Observe how the chimneys Do smoke all about; The cooks are providing For dinner no doubt. But those on whose tables No victuals appear, O may they keep Lent All the rest of the year! With holly and ivy, So green and so gay, We deck up our houses As fresh as the day; With bays and rosemary, And laurel complete,-- And every one now Is a king in conceit, But as for curmudgeons Who will not be free, I wish they may die On a two-legged tree! WILLIAM PALIN. * * * * * To the proof that we are not _unseasonable, here are in this sheet--_Merry Christmas! the Turks_, (of a darker hue;) _Exhibitions; a Consolatory "Population" Scrap; Hints for Singing_ after a good master; _a Bunch of Facts on Turnips; a column on Liston_--that living limner of laughter; and other _seasonables_. * * * * * MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS. No. XVII. * * * * * THE TURKS. _(For the Mirror.)_ The Turks have a manly and prepossessing demeanour; being generally of a good stature, and remarkably well formed in their limbs. The men shave their heads, but wear long beards, and are extremely proud of their mustaches, which are usually turned downwards, and which give the other features of the face a cast of peculiar pensiveness. They wear turbans, sometimes white, of an enormous size on their heads, and never remove them but when they go to repose. Their breeches, or drawers, are united with their stockings, and they have slippers, which they never put off but when they enter a mosque, or the house of a great man. Large shirts are worn, and over them is a vest tied with a sash; the outer garment being a sort of loose gown. Every man, in whatever station he is, carries a dagger in his sash. The women's attire much resembles that of the other sex, only they have a cap on their heads, something like a bishop's mitre, instead of a turban. Their hair is beautiful and long, mostly black, but their faces, which are remarkably handsome, are so covered when they walk out, that nothing is to be seen but their eyes. The ladies of the sultan's _haram_ are lovely virgins, either captives taken during war, or presents from the governors of provinces. They are never allowed to stir abroad except when the grand signior removes; and then they are put into close chariots, signals being made at certain distances that no man may approach the road through which the ladies pass, on pain of death. There are a great number of female _slaves_ in the sultan's haram, whose task it is to wait on the ladies, who have, besides, a black eunuch for their superintendant.