with their correspondence, hold with Bacon, that

"Truth, which only doth judge itself, teacheth that the inquiry
of Truth, which is the love-making or wooing of it--the
knowledge of Truth, which is the presence of it--and the belief
of Truth, which is the enjoying of it--is the sovereign good of
human nature."

We believe that it is under the impulse of such feelings that they have
flocked to our columns--that the sentiment has found its echo in the
breast of the public, and hence that success which has attended our
humble efforts. The cause is so great, that we may well be pardoned if
we boast that we have had both hand and heart in it. {130}

And so, with all the earnestness and heartiness which befit this happy
season, when

"No spirit stirs abroad;
The nights are wholesome; when no planet strikes,
No fairy takes, no witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time,"

do we greet all our friends, whether contributors or readers, with the
good old English wish,

A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

* * * * *

SIR E. DERING'S HOUSEHOLD BOOK.