168 JUNE. 



Iii April the cuckoo shows his bill ; 

 In May he sings both night and day ; 

 In June he altereth his tune ; 

 In July away hell fly ; 

 In August go he must. 



Anon, the scythe is heard ringing, a sound happy 

 in its immediate associations, but, in fact, a note of 

 preparation for winter a knell of the departing 

 year. It reminds us, in the midst of warmth and 

 fertility, that we must prepare for nakedness and 

 frost; and that stripping away of the earth's glo- 

 rious robe, which, when it begins, will never cease 

 till it leaves us in the dreary, tempestuous region of 

 winter; so 



That fair flower of beauty fades away, 



As doth the lily fresh before the sunny ray. 



Great enemy to it, and all the rest 



That in the garden of fair Nature springs, 



Is wicked TIME, who, with his scythe addressed, 



Doth mow the flowering herbs and goodly things, 



And all their glory to the ground down flings, 



Where they do wither, and are foully marred ; 



He flies about and with his flaggy wings 



Beats down both bud and leaf without regard, 



Ne ever pity may relent his malice hard. 



Faery Quecne, b. iii. 



Let us not, however, anticipate too sensitively the 

 progress of Time ; let us rather enjoy the summer 

 festivities which surround us. The green fruits of 

 the orchard are becoming conspicuous, and the 

 young nuts in hedges and copses peep from their 

 fringed husks; the garden presents ripe cherries, 



