6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 18. 19. 20. Book of Com. Prayer est. 1549. Fire Insurance expires. Royal Exchange burnt, 1838. Hilary Law Term begins. Cambridge Term begins. Oxford Term begins. 17. Benjamin Franklin born, 1706. 21. 22. 23. 25. 26. 27. 28. Conversion of St. Paul. Jenner died, 1823. New S. Wales colonised, 1788. 29. King George III. died, 1820. 30. B THE SEASONS. SIT thee by the ingle, when When the soundless earth is muffled, To banish Even from her sky, high-commission'd;-send her! She has vassals to attend her; And thou shalt quaff it:-thou shalt hear Rustle of the reaped corn; Or the rooks, with busy caw, Sapphire queen of the mid-May; Then the hurry and alarm When the bee-hive casts its swarm; Acorns ripe down-pattering, While the autumn breezes sing. KEATS. The crocus in the shrewd March morn And April dots the sombre thorn Then sleep the seasons, full of might, The winter comes, the frozen rut Is bound with silver bars; The white drift heaps against the hut, COVENTRY PATMORE. Stern winter's icy breath, intensely keen, YEAR is not only an astronomical, but a natural period, and the first imperfect year of ancient times must, no doubt, have originated from observing the regular vicissitudes of heat and cold, of the leafing, flowering, and fruiting of the various tribes of vegetables; and the coincidence of these appearances with the laying and hatching of birds, and the production of the young of quadrupeds. This way of reckoning, however, was subject to so many variations, that it was soon necessary to make choice of some more constant periodical occurrence by which to mark the annual revolution. The ancient year began in the month of March, and it may appear singular, that modern civilised nations should choose to commence their year at a period when nature lies almost dormant, in preference to that season when the race of vegetables and animals is actually renewed. In defence of the present custom it may, however, be said, that the time of the renovation of nature varies in different countries, |