In this month early potatoes are set, hedges repaired, trees lopped, and wet lands drained. Poplars, willows, osiers, and other aquatics, are planted. Towards the end of February, or the beginning of March, if the weather be not very severe, that domestic and harmless bird, the hedge-sparrow (motacilla modularis), begins to intimate by a plaintive, soft chirp, and peculiar shake of its wing, the approach of the pairing season: this motion is so constant and singular, that the local name of 'shufflewing' has been given to this bird. It is nearly our earliest breeder, and, using but little art to conceal its nest, it becomes the booty of every prying boy. The eggs of the hedge-sparrow are always found in such numbers on his string, that it is surprising how the race of this bird is continued, particularly when we consider the many casualties to which they are subjected by the domestic habits of the old birds. The plumage of the motacilla modularis is remarkably sober and grave, and all his actions are quiet and conformable; his song is short, sweet, and gentle; he perches for a moment on the summit of a bush, utters his brief modulation, and hides himself again his habitation is the hedge of a cottage garden, whence he seldom wanders far. Unobtrusive, he does not, like the redbreast, enter our houses, but picks minute insects from the edges of drains and ditches, or morsels of potatoes at the door of the poorest dwelling at the village-end. Did we seek for a pattern of a household domestic bird, none could be found with better pretensions to such a character than the hedge-sparrow. LINES Written at Tenbury, Worcestershire, on disturbing a Hedge-Sparrow from her Nest. Little flutterer! swiftly flying, Here is none to harm thee near ; One who would protect thee ever Would permit thy eggs to take; May no cuckoo, wandering near thee, One who long hath sought, despairing, Whither he and his repairing, Might with quiet comfort dwell. There at eve, and after labour, Little flutterer! hast thou never Little flutterer! swiftly flying, Here is none to harm thee near; JAMES JENNINGS. MARCH. AMONG the Romans, March, from Mars, was the first month; and marriages made in this month were accounted unhappy. Remarkable Days In MARCH 1823. 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.-Early on the 1st of March, the young maidens of the village of Steban Hethe, now called Stepney, used to resort to Goodman's Fields (the only remains of which now not built upon is the Tenter-ground), in search of a blade of grass of a reddish tint; the charm being, that the fortunate finder obtained the husband of her wishes within the month. 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. 7. PERPETUA. Perpetua, a noble lady of Carthage, only twentytwo years of age, suffered martyrdom in 203, by order of Minutius Firmianus, under the persecution of the Emperor Severus. 9.-MIDLENT SUNDAY. The middle or fourth Sunday in Lent was formerly called the Sunday of the Five Loaves, the Sunday of Bread, and the Sunday of Refreshment, in allusion to the gospel appointed for this day. It was also named Rose Sunday, from the Pope's carrying a golden rose in his hand, which he exhibited to the people in the streets as he went to celebrate the eucharist, and at his return. *9. 1822.-DR. EDWARD DANIEL CLARKE DIED, ET. 54. The following character of Dr. Clarke appeared in the Cambridge Chronicle for March the 15th, which was afterwards claimed as his writing by the Rev. G. A. Browne, fellow of Trinity College: Perhaps no person ever possessed, in a more eminent degree than Dr. Clarke, the delightful faculty of winning the hearts and rivetting the affections of those into whose society he entered. From the first moment, his conversation excited an interest that never abated. They who knew him once, felt that they must love him always. The kindness of his manner, the anxiety he expressed for the welfare of others, his eagerness to make them feel happy and pleased with themselves, when united to the charms of his language, were irresistible. Such was Dr. Clarke in private life: within the circle of his more immediate friends, in the midst of his family, there he might be seen, as the indulgent parent, the affectionate husband, the warm, zealous, and sincere friend. Of his public life, the present moment will only admit of an outline. Soon after taking his degree, Dr. Clarke accompanied the present Lord Berwick abroad, and remained for some time in Italy. The classic scenes he there met with, and his own inquisitive genius, stimulated him to enter into a wider field of research; and, shortly after his return to England, he embarked on those travels which have rendered his name so celebrated throughout Europe; indeed, we may add, in every quarter of the civilized world. To enter into any description of them is needless-they are before the public. They have been, and will continue to be, the delight and the solace of those who have been unable to visit other countries; and they have excited the dormant spirit of curiosity in many a resident of the University, who has followed eagerly the steps of Dr. Clarke, and has invariably borne testimony to the accuracy and fidelity of his narrative. Dr. Clarke has somewhere mentioned all the excellencies which must unite to form a perfect traveller; he must have the pencil of Norden, the pen of Volney, the learning of Pococke, the perseverance of Bruce, the enthusiasm of Savary. Of all these Dr. Clarke united in his own person by far the greater share. No difficulties in his progress were ever allowed to be insuperable; and, upon all occasions, he imparted to others a portion of his own enthusiasm. It was upon the return from this extensive tour, during which he had visited nearly the whole of Europe, and parts of Asia and Africa, that Dr. Clarke presented to the University those memorials of his travels, which now decorate the vestibule of the library; and, as some return for the splendour which his name had reflected upon the University, he was complimented, in full senate, with the degree of LL.D. From that moment the residence of the traveller was confined to Cambridge, and he shortly after commenced those public lectures on mineralogy, which, if possible, have made his name more known and honoured, both in this and in foreign countries, than even his long and interesting travels. Natural history was his earliest and most favourite study, and that peculiar branch of it which refers to the mineral kingdom soon engrossed the whole of his attention. In the delivery of his celebrated lectures, Clarke was without a rival: his eloquence was inferior to none (in native eloquence, perhaps, few have ever equalled him in this country); his knowledge of his subject was extensive; his elucidation clear and simple; and in his illustrations, which were practically afforded by the various and beautiful specimens of his minerals, he was peculiarly happy. Most of those specimens he had himself collected, and they seldom failed to give rise to the most pleasing associations by their individual locality. We may justly apply to him, in the delivery of his lectures, what |