again says our friend Herrick (what could we do without him, in this Christmas book of ours?). And surely, judging by such effects as we have witnessed, Herrick must have meant the wassail-bowl. We are perfectly aware that there are certain other dwellers in that same bowl. Truth has been said to lie at the bottom of a well; and we have certainly seen him unseasonably brought up out of the very well in question, by those who have gone further into its depths than was necessary for reaching the abode of wit. No doubt, truth is at all times a very respectable personage; but there are certain times when he and wit do not meet on the best of terms, and he is apt, occasionally, to be somewhat of a revel-marrer. The garb and temper in which he often follows wit out of that bowl are not those in which he appears to the most advantage. We know, also, that there is yet a deeper deep, in which worse things still reside; and although there be pearls there, too,--and the skilful diver may bring treasures up out of that bowl, and escape all its evil spirits, besides,--yet it is, at any rate, not on this night of subdued mirth that we intend to recommend an exploration of these further depths. But still the bowl should be produced, and go round. A cheerful sporting with the light bubbles that wit flings up to its surface are perfectly consistent with the sacred character of the night, and, for ourselves, _we_ will have a wassail-bowl this Christmas Eve. The word "wassail" is derived from the Saxon _was haile_; which word, and _drinc-heil_ (_heil_, health) were, as appears from old authors quoted by Brand, the usual ancient phrases of quaffing, among the English and equivalent to the "Here's to you," and "I pledge you," of the present day. "The wassail-bowl," says Warton, "is Shakspeare's gossip's bowl, in the Midsummer Night's Dream." It should be composed, by those who can afford it, of some rich wine highly spiced and sweetened, with roasted apples floating on its surface. But ale was more commonly substituted for the wine, mingled with nutmeg, ginger, sugar, toast, and roasted crabs. "It is," says Leigh Hunt, "a good-natured bowl, and accommodates itself to the means of all classes, rich and poor. You may have it of the costliest wine or the humblest malt liquor. But in no case must the roasted apples be forgotten. They are the _sine qua non_ of the wassail-bowl, as the wassail-bowl is of the day (_he_ is speaking of New Year's Day); and very pleasant they are, provided they are not mixed up too much with the beverage, balmy, comfortable, and different, a sort of meat in the drink, but innocent withal and reminding you of the orchards. They mix their flavor with the beverage, and the beverage with them, giving a new meaning to the line of the poet,-- 'The gentler apple's winy juice;'