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SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

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FIRESIDE ENJOYMENTS.


The evening of Thursday, the 15th of February, 1827, was one of the most
delightful I ever remember to have spent. I was alone; my heart beat
lightly; my pulse was quickened by the exercise of the morning; my blood
flowed freely through my veins, as meeting with no checks or impediments
to its current, and my spirits were elated by a multitude of happy
remembrances and of brilliant hopes. My apartments looked delightfully
comfortable, and what signified to me the inclemency of the weather
without. The rain was pattering upon the sky-light of the staircase; the
sharp east wind was moaning angrily in the chimney; but as my eye glanced
from the cheerful blaze of the fire to the ample folds of my closed
window-curtains--as the hearth-rug yielded to the pressure of my foot,
while, beating time to my own music, I sung, in rather a louder tone than
usual, my favourite air of "_Judy O'Flannegan_;"--the whistling of the
wind, and the pattering of the rain, only served to enhance in my
estimation the comforts of my home, and inspire a livelier sense of the
good fortune which had delivered me from any evening engagements. It may