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The commencement of November may be called the even-tide' of the year,-a season when the sun withdraws his propitious light, when the winds arise, and the leaves fall, and nature around us seems to sink into decay. It is said, in general, to be the season of melancholy; and if, by this word, be meant that it is the time of solemn and of serious thought, it is undoubtedly the season of melancholy; yet, it is a melancholy so soothing, so gentle in its approach, and so prophetic in its influence, that they who have known it feel, as instinctively, that it is the doing of God, and that the heart of man is not thus finely touched, but to fine issues.

"This season also tends to wean us from the passions of the world. Every passion, however base or unworthy, is yet eloquent. It speaks to us of present enjoyment; it tells us of what men have done, and what men may do; and it supports us everywhere by the example of many around us. When we go out into the fields in the evening of the year, a different voice approaches us. We regard, even in spite of ourselves, the still but steady advances of time. A few days ago, and the summer of the year was grateful, and every element was filled with life, and the sun of Heaven seemed to glory in his ascendant. He is now enfeebled in his power; the desert no more 'blossoms like the rose; the song of joy is no more heard among the branches; and the earth is strewed with that foliage which once bespoke the magnificence of summer 1.

At this period of the year, we are led to exclaim with Mr. Wordsworth, in his sublime poem of the "Excursion":"

Alison's Sermons, p. 328.

2 In noticing this poem, we think it due to the author to quote the following excellent criticism of his work. "This poem 'will never do' for persons without poetical enthusiasm, nor for persons without devotional warmth. The great, vulgar, and the small,' will not understand it; and, by consequence, it

Blow, winds of Autumn! let your chilling breath
Take the live herbage from the mead, and strip
The shady forest of its green attire,-
And let the bursting clouds to fury rouse
The gentle brooks!

Your desolating sway no sadness sheds on me,
And no disorder in your rage I find.

What dignity, what beauty, in this change,
From mild to angry, and from sad to gay,
Alternate and revolving! How benign,
How rich in animation and delight,
How bountiful these elements!

The Virginia creeper (hedera quinque-folia) is particularly rich and beautiful in the autumnal months, with its leaves of every hue, from a bright to a dark green and deep crimson.

That highly esteemed fish, the salmon, now ascends rivers to deposit its spawn in their gravelly beds, at a great distance from their mouths. There is a mode of catching salmon on the Dee, and on the Severn, called Blazing salmon. It is done at night. A person goes in a small boat or coracle, with a torch, and what is called a lister, a barbed spear, with four other prongs round it. He holds the torch over his head, and strikes the salmon with the lister. In the day, the light of the sun is reflected to the eye by the water; and the objects at bottom are refracted, but obliterated (or diluted) by the stronger light of heaven. It is not so by torchlight the object at bottom is illuminated, and there is no adventitious light to dilute the light of the torch. The fish is, therefore, easily seen and struck.

The stock-dove (columba anas), one of the latest winter birds of passage, arrives from more northern regions, towards the end of this month.

will not please them. But the writer may watch, with calmness and confidence, the fluctuations of taste, and despise, without any emotion of anger, the sarcasms of petulant conceit, sitting in judgment on superior intellect. If the present age be not fitted to receive his poem with reverence and gratitude, that age assuredly will come."' British Review, vol. vi, p. 64.

The wild pigeons, which migrate in large flocks into England, at the approach of winter, build their nests in the hollows of decayed trees, and commonly have two broods in the year.-(See T. T. for 1814, pp. 302-304.)

The farmer usually finishes his ploughing this month. Cattle and horses are taken into the farmyard; sheep are sent to the turnip-field; ant-hills are destroyed; and bees are put under shelter.

Description of Forest Trees.

[Continued from p. 311.]

