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Peng Liu

Bayesian Optimization
Theory and Practice Using Python
Peng Liu
Singapore, Singapore

ISBN 978-1-4842-9062-0 e-ISBN 978-1-4842-9063-7

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-9063-7

© Peng Liu 2023

Apress Standard

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks,

service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the
absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the
relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general
use.

The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the
advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate
at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the
editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the
material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have
been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Apress imprint is published by the registered company APress

Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
The registered company address is: 1 New York Plaza, New York, NY
10004, U.S.A.
For my wife Zheng and children Jiaxin, Jiaran, and Jiayu.
Introduction
Bayesian optimization provides a unified framework that solves the
problem of sequential decision-making under uncertainty. It includes
two key components: a surrogate model approximating the unknown
black-box function with uncertainty estimates and an acquisition
function that guides the sequential search. This book reviews both
components, covering both theoretical introduction and practical
implementation in Python, building on top of popular libraries such as
GPyTorch and BoTorch. Besides, the book also provides case studies on
using Bayesian optimization to seek a simulated function's global
optimum or locate the best hyperparameters (e.g., learning rate) when
training deep neural networks. The book assumes readers with a
minimal understanding of model development and machine learning
and targets the following audiences:
Students in the field of data science, machine learning, or
optimization-related fields
Practitioners such as data scientists, both early and middle in their
careers, who build machine learning models with good-performing
hyperparameters
Hobbyists who are interested in Bayesian optimization as a global
optimization technique to seek the optimal solution as fast as
possible
All source code used in this book can be downloaded from
github.com/apress/Bayesian-optimization.
Any source code or other supplementary material referenced by the
author in this book is available to readers on GitHub
(https://github.com/Apress). For more detailed information, please
visit http://www.apress.com/source-code.
Acknowledgments
This book summarizes my learning journey in Bayesian optimization
during my (part-time) Ph.D. study. It started as a personal interest in
exploring this area and gradually grew into a book combining theory
and practice. For that, I thank my supervisors, Teo Chung Piaw and
Chen Ying, for their continued support in my academic career.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1:​Bayesian Optimization Overview
Global Optimization
The Objective Function
The Observation Model
Bayesian Statistics
Bayesian Inference
Frequentist vs.​Bayesian Approach
Joint, Conditional, and Marginal Probabilities
Independence
Prior and Posterior Predictive Distributions
Bayesian Inference:​An Example
Bayesian Optimization Workflow
Gaussian Process
Acquisition Function
The Full Bayesian Optimization Loop
Summary
Chapter 2:​Gaussian Processes
Reviewing the Gaussian Basics
Understanding the Covariance Matrix
Marginal and Conditional Distribution of Multivariate
Gaussian
Sampling from a Gaussian Distribution
Gaussian Process Regression
The Kernel Function
Extending to Other Variables
 Learning from Noisy Observations
Gaussian Process in Practice
Drawing from GP Prior
Obtaining GP Posterior with Noise-Free Observations
Working with Noisy Observations
Experimenting with Different Kernel Parameters
Hyperparameter Tuning
Summary
Chapter 3:​Bayesian Decision Theory and Expected Improvement
Optimization via the Sequential Decision-Making
Seeking the Optimal Policy
Utility-Driven Optimization
Multi-step Lookahead Policy
Bellman’s Principle of Optimality
Expected Improvement
Deriving the Closed-Form Expression
Implementing the Expected Improvement
Using Bayesian Optimization Libraries
Summary
Chapter 4:​Gaussian Process Regression with GPyTorch
Introducing GPyTorch
The Basics of PyTorch
Revisiting GP Regression
Building a GP Regression Model
Fine-Tuning the Length Scale of the Kernel Function
Fine-Tuning the Noise Variance
 Delving into Kernel Functions
Combining Kernel Functions
Predicting Airline Passenger Counts
Summary
Chapter 5:​Monte Carlo Acquisition Function with Sobol Sequences
and Random Restart
Analytic Expected Improvement Using BoTorch
Introducing Hartmann Function
GP Surrogate with Optimized Hyperparameters
Introducing the Analytic EI
Optimization Using Analytic EI
Grokking the Inner Optimization Routine
Using MC Acquisition Function
Using Monte Carlo Expected Improvement
Summary
Chapter 6:​Knowledge Gradient:​Nested Optimization vs.​One-Shot
Learning
Introducing Knowledge Gradient
Monte Carlo Estimation
Optimizing Using Knowledge Gradient
One-Shot Knowledge Gradient
Sample Average Approximation
One-Shot Formulation of KG Using SAA
One-Shot KG in Practice
Optimizing the OKG Acquisition Function
Summary
Chapter 7:​Case Study:​Tuning CNN Learning Rate with BoTorch
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 Seeking Global Optimum of Hartmann
Generating Initial Conditions
Updating GP Posterior
Creating a Monte Carlo Acquisition Function
The Full BO Loop
Hyperparameter Optimization for Convolutional Neural
Network
Using MNIST
Defining CNN Architecture
Training CNN
Optimizing the Learning Rate
Entering the Full BO Loop
Summary
Index
About the Author
Peng Liu
is an assistant professor of quantitative
finance (practice) at Singapore
Management University and an adjunct
researcher at the National University of
Singapore. He holds a Ph.D. in Statistics
from the National University of
Singapore and has ten years of working
experience as a data scientist across the
banking, technology, and hospitality
industries.
About the Technical Reviewer
Jason Whitehorn
is an experienced entrepreneur and
software developer and has helped many
companies automate and enhance their
business solutions through data
synchronization, SaaS architecture, and
machine learning. Jason obtained his
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science
from Arkansas State University, but he
traces his passion for development back
many years before then, having first
taught himself to program BASIC on his
family’s computer while in middle
school. When he’s not mentoring and
helping his team at work, writing, or
pursuing one of his many side-projects,
Jason enjoys spending time with his wife and four children and living in
the Tulsa, Oklahoma, region. More information about Jason can be
found on his website: https://jason.whitehorn.us.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to APress Media, LLC, part of Springer
Nature 2023
P. Liu, Bayesian Optimization
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-9063-7_1

1. Bayesian Optimization Overview

Peng Liu1
(1) Singapore, Singapore

As the name suggests, Bayesian optimization is an area that studies

optimization problems using the Bayesian approach. Optimization aims
at locating the optimal objective value (i.e., a global maximum or
minimum) of all possible values or the corresponding location of the
optimum in the environment (the search domain). The search process
starts at a specific initial location and follows a particular policy to
iteratively guide the following sampling locations, collect new
observations, and refresh the guiding policy.
As shown in Figure 1-1, the overall optimization process consists of
repeated interactions between the policy and the environment. The
policy is a mapping function that takes in a new input observation (plus
historical ones) and outputs the following sampling location in a
principled way. Here, we are constantly learning and improving the
policy, since a good policy guides our search toward the global
optimum more efficiently and effectively. In contrast, a good policy
would save the limited sampling budget on promising candidate
locations. On the other hand, the environment contains the unknown
objective function to be learned by the policy within a specific
boundary. When probing the functional value as requested by the
policy, the actual observation revealed by the environment to the policy
is often corrupted by noise, making learning even more challenging.
Thus, Bayesian optimization, a specific approach for global
optimization, would like to learn a policy that can help us efficiently and
effectively navigate to the global optimum of an unknown, noise-
corrupted environment as quickly as possible.

