A MORN OF MAY.

-In the wood, a league without the town,
Where I did meet thee once with Helena
To do observance to a morn of May.-Shakespeare.

When as a thousand virgins on this day

Spring sooner than the lark to fetch in May.-Herrick.

May, with al thyn floures and thy greene,

Welcome be thou, wel faire freissche May.-Chaucer.

SCENE: A FOREST BY MOONLIGHT.

Bigbud, Starwink, and Streamfly.

BIGBUD.

3LOW'RS, sleeping flow'rs; flow'rs tinted white, Drink in the honey-dew to-night,

And by the morn be canty clear,

And daint of all days in the year,

For morrow is the morn of May—

Merry morn of merry May.

STARWINK.

Moon, minion moon; moon, large and light,

Moon, looming moon; moon of delight,

Shed milky shadow, sheeny shine,

Show crystal countenance divine,

Until the dewy dawn of day,

For morrow is the morn of May.

STREAMFLY.

Brooks, blobbing brooks; brooks, breezy, fine,
Brooks, brimming brooks; brooks crystalline,
Be beautiful, and good and glad,
Sing lovingly to lass and lad,
Froth and bubble, shine and play,
When they come to gather May.
Bounce about the braided bramble,
Brush the briar, glow and gambol.
Bibble-babble pretty prattle,
Run among the reeds and rattle
Tinkling water-bells on boulders.
Carry hawthorn on your shoulders,

To the meeting and the swell

Of rills that dribble to the dell.
Root up every stinging-nettle,
Wash and whiten every petal
Brush each daisy in your care,
And be frolicsome and fair,

For lads will sing in the morning air
To merry maidens debonnair,
On this merry morn of May-
Merry morn of merry May.

BIGBUD.

Ho! ho! green leaves and greener leaves, The mazy oaks with mossy sleeves.

STARWINK.

Ho! ho! the lake, a mirrored mass
Of lilac in the water glass,

And moony clouds to peer and pass.

BIGBUD.

Ho! ho! the budded boughs that play
Music by night, and by the day
Swing linnets under scented spray.

STARWINK.

Ho! ho! the sky with silver bars,
The silver moon 'mong silver stars.

STREAMFLY.

Ho! ho! the moths in lunar light,
The Purple underwing and white,
Brindle moth and Golden Spot,
Bramble moth, Buff Tip, and Dot.
Mottled Willow, Peach and Pearl,
With dusty stripe and crimson curl.
Silk and satin, brown and red,
Burnished brass and Devil's-head.
Miller moth and Muslin moth,
Clouded Buff and Orange moth,
Beauty Pine and Purple Shade,
Holding revel in the glade,
Fairies all, for fairies made.

Ho! ho! the moths in lunar light,
The Purple underwing and white.

BIGBUD.

Let us go, while go we may,

Ere the shades shake hands with day.
At the village windows tap,

Lazy lasses' faces slap,

Bob and Bill, and Jim and Jack,

Take their whips and make 'em crack.
Bess and Jane, and Sal and Meg,
Pinch 'em, arm, and cheek, and leg,
Till they stretch and open eyes,
Yawn and yawn, and roll and rise;
And as we go I'll sing the song
I've made me for the village throng:-

May, May, white May,

Through the village spread,
Come and make a garland
Of white May and red.

May, May, sweet May,
All about the green,
All about the May-pole,
All about the queen.

May, May, red May,

All the lads do wear;

With whitest of the white May

Lasses trim their hair.

May, May, musk May

Growing in the lane,

What is half as sweet as May
Washed with gentle rain?

CHORUS.

May, May, new May

Through the village spread,

Come and make a garland

Of white May and red.

YACHT RACING FOR 1872.