WILLOW (salix).Of twenty-two indigenous species of the willow, the following are the principal: 1. The Osier (salix viminalis) grows in woods and hedges, especially on moist boggy lands; it is also common on the various islets in the river Thames : it flowers in the months of April and May. Its leaves are eaten by horses, cows, sheep, and goats; its pliant twigs are made into wheels for taking eels, and into bird-cages: the branches are much used for making hoops, and large baskets. It also forms a hardy and useful hedge for excluding boisterous winds; and, as it flourishes in wet situations, is frequently planted, with a view to prevent the banks of rivers from being washed away by the force of the current.

2. The Sallow, or Withy (salix caprea), will vegetate in damp situations, but requires a drier ground than any other of the willow kind. In a good soil, it attains the height of thirty feet. The tender shoots and suckers of this tree are, on account of their flexible nature, useful for baskets and wicker-work.

3. The White or Common Willow (salix alba), with its grey foliage, abounds in woods, hedge-rows, in wet meadow and pasture-grounds, where it attains a considerable size; flowering in the month of April. Its blossoms are eagerly visited by bees; its

leaves and young shoots are eaten by horses, cows, sheep, and goats: the wood is employed in making poles, hoops for casks, stakes, and likewise for fuel. The bark is not only advantageously used in tanning leather, but has also, like that of the Crack and Smooth Willows, been successfully administered in agues.

4. The Crack-willow (salix fragilis) has received this name from the remarkable brittleness of its branches; which, if stricken with a finger, break off at the shoot of the current year. It is found in moist woods, hedges, and on the banks of rivers; it flowers in April or May. This tree grows with uncommon luxuriance, and will admit of being cropped every year. Its early blossoms are much resorted to by bees.

Besides these may be named other indigenous species, as the triandra, or smooth-leaved, the pentandra, or sweet bay-leaved, the vitellina, or yellow, amygdalina, or almond-leaved, herbacea, or herbaceous, rubra or red, and the cinerea, or sallow-willow. This last species is chiefly remarkable for its beautiful flowering branches, which are gathered about a week or ten days before Easter, and sold under the name of palms.

The Weeping Willow (salix Babylonica), chiefly cultivated in England for its ornamental appearance, was introduced from the east. It flourishes best by the sides of rivers, and in moist situations. The weeping willow is a very picturesque tree. The shape of its leaf is conformable to the pensile character of the tree; and its spray, which is still lighter than that of the poplar, is more easily put in motion by a breath of air. The weeping willow, however, is not adapted to sublime subjects. We wish it not to skreen the broken buttresses and Gothic windows of an abbey, nor to overshadow the battlements of a ruined castle: these offices it resigns to the oak, whose dignity can support them. The weeping wil

low seeks a humbler scene;-some romantic footpath bridge, which it half conceals ;-or some glassy pool, over which it hangs its streaming foliage;

and dips

Its pendent boughs, stooping as if to drink '.

The famous and admired weeping willow, planted by POPE, at Twickenham, was (Oh, sacrilege!) felled to the ground in 1801: it came inclosed as a present, from Spain, to the late Lady Suffolk. Mr. Pope was in company when the covering was taken off; he observed that the pieces of stick appeared as if they had some vegetation, and added, perhaps they may produce something we have not in England. Under this idea he planted it in his garden, and it produced the willow-tree that has given birth to so many others 2.

We sincerely grieve to record the almost entire demolition of another far-famed willow at Lichfield, the property of the very reverend the Dean :-it was the delight of JOHNSON's early and waning life (we use his own expression), and even still more so of Mrs. Seward's,-the ornament and glory of Stow Valley, the subject of every writer,—the gratification of every naturalist,—and the admiration of every traveller. Nearly half the tree fell to the ground in August last. The adjacent arms and branches, fronting the city of Lichfield, had all been swept away in the violent storms of Saturday, November 10, 1810; so that little more now remains than the stupendous trunk, its green coronal, and a few sideboughs.

It is to be regretted that the age of this majestic tree cannot be ascertained. Dr. Johnson said that he remembered its ample branches laying in the

1 Gilpin's Forest Scenery, vol. i, p. 65.

2 Miller's Gardener's Dictionary, vol. ii, p. 2, art. salix, [14.] 1807.

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