Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

foot, I asked the smith what news?

He told me that there was no news that he knew of, since the good news of the beating of the rogues the Scots I asked him whether there was none of the English taken that joined the Scots? He answered that he did not hear that that rogue Charles Stuart was taken, but some of the others, he said, were taken, but not Charles Stuart. 1 told him that if the rogue were taken he deserved to be hanged for bringing in the Scots. Upon which he said, that I spoke like an honest man, and so we parted."

JULY.

The sun's influence is felt more in July, than when at its greatest northern declination in the summer solstice for the same reason that it is warmer between two and three in the afternoon, than when the sun is on the meridian, the earth and air being then more thoroughly heated by the sun's rays. This sultry month, and its ef. fect on man, beast, and vegetation, are no where described with more truth and beauty than in Thomson's Summer. The parched heath-cleft fields-slippery lawns-cattle standing it the water-dumb meads, were scarce a chirping grasshopper is heard, nor echo answers to the cheerful sound of sharpening scythes; and the mower overpowered, sinking to the earth, and heaping over him humid hay, with flowers perfumed-are simple images, but skilfully selected, and woven together with all the art of ge

nious

Tasso's description, in his 13th Canto, is more powerful, (perhaps distressingly so we pant whilst we read it,) but it belongs exclusively to the summer of another climate. The ancients believed that the excessive heat of this season was occsioned by the joint influnce of the Sun, and Sirius, the most brilliant of the fixed stars, and nearest to our earth, though distant, from it 2, 200, 000, 000,000, miles Our almanack-ma

kers still give the name of Dog-days to the period from the 3d of July to the 11th of August; but it is remarkable that the heliacal rising of Sirius, or its emersion from the sun's rays, does not now take place till the latter end of August. Dr. Darwin calls this star, the fierce dog of Nile,' because its rising was, in Egypt, a time of singular note, as falling on the greatest augmentation of that river; whence it was worshipped by the Egyptians as Anubis, under the form of a man with a dog's head. In Milton, it is intitled the swart star, from its burning and parching property, making every thing it looks on (according to the poets) black, or swarthy.

[ocr errors]

The insect tribe, light and full of soul, are almost the only living creatures that seem to enjoy the blaze of a July sun. There is one, the Hemerobius-perla, a fly of exceeding beauty; it is slender-bodied, of a grassgreen colour,with bright gold-coloured eyes, and four large transparent wings, finely articulated with pale green veins, Its life, as the perfect insect, is of short duration, and it may be found about this time, and towards the decline of summer, on vines or limetrees: we discovered it last year in great profusion on the mulberry, though this, of all the trees in the garden, is the one least frequented by insects, or infested by blight; and, except, the silk-worm, we know of no insect that feeds on its leaves. About the beginning of July a species of fly, supposed to be the Estrus nasalis of Linnæus, proves very tormenting to horses, trying to enter their nostrils and ears, and actually laying their eggs in these organs. Sheep are often seen crowding to dry and dusty places, where they hold their noses close to the ground to escape the Estrus ovis, another species of this tormenting race of insects. In Africa, as Bruce informs us, speaking of a similar fly, the only resource of the shepherd is to leave his rich plains for the sands of Atbara, where he remains with his flocks till the rains are over

this cruel enemy not daring to pur

sue them farther.

[ocr errors]

The Arabs call this fly Zimb, and it is supposed to be the same mentioned in Isaiah, ch. vii. vss 13 and 19, where it is described as taking possession of the disolate valleys, and driving them from thence, as the passage is understood, the cattle who have taken refuge there. At this season, flying ants quit their cells in search of new colonies An ant's nest is composed of male, female, and neuter insects; and it is remarkable that the neuters, who are the labourers, are the only part of the community destitute of wings. What we erroneously call ant's eggs, are the larvae of the ant, which, when they have attained their full growth, inclose themselves in smooth, oval, yellow, silken webs, from whence they emerge a perfect insect. Soloman's description of the ant, that provideth meat in the summer, and gathereth her store in the harvest,' is not applicable to these insects in our climate: modern naturalists have discovered that they lay up no kind of food, but continue dormant the whole of the winter-a kind provision of Providence towards animals, who wauld otherwise perish with hunger during the cold season, when the earth no longer produces the food on which they subsist. The Scarabeus solstitialis, Fern-chaffer, also makes its appearance during this month Of the Caprimulgus or Fern-owl, which feeds on this insect, an accurate observer has remarked, that so punctual is this bird in beginning its song exactly at the close of day, that he has known it more than once or twice strike up just at the report of the Portsmonth evening gun. Swifts bring out their young in July; this bird is the largest of the swallow tribe and leaves us the earliest. It is remarkable for its length, and consequent strength of wing, seldom alighting on the ground, except by accident.

