December.

  The yere by Decembre takelh his ende,
    And so dooth man at three-score and twelve,
  Nature with aege wyll hym on message sende
    Tho tyme is come that he must go hymselve.

Glossary.

1.  Beginneth. 3.  Loving. 3.  Might 4.  Sight. 5.  Waste or barren, applied to mind. 6.  Aught, anything. 7.  Then. 8.  Unwieldy. 9.  Sickly.

A few words at parting, or rather in closing our calendar.  Whilst we have endeavoured to attract by the little emblematic display of art at the head of each month, we have not neglected to direct the attention of our readers to “the good in every thing” which is scattered through each season of the year, by constantly recurring to the beneficence of the OMNIPOTENT BEING—­thus enabling them to look

  “Through Nature up to Nature’s God.”

Her study will moderate our joys and griefs, and enable us to carry the principle of “good in every thing” into every relation of social life.  Let us learn to cherish in our remembrance that (in the language of the sublime Sterne) “God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb;” and that the storms of the world, like those of nature, will at length clear off, and open to us a prospect unclouded and eternal.

* * * * *

THE SKETCH-BOOK.

No.  LII.

* * * * *

THE UNKNOWN REGION.

[For the following Gulliverian sketch we are indebted to a lively volume of whim, humour, and pleasant sentiment, entitled Snatches from Oblivion:  the work likewise contains some springy versification.—­Ed.]

An honourable member of a certain enlightened assembly, who had greatly distinguished himself by his topographical ingenuity and taste for good society, had, in the course of some statistical researches, discovered a part of the globe hitherto unknown, called by the natives Russell Square, and which was considered would be an important acquisition to the English dominions.  A council of state was called upon this occasion, who, after six successive meetings, determined upon sending out an expedition, at the head of which was the original discoverer, to reconnoitre, and, if eligible, to take possession of the terra incognita in the name and behalf of the British crown.  Unfortunately I was myself at that time engaged in oddity-hunting in another part of the world, and was consequently unable to join the adventurous party, but have learned the whole particulars from the mouth of an intimate friend, who formed a portion of it, and who obliged me with the tie of a cravat of one of the extraordinary inhabitants of the soil.  His relation is to the following effect:—­

“The conditions of our enterprise having been finally arranged, and our instructions delivered, sealed by the Lords of the Admiralty, after a few months’ preparation we were enabled to commence our adventurous career.  Prayers having been put up for our safe return, our, wills having been made, and, in case of our never returning from