NOVEMBER. 337 



She believed that if Mr. Rivers had seen the complainants as they 

 bloomed there in the summer, he would have declared them to be 

 " quite first-rate ;" and she was equally confident that if Mr. Jesse 

 had seen at Sawbridgeworth those Roses which he had attempted to 

 blight, he would have refrained from uttering his calumnies. Further- 

 more, Mr. Rivers had told them, "every Rose has its season;" and 

 some of them might find themselves in 1857 unable to maintain the 

 position they had obtained in 1856. At all events, let them rest 

 assured that to merit, true and lasting, justice must be done ; and that 

 Mr. Rivers would be the first to acknowledge their excellence, when 

 fairly and fully proven. No really good Rose need fear the aphis of 

 jealousy, or the mildew of ignorance ! 



This speech was received with general applause, during which the 

 previous dissentients rose en masse, and expressed their perfect readi- 

 ness to abide the test of time (with the exception of Mr. William 

 Jesse, who seemed to have taken a dew-drop or two too much, and to 

 be particularly "cupped"). , 



All was now couleur de Rose, and while three cheers were given for 

 Mr. Rivers, I awoke to finish my sherry. 



S. R. H. 



NOTES ON THE MONTH. 

 Rain and fog, with tremendous storms, and a few intervening fine 

 days, characterise October. On some days, as the 18th, 20th, and 

 21st, there was a delicious softness in the atmosphere, seldom ex- 

 perienced in the North i\Iidland Counties ; these quiet days, witii not 

 a breath of air to move even a ripple on the water, and cheered with a 

 brilliant sun (whose rays, however, were softened down by the large 

 quantity of moisture in the air) are a real luxury to enjoy. To- lovers 

 of country fife, there are, in our opinion, no such enjoyable days as are 

 met with now and then in October. English landscape, too green and 

 monotonous during summer, now comes out in grand rehef. The gray 

 stubbles mix well in the distance with pastures, themselves become of 

 a more sober colour ; and both are heightened by the many-coloured 

 tints of our woods and hedgerow trees. Horse Chestnuts, Beech, 

 Mountain Ash, ]\Iaples, Liquidamber, Sumachs, and some kinds of 

 Oaks, present to our view, at this season, grand masses of colour, 

 varying from a deep orange to browTi and crimson, which change as 

 the season advances, and contrast strikingly with the common Oak and 

 Elm, which retain the verdure of their foliage longer. Would that our 

 plantation makers had a painter's eye for warm colours ; we might then 

 hope they would throw more of it into their woods, and make our 

 autumn landscapes more generally beautiful even than they are now. 

 That a certain amount of moisture in the air is favourable for con- 

 veying odours, we are agreeably reminded on such days as I have 

 been describing, by the balmy fragrance Hoating in the air whenever we 

 neared a garden containing Mignonette, Stocks, &c. Oh ! thought we, 

 if ever a subscription is started to sow every bald patch of ground by 



NEW SERIES, VOL. VI., NO. LXXI, Z 



