A wilderness of building sinking far By earthly nature had the effect been wrought Among the most brilliant spectacles ever witnessed in modern times, may be placed the splendid Illumination of St. Peter's Church and the magnificent Girandola or fireworks, from the Castle of St. Angelo, at Rome, annually exhibited on this day: the latter bear no resemblance to the squibs and crackers denominated fireworks in England, and throw at an immeasurable distance all our attempts at pyrotechny on the occasion of the last peace, or the late grand ceremonial of the coronation, as well as those of our neighbours the French, at their much vaunted Fête of St. Louis. These illuminations and fireworks at Rome have been well described by a modern writer before quoted in our account of the ceremonies of the Holy Week; and, as her interesting description would materially suffer by abridgment, we shall give the whole without mutilation. "At Ave Maria," she observes, "we drove to the piazza of St. Peter's. The lighting of the lanternoni, or large paper lanterns, each of which looks like a globe of ethereal fire, had been going on for an hour, and, by the time we arrived there, was nearly completed. As we passed the Ponte San Angelo, the appearance of this magnificent church, glowing in its own brightness the millions of lights reflected in the calm waters of the Tiber, and mingling with the last golden glow of evening, so as to make the whole building seem covered with burnished gold, had a most striking and magical effect." June 30. ST. PAUL Apostle. St. Marskal Bishop. St. Paul suffered martyrdom under the general persecution of Nero. Being a Roman citizen, he could not be crucified by the Roman laws, as his colleague St. Peter was; he was therefore beheaded: hence the usual representation of him with a sword in his hand. Herculis et Musarum Templum.-Rom. Cal. This temple, dedicated to Hercules and the Muses, was rebuilt with additional adornments by Martius Philippus, the father in law of Augustus Caesar, and who had been consul with Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, 56 years before the birth of Christ. The ancient temple of Hercules, that had been first founded by Fulvius Nobilior, was then almost in ruins through length of time. FLORA. We shall close our account of June with some remarks on the existing state of the Flora. Nearly all the plants of the Vernal Flora now remain in blow when not molested. The Stinking or Oxford Groundsel Serecio squalidus is in full flower. Marigolds are abundant, and continue all the rest of the Summer and Autumn. The Orange and some other Lilies are in flower; and in early years we may look for the opening of the White Lily. In the fields, the Mallows, Malva arvensis and Malva moschata, begin to blow. By this time the Midsummer Daisy Chrysanthemum leucanthemum is abundantly in flower, and in some places certain fields are as much covered with it as others are in May with Dandelions, Crowfoots, and Buttercups. The two latter of these plants continue to flower, and would do so as late as the middle of July, were they not mown down in the grass for hay. The several sorts of Corn Camomile Anthemis inodorus, A. cotula, Matricaria Camomilla, and others of this sort, begin to blow; and St. John's Wort begins to be seen in the hedges. The Cistus helianthemum begins to show its yellow flowers by the waysides; and the Mulleins or Verbasca to grow and show signs of flowering. The Red Poppies still paint the young cornfields with their bright scarlet flowers. Roses and Pinks are still in the greatest perfection. Here and there in the fields the bright strawcoloured yellow of Sinapis arvensis abounds, and its distant effect is beautiful. On the Poppy and its Opiate. Sleep is a god too proud to wait in palaces, The meanest country cottages; His Poppy grows among the corn. On the Rose. In no country of the world does the Rose grow in such perfection as in Persia, and in no country is it so cultivated and prized by the natives. It is often alluded to by Hafez in his beautiful odes. When the young Rose in crimson gay And foliage fresh her leafless boughs o'erspread; Low at her feet the Violet bends its head. See where the Rose and Spring to mirth awake! Soft comes the morning wind; the wanton Rose O, cease with delight to survey the proud Rose, For particulars of the Rose see Flora Domestica, p. 312, and sequel. TEMPUS. The following will serve to make us remember the number of days in each month : Thirty days hath September, Equation of Time for every Fifth Day. M. S.. June 1st, from the time by the dial subtract 2 42 July 1. St. Rumbolt. St. Simeon. St. Simeon. SS. Julius and Orises at III. 45'. and sets at VIII. 15'. Now comes July, and with his fervid noon The slow encumbered wain in midday heat. FLORA.