صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

ries afford food for the graminivorous birds, as the ring-dove, &c. Earth-worms lie out on the ground, and the shell-snail (helix némoralis) appears. See some lines to the snail in T. T. for 1818, p. 23.

The utility of worms in manuring the soil is so obvious, that perhaps we might venture to say that land frequented by them in any number could hardly be barren; they not only draw into their holes from the surface decayed vegetable matter, which thus rots and nourishes the roots of plants, but the substance which they eat is returned from their bodies (forming what is called 'worm casts') in a state peculiarly fitted for vegetable aliment; this being pulverized by frosts, and washed in by rains, is readily received into circulation; and as worms cast almost every night in the year, except during hard frosts, they produce a never failing supply of this manure. Worms are furnished with small inverted spines upon the under surface of their bodies, enabling them to draw various light substances into their holes. It is admirable to observe the economy of Nature in keeping creation in due limits, and the provision she makes for the removal of encumbrances; trees, which from their magnitude appear indestructible by less than human violence, we yet find are by the agency of a seemingly feeble race speedily consumed: the several species of lucanus, cerambyx, vespa, ptinus, &c. clear away these forest wrecks, reducing them to dust, which serves as oil for the production and support of other vegetation. If we lift up the bark of an old tree, what a colony of labourers we disturb '!

In this month, the flowers of the rosemary (rosmarinus officinalis) begin to open; the winter aconite (helleborus hiemalis) and the bear's foot (h. fœtidus), are in flower about the middle of the month; the mezereon (daphne m.) 'breathes mild its early

1 Note to Arthur, a Poem, p. 84.

sweets;' and the red dead-nettle (lamium purpureum) flowers under the shelter of southern hedges. The snowdrop (galanthus nivalis) seems on the point of blowing.

The common creeping crowfoot (ranunculus repens) is now in flower; and the crocus, if the weather be mild, appears above ground. Ivy' casts its leaves; the catkin, or male blossom of the hazel (corylus avellana), unfolds; the flowers of the holly (ilex aquifolium) begin to open; and the leaves of the honeysuckle (lonicera periclymenum) are quite out. Towards the end of January, the daisy (bellis perennis) is in full bloom.

The china rose (rosa chinensis and rosa semperflorens), till lately unknown to us, and at first considered only as a greenhouse plant, is now seen in blow in the open air, even in the month of December, often with its red buds mossed with frost. The wallflower (cheiranthus), periwinkle (vinca, major & minor), and heart's-ease (viola tricolor), are still in blow. Many names have been given to that univer

1

Hast thou seen, in winter's stormiest day,

The trunk of a blighted oak,

Not dead, but sinking in slow decay

Beneath time's resistless stroke,

Round which a luxuriant ivy had grown,

And wreathed it with verdure no longer its own?
Perchance thou hast seen this sight, and then,
As I, at thy years might do,

Passed carelessly by, nor turned again

That scathed wreck to view.

But now I can draw, from that mould'ring tree,
Thoughts which are soothing and dear to me.

O smile not! nor think it a worthless thing,
If it be with instruction fraught;

That which will closest and longest cling
Is alone worth a serious thought!
Should aught be unlovely which thus can shed
Grace on the dying, and leaves on the dead?

B. BARTON.

sal favourite, the heart's ease, among which is 'Love in Idleness,' thus accounted for, by the poet:

It was at the noontide hour,
A Lady reposed in a bower;
Where, shaded between
The branches of green,

Blossomed and blushed a fair flower;

Not a pinion was moved, nor a breeze was heard,
As with curious hand the lady stirred

The leaves of this unknown flower.

She saw in its cradling bloom
A Cherub with folding plume;
And a bow unstrung,

And arrows, were flung

O'er the cup of this opening flower;
And the lady fancied she much had need
Of the light of his wakening eyes, to read
The name of this unknown flower.