The Swedes call it Ringswala, from the perpetual rings or circles it makes round the scene of its nidification. It has been known to remain 16 hours continually on the wing, in pusuit of flying beetles and

gnats, on which it subsists; indeed its feet are so constituted, and its legs so short, that nothing can be more awkward than this bird's motions on the ground. Buffon observes, that the boys in the island of Zante will take five or six dozen swifts in a day. by getting on an elevated place, and throwing up a hook baited with a feather.

The flowers of July are Narthecium ossifragum, or Lancashire asphodel; Anagallis tenella, or Bog pimpernel; Orchis maculata, or spotted orchis: the three Droseræ, or Sun-dews,with their curious leaves fringed with hair, supporting small drops of a pellucid liquor like dew, which continue even in the hottest part of the day, and shine in the eye of a meridian sun like clustered diamonds. A dead insect is generally found in the folded leaves of this plant; whence it is supposed that it possesses the wonderful property of the Dionæa muscipula, a native of the bogs of Carolina, which, by means of its irritable valves, crushes to death any insect that chances to alight on them.

Poultry moult in July, frogs migrate from their breeding ponds, and flax and hemp are pulled. Bees destroy their drones towards the latter end of the month, though this savage massacre never takes place in a hive deprived of its queen. Fairyrings, as they are called, so common at this season, yet so difficult to be accounted for, are a phenomenon supposed to be electric. Dr. Darwin has a learned note on this subject in his Botanic Garden. In a passage of the TEMPEST, full of poetry and exquisite fancy, Shakspeare attributes them to his fairy clves, that

By moonshine on the green sour ringlets make,

Whereof the ewe not bites.

STANZAS,

BY MRS. CORNWELL BARON WILSON. Yes! once, I own, the festive dance

And midnight ball had charms for me; But, 'twas the magic of thy glance That brighten'd all the revelry.

For, then I press'd thy yielding hand,
And gaily led thy steps along,
The loveliest of the lovely band,
The envy of the glitt'ring throng.

But Now, in scenes like these, I mourn;
They but remind my throbbing brain,
And aching heart, by anguish torn,

Of hopes that cannot bloom again. Mem'ry may bring, where'er I rove, Traces of joys that once have been; But, 'tis the smile of those we love, That breathes a magic o'er each scene.

Indiff'rent now I seek the spot

Where beauty woos at ev'ry gaze; It but reminds me of the lot

That has been mine in happier days. So the gay sun-beams pour their light Upon the hopeless mourner's head, Whom Fortune has deprived of sight, And curse him with the warmth they

shed.

Then, ask no more, when, 'mid the dance,

With careless step and vacant eye, Thou see'st me heedlessly advance, And hear'st my bosom's half-hush'd sigh,

Where all seem blest, why thus I move Regardless of each form I see :Thine eyes, that warm'd my heart to love,

No longer beam with hope for me.

THE COTTAGE

IN WHICH I WAS BORN.

On the green shady banks by the Trent's silver side,

Where the nightingale sings on the thorn,

Encircl'd by willows that droop o'er the tide,

Stands the cottage in which I was born.

How oft in my childhood I wander'd astray,

Where the cowslips the meadows adorn, And with garlands return'd at the close of the day,

To the cottage in which I was born.

With transport I then ev'ry blessing beheld,

For plenty was there with her horn; And peace, and contentment continually dwell'd,

In the cottage in which I was barn.

But happiness fled when my fond mother died;

When from her embrace I was torn: "Oh! let me expire, with mother," I cry'd,

In the cottage in which I was born.

And, ah! my poor father no longer looks gay,

He constantly wept o'er her urn;
Till grief and affliction had worn him

away,

In the cottage in which. was born.

On his widow'd couch he reclined his head,

With sadness and sorrow outworn; How I begg'd for his life as I hung round his bed!

In the cottage in which I was born.

But all was in vain, for his moments had fled,

And he saw me an orphan forlorn; "Heaven bless my lov'd child!" cry'd my dear dying dad,

In the cottage in which I was born.

