Star.
London, England, 1822-12-14 00:00:00

SONNET TO AN OLD BLIND FIDDLER.

Poor wanderer! what a weary lot is thine:
In darkness rambling all the country round,

Depending for subsistence on a sound,
From those who may a patient ear incline
To thy rude minsttelsy! With many a line
Time's touch hath carv'd thy brow—thy had h Crown'd
With his grey chaplet; while thy scant attire
Seems ill adapted to resist the ire
Of brumal blasts. Yet like a sunny gleam,
When the brisk gale bids gloomy clouds retire,
That dings a lustre o'er the streandet's breast,
Upon thy countenance Contentment's light
Diffuses such a cheerful glow, one might
Deem no misfortune did thy lot molest!

HAFIZ.

CHRISTMAS IN GERMANY.

Of Christmas, as it is kept in the North of Ger-
many, we have a pleasing description by Mr. COLE..
RIDGE. Writing from Ratzeburg, he says, " There
is a Christmas custom here which pleased and inte-
rested me. The children make little presents to their
parents, and to each other; and the parents to the
children. For three or four months before Christmas
the girls are all busy, and the boys save up their
pocket-money, to make or purchase these presents.—
What the present is to be is cautiously kept secret,
and the girls have a world of contrivances to conceal
it—such as working when they are out on visits and
the others are not with them ;,getting up in the morn-
ing before daylight, &c. Then on the evening be-
fore Christmas day, one of the parlours is lighted up
by the children, into which the parents must not go:.
a great yzw bough is fastened on the table at a little
distance from the wall; a multitude of little tapers
are fastened in the bough, but not so as to burn it, till
they are nearly burnt ont, and coloured paper, &c.
hangs and flatters from the twigs. Under this bough
the children lay out in great order the presents they
me in for their parents, still concealing in their pockets
ss hat they intend for each other. Then the parents are
introduced, and each present, his little gift : they then
bring out the I e.t one by one from their pockets, and
present them with kisses and embraces. Where I
witnessed tin, scene, the:e were eight or nine children,
an I the eldest daughter and mother wept aloud for
joy and tenderne,s; and the tears ran down the face
of the father, who clasped all his children so tight to
his breast, it seemed as if he did it to stifle the sob
that was rising within him. The shadow of the bough
and its appendages on the wall, and arching over on
the ceiling, made a pretty lacture: and then the rap-
ture, of the very little ones, when at last the twigs
Wild their needles began to take fire and snap—Oh, it
was a delight for them !—On the next day, in their
great parlour, the parents lay out on the table the
precuts for the children : a scene of more sober joy
succeeds, as on. this day, after an old custom, the
mother says privately to each of her daughters, and
the father to his sons, that which he has observed as
most.praiscworthy, and that which was most faulty'
in their conduct. Formerly, and still in all the small
tow as and villages throughout North Germany, these
pre_ents were sent by all the parents to some one fel-
low, who in high buskins, a white robe, a mask, and
an enormous flaxen wig, personates Knecht Rupert,
e. the servant Rupert. On Christmas night he goes
rourd to, every hou e, and says, Cultist,
bis Master, sent him thither: The parents and elder
children receive him with great reverences while the
little ones are terribly frightened. lie then inquires
for the children, and, according to the character
which he hears from the parent, he gives them the
intended present, as if they came ont of heaven."

Mr. Durand, in his I oyage to Scitegal.relates that the 1
1
crew of a French vessel,which had art iveLtin the river '
of St.Uomingo, ou the coat :if Alt ica, obsetved an ele-
pliant sticking in the mud in such a manner that he 1
could not disengage himself. The sailors thought that '
it would be ea •y to take him, and accordingly fired '
muskets at him,s'hich did not kill him, but put 'him in I
a rage. They could nut get near enough to spear him, '
and being little accustomed to this sort of hunting,they I
did not know the parts where lie might be wounded 1
with the greatest etfect. The elephant could neither '
run away from nor approach his assailants; he there- '
fore, in despair, took up the mud with his ti unk, and
threw it in such quantities into the ship,that the sailors
were obliged to itv.• their vessel off. As the tide set in,
they observed the elephant disengage himself, and I
sty im to shore.
Last night an Inquiiition was taken at the" Grave .
Maurice," Whitechapel-road, on the body of Thomas
Quce, aged four years. The mother of the deceased
said she had gone out on Thursd7ty evening about
five o'clock, to a neighbouring shop, fot half a pint of
oil, leaving hini in doors, and cantinning him not to
go out. She had Lot been many minutes away. At
her return she was alarmed at the screams of a child,
who was ci ying seemingly in great agony, and call-
ing out—Oh ! mamma! m.imma! and soon she dis-
covered that these screams proceeded from the de-
ceased, whom she met in the lane, carried by a neigh-
bour, wrapped up in a blanket, who was taking him
to a doctor's; and who informed her she had found
him envelo;:ed in flames. She instantly ran with him
to the London Hopital, and he there died about
twelve o'clock yesterday forenoon. Them was a little
fire in her, own town when she went out, and the
deceased was the only person in the house at the
time ; but she could not say how he became on file.
Verdict—" Accidental death by burning."
Another inqucst was taken at the same place, on
the body of IVilliam Cozens, aged 51.. Ann Cozens,
of No. 17, Whit Cs-row, Spital6elds, is wife of the
deceased. Ile was employed on last ,Tuesday fort-,
night in the dye-house of Mr. Hughes, of Bunhill-
row, and was standing with his back to a copper,.in
which one of the men was emptying some boiling
water, when a part of it accidentally dashed on de-
ceased's thigh and legs. 11e worked from the Tues•
day until the Saturday following, when he got an
out-patient's ticket for the London Hospital; but on
his applying thew, it was found necessary to take
him into the house. He became an inmate of the
Hospital, and lingered there in the most excruciating
torture until yesterday morning, when he expired.
She was not -present at the accident, but had the
above statement from the deceased's own lips a short
time before death sealed his eyes. Verdict—" The
deceased came to his death by accident, in come-
queace of being scalded."