Figure 1-1 The overall Bayesian optimization process. The policy digests the
historical observations and proposes the new sampling location. The environment
governs how the (possibly noise-corrupted) observation at the newly proposed
location is revealed to the policy. Our goal is to learn an efficient and effective policy
that could navigate toward the global optimum as quickly as possible

Global Optimization
Optimization aims to locate the optimal set of parameters of interest
across the whole domain through carefully allocating limited resources.
For example, when searching for the car key at home before leaving for
work in two minutes, we would naturally start with the most promising
place where we would usually put the key. If it is not there, think for a
little while about the possible locations and go to the next most
promising place. This process iterates until the key is found. In this
example, the policy is digesting the available information on previous
searches and proposing the following promising location. The
environment is the house itself, revealing if the key is placed at the
proposed location upon each sampling.
 This is considered an easy example since we are familiar with the
environment in terms of its structural design. However, imagine
locating an item in a totally new environment. The policy would need to
account for the uncertainty due to unfamiliarity with the environment
while sequentially determining the next sampling location. When the
sampling budget is limited, as is often the case in real-life searches in
terms of time and resources, the policy needs to argue carefully on the
utility of each candidate sampling location.
Let us formalize the sequential global optimization using
mathematical terms. We are dealing with an unknown scalar-valued
objective function f based on a specific domain Α. In other words, the
unknown subject of interest f is a function that maps a certain sample
in Α to a real number in ℝ, that is, f : Α → ℝ. We typically place no
specific assumption about the nature of the domain Α other than that it
should be a bounded, compact, and convex set.
Unless otherwise specified, we focus on the maximization setting
instead of minimization since maximizing the objective function is
equivalent to minimizing the negated objective, and vice versa. The
optimization procedure thus aims at locating the global maximum f∗ or
its corresponding location x∗ in a principled and systematic manner.
Mathematically, we wish to locate f∗ where

Or equivalently, we are interested in its location x∗ where

Figure 1-2 provides an example one-dimensional objective function

with its global maximum f ∗ and its location x∗ highlighted. The goal of
global optimization is thus to systematically reason about a series of
sampling decisions within the total search space Α, so as to locate the
global maximum as fast as possible, that is, sampling as few times as
possible.
Figure 1-2 An example objective function with the global maximum and its location
marked with star. The goal of global optimization is to systematically reason about a
series of sampling decisions so as to locate the global maximum as fast as possible
Note that this is a nonconvex function, as is often the case in real-life
functions we are optimizing. A nonconvex function means we could not
resort to first-order gradient-based methods to reliably search for the
global optimum since it will likely converge to a local optimum. This is
also one of the advantages of Bayesian optimization compared with
other gradient-based optimization procedures.

