Canst thou perish in a cloud? With her crown of faithless leaves,- Nor the rose who will decay, While the broad Apollo dips If the jealous rose who died Could have been thy deathless bride, Had not been so false and frail ;- That its hoarse tongue might not say Yet they all shall come again, And the soft west winds shall come, Then shalt thou once more resume B. C. Hips and haws now ornament the hedges. The berries of the bryony and the privet; the barberry, the blackberry, the holly, and the elder, from which an excellent winter wine may be made-with sloes, bullaces, and damsons, are now in great plenty.Blackberries also are ripe in this month, and the collecting of them affords an agreeable pastime to the younger branches of the peasant's family, as well as some small profit to the parents. These are the fruits of the poor; they who are more highly favoured with the gifts of fortune revel on the patrician peach and nectarine, the pine, and the grape, whose purple clusters contrast so beautifully with the dazzling white of the silver epergne. But these transient pleasures, -the rose-crowned bowl,-the smiles of beauty, and music's enchanting voice,-soon, too soon, flit away from our grasp, and leave us nothing but the memories of a former day, those blossoms of the past.' Human life, indeed, may not inaptly be compared to A young vine, whose tendrils lone Embrace some hero's funeral stone: Fixed in a fatal soil, it pines, Even whilst the season sweetest shines; The light of suns and balm of skies; Hour by hour the wan leaves strewing, WIFFEN'S Julia Alpinula. 'During the months of October, November, and December, at the fall of the leaf, insects become less numerous, but many of the Hemiptera may be found in woods, by beating the ferns and underwood, also many very beautiful Tinea and Tortrices; and aquatic insects may be taken in ponds, in great numbers. Roots of grass, decayed trees, &c. may again be resorted to.'-Samouelle's Introduction to British Entomology, p. 316. October, like the preceding month, is generally spent by the sea-side, or in travelling over the varied surface of the United Kingdom. The lakes of Cumberland are an object of great attraction to the lover of the picturesque; the Highlands of Scotland also have a strong claim on his notice, and are frequently visited by our tourists in search of the sublime and romantic scenery of Nature. Scotland, indeed, is eminently entitled to our attention; and whether we take a trip by steam to the modern Athens,' and return by the land-route through the northern counties of England, or extend our journey, and sail on the placid bosom of Loch Katrine, or climb the Alpine heights of Ben Nevis, we shall be amply repaid for the fatigue and expense of the tour. Should any of our friends be tempted to visit the land of cakes,' they will probably meet, in some of its retired villages, with the original of the following minute and pleasing description of the domicile of The VILLAGE DOCTOR. The window-sash with gay green foliage bound, Hops up and down, and plumes his useless wings. That open cupboard, in the corner placed, Has proved the mine from whence he draws his wealth: (Without diploma Peter plies his hand, And scatters fate and physic o'er the land); Here, with'ring herbs on cords suspended swing, While Wesley's recipes teach physic's trade, By knavish charlatans and dreaming fools. With brazen clasps, and clothed in flannel green: On page the first, the date recorded stands When he and Nell were joined in wedlock's bands; Of those who have their nuptial fondness crowned. With horoscopes and hieroglyphic scrawls; A badger, stuffed, stands grinning on the floor; Which, after autumn, in this lonely spot, And wild-ducks in the neighb'ring lake are found: There waves a feather from a peacock's tail: Right in the centre stands a staring owl, Perched on a stuccoed monk, with sable cowl. A rude bench, raised above the window sill, Will feast your eyes, your brain with fragrance fill ;— A mimic green-house to the sight disclose, The above lines are taken from Characters omitted in Crabbe's Parish Register, by Alexander Balfour,' author of Contemplation, and other Poems,' and of the very pleasing Poetical Address,' prefixed to our last volume. These Sketches' we do not hesitate strongly to recommend to the attention of our readers; they exhibit great poetical powers, a fine taste, and a keen perception of the beauties of Nature;-as well as an accurate knowledge of the manners and habits of humble life-and very considerable tact in appreciating the merits and pointing out the defects of those 'Characters' which the poet has so admirably described. Mr. Balfour's book forms an excellent supplement to Mr. Crabbe's Tales,' and deserves to stand on the same shelf with the interesting poems of that excellent writer. NOUEMBER. THIS was named, as the preceding months, according to the station which it occupied in the Romulean calendar; it was the 9th. Diana was its tutelar divinity. The festival of Isis was observed on the 1st of this month, and on the 5th, the Neptunalia. The sign Sagittarius was appropriated to it, denoting the rain which falls in this month, and the hail which shoots like arrows. |