And now are we in the humor, this New Year's morning, for keeping such vigils as they did in Illyria; for "were we" too "not born under Taurus?" No advocates do we mean to be for those whose zeal in symposiac matters, like that of Bardolph, "burns in their noses;" but occasions there are, and this is one, when we hold it lawful to sound the wassail-bowl to some considerable depth. Like honest Isaak Walton, we love to keep within the bounds of "such mirth as does not make friends ashamed to look on one another, next morning;" but we feel that we may venture to be a little intemperate, in the present instance, and yet hold our heads up, even if we should chance to meet one of those gentry whom Burns presumes to be wise, because they "are sae grave." What says Innocentius?--and he was a Father of the Church; "_Fecundi calices, quem non fecere disertum?_" "Carry Master Silence to bed!" therefore, for we are about to be talkative, and expect to be answered. No man need sit with us longer than he likes: but it is the opening of another year, and _we_ must see more of it. We find much virtue in Sir Toby's excellent reasoning, that "not to be abed after midnight is to be up betimes;" and have no sympathy for those who would insist, to-day, with the stolid Sir Andrew, that "to be up late is to be up late." "A false conclusion!" says Sir Toby; and so say we. So fill the glasses, once more, from the wassail-bowl, and let us "rouse the night-owl" in another "catch!" But alas! it is later than we thought, and the owl is gone to bed; for we hear the cry of that other bird whom Herrick calls "the Bellman of the night:"-- "Hark! the cock crows, and yon bright star Tells us the day himself's not far; And see! where, breaking from the night, He gilds the eastern hills with light!" Honest Master Cotton had evidently been sitting up all night, himself, when he wrote these lines; and being therefore a boon companion, and a true observer of Christmas proprieties, we will take his warning, and to bed ourselves. So "a good New Year to you, my masters! and many of them!" as the bellman (not Herrick's) says, on this morning. FOOTNOTE: [4] (Twelve?) NEW YEAR'S DAY. 1ST JANUARY. THE first of January, forming the accomplishment of the eight days after the birth of Christ, has been sometimes called the octave of Christmas; and is celebrated in our church services as the day of the Circumcision.