effect in the distance, growing from the stony margin of some meandering current, or marshy ditch.

SUPERSTITIO CALENDARIA. The last three days of March are, by superstitious people, still deemed unlucky. Bourne, chap. xviii. speaking of that superstitious custom among the Heathens of observing one day as good, and another as bad, observes, "That among these were lucky and unlucky Days: some were Dies atri, and some Dies albi. The Atri were pointed out in their Calendar with a black character, the Albi with a white; the former to denote it a Day of bad success, the latter a day of good. Thus have the Monks, in the dark and unlearned ages of Popery, copied after the Heathens, and dreamed themselves into the like Superstitions, esteeming one Day more successful than another." He tells us also, that St. Austin, upon the passage of St. Paul to the Galatians against observing days, and months, and times, and years, explains it to have this meaning: "The persons the Apostle blames, are those who say, I will not set forward on my journey because it is the next day after such a time, or because the moon is so; or I'll set forward, that I may have luck, because such is just now the position of the stars. I will not traffick this month, because such a star presides, or I will, because it does. I shall plant no vines this year, because it is Leap Year," &c.

Barnaby Googe thus translates the remarks of Naogeorgus on this subject, from the Popish Kingdome, fol. 44.

And first, betwixt the Dayes they make no little difference,
For all be not of vertue like, nor like preheminence.

But some of them Egyptian are, and full of ieopardee,
And some againe, beside the rest, both good and luckie bee.
Like difference of the Nights they make, as if th' Almightie King,
That made them all, not gracious were to them in every thing.

March 30.

St. Regulus. St. John Climacus, A. St. Zozimus, Bp. of Syracuse.

Orises at v. 39. and sets at vI. 21'.

Festum Jani, Concordiae, Pacis, et Salutis. Rom. Cal.

Ovid thus describes the feasts of this day and of tomorrow in the following passage translated from his

Fasti:

When the third blushing morn from hence you see,

The day and night exact will equal be;

And then when four times more the pearly dews
Have satiated kids, and grazing ewes,

L

Janus and Concord have another feast;
And altars are for Pax and Salus drest.
O'er months the Moon has an imperial sway,
And on Mount Aventine the following day,
To her the Romans sacred honours give,
And in her patronage this month I leave.

COELUM. Several days of rough blowing winds, usually termed equinoctial gales, often occur about this time; but sometimes, on the contrary, fine warm weather occurs. It has been observed, that a very clear sky and warm air at this time is generally followed by several very cold blowing days in April.

Equation of Time for March. When apparent time, or that indicated by a good sundial, is known, mean time is found by adding to it the numbers in the following

Table of the Equation of Time for every Fifth Day.

M. S.

March 1st, to the time by the Dial add 12 43

March 31. St. Benjamin. St. Guy.
Orises at v. 37'. and sets at vr. 23'.

Festa Lunae labentis templum in Aventino monte.-Rom. Cal.

FAUNA. The Lesser Pettychaps or Smallest Willow Wren Ficedala Pinetorum arrives about this time. This Bird, about which there has been so much controversy, is accurately described in the Philosophical Magazine for 1819, in a paper by Dr. T. Forster. It is the Sylvia Hippolais of Latham's Synopsis, and Montagu's Ornithological Dictionary.

Tomorrow being what is vulgarly termed April Fool day, we may guard our more nervous readers against certain childish but irritating impositions on human credulity, commonly termed hoaxes, or April fooleries, of the origin and antiquity of which an ample account will be found in our history of tomorrow.

On the Approach of April, by Gray.
Now the golden morn aloft
Waves her dewbespangled wing;
With vermeil cheek, and whisper soft,
She wooes the tardy Spring;

Till April starts, and calls around

The sleeping fragrance from the ground;
And lightly o'er the living scene
Scatters her freshest, tenderest green.

On the Borrowed Days of the End of March.

There is a singular old proverb preserved in Ray's Collection: "April borrows three days of March, and they

are ill."

April is pronounced with an emphasis on the last syllable, so as to make a kind of jingling rhyme with " ill," the last word in the line.

In the ancient Calendar of the Church of Rome, the following words are recorded on the 31st of March :

"The rustic fable concerning the nature of the month. "The rustic names of six days which shall follow in April, or may be the last in March."

There is no doubt but that these observations in the ancient Calendar, and our proverb, are derived from one common origin. The Borrowing Days, as they are called, occur in "The Complaynt of Scotland," p. 58. "There efter i entrit in ane grene forest, to contempil the tendir zong frutes of grene treis, because the borial blastis of the thre borouing dais of Marche hed chaissit the fragrant flureise of evyrie frut tree far athourt the feildis." The Glossary (in verbo) explains "Borrouing days the three last days of March," and adds, " concerning the origin of the term, the following popular rhyme is often repeated," which shows that there is some discrepancy of opinion, whether March or April tenders the loan of days.

