In my _Table Book_, which I hope will never be out of “season,” I take the liberty to “annihilate both time and space,” to the extent of a few lines or days, and lease, and talk, when and where I can, according to my humour. Sometimes I present an offering of “all sorts,” simpled from out-of-the-way and in-the-way books; and, at other times, gossip to the public, as to an old friend, diffusely or briefly, as I chance to be more or less in the giving “vein,” about a passing event, a work just read, a print in my hand, the thing I last thought of, or saw, or heard, or, to be plain, about “whatever comes uppermost.” In short, my collections and recollections come forth just as I happen to suppose they may be most agreeable or serviceable to those whom I esteem, or care for, and by whom I desire to be respected. MY TABLE BOOK is enriched and diversified by the contributions of my friends; the teemings of time, and the press, give it novelty; and what I know of works of art, with something of imagination, and the assistance of artists, enable me to add pictorial embellishment. My object is to blend information with amusement, and utility with diversion. MY TABLE BOOK, therefore, is a series of continually shifting scenes--a kind of literary kaleidoscope, combining popular forms with singular appearances--by which youth and age of all ranks may be amused; and to which, I respectfully trust, many will gladly add something, to improve its views. [1] Johnson. [2] Fosbroke’s Encyclopædia of Antiquities. [3] Gesner De rerum fossilium figuris, &c. Tigur. 1565. 12mo. [4] Glossary by Mr. Archd. Nares. ~Ode to the New Year~ From the _Every Day Book_: set to Music for the _Table Book_, BY J. K. [Illustration: Music] All hail to the birth of the Year! See golden-hair’d Phœbus afar, Prepares to renew his career, And is mounting his dew-spangled car. Stern Winter congeals every brook, That murmur’d so lately with glee, And places a snowy peruke On the head of each bald-pated tree. ⁂ For the remaining verses, see the _Every-Day Book_, vol ii. p. 25. ~The New Year.~ HAGMAN-HEIGH.