A SPRING GOSSIP. 



491 



beauty, so too has the apple-tree a flower 

 that challenges the world to surpass it, 

 whether for the delicacy with which the white 



and red are blended — as upon the cheek 

 of fairest maiden of sixteen — or the wild 

 grace and symmetry of its cinquefoil petals, 

 or the harmony of its colouring heightened 

 by the tender verdure of the bursting leaves 

 that surround it. We only mention this, to 

 show what a wealth of beauty there is in 

 common and familiar objects in the country; 

 and if any of our town readers are so un- 

 fortunate as never to have seen an apple 

 orchard in full bloom, then have they lost 

 one of the fairest sights that the month of 

 April has in her kaleidescope. 



Spring, in this country, is not the tedious 

 jade that she is in England, — keeping one 

 waiting from February till June, while she 

 makes her toilet, and fairly puts her foot on 

 the daisy spangled turf. For the most part, 

 she comes to us with a quick bound ; and, 

 to make amends for being late, she showers 

 down such a wealth of blossoms that our 

 gardens and orchards, at the end of 

 April, look as if they were turned into fairy 

 parterres, so loaded are they, — and espe- 

 cially the fruit trees, — with beauty and 

 promise. An American spring may be 

 said to commence fairly with the blossom 

 of the apricot or the elm tree, and end 

 with the ripening of the first strawber- 

 ries. 



To end with strawberries ! What a fi- 

 nale to one's life. More sanguinary, per- 

 haps, (as there is a stain left on one's 

 fingers sometimes,) but not less delicious 

 than to 



"Die of a rose in aromatic pain."' 



But it is a fitting close to such a beauti- 

 ful season to end with such a fruit as this. 

 We believe, indeed, that strawberries, if 

 the truth could be known, are the most 

 popular of fruits. People always affect to 



prefer the peach, or the orange, or perhaps 

 the pear ; but this is only because these 

 stand well in the world — are much talked 

 of — and can give " the most respectable re- 

 ferences." But take our word for it, if the 

 secret preference, the concealed passion, of 

 every lover of fruit could be got at, without 

 the formality of a public trial, the straw- 

 berry would be found out to be the little 

 betrayer of hearts. Was not Linnaeus 

 cured of the gout by them ? And did not 

 even that hard-hearted monster, Richard 

 the III, beseech "My Loed of Ely" to 

 send for some of " the good strawberries" 

 from his garden at Holborn ? Nay, an 

 Italian poet has written a whole poerri, of 

 nine hundred lines or more, entirely upon 

 strawberries. " Strawberries and sugar" 

 are to him what " sack and sugar" was to 

 Falstaff, — " the indispensable companion 

 — the sovereign remedy for all evil — the 

 climax of good." In short, he can do no 

 more in wishing a couple of new married 

 friends of his, the completest earthly happi- 

 ness, than to say — 



" E a dire che ogni cosa lieia vada, 

 Su le Fragole il zucchero le cada." 



In short, to sum up all that earth can prize, 

 .May they have sugar to their strawberries! 



There are few writers who have treated 

 of the spring and its influences more fit- 

 tingly than some of the English essayists ; 

 for the English have the key to the poetry 

 of rural life. Indeed, we cannot perhaps 

 give our readers greater pleasure than by 

 ending this article with the following ex- 

 tract from one of the papers of that genial 

 and kindly writer, Leigh Hunt: 



" The lightest thoughts have their roots 

 in gravity; and the most fugitive colours of 

 the world are set off by the mighty back- 

 ground of eternity. One of the greatest 

 pleasures of so light and airy a thing as the 

 vernal season, arises from the conscious- 



