FLORAL EMBLEMS. 45 



JULY. 



When now no more tli' alternate twins are fir'd. 

 And cancer reddens with the solar blaze ; 

 Short is the doubtful empire of the night." 



Thompson. 



This cherry-cheeked month we picture in 

 our emblems by a garland of purple thyme, 

 enclosing a bunch of red cherries. 



" July I would have drawn/' says Peacham, 

 '' in a jacket of light yellow, eating cherries, 

 with his face and bosom sun-burnt, on his 

 head a wreath of centaurie and wild thyme, a 

 sithe on his shoulder, and a bottle at his girdle 

 carrying the sign Leo. This month was call- 

 ed July in honour of Julius Caesar, the dicta- 

 tor, being before called Quintilis, or the fifth 

 month ; for the Romans began with March." 



