and a merciful dispensation it is that the alphabet should admit of no more. But, to return from this digression: 1825 is gone" ad plures," which I shall take the liberty of translating, "to the printers." But thank Heaven, we are in no want of a new year to succeed it ;-a happy new year may it prove to us all! Do not, however, be alarmed, my good Sir, this is no plot to entrap you into reading a monody to the memory of the deceased, nor to draw down upon you a common-place morality of the world's vanity and flight of time. If your own growing aches and asthmas, your stiffening joints and relaxing sinews do not inform you that you are not quite as young as in the days of good King George the Third, I scorn to be the person to put you in mind of the circumstance. Let those regret the past, who never anticipate the future: for my part, I am too much in the habit of wishing that "this time were come," and "that time were over," not to be ashamed of reproaching "the creeping and inaudible foot" of the knight of the hour-glass, with stealing a march upon me. No, no, I should as soon think of lingering, like our good neighbours the Irish, over the chronicles of Eri, or regretting the glorious memory of Bryan Borohoime and his green flag and his golden harp, as cast one sigh of sorrow after the worthless runaway 1825. What indeed has 1825 done to be recalled with any expression of regret? What has liberty, what has reason gained by its efforts? Is it because the Blacks of Hayti have bought their freedom, after having conquered it, or because the Brasilians have negotiated their emancipation from the mother country, that we are to veil our bonnets to 1825? Or is 1825 to be lauded for the chivalry of military marquesses, or piety of royal dukes, in echo of the hoarse croakings of the enemies to liberty of conscience? Ask the Spaniards what is their opinion of 1825, or the Greeks, or the Italians; or ask the poor down-trodden, priest-ridden French what they think of Frassynous and 1825? I fancy they will all be in the same story; so no more of 1825 for me. "Forward" is the word: let us see what is to be done" in the coming on of time;" and so, "all hail" 1826. With the blessing of Providence we will, my good readers, have another jogtrot together through the ensuing twelve months of the New Monthly, as we have had many a good one through the preceding volumes; and I modestly hope as much to your satisfaction as my own. To this end, my first care shall be directed to the selection of topics, so as to avoid touching upon "the raw" of your very tender consciences, or treading upon the corns of an inveterate prejudice: for, truth to tell, the readers of this generation are somewhat delicate in this matter; and are much too apt to start off and away from any opinion that is by half a comma too flat or too sharp for the concert-pitch of established belief. A rope-dancer is not obliged to poise his pole with more assiduous attention to avoid a fall, than the editor of a journal is to weigh his matter by the standard of his readers' notions, if he means to keep up his sale. The Quarterly Review is not so hard on a republican traveller in America, nor Southey so severe on a catholic or a dissenter, as the public is on a journalist who presumes to be wiser or better than the community he addresses. This, too, is the more severe, because (under favour be it spoken) the said public does not at all times seem perfectly aware of what it thinks it is thinking upon certain subjects; and is very apt to run down the

identical opinions which, a few months back, it applauded to the very echo. Not that this is altogether without its convenience: for as there can be no progression without change, so it may be hoped that in these frequent variations of sentiment, folks may sometimes stumble on the truth; and that so Champfort's cynical and sweeping aphorism against all popular doctrines, may sometimes meet with an exception. Besides, if the public should at last definitively make up its mind to the true and becoming, and should continue in that happy state of determination— were it only for a twelve-month-it would very materially cramp the genius of essayists, and make a sensible diminution from the stock of the "innocent amusement of nations." On these and some other accounts I am content to take things as I find them; and in the exercise of a ticklish discretion, to set off the gratification of vanity in success against the discomfort of an occasional failure; reserving to myself, however, the right of redeeming the hazardous opinion of to-day by a double dose of fashionable cant to-morrow, after the most approved models of the see-saw philosophy. All I ask of an admiring public is just so much consistency as will serve me to steer by, and will save my dear countrymen from Falstaff's reproach of being "neither fish nor flesh," so "that no man knows where to have them." At the outset of this paper I had some thoughts of making the matter intelligible to the reader, by drawing up a short abstract of his more recent hallucinations, somewhat as the man in the Tatler, who drew together a company of cursers and swearers, wrote down their conversation to demonstrate the jargon of idle expletives with which they interwove their dialogue; and such a “catalogue raisonnée" (if the term be not a bull) would, I fancy, surprise us not a little. But upon second thoughts, this does not seem quite fair usage of a very liberal customer and patron. man, indeed, could bear thus to have

All his thoughts observed,

Set in a note-book, learned and conned by rote,

To cast into his teeth.

