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Ovid thus notices this day :

Postera cùm coelo motis Pallantias astris
Fulserit, et niveos Luna levarit equos;
Qui dicet, Quondam sacrata est colle Quirini
Hac Fortuna die Publica; verus erit.

Diana was the Goddess of Hunting, and fabled to be the Moon, whose morning crescent called the hunter abroad. She was also Proserpine or Hecate, and from that circumstance she was called Triformis: and some of her statues represented her with three heads, that of a Horse, a Dog, and a Boar. Her power and functions under these three characters have been beautifully expressed in these two

verses :

Terret, lustrat, agit, Proserpina, Luna, Diana,
Ima, suprema, feras, sceptro, fulgore, sagitta.

She was also called Agrotera, Orthia, Taurica, Delia, Cynthia, Aricia, &c. She was supposed to be the same as the Isis of the Egyptians, whose worship was introduced into Greece with that of Osiris under the name of Apollo. When Typhon waged war against the gods, Diana is said to have metamorphosed herself into a Cat, to avoid his fury. The goddess is generally known in the figures that represent her by the crescent on her head, by the Dogs which attend her, and by her hunting habit. The most famous of her temples was that of Ephesus, which was one of the seven wonders of the world. She was there represented with symbols which signified the Earth, or Cybele. The inhabitants of Taurica were particularly attached to the worship of this goddess, and they cruelly offered on her altar all the strangers that were shipwrecked on their coasts. Her temple in Aricia was served by a priest who had always murdered his predecessor, and the Lacedaemonians yearly offered her human victims till the age of Lycurgus, who changed this barbarous custom for the sacrifice of flagellation. The Athenians generally offered her Goats, and others a white Kid, and sometimes a Boar Pig, or an Ox. Among plants, the Poppy and the Ditamy were sacred to her. She, as well as her brother Apollo, had some oracles, among which those of Egypt, Cilicia, and Ephesus, are the most known.-Ovid. Fast. ii. v. 155. Met. iii. v. 156, 1. vii. v. 94 and 194, &c. Cic. de Nat. D. iii. Horat. iii. od. 22. Virg. G. iii. v. 302. Aen. i. v. 505. Homer. Od. v. Paus. viii. c. 31 and 37. Catull. Stat. iii. Silv. i. v. 57. Apollod. i. c. 4, &c. l. iii. c. 5, &c.

FLORA. OUR LADY'S SMOCK Cardamine pratensis now begins to show its pale blossoms in the meadows, and was so called anciently in honour of the mantle or chemise in which Our Lady might be clothed at the time

of the annunciation. In the Fides Catholica, a recent small publication, we find the following observations on the Names of Plants:—

"Walk only into any parterre, and select those flowers which were cultivated in abbey gardens from those of recent discovery, and inquire their names previous to the Linnaean nomination. The Bryonia of Linnaeus was the Sigillum Beatae Virginis of the Catholics; the Ornathogalum of the Romans was called the Star of Bethlehem. Have we not also the Oculus Christi, the Jacob's Ladder, Herb St. Margaret, the Star of Jerusalem, Our Lady's Smock, Solomon's Seal, Our Lady's Slipper? For this plant is now called Lady's Slipper, but originally was called by the name of the Holy Mary, Calceolus Beatae Virginis. To these we may add the Passion Flower, the Virgin's Bower, and numerous other words for plants, and other natural objects, taken from the principal subjects of holy meditation. Thus pious vestals and holy friars, even at their leisure hours, in the gardens of convents, converted flowers, the most beautiful objects of nature, into mementoes of the most important subjects of sacred history. At all events, these names were as good as the names given to plants by the Heathens in commemoration of their deities; such as Coma Veneris, Narcissus, Hyacinthus, Amaryllis, Coma Berenices, Pecten Veneris, and such like: not to mention many of the inelegant names of Linnaeus and his followers, such as Venus's Navelwort, Venus's Looking Glass, Lycoperdon Coliforme, and Phallus Impudicus."

The Lady's Smock is a plant thus noticed by Shakespeare :
Summer Song.

When Daisies pied and Violet blue,
And Lady Smocks of silver white,
And Cuckoo Buds of yellow hue,

Do paint the meadows with delight;
When Shepherds pipe on oaten straws,

And merry Larks are Ploughmen's clocks;
When Turtles coo, and Rooks and Daws,
And Maidens bleach their Summer smocks;

The Cuckoo then, on every tree,

Mocks married men, for thus sings he-
Cuckoo, cuckoo! O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!

CHRONOLOGY.-Richard I. died 1199.

April 7. St. Aphraates, Anchoret. St. Hegesippus. St. Aibert, Recluse. St. Herman. St. Finan.

FLORA.-The WALLFLOWER Cheiranthus Chieri begins to flower. This plant continues in blow all the early Summer. Those which flower now

are generally old plants, which have withstood the winter. The young plants do not blow till May.

CHRONOLOGY. La Lande, the celebrated Astronomer, died at Paris, in 1807, aged 75.

La Lande was a constant observer of the Heavens, and may be said to have profited, as much as any of his predecessors, by the command to observe and speculate on the celestial bodies, of which Ovid reminds us in his Metamorphoses :

Pronaque cùm spectent animalia caetera terram;

Os homini sublime dedit: coelumque tueri
Jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus.

April 8. St. Dionysius of Corinth. St. Aedesius. St. Walter. St. Perpetuus. B. Albert Patriarch of Jerusalem.

Ludi ob. vict, Caes. Orion et Libra occidunt.-Rom. Cal.

There were plays today for the conquest of Juba by Caesar.

Ovid observes the setting of the two above constellations on this day, as follows:

Plura locuturi subito subducimur imbre:

Pendula coelestes Libra movebat aquas.