HERE is a great deal taking place in the yachting world just now to remind us that the approaching season will be an unusually lively one afloat. If our Government can

only get through the Alabama difficulty without sending the Glatton, Cyclops and Hotspur to New York, we shall most likely be visited by several American yachts, and our yacht owners will have their hands pretty full if they accept all the challenges that we hear are to be made. We confess to a little eagerness in looking forward to this promised visit and the matches that are likely to ensue, inasmuch as an impression seems to prevail among the members of the New York Yacht Club, that in beating the Cambria and Livonia they beat the whole English fleet. Now this impression is not only wrong but irritating. To be told that the Cambria and Livonia were the best two yachts we could produce might answer the purpose of magnanimous Americans to enhance the importance of their own victories; but it is a sort of thing which we would rather not hear, even though we know it to be contrary to the fact. We will not go so far as to say that we have any schooner that could beat the Columbia in light topsail breezes, but at least the Egeria or Aline would make a better match with her in light winds than the Livonia did, and in a good lower sail breeze half a dozen might be found that would tackle her. The Columbia is named, with four others, as likely to visit our shores in May, and as she is admitted by the Americans to be the fleetest and most powerful centre-boarder they have it is apparent, if we can find a yacht that will beat her, that we may fairly lay claim to have the ascendency.

The Sappho is also among the little fleet that is to cross the Atlantic, but we are very much afraid that she will prove too much for our stanch barkies. We have nothing near 394 tons that could be considered a racer, and as the Sappho really seems as good as she ought to be for her great size, she will be a most awkward customer to encounter. The Oimara cutter would no doubt beat her to windward, but even that is by no means certain, as the Sappho is not only wonderfully close-winded, but a very fast-reacher as well. However if the Sappho comes we must find something that will break a lance with her, and on the Guinevere, Aline and Oimara we depend. We

cannot include the Livonia, simply because the Sappho fairly sailed round her in America; it is true that the Livonia is to be altered, but of this more, anon. Another schooner that we are pretty well acquainted with is the Dauntless, and she is included among the possible visitants to the English Channel. No doubt the Dauntless is a very ship-shape looking yacht, and at sea is as clever as they build them, but we fear no defeats from Commodore Bennett's yacht. She managed to beat the Livonia, it is true, but then not more than the Livonia was beaten at home, so the mere fact of her beating that vessel would not prove that she could beat all others. Commodore Bennett entertains a very strong feeling of respect for Commodore Ashbury, and we are certain that he would sooner have the Dauntless beaten by the Livonia than by any other yacht afloat. So we shall be glad to see the English yacht turn the tables on the American, and shall look forward to the result without fear of war being declared in the event of the Stars and Stripes being humbled. The Palmer centre-boarder and Enchantress keel-boat will make up the fleet, and either of them will take a very smart yacht for a beating. The Palmer could just beat the Cambria in light winds to windward and completely run away from her before the wind; we think the Egeria would well beat the Palmer to windward in a balloon topsail breeze, and perhaps the Aline would do the same; she is a dreadful cripple in a breeze, and either the Aline, Cambria, Blue Bell, Pantomime, Pleiad, or Alarm would lose her in a twenty miles hammer to windward with housed topmasts. The Enchantress is probably a better vessel than she has yet been tried to be, but she is not likely to cause us much anxiety if we once get her under the lee bow of the Aline, blow light or heavy. We have now run through the list of yachts likely to visit us from America and we think with proper care and precaution we shall be able to give them a pretty warm reception.

In tactics our yacht skippers are quite equal to those of America, and our A.B.'s are superior; we are therefore not in jeopardy in this respect. On other matters, however, relating to the actual merits of the vessels we have not the same confidence, and we must keep our eyes well open or we shall be beaten. All the American yachts have in proportion to their size much larger areas of canvas than those of this country have, and if we get into trouble with them, here will be the cause. The Americans are accustomed to a long spell of light winds and seldom encounter the necessity of reefing, and as their yachts, owing to their great beam, have considerable initial stability, they are tempted into having large suits of sails, and rarely if ever feel the inconvenience of it. Now it cannot be denied that most of our