.u.v National Library of Scotland *B000444683* u/i-i?. THE LADIES' EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. JAX. TO DEC. 1877. VOL. III. NEW SERIES. THE EDINBURGH PUBLISHING COMPANY, 22 HOWE STREET. donttnts. Acrostics, Double, 33, 65, 98, 130,163, 193, 224, 258, 291,322, 352, 382 After the Rain, by Crocus Foster Leigh, .... 241 Alcestis : a Tale of Self-sacritice, by Oi-atia, .... 242 -^.Austen, Jane (Our Female Nuveli.sts), by A. Dundas, . 261 Birthday Wishes, bv L-sdiii W. Melland, .... 55 Blue Eo'ses (Our Library Table), 225 -«Burney, Miss (Our Female Novelists), l)y Eiina, ... 69 Bv the Seaside, by Suburbana, ..... 46, 76, 111 " Carrots :" Just a Little Boy (Our Library Table), . 35 Christinas in Christiania, by C. Ray, 1 "Commit thy way unto the Lord," by Crocus Foster Leigh, . Ill Contraband, by Mrs R. O. Leslie, . ' 127 Corresponding Students, Exiierieiices of, .... 347 Corsica, Try (Where shall we Go 0, by E. M. D., . 249 Dark Days, by .Joan Scott, ....... Debates of the Ladies'Edinburgh Ijiterary Society, . 30 Domestic Art, by E. J. O., .' . '. 23 ' Drive to Fortobello, A, by S. M., 187 Edelraute ; or, Five and Twenty Years Ago at the Aclien See, bv Catherine Ray, . " . ■■ . 148, 182, 203 -—Edgeworth, Miss (Our Female No\elists), by Gratia, 325 Edinburgh Past and Present (Our Library Table), . 99 Edinburgh University Local Examinations, Notes on the, ty A. Dundas, 305 Experiences of Corresponding Students, 347 - Female Novelists, Our, 37, 69, 101,133,165, 197, 229, 261, 293, 325, 357 ;> Ferrier, Miss (Our Female Novelists), by L. Dundas, . 293 Great St Beiiedictus, &c. (Our Library Tabile), . 194 Helvellyn (Where shall we Go ?), by L. Dundas, . 283 Higher Education of Women in Scotland, The (L & II.), by L. R., 7,56 „ „ „ (III.), by An Old Student, 87 Home, by Duma;, 215 Homely Words for Young Women and Girls (Our Library Table), 67 House-Hunting in London, by Estelle, 14 .—Inchbald, Mrs (Our Female Novelists), by Jane Meiizies,_ . 165 In Memoriam—E. H. M., ' . 69 Johnykin and the Goblins (Our Library Table), ... 6 Joshua Haggart's Daughter (Our Library Table), ... 35 Hjf^ngslev, Chailes (Our Library Table), 131 Library'Table, Our, . 34, 67, 99, 131, 163. 194, 225, 258, 353 Log Letters from the " Challenger" (Our Library Table), . 226 Lucca, To, (Where shall we Go'/), by M. S., . 378 Madcap Violet (Our Library Table), 67 Marquis of Lossie, The (Our Library Table), .... 353 IV Contents. I'AGk Mary Crudelius, by E. H., 319 Miss in the Kitclieii (Our Library Table), 259 j^Mitlord, Mary Russell (Our Female Novelists), by Elizabeth L. Seton, ...... 357 Monk's Vision, The, by Jessie P. Moncrieti', . 214 Month in Granada, A, by C. Ray, . 122 ——^lore, Mrs Hannah (Our Female Novelists), by L. Dundas, . 101 o—^Morgan, Lady (Our Female Novelists), by Jeanie Morison, . 229 Mrs Carrington Jones' jMagic '\\^atcli, by Nono, ... 16 Musical Notes, by Gail)each, 159 New Poem and an Old Story, A, bv E. J. 0., ... 139 Our Library Table, . 34, 67, 99, 131, 163, 194, 225, 258, 353, 382 Our Scotch Cousin, bv Crocus Foster Leigh, .... 277 Our Trip to Blnnderland (Our Librarv Table), . 382 —Porter, The Sisters (Our Fenude Novelists), by Martyn Hay, 197 r~Radcliffe, Mrs (Our Female Novelists), . " . " . " . 37 Records of tlie Coinage of Scotland (Our Library Table), . 34 Sermons for the Christian Year (Our Library Table), . 258 Sir Arthur's Inheritance, by Annibal, . " . 309, 340, 369 Skye ! Let us go to (Where shall we Go ?), by Jane F. Stuart, 331 Song, by Margaret Thomas, 305 S(jnnet—To * * *, by Estelle, 339 Stray Notes, 36, 68, 100, 132, 164, 195, 228, 259, 291, 322, 355, 383 Three Sculptors, The, bv Lvdia W. Melland, .... 220 Tripp's Buildings (Our Library Table), . 163 Virginia (Our Library Table), 259 Western Islands, Among the, bv Charlotte Carmichael, . 174 " What is a Word r'bv Annibal, 173 Where shall we Go ? ",.... 249,283,331,378 Work and Love, bv L. G. C, 277 AVorking and Selling (Our Liljrarv Table), .... 382 Young Girl, To a, by M. Reid, " 220 THE LADIES' EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. WHILE good people in England are celebrating Christmas with the usual concomitants of prize cattle, plum-pudding, mince-pies, Christmas cards, holly, mistletoe, Christmas trees, and Christmas boxes, and society is fermented through and through with an atmosphere of benevolence which finds expression in Christmas gifts, dinners to orphans, suppers to outcasts, and indulgences meted out even to the pauper and the criminal, it is pleasant to see how all this, and even more, is being done in a foreign land. In this modern offspring of ancient Oslo, this young northern capital—where education, science, art, commerce, and politics (in a mild, unrevolutionary form) have impulses almost as strong, if the competition is by no means so great, as