3d. St. Genevieve. Persian Fleur-de-lis. Iris Persica. Hazel. Stn. St. Simeon Stylites. The late Dr. Clarke mentions in his "Travels," that as he was "one day leaning out of the cabin window, by the side of an officer who was employed in fishing, the corpse of a man, newly sewed in a hammock, started half out of the water, and continued its course, with the current, towards the shore. Nothing could be more horrible its head and shoulders Screw Moss. Tortula rigida. were visible, turning first to one side, then to the other, with a solemn and awful movement, as if impressed with some dreadful secret of the deep, which, from Yellow Tremella. Tremella deliquescens its watery grave, it came upwards to reveal." Dr. Ferriar observes, that " in a certain stage of putrefaction, the bodies of persons which have been immersed in water, rise to the surface, and in deep water are supported in an erect posture, to the terror of uninstructed spectators. Menacing looks and gestures, and even words, are supplied by the affrighted imagination, with infinite facility, and referred to the horrible apparition." This is perfectly natural; and it is easy to imagine the excessive terror of extreme ignorance at such appearances. 6th. St. Nilammon. 7th. St. Kentigern. Portugal Laurel. Prunus Lusitanica. 8th. St. Gudula. In the "Flora Domestica" there is a beautiful quotation from Cowley, in proof that the emperor Dioclesian preferred his garden to a throne: Methinks I see great Dioclesian walk I see him smile, methinks, as he does talk 46 If I, my friends," said he," should to you All the delights which in these gardens grow, To the author of the "Flora Domestica," and to the reader who may not have seen a volume so acceptable to the cultivator of flowers, it would be injustice to extract from its pages without remarking its usefulness, and elegance of composition. Lamenting that "plants often meet with an untimely death from the ignorance of their nurses, the amiable author" resolved to obtain and to communicate such information as should be requisite for the rearing and preserving a portable garden in pots;-and hence forward the death of any plant, owing to the carelessness or ignorance of its nurse, shall be brought in at the best as plantslaughter." "9 • The cultivation of plants commences with our infancy. If estranged from it by the pursuits of active life, yet, during a few years' retirement from the "great hum" of a noisy world, we naturally recur to a garden as to an old and cheerful friend whom we had forgotten or neglected, and verify the saying, 66 once a man, and twice a child." There is not one of woman born" without a sense of pleasure when he sees buds bursting into leaf; earth yielding green shoots from germs in its warm bosom; white fruitblossoms, tinted with rose-blushes, standing out in clumps from slender branches; 66 flowers courting the look by their varied loveliness, and the smell by their delicacy; large juicy apples bowing down the almost tendril-shootswherefrom they miraculously spring; plants of giant growth with multiform shrubs beyond, and holly-hocks towering like painted pinnacles from hidden shrines : 66 Can imagination boast, 'Mid all its gay creation, charms like these î Dr. Forster, the scientific author of a treatise on Atmospheric Phenomena," and other valuable works, has included numerous useful observations on the weather in his recently published "Perennial Calendar," a volume replete with instruction and entertainment. He observes, in the latter work, that after certain atmospheric appearances on this day in the year 1809, "a hard and freezing shower of hail and sleet came with considerable violence from the east, and glazed every thing on which it fell with ice; it incrusted the walls, encased the trees and the garments of people, and even the plumage of birds, so that many rooks and other fowls were found lying on the ground, stiff with an encasement of ice. Such weather," Dr. Forster observes, "has been aptly described by Philips as occurring oftentimes during a northern winter: Ere yet the clouds let fall the treasured snow, 46 It may be observed, that in both the above descriptions of similar phenomena, the east wind is recorded as bringing up The cracking wood beneath the tempest bends, Philips, Lett. from Copenhagen. the storm. There is something very remarkably unwholesome in east winds and a change to that quarter often di turbs the nervous system and digestive organs of many persons, causing headaches, fevers, and other disorders. More over, a good astronomical observation cannot be made when the wind is east: the star seems to oscillate or dance about in the field of the telescope." Sir, the north-east, more fierce than Russian cold, That checks the heart, and soul, and mind, and strength, Up with the double window-sashes—quick! And stop the keyhole tight-the wind-fiend comes! January 20. St. Fabian, Pope. St. Sebastian. This saint is in the church of England calendar; he was bishop of Rome, a. D. 250 the Romish calendar calls him pope. In the truth of these observations as regards health, he who writes this is unhappily qualified to concur from expe rience; and were it in his power, would ever shun the north-east as his most fearful enemy. St. Sebastian's Day Is noted in Doblada's Letters from Spain, as within the period that ushers in the carnival with rompings in the streets, and vulgar mirth. fast-pinned paper, unmindful of the physical law which forbids her head revolving St. faster than the great orbit on which the ominous comet flies." ST. AGNES' EVE. Formerly this was a night of great import to maidens who desired to know who they should marry. Of such it was required, that they should not eat on this day, and those who conformed to the rule, called it fasting St. Agnes' fast. And on sweet St. Agnes' night Please you with the promis' sight, Some of husbands, some of lovers, Which an empty dream discovers. BEN JONSON. Old Aubrey has a recipe, whereby a lad or lass was to attain a sight of the fortunate lover. "Upon St. Agnes' night you take a row of pins, and pull out every one, one after another, saying a Pater Noster, sticking a pin in your sleeve, and you will dream of him or her you shall marry." "The custom alluded to by Horace of sticking a tail, is still practised by the boys in the streets, to the great annoyance of old ladies, who are generally the objects of this sport. One of the ragged striplings that wander in crowds about Seville, having tagged a piece of paper with a hooked pin, and stolen unperceived behind some slow-paced female, as wrapt up in her veil, she tells the beads she carries in her left hand, fastens the paper-tail on the back of the black or walking petticoat called Saya. The whole gang of ragamuffins, who, at a convenient distance, have watched the dexterity of their companion, set up a loud cry of Largalo, largalo'-' Drop it, drop it'-ers, if one of the sweetest of our modern this makes every female in the street look poets had not preserved its recollection in to the rear, which, they well know, is the a delightful poem. Some stanzas are fixed point of attack with the merry light- culled from it, with the hope that they troops. The alarm continues till some may be read by a few to whom the poetry friendly hand relieves the victim of sport, of Keates is unknown, and awaken a dewho, spinning and nodding like a spent sire for further acquaintance with his top, tries in vain to catch a glance at the beauties: Little is remembered of these homely methods for knowing "all about sweethearts," and the custom would scarcely have reached the greater number of read Out went the taper as she hurried in ; As though a tongueless nightingale should swell A casement high and triple arch'd there was, Of fruits, and flowers, and bunches of knot grass, Her vespers done Soon, trembling in her soft and chilly nest, Ah, Porphyro!" said she, "but even now Thy voice was at sweet tremble in mine ear, "Those looks immortal, those complainings dear! "For if thou diest, my love, I know not where to go." 46 |