March borrowit fra Averill
Three days and they were ill.

Also the following

March said to Aperill,

I see three hogs upon a hill;
But lend your three first days to me,
And I'll be bound to gar them die.
The first, it sall be wind and weet;
The next, it sall be snaw and sleet;
The third, it sall be sic a freeze
Sall gar the birds stick to the trees.
But when the Borrowed Days were gane,
The three silly hogs came hirplin hame.

Compl. of Scotl. 8vo. Edinb. 1801.

In the Statistical Account of Scotland, 8vo. Edinb. 1791, vol. i. p. 57, Parish of Kirkmichael. The minister, mentioning an old man of the age of 103 years, says: "His account of himself is, that he was born in the Borrowing Days of the year that King William came in." A note adds, "that is, on one of the three last days of March 1688."

In "The Country Almanack" for 1676, among remarques upon April," are the following:

No blustering blasts from March needs. April borrow;
His own oft proves enow to breed us sorrow.

Yet if he weep, with us to sympathize,

His trickling tears will make us wipe our eyes.

"the

In the British Apollo, vol. iii. No. 18, the meaning is asked of the old poetical saying

March borrows of April

Three days, and they are ill;
April returns them back again
Three days, and they are rain.

After all, Proverbs relating to the weather cannot be relied on with any certainty.

APRIL. OSTERMONAT. GERMINALIS.

April 1. St. Hugh, Bp. of Grenoble. St. Melito, Bp. of Sardes. St. Gilbert, Bp. of Cathness.

Orises at v. 35'. and sets at vi. 25'.

KALENDAE APRILIS.- Festum Veneris et Fortunae Virilis. Scorpius

occidit. Rom. Cal.

THE history of this day divides itself into two parts: 1st, That which relates to its ancient Rites among the early Romans; and, 2dly, The history and customs of this day among the more modern nations. The Saints celebrated today are of no particular note.

In order to explain the festivals recorded on the Calends of April among the Romans, it may be observed, that Venus is the figurative emblem of the reproductive power inherent in nature, and her feast was, therefore, chosen for this day, when the germination of Trees, the flowering of Plants, the pairing of Birds and other animals, and other circumstances of regenerate nature, were found to take place. Like other gods and goddesses, Venus not being a real, but a fictitious personage, representing one particular power of nature, there are very confused and contradictory accounts of herself and attributes; and in her temples, in different countries, the figures of her person, and the cognomina attached to her name, vary prodigiously; yet they all agree

in this, that they have reference to the continuation of Species and its causes. Thus, then, the mythology represents Venus as a beautiful female, and styles her the Goddess of Beauty, the Mother of Love, the Queen of Smiles, the Mistress of the Graces, the Patroness of Courtesans. Some writers speak of more than one Venus, and give different histories to each, but these seem to be only different versions of her history; and the various surnames of Venus Cypria, Venus Cytherea, Venus Calipyga, and others, arose from certain particular qualities in her person, or from certain peculiarities in her origin, which the inventors of these names happened to have in mind at the time they wrote her histories, or formed her statues. The genuine and most universal account of the birth of Venus is from the Sea, where she rose generated by the mutilated fragments of Urania thrown into the waters by Saturn. The explication of which fable is, that the most ancient god threw the vivifying power of Heaven, or of the atmosphere, in fragments, into the waters of chaos; whence arose the power of perpetuating the specious forms of living beings. Of the ridiculous and indecent accounts of the intrigues of this goddess, although they represent certain natural phenomena, we shall make no mention, as they are hardly fit for popular contemplation; but of her mythological history, some account may be subjoined, as abstracted from ancient fables. Lucretius begins his beautiful poem De Rerum Natura:

Aeneidum genetrix hominum divômque voluptas
Alma Venus!

Venus became mother of Hermione, Cupid, and Anteros, by Mars; by Mercury she had Hermaphroditus; by Bacchus, Priapus; and by Neptune, Eryx. Her great partiality for Adonis made her abandon the seats of Olympus, and her regard for Anchises obliged her often to visit the woods and solitary retreats of Mount Ida. The power of Venus over the heart was supported and assisted by a celebrated girdle, called zone by the Greeks, and cestus by the Latins. This mysterious girdle gave beauty, grace, and elegance, when worn even by the most deformed; and it excited love, and rekindled extinguished flames. Juno herself was indebted to this powerful ornament to gain the favours of Jupiter; and Venus, though herself possessed of every charm, no sooner put on her cestus, than Vulcan, unable to resist the influence of love, forgot all the intrigues and infidelities of his wife, and fabricated arms even for her illegitimate children.