She placed it too near to her breast,
And the cherub was charmed from his rest;
Then he winged a dart

At the lady's heart,

From the leaves of this treacherous flower.

"Ah! cruel child,' said the lady; ' I guess,

Too late, that Love in Idleness

Is the name of this unknown flower','

The golden saxifrage, called also golden moss, and stonecrop (chrysoplenium), in the absence of other flowers, affords its little aid to give life and beauty to the garden. The bramble (rubus fruticosus) still retains its leaves, and gives a thin scattering of green in the otherwise leafless hedges; while the berries of the hawthorn, the wild rose, and the spindle-tree, afford their brilliant touches of red. The twigs of the red dog-wood, too, give a richness amid the general brown of the other shrubs.

Hunting and shooting are among the favourite amusements of this season. Skating, also, is much practised by young persons.

'See T. T. for 1817, pp. 152-154, for further observations on this flower, and some poetical tributes.

In this month, the farmer carries out manure to his fields, and repairs quickset hedges; taking advantage of the dry and hard ground, during frost. The barn resounds with the flail, barley being now threshed for malting. He lops forest trees, and cuts timber for winter use. About the end of the month, in dry weather, peas and beans are sown, and vetches for seed or fodder. Hogs are killed for bacon, and beef and hams are smoked.

A WINTER VIEW of the SEA.

Above, one cloud,

Black and unbroken all the skies o'ershrowd;

The unwieldy porpoise through the day before,
Had rolled in view of boding men on shore;
And sometimes hid, and sometimes showed his form,
Dark as the cloud, and furious as the storm.
All where the eye delights, yet dreads to roam,
The breaking billows cast the flying foam
Upon the billows rising-all the deep

Is restless change; the waves so swelled and steep,
Breaking and sinking, and the sunken swells,
Nor one, one moment, in its station dwells;
But nearer land you may the billows trace,
As if contending in their watery chase;
May watch the mightiest till the shoal they reach,
Then break and hurry to their utmost stretch;
Curled as they come, they strike with furious force,
And then re-flowing, take their grating course,
Raking the rounded flints, which ages past
Rolled by their rage, and shall to ages last.

FEBRUARY.

CRABBE.

SOME etymologists derive February from Februa, an epithet given to Juno, as the Goddess of Purification; while others attribute the origin of the name to Februa, a feast held by the Romans in this month, in behalf of the manes of the deceased. further illustrations of the subject in our last volume, p. 45.

See

Remarkable Days

In FEBRUARY 1821.

2.-PURIFICATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN
MARY.

THIS festival is of high antiquity, and the antient christians observed it by using a great number of lights; in remembrance, as it is supposed, of our blessed Saviour's being declared by Simeon to be a light to lighten the Gentiles; hence the name of Candlemas Day. It is also called Christ's Presentation,' 'the Holiday of Saint Simeon,' and, in the north of England, the Wives' Feast-Day.'See T. T. for 1814, p. 28, for 1815, p. 43, and the Portuguese hymn to the Virgin Mary in our volume for 1819, p. 36.

3.-SAINT BLASE.

He was Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia, and suffered martyrdom in 316, under the persecution of Licinius, by command of Agricolaus, governor of Cappadocia and the Lesser Armenia. No other reason than the great devotion of the people to this celebrated martyr of the church, seems to have given occasion to the woolcombers to choose him the titular patron of their profession; and his festival is still kept by them at Norwich, and also at Doncaster, with a solemn guild. Perhaps the iron combs, with which he is said to have been tormented, gave rise to this choice. For an account of the anniversaries of the different trades at Montpellier, in France, see T. T. for 1818, p. 29.

*4. 1819.-G. H. HARLOW DIED,

Portrait and Historical Painter: he was in the bloom of life, and possessed a genius for the art of painting, which, it is no extravagant panegyric to say, had few equals, and still fewer living superiors. His best known pieces are Hubert and Prince Arthur, shown at the British Gallery; and the splen

« السابقةمتابعة »