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The PHEASANT.

Close by the borders of the fringed lake,
And on the oak's expanding bough, is seen
What time the leaves the passing zephyrs shake,
And sweetly murmur through the sylvan scene;
The gaudy PHEASANT, rich with varying dyes,
That fade alternate, and alternate glow,
Receiving now his colours from the skies,
And now reflecting back the wat'ry bow.
He flaps his wings, erects his spotted crest;
His flaming eyes dart forth a piercing ray;
He swells the lovely plumage of his breast,
And glares a wonder on the orient day.
Ah! what avail such heav'nly plumes as thine,
When dogs and sportsmen in thy ruin join!

VALDARNO.

The few fine days towards the latter end of February afford many opportunities of cultivating our knowledge of Nature, even in her minutest works. The results of a morning's walk at this season are given at length in T.T. for 1817, p. 53.

Say, does this season no beauty possess,

When Nature's enchantments apparently die?
The white robe of Winter gives pleasure, no less
Than the Summer or Spring in their elegant dress,
To the reasoning moralist's eye.

The moon-beams which sleep on the snow-covered hill,
In turn, are as pleasing as those which illume
The blossoms of Summer, or spangle, the rill
That whispers at eve, when the hamlet is still,
Or gleam on the villager's tomb.

The man who is prudent will study the scene,
And morally reason on years that are past,
Anticipate age, and the moment between
Consign to reflection, to render serene

The Winter, which shrouds him at last.

In this month early potatoes are set, hedges repaired, trees lopped, and wet lands drained. Pop lars, willows, osiers, and other aquatics, are planted.

MARCH.

AMONG the Romans, March, from Mars, was the first month, and marriages made in this month were accounted unhappy.

Remarkable Days

In MARCH 1820.

1.-SAINT DAVID.

SAINT David was the great ornament and pattern of his age. He continued in the see of St. David's many years; and having founded several monasteries, and been the spiritual father of many saints, both British and Irish, he died about the year 544, at a very advanced age. The leek worn on this day by Welshmen is said to be in memory of a great victory obtained by them over the Saxons; they, during the battle, having leeks in their hats, to distinguish themselves, by order of St. David.

*1. 1711.-SPECTATOR FIRST PUBLISHed.
2. SAINT CHAD.

St. Ceadda or Chad was educated in the monastery of Lindisfarne, under St. Aidan; was afterwards Bishop of Lichfield, and died in the great pestilence of 673.—See further particulars of this Bishop in T. T. for 1815, p. 76.

*2. 1797.-HORACE WALPOLE Died.

The quarto volume of letters lately published, written by him to George Montagu, Esq. from the year 1736 to 1770, gives a lively and amusing view of the time in which he lived. He was, indeed, a garrulous old man nearly all his days; and, luckily for his gossiping propensities, he was on familiar terms with the gay world, and set down as a man of genius by the Princess Amelia, George Selwyn, Mr.

Chute, and all persons of the like talents and importance. His descriptions of court dresses, court revels, and court beauties, are in the highest style of perfection, sprightly, fantastic and elegant: and the zeal with which he hunts after an old portrait or a piece of broken glass, is ten times more entertaining than if it were lavished on a worthier object. He is indeed the very prince of gossips,-and it is impossible to question his supremacy, when he floats us along in a stream of bright talk, or shoots with us the rapids of polite conversation. He delights in the small squabbles of great politicians and the puns of George Selwyn, enjoys to madness the strife of too with half a dozen bitter old women of quality,revels in a world of chests, cabinets, commodes, tables, boxes, turrets, stands, old printing, and old china, and indeed lets us loose at once amongst all the frippery and folly of the last two centuries, with an ease and a courtesy equally amazing and delightful. His mind, as well as his house, was piled up with Dresden china, and illuminated through painted glass; and we look upon his heart to have been little better, than a case full of enamels, painted eggs, ambers, lapis-lazuli, cameos, vases and rock-crystals. This may in some degree account for his odd and quaint manner of thinking, and his utter poverty of feeling:-He could not get a plain thought out of that cabinet of curiosities, his mind ;-and he had no room for feeling,-no place to plant it in, or leisure to cultivate it. He was at all times the slave of elegant trifles; and could no more screw himself up into a decided and solid personage, than he could divest himself of petty jealousies and miniature animosities. In one word, every thing about him was in little; and the smaller the object, and the less its importance, the higher did his estimation and his praises of it ascend. He piled up trifles to a colossal height-and made a pyramid of nothings' most marvellous to see.' (Edinburgh Review, No.61,p.80.)

*4. 1681. PENNSYLVANIA TREATY RATIFIED. On this day, an innumerable multitude of Indians assembled on the spot, near the scite of the present city of Philadelphia, and were seen with their dark visages and brandished arms, moving in vast swarms in the depth of the woods which then overshaded the whole of that now cultivated region. On the other hand, William Penn, with a moderate attendance of Friends, advanced to meet them. He came, of course, unarmed-in his usual plain dress-without banners, or mace, or guards, or carriages; and only distinguished from his companions by wearing a blue sash of silk network (which it seems is still preserved by Mr. Kett, of Seething-hall, near Norwich), and by having in his hand a roll of parchment, on which was engrossed the confirmation of the treaty of purchase and amity. As soon as he drew near the spot where the Sachems were assembled, the whole multitude of Indians threw down their weapons, and seated themselves on the ground in groups, each under his own chieftain; and the presiding chief intimated to William Penn, that the nations were ready to hear him.

Having been thus called upon, he began.The Great Spirit,' he said, 'who made him and them, who ruled the Heaven and the Earth, and who knew the innermost thoughts of man, knew that he and his friends had a hearty desire to live in peace and friendship with them, and to serve them to the utmost of their power. It was not their custom to use hostile weapons against their fellow-creatures, for which reason they had come unarmed. Their object was not to do injury, and thus provoke the Great Spirit, but to do good. They were then met on the broad pathway of good faith and good will, so that no advantage was to be taken on cither side, but all was to be openness, brotherhood, and love. After these and other words, he unrolled the parchment, and, by means of the same interpreter, con

veyed to them, article by article, the conditions of the purchase, and the words of the compact then made for their eternal union. Among other things, they were not to be molested in their lawful pursuits even in the territory they had alienated, for it was to be common to them and the English. They were to have the same liberty to do all things therein relating to the improvement of their grounds, and providing sustenance for their families, which the English had. If any disputes should arise between the two, they should be settled by twelve persons, half of whom should be English and half Indians. He then paid them for the land, and made them many presents from the merchandize which had been spread before them. Having done this, he laid the roll of parchment on the ground, observing again, that the ground should be common to both people, He then added, that he would not do as the Marylanders did, that is, call them Children or Brothers only; for often parents were apt to whip their children too severely, and brothers sometimes would differ: neither would he compare the friendship between him and them to a chain, for the rain might sometimes rust it, or a tree might fall and break it; but he should consider them as the same flesh and blood with the christians, and the same, as if one man's body were to be divided into two parts. He then took up the parchment, and presented it to the Sachem, who wore the horn in the chaplet, and desired him and the other Sachems to preserve it carefully for three generations, that their children might know what had passed between them, just as if he had remained himself with them to repeat it.'

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The Indians, in return, made long and stately harangues-of which, however, no more seems to have been remembered, but that they pledged themselves to live in love with William Penn, and his children, as long as the Sun and Moon should endure.' And thus ended this famous treaty; of which Voltaire has remarked, with so much truth and seve

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