in just opportunely to fill up the chasm in the supply of British fruits.

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ANCIENT ROMAN FESTIVALS

December.

(For the Mirror.)

The feasts of Opalia were celebrated in honour of the goddess Ops; they were held on the 9th of December.  Saturn and Ops were husband and wife, and to them we owe the introduction of corn and fruits; for which reason the feast was not held till the harvest and fruit time were over.  The vows offered to this goddess were made sitting on the ground, to show that she was Earth, the mother of all things.

The Saturnalia were festivals in honour of Saturn, celebrated the 16th or 17th, or, according to others, the 18th of December.  They were instituted long before the foundation of Rome, in commemoration of the freedom and equality which prevailed on earth in the golden reign of Saturn.  Some, however, suppose that the Saturnalia were first observed at Rome in the reign of Tullus Hostilius, after a victory obtained over the Sabines; while others support, that