The Objective Function

There are different types of objective functions. For example, some
functions are wiggly shaped, while others are smooth; some are convex,
while others are nonconvex. An objective function is an unknown object
to us; the problem would be considered solved if we could access its
underlying mathematical form. Many complex functions are almost
impossible to be expressed using an explicit expression. For Bayesian
optimization, the specific type of objective function typically bears the
following attributes:
We do not have access to the explicit expression of the objective
function, making it a “black-box” function. This means that we can
 only interact with the environment, that is, the objective function, to
perform a functional evaluation by sampling at a specific location.
The returned value by probing at a specific location is often
corrupted by noise and does not represent the exact true value of the
objective function at that location. Due to the indirect evaluation of
its actual value, we need to account for such noise embedded in the
actual observations from the environment.
Each functional evaluation is costly, thus ruling out the option for an
exhaustive probing. We need to have a sample-efficient method to
minimize the number of evaluations of the environment while trying
to locate its global optimum. In other words, the optimizer needs to
fully utilize the existing observations and systematically reason
about the next sampling decision so that the limited resource is well
spent on promising locations.
We do not have access to its gradient. When the functional evaluation
is relatively cheap and the functional form is smooth, it would be
very convenient to compute the gradient and optimize using the first-
order procedure such as gradient descent. Access to the gradient is
necessary for us to understand the adjacent curvature of a particular
evaluation point. With gradient evaluations, the follow-up direction
of travel is easier to determine.
The “black-box” function is challenging to optimize for the
preceding reasons. To further elaborate on the possible functional form
of the objective, we list three examples in Figure 1-3. On the left is a
convex function with only one global minimum; this is considered easy
for global optimization. In the middle is a nonconvex function with
multiple local optima; it is difficult to ascertain if the current local
optimum is also globally optimal. It is also difficult to identify whether
this is a flat region vs. a local optimum for a function with a flat region
full of saddle points. All three scenarios are in a minimization setting.
Figure 1-3 Three possible functional forms. On the left is a convex function whose
optimization is easy. In the middle is a nonconvex function with multiple local
minima, and on the right is also a nonconvex function with a wide flat region full of
saddle points. Optimization for the latter two cases takes a lot more work than for
the first case
Let us look at one example of hyperparameter tuning when training
machine learning models. A machine learning model is a function that
involves a set of parameters to be optimized given the input data. These
parameters are automatically tuned via a specific optimization
procedure, typically governed by a set of corresponding meta
parameters called hyperparameters, which are fixed before the model
training starts. For example, when training deep neural networks using
the gradient descent algorithm, a learning rate that determines the step
size of each parameter update needs to be manually selected in
advance. If the learning rate is too large, the model may diverge and
eventually fails to learn. If the learning rate is too small, the model may
converge very slowly as the weights are updated by only a small margin
in this iteration. See Figure 1-4 for a visual illustration.
Figure 1-4 Slow convergence due to a small learning rate on the left and divergence
due to a large learning rate on the right
Choosing a reasonable learning rate as a preset hyperparameter
thus plays a critical role in training a good machine learning model.
Locating the best learning rate and other hyperparameters is an
optimization problem that fits Bayesian optimization. In the case of
hyperparameter tuning, evaluating each learning rate is a time-
consuming exercise. The objective function would generally be the
model’s final test set loss (in a minimization setting) upon model
convergence. A model needs to be fully trained to obtain a single
evaluation, which typically involves hundreds of epochs to reach stable
convergence. Here, one epoch is a complete pass of the entire training
dataset. The book’s last chapter covers a case study on tuning the
learning rate using Bayesian optimization.
The functional form of the test set loss or accuracy may also be
highly nonconvex and multimodal for the hyperparameters. Upon
convergence, it is not easy to know whether we are in a local optimum,
a saddle point, or a global optimum. Besides, some hyperparameters
may be discrete, such as the number of nodes and layers when training
a deep neural network. We could not calculate its gradient in such a
case since it requires continuous support in the domain.
The Bayesian optimization approach is designed to tackle all these
challenges. It has been shown to deliver good performance in locating
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of the court, was most commonly rational; or if facetious, not light.
With any artist or good mechanic, traveller, or scholar, he would
discourse freely; and as he was commonly improved by them, so he
often gave light to them in their own art or knowledge: for there
were few gentlemen in the world that knew more of useful or
necessary learning than this prince did; and yet his proportion of
books was but small, having, like Francis the First of France, learnt
more by the ear than by study. His way of arguing was very civil and
patient; for he never contradicted another by his authority, but by
his reason; nor did he by petulant dislike quash another’s
arguments; and he offered his exception by this civil introduction,
‘By your favour, Sir, I think otherwise, on this or that ground;’ yet he
would discountenance any bold or forward address unto him. And in
suits, or discourses of business, he would give way to none abruptly
to enter into them, but looked that the greatest persons should in
affairs of this nature address to him by his proper ministers, or by
some solemn desire of speaking to him in their own persons. His
exercises were manly, for he rid the great horse very well; and on
the little saddle he was not only adroit, but a laborious hunter, or
field-man. He had a great plainness in his own nature, and yet he
was thought, even by his friends, to love too much a versatile man;
but his experience had thoroughly weaned him from this at last. He
kept up the dignity of his court, limiting persons to places suitable to
their qualities, unless he particularly called for them. Besides the
women who attended on his beloved queen and consort, the lady
Henrietta Maria, sister of the French king, he scarcely admitted any
great officer to have his wife in the family. His exercises of religion
were most exemplary; for every morning early, and evening, not
very late, singly and alone, in his own bed-chamber, or closet, he
spent some time in private meditation, (for he dared reflect and be
alone,) and through the whole week, even when he went to hunt, he
never failed, before he sat down to dinner, to have part of the liturgy
read to him and his menial servants, came he ever so hungry or late
in: and on Sundays and Tuesdays he came, commonly at the
beginning of service, well attended by his court lords and chief
attendants, and most usually waited on by many of the nobility in
town, who found those observances acceptably entertained by him.
His greatest enemies can deny none of this; and a man of this
moderation of mind could have no hungry appetite to prey upon his
subjects, though he had a greatness of mind not to live precariously
by them. But when he fell into the sharpness of his afflictions, (than
which few men underwent sharper,) I dare say I know it, (I am sure
conscientiously I say it,) though God dealt with him, as he did with
St. Paul, not remove the thorn, yet he made his grace sufficient to
take away the pungency of it; for he made as sanctified an use of
his afflictions as most men ever did. As an evidence of his natural
probity, whenever any young nobleman or gentleman of quality who
was going to travel, came to kiss his hand, he cheerfully would give
them some good counsel leading to moral virtue, especially a good
conversation; telling them, that if he heard they kept good company
abroad, he should reasonably expect they would return qualified to
serve their king and country well at home; and he was careful to
keep the youth in his time uncorrupted. The king’s deportment at his
trial, which began on Saturday the 20th of January, 1648, was very
majestic and steady; and though usually his tongue hesitated, yet at
this time it was free, for he was never discomposed in mind; and
yet, as he confessed himself to bishop Juxon, who attended him,
one action shocked him very much; for whilst he was leaning in the
court upon his staff, which had a head of gold, the head broke off on
a sudden: he took it up, but seemed unconcerned; yet told the
bishop, it really made a great impression on him; and to this hour
(says he) I know not possibly how it should come. It was an
accident I myself have often thought on, and cannot imagine how it
came about; unless Hugh Peters, who was truly and really his gaoler,
(for at St. James’s nobody went to him but by Peters’s leave,) had
artificially tampered upon his staff. But such conjectures are of no
use.”

