Becalmed beneath some little island's lee

All tranquil, and transparent, close embayed;
Reflecting in the deep serene and even

Each flower and herb, and ev'ry cloud of Heaven;
The painted kingfisher, the branch above her,
Stand in the stedfast mirror fixt and true;
Anon the fitful breezes brood and hover,

Fresh'ning the surface with a rougher hue;
Spreading, withdrawing, pausing, passing over,
Again returning to retire anew:

So rest and motion, in a narrow range,
Feasted the sight with joyous interchange.
The Monk with handy jerk, and petty baits,
Stands twitching out apace the perch and roach;
His mightier tackle, pitched apart, awaits

The groveling barbel's unobserved approach:
And soon his motley meal of homeward cates

Is spread; the leather bottle is a-broach-
Eggs, Bacon, Ale, a Napkin, Cheese and Knife,
Forming a charming Picture of Still-life.
The Friar-fishing—a design for Cuyp, -

A cabinet jewel- Pray remark the boot;
And, leading from the light, that shady stripe,
With the dark bulrush-heads how well they suit;
And then, that mellow tint so warm and ripe,
'That falls upon the cassock and surtout:'
If it were fairly painted, puffed and sold,
My gallery would be worth its weight in gold.

WHISTLECRAFT.

The maritime plants which flower in July, are the club rush (scirpus maritimus), bearded cat's-tail grass (phleum crinitum), bulbous fox-tail grass (alopecurus bulbosus), the reflexed and creeping meadow grass (poa distans & maritima), the field eryngo (eryngium campestre), parsley water dropwort (oenanthe pimpinelloides), smooth sea-heath (frankenia lævis), and the golden dock (rumex maritimus); all of which are to be found in salt marshes.

On sandy shores may be seen the sea mat-weed (arundo arenaria), upright sea-lime grass (elymus arenarius), the sea lung-wort (pulmonaria maritima), the sea bind-weed (convolvulus soldanella), saltwort

(salsola), sea-holly (eryngium maritimum); prickly samphire (echinophora spinosa), and the sea-lavender (statice limonium), are found on maritime rocks; and the sea pea (pisum maritimum) on rocky shores.

It is now the season for bathing, a refreshment too little taken in this country either in summer or winter. -See T.T. for 1821, p. 209; and our last volume, p. 220, for a description of a summer bath at Negauristan in Persia.

In consequence of the excessive heat which is sometimes experienced in July, an evaporation takes place from the surface of the earth and waters, which again falls in frequent showers: these are as rapidly succeeded by a bright sun, and often by a beautiful rainbow. See our last volume, p. 221.

Mild arch of promise! on thy evening sky
Thou shinest fair with many a lovely ray
Each in the other melting. Much mine eye
Delights to linger on thee; for the day,
Changeful and many weathered, seemed to smile
Flashing brief splendour thro' its clouds awhile,
That deepened dark anon and fell in rain :
But pleasant it is now to pause, aud view
Thy various tints of frail and watery hue,
And think the storm shall not return again.
Such is the smile that Piety bestows

On the good man's pale cheek, when he in peace
Departing gently from a world of woes,

Anticipates the realm where sorrows cease!

SOUTHEY.

The months of July and August offer to those who are fond of the water opportunities for rowing and sailing. It is delightful, while skimming along the limpid element, impelled and fanned by the cooling breezes, to contemplate all the tribes of aquatic and semi-aquatic plants, the reeds, flags, and rushes, the persicaria, the purple loosestrife, and the willowherb; but, above all, the pride of the river, the water-lily, the yellow and the white, spreading its broad leaves on the surface of the water, and expanding its flowers to the sun with a lustre which

But

'Solomon, in all his glory,' never equalled. while we enjoy the beautiful objects which all-bountiful Nature presents to us on every side, let us not forget to point a moral,' as well as to adorn the tale' of our pleasures.

The lapse of Time and Rivers is the same,

6

Both speed their journey with a restless stream;
The silent pace, with which they steal away,
No wealth can bribe, no prayers persuade to stay;
Alike irrevocable both when past,

And a wide ocean swallows both at last;
Though each resemble each in every part,

A difference strikes at length the musing heart:
Streams never flow in vain; where streams abound,
How laughs the land with various plenty crowned !
But TIME, that should enrich the nobler mind,
Neglected leaves a dreary waste behind.

