KEY TO THE CALENDAR. 



upon the walls, and processions and plays repre- 

 senting Scripture subjects. 



Natural History. May is a month of the best 

 reputation indeed, a general favourite in imagina- 

 tion ; but it often balks the hopes of its worship- 

 pers. In favourable seasons, it presents many 

 beautiful appearances, as herbage and foliage of 

 the brightest green, a profusion of natural flowers, 

 soft and genial skies, fishes leaping, swallows 

 twittering, bees humming, the cuckoo repeating 

 her note, and the corn coming into blade. But 

 these appearances are often prevented or much 

 clouded by cold east winds, most destructive to 

 the fruit-blossom. The greater prevalence of this 

 wind during May than in any other month, seems 

 to be chiefly the cause of the well-known injunc- 

 tion : ' Change not a clout till May be out.' The 

 general average temperature is about 51 degrees. 

 We are now arrived at the latest period of seed- 

 time. In the most backward parts of the country, 

 barley is still sown ; turnip-sowing is general ; 

 and the seeds of some of the tenderer garden- 

 plants are committed to the earth. The ash, the 

 last budding of our native trees, comes into leaf 

 in the latter part of the month. 



JUNE. 



The origin of the name June, or what is usually 

 considered the origin, has been explained at the 

 same time with that of May. The month was 

 sacred to Juno, the foundress of marriage. 



II. St Barnabas the Apostle, a holiday of the 

 Church of England. In the old style, the i ith of 

 June was the longest day ; hence an ancient 

 rhyme : 



Barnaby Bright, 



The longest day and the shortest night. 



15. St Vitus'f Day. St Vitus was a Sicilian 

 martyr. From him, though for what reason is 

 doubtful, is named a well-known nervous affection 

 of the limbs, proceeding from a disordered state 

 of the visceral system. It was a popular belief 

 that rain on this day indicated rain for thirty 

 days thereafter. 



24. St John's Day, the Nativity of St John the 

 Baptist, a holiday of the Church of England. 

 The Eve of St John, variously called Midsummer 

 Eve, was formerly a time of high observance 

 amongst the English, as it still is in Catholic 

 countries. Bonfires were everywhere lighted, 

 round which the people danced with joyful de- 

 monstrations, occasionally leaping through the 

 flame. A certain number of citizens formed a 

 watch, which perambulated the streets all night 

 It was also believed that on this eve, by fasting, \ 

 waking, pulling certain herbs, and going through I 

 certain ceremonies, it was possible to obtain an 

 insight into futurity on some important points. 

 Fasting St John's Fast was a great feat of young 

 women a century or two ago. There was also a 

 custom of holding vigil in the church porch, pre- 

 cisely the same as described under St Mark's Day 

 (April 25). 



29. St Peter's Day, a high festival of the Romish 

 Church, and a holiday of the Church of England. 

 It is celebrated at Rome with illuminations and 

 magnificent ceremonials. 



Natural History. In the central parts of our 



island, this is in general a dry coldish summer 

 month. The days v however, are at the longest ; 

 and though June ranks only third highest as to 

 temperature, drought or evaporation reaches the 

 extreme point June here resembles the May of 

 more southern climes. The general average of 

 the thermometer is 57 degrees. In the course of 

 the month we have the flowering of a great 

 number of fine perennials and shrubs, so that the 

 gardens are usually in great glory. It is also the 

 time when weeds give the gardener and husband- 

 man the greatest trouble. 



JULY. 



This, being at first the fifth month of the Roman 

 year, was called Quintilis. It became the seventh 

 in consequence of the reform of the calendar by 

 Julius Caesar, in whose honour, as he was born in 

 it, Mark Antony gave it the present name. 



3. The day fixed in the calendars as the first 

 of the Dog-days, the last being the i ith of August 

 The dog-days precede and follow the heliacal 

 rising of the star Sirius (in the constellation of the 

 Greater Dog) in the morning, which in Pliny's 

 time was on the :8th of July. The extreme heat 

 of this season of the year, although to us palpably 

 the effect of the continued high position of the 

 sun, was connected by the ancients with the 

 appearance of this star in the morning. They 

 considered the Dog-star as raging, and gave the 

 time the appellation of the Dog-days. The 

 liability of dogs to rabies in consequence of the 

 heat of the season was connected with the same 

 star, though there was nothing but accident in 

 the collusion ; and they butchered these animals 

 without mercy. By the procession of the equi- 

 noxes, the heliacal rising of Sirius in the morning 

 has been changed to the latter end of August, and 

 in a few thousand years more it will take place 

 in the depth of winter. 



4. The Translation of St Martin Bullion, 

 noticed as a festival in the Church of England 

 calendar, though not observed. There is an old 

 saying, not heretofore in print, ' If the deer rise up 

 dry and lie down dry on St Bullion's Day, it is a 

 sign there will be a good gose har'st ; ' meaning, 

 apparently, that dry weather at this season is 

 favourable to the crops. 



St Ulricas Day. On this day, in ancient 

 Catholic times, the people brought fish to the 

 altar to obtain the favour of St Ulric, and one sat 

 there selling the same back to the public for the 

 benefit of the Church. 



15. St Swithiris Day remarkable on account 

 of a well-known popular notion, that if it rain on 

 this day, there will be more or less rain for forty 

 days to come. St Swithin lived a thousand years 

 ago. He was an eminently pious and learned bishop 

 of Winchester, and priest 10 King Egbert. He 

 was the deviser and originator of tithes in Eng- 

 land. The story runs that, being buried by his 

 own request in the churchyard of the cathedral, 

 the priests a hundred years after felt desirous of 

 giving him greater honour, and commenced the 

 work of translating his remains into the interior. 

 This was on the isth of July. They were stopped 

 in their work by a heavy fall of rain ; neither 

 could they resume their duty next day, for the 

 heavy rain still continued. In short, this rain 



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