In the Lansdowne collection of MSS. a singular circumstance

before the battle of Newbury is thus related:—
“The king being at Oxford went one day to see the public library,
where he was shown, among other books, a Virgil, nobly printed and
exquisitely bound. The lord Falkland, to divert the king, would have
his majesty make a trial of his fortune by the sortes Virgilianæ,
which every body knows was not an unusual kind of augury some
ages past. Whereupon the king opening the book, the period which
happened to come up was part of Dido’s imprecation against Æneas,
which Mr. Dryden translates thus:—
Yet let a race untamed, and haughty foes,
His peaceful entrance with dire arms oppose;
Oppressed with numbers in th’ unequal field,
His men discouraged and himself expelled,
Let him for succour sue from place to place,
Torn from his subjects and his sons’ embrace,
First let him see his friends in battle slain,
And their untimely fate lament in vain;
And when at length the cruel war shall cease,
On hard conditions may he buy his peace.
Nor let him then enjoy supreme command,
But fall untimely by some hostile hand,
And lie unburied on the barren sand.
Æneid, b. iv. l. 88.
“It is said, king Charles seemed concerned at this accident, and
that the lord Falkland observing it, would likewise try his own fortune
in the same manner, hoping he might fall upon some passage that
could have no relation to his case, and thereby divert the king’s
thoughts from any impression the other might have upon him. But
the place that Falkland stumbled upon was yet more suited to his
destiny[45] than the other had been to the king’s; being the following
expressions of Evander upon the untimely death of his son Pallas, as
they are translated by the same hand:—
O Pallas! thou hast failed thy plighted word
To fight with caution, not to tempt the sword:
I warned thee, but in vain; for well I knew
What perils youthful ardour would pursue.
That boiling blood would carry thee too far;
Young as thou wert in dangers—raw in war!
O curst essay in arms,—disastrous doom,—
Prelude of bloody fields and fights to come.
Æneid, b. xi. l. 230.”
 Remarkable 30th of January Sermon.
On the 30th of January, 1755, the rev. John Watson, curate of
Ripponden, in Yorkshire, preached a sermon there which he
afterwards published. The title-page states it as “proving that king
Charles I. did not govern like a good king of England.” He also
printed “An Apology for his Conduct yearly on the 30th of January.”
In these tracts he says, “For some years last past I have preached
on the 30th of January, and my labours were employed in obviating
the mistakes which I knew some of my congregation entertained
with regard to the character of king Charles I.; and in proving that if
it was judged rebellion in those who took up arms against that
unfortunate prince, who had made so many breaches in the
constitution, it must be an aggravation of that crime, to oppose the
just and wise measures of the present father of his country, king
George. The chief reason for publishing the sermon is to confute a
commonly received opinion that I applauded therein the act of
cutting off the king’s head, which any one may quickly see to be
without foundation. For when I say that the resistance he met with
was owing to his own mal-administration, nothing else can be meant
than the opposition he received from a wise, brave, and good
parliament:—not that shown him by those furious men who
destroyed both the parliament and him, and whose conduct I never
undertook to vindicate. It has been observed that I always provide a
clergyman to read prayers for me on the 30th of January; but not to
read that service is deemed criminal, because in subscribing the
36th canon I obliged myself to use the form prescribed in the Book
of Common Prayer. The office for the 30th of January is no part of
the Liturgy of the church of England. By the liturgy of the church I
mean the contents of The Book of Common Prayer and
Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies
of the Church, &c., established by the act of uniformity, in the year
1662; and whatever has been added since, I suppose no clergyman
ever bound himself by subscription to use; the reason is because the
law requires no more.”
 Mr. Watson then says, on the authority of Wheatly, in his
“Illustration of the Common Prayer,” Johnson in his “Clergyman’s
Vade Mecum,” and the author of “The Complete Incumbent,” that
the services for the 30th of January and the 29th of May are not
confirmed by act of parliament, and that penalties do not attach for
the non-celebration of the service on those days. “I cannot in
conscience read those prayers,” says Watson, “wherein the king is
called a Martyr. I believe the assertion to be false, and therefore why
should I tell a lie before the God of Truth! What is a martyr? He is a
witness, for so the word in the original imparts. Robert Stephens
tells us, that they are martyrs who have died giving a testimony of
divinity to Christ, but if this be true king Charles can be no martyr,
for he was put to death by those who believed in the divinity of
Christ as well as he. What were the grounds then for giving him this
glorious title? his dying rather than give up episcopacy? I think lord
Clarendon hath proved the contrary: he consented to suspend
episcopacy for three years, and that money should be raised upon
the sale of the church lands, and only the old rent should be
reserved to the just owners and their successors. My charity leads
me so far, that I hope king Charles meant well when he told the
princess Elizabeth that he should die a martyr, and when he
repeated it on the scaffold. But this might be nothing else but a
pleasing deception of the mind; and if saying that he died a martyr
made him such, then the duke of Monmouth also was the same, for
he died with the same words in his mouth, which his grandfather,
king Charles, had used before. King Charles II. seems to have had
no such opinion of the matter; for when a certain lord reminded his
majesty of his swearing in common discourse, the king replied, ‘Your
martyr swore more than ever I did,’ which many have deemed a jest
upon the title which his father had got. In fact, we, of this
generation, should never have judged, that he who swore to
preserve the religion, laws, and liberties of his country inviolate, and
yet broke through every one of these restraints—that he, who put an
English fleet into the hands of the French to crush the protestants
there, who were struggling to maintain their religion and liberties—
that he, who contrary to the most solemn promises, did sacrifice the
protestant interest in France—that he, who concurred with Laud in
bringing the church of England to a kind of rivalship, for ornaments,
&c., with the church of Rome—that he, who could consent, when he
married the French king’s daughter, that their children were to be
educated by their mother until thirteen years of age—that he, who
gave great church preferments to men who publicly preached up
popish doctrines; and that protected known papists from the
penalties of the law, by taking several very extraordinary steps in
their behalf—that he, who permitted an agent, or a kind of nuncio
from Rome, to visit the court publicly, and bestowed such offices as
those of lord high treasurer, secretary of state, chancellor of the
exchequer, &c., on papists—that he, who by proclamation could
command the Lord’s day to be profaned (for I can call it no less) by
revels, plays, and many sorts of ill-timed recreations, punishing great
numbers of pious clergymen for refusing to publish what their
consciences forbad them to read: and to name no more—that he,
who could abet the Irish massacre, wherein above three hundred
thousand protestants were murdered in cold blood, or expelled out
of their habitations. (Vide Temple’s ‘Irish Rebellion,’ page 6) I say,
we, at this period of time, should not have thought such a one
worthy to be deemed a martyr for the cause of protestantism; but
that it has been a custom in the church for near a century to call him
so. However, it is time seriously to consider whether it is not proper
to correct this error; at least, it should be shown to be no error if we
must keep it, for, at present, many of the well-meaning members of
the church are offended at it.”
The writer cited, goes on to observe, “My second objection
against reading this service is, that I judge it to be contrary both to
reason and the contents of the Bible, to say that ‘the blood of king
Charles can be required of us or our posterity.’ There is not, I
suppose, one man alive who consented to the king’s death. We
know nothing of it but from history, therefore none of us were
concerned in the fact; with what reason then can it be averred that
we ought to be responsible for it, when it neither was nor is in our
power to prevent it. But what if we disclaim the sins of our
forefathers, or are the posterity of those who fought for the king, are
we still to be in danger of suffering? Such seems to be the doctrine
of this service, where all, without exception, are called upon to pray
that they ‘may be freed from the vengeance of his righteous blood.’ I
could prove, from undoubted records, that the family I came from
were royalists; but I think it sufficient to say, that I never did nor
ever will consent, that a king shall be beheaded, or otherwise put to
death; therefore let others say what they will, I look upon myself to
be innocent, and why should I plead with God as if I thought myself
guilty? But we are told that they ‘were the crying sins of this nation
which brought down this heavy judgment upon us.’ I think it is more
clear, that a series of ill-judged and ill-timed acts, on the part of the
king, brought him into the power of his opposers, and that,
afterwards, the ambition of a few men led him to the scaffold. Let it
only be remembered, that at the beginning of his reign he entered
into a war for the recovery of the Palatinate against the consent of
his parliament; and when he could not get them to vote him money
enough for his purpose he extorted it illegally from his subjects;
refusing to join the parliament in redressing the grievances of the
nation; often threatening them; and even counteracting their
designs; which, at last, bred so many disputes, that he overstepped
all bounds, and had the misprudence to attempt the seizing of five
members in the house; on which the citizens came down by land
and water, with muskets on their shoulders, to defend the
parliament: soon after which so great a distrust arose between the
two houses and him, that all likelihood of agreement wholly ceased.
This was the cause whereon to make war—sending the queen to
Holland to buy arms, himself retiring from the capital, and soon after
erecting his standard at Nottingham. Not succeeding, he was made
prisoner, and when many expected his restoration, a violent
opposition in the army broke forth; a design was formed to change
the monarchy into a republic, and to this, and nothing else, he fell a
sacrifice. If the real cause of the king’s death was the wickedness of
those times, does it not follow that his death was permitted by God
as a punishment for that wickedness; and if so, why should we fear
that God will still visit for it? Will the just and merciful Judge
discharge his vengeance on two different generations of men for the
offences committed by one? Such doctrine as this should be
banished from every church, especially a christian one; for it has no
foundation in reason or revelation.” The reasons of this clergyman of
the established church for his dissent from the established usage are
still further remarkable.
Mr. Watson states other objections to this service. “In the hymn
used instead of Venite exultemus, it is said, They fought against him
without a cause: the contrary of which, when it is applied to king
Charles, I think has been owned by every historian. The parliament
of England were always more wise and good, than to raise armies
against the kings who gave them no occasion to do so; and I cannot
but entertain this favourable opinion of that which began to sit in the
year 1640. There is nothing more true than that the king wanted to
govern by an arbitrary power. His whole actions showed it, and he
could never be brought to depart from this. Either, therefore, his
people must have submitted to the slavery, or they must have
vindicated their freedom openly; there was no middle way. But
should they have tamely received the yoke? No, surely; for had they
done so, they had deserved the worst of evils; and the bitter effects
thereof, in all probability, had not only been derived to us, but our
posterity. Happy Britons, that such a just and noble stand was
made! May the memories of those great patriots that were
concerned in it be ever dear to Englishmen; and to all true
Englishmen they will!
“In the same hymn it is likewise affirmed that False witnesses
rose up against him, and laid to his charge things that he knew not.
Which on this occasion cannot be truly said, because as the chief
fact to be proved was the king’s being in arms, it cannot be
supposed that out of more than 200,000 men who had engaged
with him, a sufficient number of true witnesses could be wanting.
What, therefore, Mr. Wheatly could think when he said that his hymn
is as solemn a composure, and as pertinent to the occasion as can
be imagined or contrived, I cannot tell. I am sure a broad hint is
given therein, that the clergy in king Charles’s time were a set of
wicked people, and that it was through their unrighteousness, as
well as that of the laity, that the king lost his life. The words are
these, ‘For the sins of the people, and the iniquities of the priests,
they shed the blood of the just in the midst of Jerusalem.’ Let those
defend this passage who are able, for I own myself incapable of
doing it consistently.”
Mr. Watson says, “I am not by myself in thinking that this service
for the 30th of January needs a review; many sensible, worthy men
think further—that it is time to drop it; for they see that it is
unseasonable now, and serves no other end than as a bone of
contention in numberless parishes, preventing friendship, and good
will being shown towards such of the clergy as cannot in all points
approve of it; excepting that (as I have found by experience) it
tends to make bad subjects. A sufficient argument this, was there no
other, why it should either be altered, or taken away; but I presume
not to dictate; and, therefore, I urge this no further: had I not a
sincere regard for the church of England, I should have said less;
but notwithstanding any reports to the contrary, I declare myself to
be a hearty well-wisher to her prosperity. Did I not prefer her
communion to that of any other, I would instantly leave her, for I am
not so abandoned as to play the hypocrite that I detest, and have
often detested it to my great loss. But I am not of that opinion, that
it is for the interest of the church to conceal her defects; on the
contrary, I think I do her the greatest service possible by pointing
them out, so that they may be remedied to the satisfaction of all
good men. She ought not to be ashamed of the truth, and falsehood
will never hurt her.”