Ante tamen quàm summa dies spectacula sistat?
Ensifer Orion aequore mersus erit.

Orion is a constellation in the southern hemisphere, in which there are in Ptolemy's Catalogue 37 stars; in Tycho Brahe's 62, and in the Britannic 80. The setting of this constellation is marked in the Roman Calendar to be on the 5th of this month, and also on the 11th of May. The setting of Orion was always considered to denote a stormy time of year, as is well known to classical readers. The Roman navigators expressed violent gales, "Qua tristis Orion cadit." The setting of Orion today, however, is not quite astronomically correct: though sufficiently so for all popular purposes. The fact is, that he sets heliacally in Summer, being the most conspicuous of our Winter constellations.

CHRONOLOGY.- Petrarch crowned with Laurel at Rome in 1341.

FLORA. It may be proper to notice the general appearance of the wild and less cultivated parts of nature at this time. In the fields, the Bulbous Crowfoot Ranunculus bulbosus begins to blow. Daisies become pretty common, and Dandelions are seen here and there by road sides, and in fields, on a warm soil, are pretty abundant. The Pilewort Ficaria verna still decorates the thickets and shady green banks with its bright

yellow stars of gold. It may be observed generally, that the flowers found at this time belong to the Primaveral Flora; those of the Vernal being as yet undeveloped. By the sides of rivers, streams, and ponds, along the wet margins of ditches, and in moist meadows and marshes, grows the Marsh Marigold Caltha palustris, whose golden yellow flowers have a brilliant effect at a small distance.

Prolific gales

Warm the soft air, and animate the vales.

Woven with flowers and shrubs, and freshest green,
Thrown with wild boldness o'er the lovely scene,

A brilliant carpet, of unnumbered dyes,

With sweet variety enchants the eyes.

Thick are the trees with leaves; in every grove

The feathered minstrels tune their throats to love.-Kleist.

April 9. St. Mary of Aegypt. St. Zozimus. St. Dotto. St. Waltrude. St. Eupsychius, M.

litan MM. St. Gaucher.

Cerealia, Ludi Circenses. Rom. Cal.

The Massy

We subjoin the following translation of Ovid's description of the games in the Circus, in honour of Ceres: -

The Circus Maximus with thronging crowds

Of men is filled, and images of gods.

For Ceres the Circensian games are shown,

Where noble palms the conquering races crown.
The various gifts of Ceres every where

For mortals' use conspicuously appear.

Green herbs at first were common food for men,

Which without culture Tellus yielded then.

From the fresh turf they gathered a repast,

And of the leafy tribes they made a feast.

When Acorns were found out, they spread their boards
With all the luxury that an Oak affords.

But Ceres led mankind to better meat,

And changed their Acorns for the golden Wheat;

She yoked the docile Oxen to the plow,

And taught men how the fertile grain to sow.
Of metals, brass was only then esteemed,
And fittest for domestic uses deemed.
Destructive steel lay in the womb of earth,
Happy, if it had never known a birth!
The goddess Ceres does in peace delight.

For peace, O farmers! pray both day and night.

Ovid goes on to relate the Rape of Proserpine, and, in describing the flowers which she was picking when stolen by Minos, he depicts the Hyacinth, Violet, and other early Spring flowers; a circumstance which confutes the idea of Martin, that the ancient Hyacinth was the Red Lily, Lilium Chalcedonicum, which blows in June or July.

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FLORA. The Crown Imperial Fritillaria imperialis is by this time in full blow, and continues through the month. There are three principal varieties of this plant-the Red, the Yellow, and a Red one whose leaves as well as flower are somewhat striped. This plant, which often comes into flower at the end of March, though a native of the Levant, can brave the cold and changeable weather of our early Spring, as well as any of our indigenous flowers.

CHRONOLOGY..

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Lord Bacon died in 1626, aged 65. COELUM.-The weather at this time of year is often dry, clear, and warm, and on such occasions it is, that the genial influence of returning Spring is most felt, as the trees are now budding, and others beginning to exhibit their blossoms. The following lines, from Time's Telescope, by Sir J. Davies, are very expressive of this season of the year.

For April.

Earth now is green, and heaven is blue;
Lively Spring which makes all new,

Jolly Spring doth enter;

Sweet young sunbeams do subdue
Angry, aged Winter.

Winds are mild, and seas are calm,

Every meadow flows with balm,
The earth wears all her riches;
Harmonious birds sing such a psalm
As ear and heart bewitches.

April 10. St. Bademus, M. The Mechtildes, Virgins.

Orises at v. 17'. and sets at vi. 43'.

See

FAUNA. The WILLOW WREN Ficedula salicum arrives about this time, and is easily distinguished from the other warblers by his note. Montagu's Ornith. Dict. This species is figured in Bewick's Birds, under the Linnaean name of Motacilla Trochilus, and is the Sylvia Trochilus of Latham. See also Phil. Mag. for 1817, p. 296, and Phil. Mag. for 1819, p. 250; also April 3 of this Calendar, and Forster's Synop. Cat. Brit. Birds, No. 115, where it is denominated Trochilus Medius.

COELUM.-The Atmosphere is still apt to be changeable, and west or northwest winds to prevail, with hasty showers of hard rain and hail, of which Ovid is mindful:

Luce secutura tutos pete, navita, portus:
Ventus ab occasu grandine mixtus erit.

Sit licet; et fuerit; tamen hac Mutinensia Caesar
Grandine militia contudit arma sua.

That April showers bring forth May flowers, is an old proverb; and Chaucer, and every poet since his time, have described this month as being a showery time.

We shall resume today some notices of the moveable Feasts.

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