Concerning January

According to the anoient mythology, Janus was the god of gates and avenues and in that charactpr held a key in his risjht hand and a rod in his left, to Bymboliza his openiiig and ruling the year. Sometimes he bore the number 300 in ono band and 65 in tbo other, the nuinber of its days. At other times he was represented with four hesds, and placed in a temple of four equal side3, with a door and three wiadows in eaoh sule, as emblems of the four seasons and the twelve months over which ha presided. Fosbroobe, in his valuable " Encyclopedia of Antiquities," adduces various authorities to show that congratulationa, presents, and visita were made by the Romans on New Year's Day. The origin, he says, is ascribed to Bomulus and 'i'atius, and than the usual presents were figs and dates, covered with leaf gold, and sent by clients to patrons, iiccompanied ■with a piece of money, which was expended to pnrchase the statues of deitiea. New Year's gifts were continued under the Roman emperors until they were prohibited by Claudius. Thomas Naogeorgus, in "Tlie Popish Kingdome," a Latín poem written in 1553, and Euglished by Barnabe Googe after remarking on days of the old year, urges tliis recollection : The nest to thia ia Newo Yeare'ö Day, whereou to every frende Tbey cowtiy preeenis in do bring, and Ncwü Yeare'ö gif te do eenue. Thowe gift the hneband gires bis wif, and fatber t'ke tho cilde, And maister on lii in:n bcstowea thelike, witb favour nuüdo. Honest old Latimer, instead of presenting Henry VIII. with a purse of gold, as yaa customary, for a New Year's gift, put into the King's hand a new Testament, with a leaf conspicuously doubled down at Hebrews, xiii. Dr. Drako Í3 of opinión that the wardrobe an i jewelry of Queen Elizabeth were principally supportt-d by t'uese New Year's contríbutions. Nearly all the peors and peeresses, all the bishops, the chief offloers of state, the Qaeen's household servante, even down to hor apothecaries, master oook, sergeant of the pastry, gave her gifts, and although she made returns to these in gifts of plate and other articles, she took care tbat the balance shotild be in her own favor. Charles Lamb's deiightful essay on New Year's Eve begins with "Every man hath two birthdays ; two days, at least, in every year, which set himupon revolving the lapse cf time, as it affects his mortal duration. ?he one is tbat whieb in an especial manner be termetb Ai.?. In the gradual desuetude of old observances tbis custom of solemnizing oar proper birthday hath neariy passed away, or is left to children, who reflect nothing at all about the matter, nor understand anything beyond the cake and orango. Bnt the birth of a new year is of an interest too wide to be pretermitted by king or cobbler. No ons ever regarded the lst of January with inclifference. It is tbat frora wbicb all date their time, and count upon what is left. It is the nativity of our coinmoa Adam." Pins were acceptable New Year's gif ts to the ladies, instead of the wooden tkewers wbicb tbey nsed till the end of the fifteentb century. Sometimes tbey reoeived a composition in money, and henee allowance ïor their separate use carne to be called "pin money." It waa on the lst of January, 1308, tbat William Teil associated bimeelf with a band of his countrymen ugainst the tyranny of iheir oppressors. For upward of three centuries the opposition was carried on, and terminated in the treaty of Westphalia, in 1648, declaring tho independence of SwitzerIand. On the lst of January, 1651, Charles II. -was crowned at Scone King of the Scots. On the lst at January, 1801, the nnion of Great Britain with Ireland commenced by act of Parliament, and Irisbmeii have been thinking abont that little matter ever since. On the same day, Jan. 1, 1801, Piazzi, the astronomer at Palermo, discovered Cores - a new primary planet, making the eleventh of tbat order.