It appears that Mr. Watson’s conduct obtained much notice; for

he preached another sermon at Halifax, entitled “Moderation; or a
candid disposition towards those that differ from us, recommended
and enforced.” This he also printed, with the avowed view of
“promoting of that moderation towards all men which becometh us
as Christians, is the ornament of our profession, and which we
should therefore labour to maintain, as we desire to walk worthy of
the vocation wherewith we are called, with all lowliness and
meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love,
endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.”
He proceeds to observe in this discourse, that “whoever reflects
upon the nature of human constitutions, will readily allow the
impossibility of perfection in any of them; and whoever considers the
mutability of human things, will grant that nothing can be so well
devised, or so sure established, which, in continuance of time, will
not be corrupted. A change of circumstances, to which the best
constituted state is liable, will require such alterations as once would
have been needless: and improvement of observation will demand
such regulations as nothing else could have discovered to have been
right. Of this the wise founders of the established church of England
were very sensible; they prudently required no subscription to
perfection in the church, well knowing that they but laid the
foundation stone of a much greater building than they could live to
see completed. The Common Prayer, since it was first properly
compiled, in the year 1545, has undergone sixteen alterations, as
defects became visible, and offence was thereby given to the
promoting of separations and divisions: noble examples these—fit
for the present age to imitate! for, as ninety years have elapsed
since the last review, this experienced age has justly discovered that
the amendments, at that time made, were not sufficient. I could
produce you many instances; but I forbear; for I am very sensible
how tender a point I am discussing. However, I cannot but observe,
that for my own part, upon the maturest and most sober
consideration, I take him to be a greater friend to Christianity in
general, and to this church in particular, who studies to unite as
many dissenters as may be to us, by a reasonable comprehension,
than he who is against it.”
It is urged by Mr. Watson, that the church of England herself
does not claim a perfection which is insisted upon as her
distinguishing quality by some of her over zealous advocates. He
says, “The first reformers were wise and good men, but the
Common Prayer they published was little better than popery itself;
many indeed have been the alterations in it made since then; but as,
through the unripeness of the times, it never had any but imperfect
emendations, we may reasonably suppose it capable of still further
improvements.” Deeming the service appointed for this day as
inappropriate, and referring to suggestions that were in his time
urged upon public attention for a review of the liturgy, he proceeds
to say, “There may be men at work that misrepresent this good
design; that proclaim, as formerly, the church’s danger; but let no
arts like these deceive you; they must be enemies in disguise that do
it, or such who have not examined what they object to with
sufficient accuracy. What is wished for, your own great Tillotson
himself attempted: this truly valuable man, with some others but
little inferior to himself, being sensible that the want of a sufficient
review drew many members from the church, would have
compromised the difference in a way detrimental to no one,
beneficial to all; and had he not been opposed by some revengeful
zealots, had certainly completed what all good men have wished for.”

The Editor of the Every-Day Book has Mr. Watson’s private copies
of these printed tracts, with manuscript additions and remarks on
them by Mr. Watson himself. It should seem from one of these
notes, in his own hand-writing, that his opinions were not wholly
contemned. Regarding his latter discourse, he observes that “the
late Dr. Sharp, archdeacon of Northumberland, in a pamphlet, called
‘A Serious Inquiry into the Use and Importance of External Religion;’
quotes this sentence, “Where unity and peace are disregarded,
devotion must be so too, as it were by natural consequences. I have
borrowed these words from a sermon preached at Halifax, by John
Watson, A. M., which, if any man, who has sixpence to spare, will
purchase, peruse, and lay to heart, he will lay out his time and his
money very well.” Archdeacon Sharp was father of the late Granville
Sharp, the distinguished philanthropist and hebraist.