in larger metropolitan cities—the offerings at the shrine of Old Father Christmas, and the festive wreaths that encircle the head of the New Year, as it arises from the cerements of its predecessor, are perhaps more numerous and more absorb- ing than with us in England. The influence of advancing civilization is levelling our enjoyments; as it levels classes, sexes, sects, and, to a certain degree, even intellect itself. In Norway, where luxury has crept only over the higher pinnacles of society, leaving the valleys and mid-heights as yet unenlightened by its artificial rays, these old- fashioned periods of high festival reign with the undis- puted sway they held in Great Britain long years ago. For six or seven weeks before Yuletid,iai' back into November, in every well-to-do family busy fingers have been working according to their means, manufacturing gifts not only for No. 1.—JANUARY 1877. A 2 The Ladies Edinburgh Magazine. each individual member of the home circle, but for friends beyond it: a task entailing an amount of labour and indoor confinement that would be irksome in the extreme to such lovers of fresh air and outdoor exercise as the women of Great Britain are known to be. These presents have mostly to be executed by stealth, when the future recipient is out of the house or asleep. The greater the amount of finger-labour bestowed on them, the higher is their value in the eyes of both giver and receiver. What patterns for slippers, cushions, and chairs; what magnificence of design for braces, cloak-straps, otto- mans, and bags; what ingenious application of woolwork and beadwork, to every possible use and article, have streamed over here from the warehouses of Paris and Berlin! Dainty baskets witness how much beauty can be wormed out of straw; while delicate ruffs and cuffs move the hearts of the feminine portion of the community who stand round the drapers' windows of Karl Johann and Kirkegade with as sudden jog, and as torturing envy, as stir the morning promenaders of Eegent Street and Oxford Street. Here, too, the husbands, fathers, lovers, and brothers hurry along the pavement with a quickness of pace, and a directness of aim, that bespeak the same inward convic- tion of the gins and snai-es being laid for the contents of their trousers' j^ockets, and a determination to avoid them as long as possible, as characterises the long-suffering male population at home. Housewives and mothers have even deeper cares. All the mysteries of Ytdehager are pressing on their minds. "Fattigmand's-hakkelscr" literally, " poor man's bakeries;" "Goderaads," "good advice," of which one soon takes in enough to last a lifetime; " Fire species," "iouv species," meaning equal quantities of sugar, flour, butter, and almonds; " Peberkager" " gingerbread," with some real pepper in them; " Flodekager," " cream-cakes," and otlier varieties too numerous to mention, hang round them, in addition to other Christmas fare, and the necessities of ordinary eating. While Frdkemn'^ stitches away over muslin and canvas, Fruen ^ stands seething in the sweat of her brow, by the kitchen stove, upheld by the proud consciousness that the reward of her labours will be found in the approval of friends and neighbours. A savoury smell pervades every fiat, presses out into the passages, down the public staircases, and even into the streets, where odours of baking and browning meet one in whiffs, pleasant enough to 1 The young lady, Miss.. ^ Mrs, or the lady of the house. Christmas in Christimiia. 3 set the heart of an anchorite sinfully longing for the flesh-pots of Egypt. Alas, as days and' weeks roll on, and one becomes the daily and hourly beholder of Fattigmand's- lalikelser—the consumer, nolens volens, of Fattigmand's- baJJcelser, as Fattigmand presents himself in morning calls and afternoon visits, at lunch, dinner, and supper, at home and abroad, at the confectioners and the restaurants, on the stands at the street corners, and in the cellars beneath the pavement—it demands all the patriotism of a born Norwegian not to tire, thus sated, more than satisfied, with the charms of Fattigmand} Nothing equals it but our own enthusiasm for roast-beef and plum-pudding. As December moves on, and the 20th or 21st is come, one believes a second Birnam Wood has arrived at Dunsinane, viz., that a fir-grove has really moved bodily from the hills around into the streets of Christiania. It is a study to watch the countenances of the different buyers, as they stand among the fir-trees, each fitted into a stand of two cross-pieces of deal, and ranging at prices varying from twopence to a shilling. Here a tall bony coachman, with a handsome bear-skin cap and collar over his livery, from one of the villas in the environs, carries off a giant, ten or fourteen feet high, for the children of wealth and luxury.