What

However, if any one be curious in this particular, let him read a file of the Times newspaper for the last ten years, and he will have a tolerable abstract of popular opinions during that period. But there is a point of much more importance to us, and that is the present, the actual now, in which we live and write and have our being. The public for the time being are, by virtue of office, always right; and it is with them, and not with their predecessors, that we journalists have to do (scribere enim est agere). It may therefore be worth while at this commencement of a new year for us to balance accounts with our readers, and, in the trader's phrase, to "take stock;" which is, in plain English, to make an inventory of the opinions that may be employed in our commerce with the public for the next twelve months, or at least till a new ukase of the empire shall alter the existing fashions in the national modes of thought. Indeed I have often wondered that the "leading critical periodicals," as they are called, have not substituted such a catalogue of statutable opinions, in the place of their very useless list of new publications. Like the Emperor of Austria's catechism, it would supersede whole tomes of ethics and political philosophy. Among party writers, whose motto is "Nulle n'aura d'esprit, hors nous et nos amis," the labours of constructing such a catalogue would not be

great; but for us journalists of the higher order, who do not "give up to a party what was meant for mankind," and whose grasp extends to nothing less than the omne scibile," the task is by no means of such easy execution. We who count upon readers of all classes and denominations, whose dealings lie with the public in the uttermost latitude of the term, and who do not cater for the exclusive tastes of any one faction, have not only a wider range of opinion to traverse, but a much nicer discretion to exercise, in avoiding offence to any. The editor of an orthodox review has nothing to do but to hunt down " religions without churches and churches without religion," and he is sure of his market. Your evangelical writer has only to deal damnation with an even hand on all sides;- "who peppers the highest is surest to please." The path of the John Bull and the Age, is still narrower; and, once entered, it is impossible to lose the track. But the writer who addresses all readers, must consult all tastes. He must not be too whiggish for his Tory customers, nor too toryish for his Whigs. He must be political, without being factious; and (harder still) he must be religious, without being sectarian. There are hundreds of subjects of which he must avoid all mention, and thousands over which he must pass. Now this is harder work in England, than anywhere else. On the Continent, there are but two parties; and men must at once make up their mind between them: but England is the land of corporate bodies, of aggregate masses, none of which can be offended with impunity, by him who has in turn to deal with all. Therefore once again I say, good readers, gentle readers, most courteous readers of the New Monthly, let us be agreed together, and let us determine what shall be deemed orthodox, good taste, and good judgment; and what shall be bad taste, heterodox and a noli me tangere for the current year; or if that be too much, at least for the current volume.

As far as any thing can be predicated of the present, by the most immediate past, I shall be inclined to say that it is loyal, and proper, and promotive of social order to affect a certain tone of liberality or rather of good fellowship in matters of politics; to give the ministers of the day credit for what they do, without casting too violently into their teeth reproaches for what they have left undone. It is fashionable for tories to be liberal in political economy, and for whigs to make large allowances for ministerial corruption. It is good taste to pity the Catholics, even though you vote against them; and a laugh may be indulged against Lord Eldon, without forfeiting your place in good company. Personality and invective are more sparingly employed, and are less generally admired than last year. "No popery," as some people imagine, is growing again into favour, and it certainly is possible for the advocates of Catholic emancipation to give it a helping hand, by pushing forward ultramontane pretensions, and advancing jesuitical doctrines; but if our judgment be not greatly deceived, the movement is, for the present, confined to a little knot of intriguing parsons, and self-important corporators; so that we shall not risk the loss of a single reader by our strenuous support of religious liberty. In matters of religion, the war against Sunday apple-stalls has still a certain general vogue, but the Bishop of Peterborough's additions to the thirty-nine articles are so far thought apocryphal, that it is not deemed absolute blasphemy to deny them. The tide of popularity has ceased