Mr. Watson was born at Presburg, in Cheshire, and educated at

Brazen Nose college, Oxford, where he obtained a fellowship. He
wrote a History of Halifax, in 2 vols. 4to., 1775; and a History of the
Warren Family, by one of whom he was presented to the rectory of
Stockport, where he died, aged 59 years. He also wrote a review of
the large Moravian hymn book, and several miscellaneous pieces.
There is a portrait of him by Basire.
 By those who believe that Charles was “guiltless of his country’s
blood,” and that the guilt “of his blood” is an entail upon the country
not yet cut off, it may be remarked as a curious fact, that at about
that season, eighty years after the king “bowed his head” on the
scaffold at Whitehall, it was “a very sickly time.” It is recorded, that
in 1733 “people were afflicted this month with a head-ach and fever
which very few escaped, and many died of; particularly between
Tuesday, the twenty-third, and Tuesday, the thirtieth of January,
there died upwards of fifteen hundred in London and
Westminster.”[46] On the twenty-third of January, 1649, the king
having peremptorily denied the jurisdiction of the court, the
president, Bradshaw, “ordered his contempt to be recorded: on the
thirtieth of January he was beheaded.” During these days, and the
intervening ones, the fatal London head-ach prevailed in 1733.

On the second of March, 1772 Mr. Montague moved in the house

of commons to have so much of the act of 12th C. II. c. 30, as
relates to the ordering the thirtieth of January to be kept as a day of
fasting and humiliation, to be repealed. His motive he declared to
be, to abolish, as much as he could, any absurdity from church as
well as state. He said that he saw great and solid reasons for
abolishing the observation of that day, and hoped that it was not too
harsh a name to be given to the service for the observation of that
day, if he should brand it with the name of impiety, particularly in
those parts where Charles I. is likened to our Saviour. On a division,
there being for the motion 97, and against it 125, it was lost by a
majority of 27.

The Calves-head Club.

On the 30th of January, 1735, certain young noblemen and
gentlemen met at a French tavern in Suffolk-street, (Charing Cross,)
under the denomination of the “Calves-head Club.” They had an
entertainment of calves’ heads, some of which they showed to the
mob outside, whom they treated with strong beer. In the evening,
they caused a bonfire to be made before the door, and threw into it
with loud huzzas a calf’s-head dressed up in a napkin. They also
dipped their napkins in red wine, and waved them from the
windows, at the same time drinking toasts publicly. The mob
huzzaed as well as “their betters,”—but at length broke the windows,
and became so mischievous that the guards were called in to
prevent further outrage.[47]
These proceedings occasioned some verses in the “Grub-street
Journal,” wherein are the following lines:—
Strange times! when noble peers secure from riot
Cann’t keep Noll’s annual festival in quiet.
Through sashes broke, dirt, stones and brands thrown at em,
Which, if not scand was brand-alum-magnatum—
Forced to run down to vaults for safer quarters,
And in cole-holes, their ribbons hide and garters.
They thought, their feast in dismal fray thus ending,
Themselves to shades of death and hell descending:
This might have been, had stout Clare-market mobsters
With cleavers arm’d, outmarch’d St. James’s lobsters;
Numsculls they’d split, to furnish other revels,
And make a calves-head feast for worms and devils.
 The Calves-head Club in Suffolk Street,
1734.
There is a print entitled “The true Effigies of the Members of the
Calves-head Club, held on the 30th of January, 1734, in Suffolk
Street, in the County of Middlesex.” This date is the year before that
of the disturbance related, and as regards the company, the health
drinking, huzzaing, a calf’s head in a napkin, a bonfire, and the mob,
the scene is the same; with this addition, that there is a person in a
mask with an axe in his hand. The engraving above is from this
print.
On a work entitled the “History of the Calves-head Club,” little
reliance is to be placed for authenticity. It appears, however, that
their toasts were of this description: “The pious memory of Oliver
Cromwell.” “Damn——n to the race of the Stuarts.” “The glorious
year 1648.” “The man in the mask, &c.” It will be remembered that
the executioner of Charles I. wore a mask.

Oranges and Bells.

A literary hand at Newark is so obliging as to send the
communication annexed, for which, in behalf of the reader, the
editor offers his sincere thanks.
To the Editor of the Every-Day Book.
Sir, Newark, Dec. 10, 1825.
On the 30th of January, the anniversary of king Charles’s
martyrdom, and on Shrove Tuesday, we have a custom here, which I
believe to be singular, having never heard of it elsewhere. On those
days, there are several stalls placed in the market-place, (as if for a
regular market,) having nothing but oranges: you may purchase
them, but it is rarely the case; but you “raffle” for them, at least that
is their expression. You give the owner a halfpenny, which entitles
you to one share; if a penny, to two, and so on; and when there is a
sufficient sum, you begin the raffle. A ball nearly round, (about the
size of a hen’s egg,) yet having twenty-six square sides, each having
a number, being one to twenty-six, is given you: (some balls may
not have so many, others more, but I never saw them.) You throw
the ball down, what I may term, the chimney, (which is so made as
to keep turning the ball as it descends,) and it falls on a flat board
with a ledge, to keep it from falling off, and when it stops you look
at the number. Suppose it was twelve, the owner of the stall uses
this expression, “Twelve is the highest, and one gone.” Then another
throws; if his is a lesser number, they say, “Twelve is the highest,
and two gone;” if a higher number, they call accordingly. The highest
number takes oranges to the amount of all the money on the board.
When they first begin, a halfpenny is put down, then they call “One,
and who makes two?” when another is put down, it is “Two, and
who makes three?” and so on. At night the practice is kept up at
their own houses till late hours; and others go to the inns and
public-houses to see what they can do there.
Also every day, at six in the morning, and night, at eight o’clock,
we have a bell rung for about a quarter of an hour: it is termed six
o’clock and eight o’clock bell. On saint days, Saturdays, and
Sundays, the time is altered to seven o’clock in the morning, and to
seven o’clock at night, with an additional ringing at one o’clock at
noon. Again, at eight o’clock on Sunday morning, all the bells are
tolled round for a quarter of an hour.
I have mentioned the above, that, if they come within the notice
of the Every-Day Book, you would give them insertion, and, if
possible, account for their origin.
Whilst on the subject of “bells,” perhaps you can mention how
“hand bells came into the church, and for what purpose.” We have a
set in this church.
I am, &c.
H. H. N. N.

The editor will be glad to receive elucidations of either of these

usages.
Accounts of local customs are particularly solicited from readers
of the Every-Day Book in every part of the country.

To the notice of this day in the Perennial Calendar, the following

stanzas are subjoined by Dr. Forster. They are evident
“developments” of phrenological thought.
 VERSES ON A SKULL

In a church-yard.

O empty vault of former glory!