Passing from river scenery to that of the blue and boundless OCEAN,-and supposing ourselves, for a moment, placed in some sequestered nook, near Shanklin, St. Laurence, or Bonchurch, in the charming VECTIS, this precious gem set in the silver sea,' or on any other part of the picturesque southern coast of England, we might chaunt, with the poet, the following pretty

INSCRIPTION for an ORATORY.

Fronting the ocean, but beyond the ken

Of public view and sounds of murm'ring men,
Of unhewn roots composed, and gnarled wood,
A small and rustic oratory stood:

Two mossy pines, high bending, interwove
Their aged and fastastic arms above.

In front, amid the gay, surrounding flowers,
A dial counted the departing hours,

On which the sweetest light of summer shone ;
A rude and brief inscription marked the stone-

To count, with passing shade, the hours,
I placed the dial 'mid the flowers;
That one by one came forth and died,
Blooming and with'ring by its side.
Mortal, let the sight impart
Its pensive moral to thy heart.

Or, as the author of Lalla Rookh says, in a style somewhat more Anacreontic :

Young Joy ne'er thought of counting hours,

Till Care one summer's morning
Set up, among his smiling flow'rs,
A DIAL, by way of warning.

AUGUST.

SEXTILIS was the antient Roman name of this month, being the sixth from March. The Emperor Augustus changed this name, and gave it his own, because in this month Cæsar Augustus took possession of his first consulship, celebrated three triumphs, reduced Egypt under the power of the Roman people, and put an end to all civil wars.

Remarkable Days

In AUGUST 1823.

1. LAMMAS DAY.

THIS day, in the Romish church, is generally called St. Peter in the Fetters, in commemoration of this apostle's imprisonment. It is probably derived from an old Saxon term, signifying Loaf Mass; as it was customary for the Saxons to offer an oblation of loaves made of new wheat on Lammas day, as the first fruits of their new cornjoh

*1. 1821:-MRS. INCHBALD DIED.`

She was one of those ladies whose literary talents reflected honour on her sex, and on the age and country in which she lived, especially in the department of novels and dramas. Her play of Such Things are, in which she pourtrayed, in a very able manner, the PHILANTHROPIC HOWARD, is one of the best dramatic pieces of the last fifty years.

6. TRANSFIGURATION.

Though this day was observed in remembrance of

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our Lord's Transfiguration on the Mount, by the primitive Christians, yet it is but of recent date in the church of Rome; as it was not instituted by Pope Calixtus until the year 1455.

7.-NAME OF JESUS.

Before the Reformation, this day was dedicated to Afra, a woman who had been converted to Christianity by Narcissus, Bishop of Jerusalem, and who afterwards suffered martyrdom; and the breviary was recognized by Paul V. Afterwards Donatus, who became a martyr in the time of Julian for refusing to sacrifice, was substituted in her place. Our reformers devoted it to the NAME OF OUR BLESSED LORD.

*7. 1821. ADAM BARTSCH DIED,

Director in Chief of the Imperial Library at Vienna. This indefatigable connoisseur was well known to all print collectors by his valuable work, Le Peintre Graveur, in 20 volumes, 8vo, which is an important addition to the literature of that branch of the fine arts to which he more particularly devoted his time and talents. Just before his death he had completed another useful publication, in two volumes 8vo, Anleitung zur Kupferstichkunde (Introduction to the Study and Knowledge of Engravings); a work that may be considered as an excellent grammar of the art, and as affording much information within a small compass. His own etchings amount to 505. A portrait of Bartsch will be found in the third volume of Mr. Dibdin's entertaining Bibliographical Tour. *8. 1822. PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY DIED, Æt. 29,

Mr.

Eldest son of Sir Timothy Shelley, Bart., of Castle Goring. He was sailing in a pleasure-boat off Reggio, when a sudden storm arose, the boat was upset, and he and his companion were drowned. Shelley was a man of talents of a very high order; and it is deeply to be regretted that the themes on which his resplendent muse chose to lavish all her powers are such as to render his poems quite unfit for indiscriminate perusal. In nerve and pith of con

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