APRIL. 95 



allusion is obvious. The Saxons called it Oster 

 or Easter-monatk, from the feast of the goddess 

 Eastre. 



The following description of this season of 

 the year is by Gawain Douglas, Bishop of 

 Dunkeld, as modernized by Dr. Warton. 



Fresh Aurora, the wife of Tithonus, issued 

 from her saffron bed and ivory house. She was 

 clothed in a robe of crimson and violet colour ; 

 the cape vermilion, and the border purple. 

 She opened the windows of her handsome hall, 

 overshadowed with roses and filled with balm 

 or nard. At the same time the crystal gates 

 of heaven were thrown open to illumine the 

 world. It was glorious to see the winds ap- 

 peased, the sea becalmed, the soft season, the 

 serene firmament, the still air and the beauty of 

 the watery ^scene. The silver-scaled fishes, on 

 the gravel gliding hastily, as it were from the 

 heat, or seen through clear streams, with fins 

 shining brown as cinnabar, and chisel-tails 

 darted here and there. The new lustre en- 

 lightening all the land, beamed on the small 

 pebbles on the sides of rivers, and on the 

 strands, which looked like beryl, while the re- 

 flection of the rays played on the banks in 