to set strongly towards Hatton-garden; and strange to say, men seek for religion and morality in Broad-street, St. Giles. Mr. Martin's efforts to inoculate the lower classes with humanity are in general very commendable; but we have not heard that a single country squire has been sent to the tread-mill, for making game of God's creatures. Apropos of the tread-mill; that engine is still popularly believed to be a mild, efficacious, and equal instrument of punishment, and an admirable step to a gradual reformation of manners. Having long beards on a Sunday morning is decidedly "a barberous deed;" but the taste is not the less universally in favour of pastry cooks' shops on that day; and Gunter is not a bit the more likely to be hot in the next world, for cooling the throats of his Sunday customers with pineapple ice in this. Tithe is beyond all question as good property as an estate, if not absolutely of divine right; but Archbishop Magee's opinions will not bear examination. The major part of the country villages are not in a state of absolute religious darkness; but the wild Irish ought to be forced to read the bible without note or comment, whether they can or no. As for Mechanics' Institutions, I am afraid you have not quite made up your mind, my readers, whether they are, or are not, a conspiracy against social order; but I don't think you will chip off a man's nose for advocating them, provided it be moderately and with good discretion. Mr. Kean may now be allowed to act in peace; more especially as the Americans have taken to quarrelling with his morality. Miss Foote has a very pretty ancle. Washington Irvine is on a visit with his namesake. Cobbett is on the road to Coventry, or to Rome, "such fellows" (as Cowslip says) "will find room any where." Sir Harcourt Lees will not be made a Protestant bishop, nor Mr. O'Connell, Chief Justice of the King's Bench. The corn laws are not at all less popular with country squires than they were last year: I don't know how matters may be in Glasgow and Manchester. Forging bank-notes is a very capital offence; and so too is stealing apples from an orchard. How is our mother Eve to be eradicated from fourth-form boys? why, by fine and imprisonment. Fine talking this; but it is law not the less; "ay marry, Crowner's quest law."There are positively no abuses whatever in the Court of Chancery. Paris has by many degrees fewer attractions than formerly, and a residence abroad is neither so respectable nor so economical as it was thought to be three or four years ago. The perfection of dramatic composition is a good pantomime, with horses and real water. Tragedy is a bore, and comedy not to be written. In music, Allah, illah, allah, there is no god but Rossini, and Pasta is his prophet. The marriage of Unitarians in the name of the Holy Trinity is no mockery of sacred things, no violation of the liberty of conscience, and tends manifestly and directly to the support of church and state, and to promoting "glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will towards men:" esto perpèLua! Walter Scott is the great unknown, Walter Scott is not the great unknown: it is beginning to pass current that the great unknown isa steam-engine. Country bank notes are not quite as good as sovereigns, and joint-stock companies are excellent sinking-funds for a floating capital. The Greeks don't care two straws for liberty, and the Turks are tolerably good Christians. "Charley is my darling," is the darling of all good judges of music; "We are all noddin," does not

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set people to sleep; and "Cherry ripe" is not the least upon the turn. There exists in the city of London a corporate body called the Royal Society of Literature, though, like Russell-square, after Hook's borrowed joke, it is not very generally known. It produces first-rate geniuses, and is of infinite utility to social order. It is not an engine of state quackery. We deem it still fashionable to talk of "the Arts" in England; and portrait of a gentleman" passes current as synonymous for a picture. London has changed its mind, and is no longer going to York, having lately advanced two stages on the Bath road. Nothing East of the spot" where formerly stood Hyde Park turnpike-gate," to be longer construed as in London. Has the Opera House a wall to stand upon? amplius inquirendum. Mr. T. Moore is gone to Edinburgh to consult Sir W. Scott on his proposed Life of Lord Byron; and Sir W. will probably avail himself of the opportunity of consulting Mr. T. M. on his proposed Life of Napoleon. Mr. Canning is gone to consult the Emperor Alexander on his proposed bill for emancipating the Catholics. And Messrs. Campbell and Brougham have written to the College of the Propaganda on the foundation of the London University. Der Freischutz has shot his seventh bullet. Cambridge and Oxford are the only places of gentlemanly education, and Greek metres and nonsense verses often ably contribute to a knowledge of affairs and the formation of statesmen. All the world are agreed on the propriety of one half of the proposed plans for improving the metropolis-that which relates to pulling down the old houses. Roman cement is more durable and sightly than stone; and of all the orders of architecture, Nash's disorder is the most admirable—"most admired disorder”-Shakspeare. The Roman Catholic religion is the best possible for the Continent, and the worst for Irishmen: yet it is better that the Irish should be Papists than Unitarians: ergo, Unitarians may sit in Parliament, and Catholics must be excluded. Some slight doubts are allowable on the policy of checking infidelity by persecution. A man who has spent his whole days and nights over law-books and briefs, is the best possible judge of life and philosophy; and a seat on the bench is an indisputable title to an intuitive knowledge of political economy, and the nature of things-vide Judge Best v. Harriet Wilson's printer. The people of England are the wisest and best of men; the most thinking and the most religious people in the world. The natives of the Continent are a set of fools, knaves, and atheists. London porter is as wholesome as it is palatable. The lord mayor is the greatest potentate in Europe. Lord Amherst is the greatest governor-general India ever saw. John Bull is the pink of courtesy and profundity; and the Scotch boroughs are models of popular election.

These, I take it, are the most popular and prevalent opinions going. As many as are of this opinion will please to say "Aye;" those of a contrary opinion will say "No ;" and the Ayes have it. You may therefore conclude, gentle reader, that till further notice, these doctrines shall be cherished as orthodox and proper, and that nothing contrary to them shall knowingly find a place in any article which may hereafter appear in the New Monthly Magazine, bearing the signature of

M.