Whate’er thou wert in time of old,
Thy surface tells thy living story,
Tho’ now so hollow, dead, and cold,
For in thy form is yet descried
The traces left of young desire;
The Painter’s art, the Statesman’s pride,
The Muse’s song, the Poet’s fire;
But these, forsooth, now seem to be
Mere lumps on thy periphery.
Dear Nature, constant in her laws,
Hath mark’d each mental operation,
She ev’ry feeling’s limit draws
On all the heads throughout the nation,
That there might no deception be;
And he who kens her tokens well,
Hears tongues which every where agree
In language that no lies can tell—
Courage—Deceit—Destruction—Theft—
Have traces on the skullcap left.
But through all Nature’s constancy
An awful change of form is seen,
Two forms are not which quite agree,
None is replaced that once hath been;
Endless variety in all,
From Fly to Man, Creation’s pride,
Each shows his proper form—to fall
Eftsoons in time’s o’erwhelming tide,
And mutability goes on
With ceaseless combination.
’Tis thine to teach with magic power
Those who still bend life’s fragile stem,
To suck the sweets of every flower,
Before the sun shall set to them;
Calm the contending passions dire,
Which on thy surface I descry,
Like water struggling with the fire
In combat, which of them shall die;
 In combat, which of them shall die;
Thus is the soul in Fury’s car,
A type of Hell’s intestine war.
Old wall of man’s most noble par,
While now I trace with trembling hand
Thy sentiments, how oft I start,
Dismay’d at such a jarring band!
Man, with discordant frenzy fraught,
Seems either madman, fool, or knave;
To try to live is all he’s taught—
To ’scape her foot who nought doth save
In life’s proud race;—(unknown our goal)
To strive against a kindred soul.
These various organs show the place
Where Friendship lov’d, where Passion glow’d,
Where Veneration grew in grace,
Where justice swayed, where man was proud—
Whence Wit its slippery sallies threw
On Vanity, thereby defeated;
Where Hope’s imaginary view
Of things to come (fond fool) is seated;
Where Circumspection made us fear,
Mid gleams of joy some danger near.
Here fair Benevolence doth grow
In forehead high—here Imitation
Adorns the stage, where on the Brow
Are Sound, and Color’s legislation.
Here doth Appropriation try,
By help of Secrecy, to gain
A store of wealth, against we die,
For heirs to dissipate again.
Cause and Comparison here show,
The use of every thing we know.
But here that fiend of fiends doth dwell,
While Ideality unshaken
By facts or theory, whose spell
Maddens the soul and fires our beacon.
Whom memory tortures, love deludes,
Whom circumspection fills with dread,
On every organ he obtrudes,
Until Destruction o’er his head
Impends; then mad with luckless strife,
H l h l f lif
 He volunteers the loss of life.
And canst thou teach to future man
The way his evils to repair—
Say, O momento,—of the span
Of mortal life? For if the care
Of truth to science be not given,
(From whom no treachery it can sever,)
There’s no dependance under heaven
That error may not reign for ever.
May future heads more learning cull
From thee, when my own head’s a skull.

There is a parish game in Scotland, at this season of the year,

when the waters are frozen and can bear practitioners in the
diversion. It prevails, likewise, in Northumberland, and other
northern parts of south Britain; yet, nowhere, perhaps, is it so
federalized as among the descendants of those who “ha’ wi’ Wallace
bled.” This sport, called curling, is described by the georgical poet,
and will be better apprehended by being related in his numbers: it
being premised that the time agreed on, or the appointment for
playing it, is called the tryst; the match is called the bonspiel; the
boundary marks for the play are called the tees; and the stones used
are called coits, or quoits, or coiting, or quoiting-stones.
 Now rival parishes, and shrievedoms, keep,
On upland lochs, the long-expected tryst
To play their yearly bonspiel. Aged men,
Smit with the eagerness of youth, are there,
While love of conquest lights their beamless eyes,
New-nerves their arms, and makes them young once more.
The sides when ranged, the distance meted out,
And duly traced the tees, some younger hand
Begins, with throbbing heart, and far o’ershoots,
Or sideward leaves, the mark: in vain he bends
His waist, and winds his hand, as if it still
Retained the power to guide the devious stone,
Which, onward hurling, makes the circling groupe
Quick start aside, to shun its reckless force.
But more and still more skilful arms succeed,
And near and nearer still around the tee,
This side, now that, approaches; till at last,
Two, seeming equidistant, straws, or twigs,
Decide as umpires ’tween contending coits.
Keen, keener still, as life itself were staked,
Kindles the friendly strife: one points the line
To him who, poising, aims and aims again;
Another runs and sweeps where nothing lies.
Success alternately, from side to side,
Changes; and quick the hours un-noted fly,
Till light begins to fail, and deep below,
The player, as he stoops to lift his coit,
Sees, half incredulous, the rising moon.
But now the final, the decisive spell
Begins; near and more near the sounding stones,
Some winding in, some bearing straight along,
Crowd justling all around the mark, while one,
Just slightly touching, victory depends
Upon the final aim: long swings the stone.
Then with full force, careering furious on,
Rattling it strikes aside both friend and foe,
Maintains its course, and takes the victor’s place.
The social meal succeeds, and social glass;
In words the fight renewed is fought again,
While festive mirth forgets the winged hours.—
Some quit betimes the scene, and find that home
Is still the place where genuine pleasure dwells.
 p g p
Grahame.

NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR.
Mean Temperature 36·85.

[44] Clarendon.
[45] Lord Falkland engaged in a thoughtless skirmish and perished in it.
[46] British Chronologist, 177.
[47] Gents. Mag. and Brit. Chron.

January 31.
King George IV. proclaimed.—Holiday at the Exchequer.
Wakes.
A newspaper of this day,[48] in the year 1821, relates the
following anecdote:—
All through Ireland the ceremonial of wakes and funerals is most
punctually attended to, and it requires some sçavoir faire to carry
through the arrangement in a masterly manner. A great adept at the
business, who had been the prime manager at all the wakes in the
neighbourhood for many years, was at last called away from the
death-beds of his friends to his own. Shortly before he died he gave
minute directions to his people as to the mode of waking him in
proper style. “Recollect,” says he, “to put three candles at the head
of the bed, after you lay me out, and two at the foot, and one at
each side. Mind now, and put a plate with the salt on it just a top of
my breast. And, do you hear? have plenty of tobacco and pipes
enough; and remember to make the punch strong. And—but what
the devil is the use of talking to you? sure I know you’ll be sure to
botch it, as I won’t be there myself.”