-The Agrimony Agrimonia Eupatoria flowers about this day with great regularity in Sussex; and the Bindweeds Convolvulus sepium and C. arvensis begin to flower here and there; in the course of the month they become abundant, and flower till the middle of September. In gardens the more completely solstitial plants are now in full blow, such as that brilliant ornament the Scarlet Lychnis, the Bearded Pink, all the Roses, the Canterbury Bells, the Lilies, the Day Lily, and many others; while the aestival plants begin to open, as the Indian Cress, the Musk Flower Scabiosa atropurpurea, and a numerous class hereafter to be enumerated. FAUNA. One of the most remarkable things now is the silence of the birds, July and August being called mute months, in consequence of the cessation of their songs. The grove is all silent. The Nightingale no longer enchants us, and the Cuckoo is gone. Swallows become numerous from the accession of the young broods, and young birds in general being to be seen about. July 2. VISITATIO B. V. MARIAE. SS. Procestus and Martiman. St. Otho. St. Monogondes. St. Oudoceus Bishop. The Solstice ends. CHRONOLOGY.-Rousseau died in 1778, aged 72. Diderot in 1784. FLORA.-FIELD MALLOW Malva sylvestris begins to blow. The Dog Star alluded to by Churchill, as following in the train of July, see St. James, July 23, signifies the period of the days when the Great Dog Sirius reigns. Horace alludes to the extreme heat of the Hour of the little Dog Procyon, in his Ode to the Fountain of Bandusia :— Te flagrantis atrox hora Caniculae URANIA. The constellation which Horace alludes to is Canicula, of which the principal star Procyon is in mean long. 21° 9′ 30′′, and lat. 15° 57' 0" S. His right ascension for the meridian of Greenwich, on this day, 1823, is, in time, 7 30′ 3′′. Sirius, or the bright star in Canis Major, is in long. 9° 26' 30", and lat. 39° 30' 0" S. Right ascension, in time, 6h 37′ 21′′. The reader must always bear in mind the precession of the equinox, when he is considering any of the astronomical remarks of the Ancients which relate also to time of year. Visitation of the blessed Virgin Mary.-This festival was instituted by Pope Urban VI. in commemoration of the journey which the VIRGIN MARY took into the mountains of Judea, in order to visit the mother of St. John the Baptist. To the Virgin, from Wordsworth. Our tainted nature's solitary boast; Purer than foam on central ocean tost! July 3. St. Phocas Martyr. St. Guthagon Recluse. St. Gunthiern Abbot. St. Bertran Bishop. TEMPUS.-Dog Days begin.-These were a certain number of days before and after the heliacal rising of Canicula, or the Dog Star, in the morning. The dog days in our modern almanacks occupy the time from July 3 to August 11; the name being applied now, as it was formerly, to the hottest time of the year. URANIA. About eleven o'clock on the night following this day in 1819, a brilliant comet was discovered in the North, at Hartwell, in Sussex, by Dr. T. Forster, who perceived it unexpectedly and without any previous announcement. It was seen the same night at Greenwich Observatory. It appears, however, to have been observed by Piazzi, at Palermo; and subsequently at Paris in the month of June; and was certainly noticed both at York and Leeds on the 1st of July. Observations made at the Royal Observatory at Midnight. The comet having passed its perihelion, at the distance of about 23 millions of miles from the Sun, and 73 millions from the Earth, was then moving with the amazing velocity it had acquired in its descent to its lower apsis; and though, from the small daily increment of its visible latitude and longitude, it appeared nearly stationary in the heavens, yet, from its great geocentric velocity, it was evidently fast Y |