My trouble increased with every day, My distress could no longer be born; When the fiends of oppression, seiz'd fast on their prey,

On the cottage in which I was born. Those wicked usurpers now on me look cold,

But I

treat their contumely with

[blocks in formation]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

HEZEKIAH, he speaks of the "saints and angels" as

His fellow citizens immortality; tells him to

Live blest above,almost invok❜d below; and in fine, calls him

The best and best-belov'd of kings. To this extremity of adulation he seems so entirely to have subjected his habits and even his conscience, that in the latter part of his life, when he publicly repents, in that noble Ode on the Death of ANNE KILLIGREW; the ribaldry of which he had been guilty, he not only is silent about his former flattery, but loads the deceased with all the laurels of ancient and modern genius, and says that she shall be at the head of the sacred poets on the day of judgment.

FARMS." It appears, that within the last 40 years, there has been monopolized and consolidated upwards of 40,000 small into large farms, to the destruction of so many families, besides cottagers dependant on them; but, if calculated at 30,000, then their annual produce in live stock only, would, on the lowest possible average, stand thus:-60,000 calves, 300,000 lambs, 300,000 pigs. 600,000 chickens, and 4,500,000 pounds of butter; besides milk, cheese, eggs, geese, ducks, turkeys, and pigeons. Since the small farms have been consolidated into large ones, it is believed scarcely one-fourth of the live-stock is produced; and very probably not more than threefourths of grain and hay. Besides the small farmer, the cottagers which were attached to them generally raised some live-tock."-ESSEX HERALD SEPT. 25, 1800.

Wit's Nunchion.

NELSON IN PARTNERSHIP-A veteran tar reading the account of the failure of the attack on Boulogne, in 1804, signed Nelson and Bronte, thus

addressed his messmate-"I say Ben, do you know who this Bronte is that Nelson has got hold of?"-" No," replied the other, "all I can say is, that I think he is a d-d fool for taking a partner, begging his pardon : for depend upon it, nobody will ever do so well as Nelson himself." They were now joined by a third, and they were long debating who this Bronte could be at last it was determined that he must be some soldier who was to assist in a descent on the enemy's cost: but nothing, in their opinion, could exonerate the hero of the Nile from taking a partner!

:

ABSENCE One of our most celebraded living Poets, occasionally a little absent of mind, was invited by a friend, whom he met in the street, to dine with him on the next Sunday, at a country lodging he had taken for the summer months. The address was "Near the Green Man, at Dulwich," which, not to put his inviter to the trouble of pencilling down, our bard promised faithfully to remember. But when Sunday came, he, fully late enough, made his way to Greenwich, and began inquiring for the sign of the Dull Man! No such sign was to be found; and, after losing an hour, a person guessed that, though there was no Dull Man at Greenwich, there was a Green Man at Dulwich, which the gentleman might posssibly mean! This remark connected the broken chain, and our Poet took his chop by himself.

[ocr errors][merged small]

when he received it, that it had but one seal, he refused to take charge of it, saying. that the regulations ordered him to walk his horse with such a dispatch; and as he had another, with which he was ordered to gallop, he could not possibly take them both!"

A Hir-At the close of a sily book, the author, as usual, printed the word rata, with the following couplet:— FINIS-A wit put this among the er "FINIS!—an error or a lie, my friend! "In writing foolish books,—there is no end."

TO CORRESPONDENTS. ALTHOUGH Vito's last two or three communications have not exactly suited us, we have a sensible recollection of former favours, and hope to hear from him again, upon some other subject.→ We condole with Hugo, but can offer no other consolation than such as he may extract from the old song :

"Every island is a prison,

Strongly guarded by the sea; England's monach, for that reason, Pris'ner is as well as we."

Any thing from G. Sneyd is sure to be acceptable. When we have made a few transcripts from his friend's common-place book, we will carefully return it to his retreat "under the greenwood tree." The subject of Col. Carlos, he will find, has not been neglected. We shall find a corner for "The Box of Relics" forthwith. Pangloss has not exactly "overstocked" us, but he must not be impatient if his Poems are delayed a few weeks. His reply to J. C's "Defence of Smoking" is spirited, and would only lead to farther discussion, in sufficiently caustic, but as its insertion

which most of our readers would take no interest, we must beg to drop the subject.

RECEIVED:-Zamon Zag and Al

phus.

LONDON---Printed and Published by T. Wallis Camden Town; and also Published by C. Harts, Bow Street, Covent Garden, by whom tom MIDTERTIONE for the Editor are received: Dunbar, Wych Street Drury Lane; and Archer, Berwick Street, Sohvi

« ForrigeFortsæt »