AUGUST. 



277 



tiful, but in nothing differing from its usual 

 character. 



During this month Nature seems to expe- 

 rience a second spring. Several trees, particu- 

 larly the oak and elm, put forth shoots and 

 new leaves, enlivening the sombre woods. 

 The hedges assume a lighter green; and if their 

 leaves have been devoured in the spring with 

 caterpillars, as is sometimes the case, they are 

 now completely reclothed in the most delicate 

 foliage. The ground already experiences the 

 effect of the shortening days. The drought 

 occasioned by the intense heat and long days 

 of July has abated, cool nights, dews, and occa- 

 sional showers restore the mown fields and 

 sunburnt pastures to a degree of verdure, and 

 reanimate the remaining flowers. The small 

 blue campanula, wild scabious, blue chiccory, 

 the large, white convolvulus, hawkweeds, and 

 the Erica vulgar e, or common heath, still adorn 

 wastes, fields, and waysides. The pink-and- 

 white convolvulus has been one of the chief 

 ornaments of summer, flowering in the dryest 

 spots where all around is brown from extreme 

 drought, with cheerful beauty. A few clusters 

 of honeysuckles may yet be seen, here and 