Mr. John Bull, an artist, with poetical powers exemplified in the

first volume[49] by a citation from his poem entitled “The Museum,”
which deserves to be better known, favours the Every-Day Book with
the following original lines. The conflict between the cross and the
crescent, renders the communication peculiarly interesting to those
who indulge a hope that the struggle will terminate in the liberation
of Greece from “worse than Egyptian bondage.”
 THE RAINBOW IN GREECE.
By Mr. John Bull.
Arch of peace! the firmament
Hath not a form more fair
Than thine, thus beautifully bent
Upon the lighten’d air.
Well might the wondrous bards of yore
Of thee so sweetly sing;
Thy fair foot on their lovely shore
Returning with the spring!
An angel’s form to thee they gave,
Celestial feign’d thy birth,
Saw thee now span the light green wave,
And now the greener earth.
Yet then, where’er thy smile was seen
On land, or billowy main,
Thou seem’d to watch, with look serene,
O’er Freedom’s glorious reign.
Thy brilliant arch, around the sky,
The nurse of hope appear’d,
Sweet as the light of liberty,
Wherewith their souls were cheer’d!
But ah! if thou, when Greece was young,
Didst visit realms above;
Go and return, as minstrels sung
A messenger of love:
What tale, in heaven, hast thou to tell,
Of tyrants and their slaves—
Despots, and soul-bound men that dwell
Without their fathers’ graves!
Oh! when they see thy beauteous bow,
Surround their ancient skies,
Do not the Grecian warriors know,
’Tis then their hour to rise?
Let them unsheath the daring sword,
And, pointing up to thee,
Speak to their men one fiery word,
And march to set them free
Upon thine arch of hope they’d glance
 Upon thine arch of hope they d glance,
And say, “The storm is o’er!
“The clouds are breaking off—advance,
“We will be slaves no more!”

The “Mirror of the Months” represents of the coming month,

that—
Now the Christmas holidays are over, and all the snow in Russia
could not make the first Monday in this month look any other than
black, in the home-loving eyes of little schoolboys; and the streets of
London are once more evacuated of happy wondering faces, that
look any way but straight before them; and sobs are heard, and
sorrowful faces seen to issue from sundry post-chaises that carry
sixteen inside, exclusive of cakes and boxes; and theatres are no
longer conscious or unconscious éclats de rire, but the whole
audience is like Mr. Wordsworth’s cloud, “which moveth altogether, if
it move at all.”

In the gardens of our habitations, and the immense tracts that

provide great cities with the products of the earth, the cultivator
seizes the first opportunity to prepare and dress the bosom of our
common mother. “Hard frosts, if they come at all, are followed by
sudden thaws; and now, therefore, if ever, the mysterious old song
of our school days stands a chance of being verified, which sings of
‘Three children sliding on the ice,
All on a summer’s day!’
Now the labour of the husbandman recommences; and it is pleasant
to watch (from your library-window) the plough-team moving almost
imperceptibly along, upon the distant upland that the bare trees
have disclosed to you.—Nature is as busy as ever, if not openly and
obviously, secretly, and in the hearts of her sweet subjects the
flowers; stirring them up to that rich rivalry of beauty which is to
greet the first footsteps of spring, and teaching them to prepare
themselves for her advent, as young maidens prepare, months
beforehand, for the marriage festival of some dear friend.—If the
flowers think and feel (and he who dares to say that they do not is
either a fool or a philosopher—let him choose between the
imputations!)—if the flowers think and feel, what a commotion must
be working within their silent hearts, when the pinions of winter
begin to grow, and indicate that he is at least meditating his flight.
Then do they, too, begin to meditate on May-day, and think on the
delight with which they shall once more breathe the fresh air, when
they have leave to escape from their subterranean prisons; for now,
towards the latter end of this month, they are all of them at least
awake from their winter slumbers, and most are busily working at
their gay toilets, and weaving their fantastic robes, and shaping their
trim forms, and distilling their rich essences, and, in short, getting
ready in all things, that they may be duly prepared to join the bright
procession of beauty that is to greet and glorify the annual coming
on of their sovereign lady, the spring. It is true none of all this can
be seen. But what a race should we be, if we knew and cared to
know of nothing, but what we can see and prove!”[50]

NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR.
Mean Temperature 39·35.

[48] New Times.

[49] P. 299.
[50] Mirror of the Months.
FEBRUARY.
 When, in the zodiac, the Fish wheel round,
They loose the floods, and irrigate the ground.
Then, husbandmen resume their wonted toil,
Yoke their strong steers, and plough the yielding soil:
Then prudent gard’ners seize the happy time,
To dig and trench, and prune for shoots to climb,
Inspect their borders, mark the silent birth
Of plants, successive, from the teeming earth,
Watch the young nurslings with paternal care,
And hope for “growing weather” all the year.
Yet February’s suns uncertain shine,
For rain and frost alternately combine
To stop the plough, with sudden wintry storms—
And, often, fearful violence the month deforms.

February 1.
Flowers.
A good garden in a sunny day, at the commencement of this
month, has many delightful appearances to a lover of nature, and
issues promises of further gratification. It is, however, in ball-rooms
and theatres that many of the sex, to whose innocence and beauty
the lily is likened, resort for amusement, and see or wear the mimic
forms of floral loveliness. Yet this approach to nature, though at an
awful distance, is to be hailed as an impulse of her own powerful
working in the very heart of fashion; and it has this advantage, that
it supplies means of existence to industry, and urges ingenuity to
further endeavour. Artificial wants are rapidly supplied by the
necessity of providing for real ones; and the wealthy accept drafts
upon conditions which indigence prescribes, till it becomes lifted
above poverty to independence.
The manufacture of artificial flowers is not wholly unknown in
England, but our neighbours, the French, eclipse us in the accuracy
and variety of their imitations. Watering-places abound with these
wonders of their work-people, and in the metropolis there are
depôts, from whence dress-makers and milliners are supplied by
wholesale.

The annexed literal copy of a French flower-maker’s card,

circulated during the summer of 1822 among the London
shopkeepers, is a whimsical specimen of self-sufficiency, and may
save some learners of French from an overweening confidence in
their acquisition of that language, which, were it displayed in Paris,
would be as whimsical in that metropolis as this English is in ours.

M . M A R L O T E A U e t C i e.
Manufacturers from Paris,
37, MONTMORENCY-STREET,

To London 14 Broadstreet,
Oxford street.
Acquaint the Trade in general, that they have

just established in London.

A Warhouse for FRENCH FLOWERS, for each
Season, feathar from hat ladies of their own
Manufacture elegant fans of the NEWEST
TASTE.
And of Manufactures of Paris, complette sets
ornaments for balls, snuff boxes scale gold and
NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR.
silver, boxes toilette, ribbons and embroidered,
Mean Temperature 39·70.
hat et cap, from Ladies of the newest Taste,
China, all sorts, etc.
February 2.
He commit generally the articles from Paris,
Purification, or Candlemas . 1826.—Holiday at the Public Offices.
Manufacturers.
 This day, the festival
And sendof “the
in all Purification
BRITISH CITY. of the Blessed Virgin
Mary,” is sometimes called Christ’s Presentation, the Holiday of St.
Simeon, and The Wives’
Attandance Feasto’Clock
from Nine . An account
in the Morning
of itstillorigin and
celebration is in vol. i. p. 199. A beautiful composition in honour of
the Virgin is added as a five in to
grace thethese
Afternoon.
columns.
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