rxiRODUCTioN. xxxm. 



eant weather of Autumn is now set in, shorter 

 days and fires in our rooms in the evening, with 

 longer candlelight, begin to excite a desire to study, 

 in those for whom the idle and mischievous 

 sports have no charms. Others only rise to hear 

 tlie woods echo with the hollow sound of hounds 

 and follow the hunter's horn. As this season ad- 

 vances, the mornings are apt to be foggy, and at 

 last the wet, windy, and variable weather, the 

 yellow and falliiig leaves and the cold air remind 

 one that the early winter is not far ofif. 



Natural History. — Although there are 

 but few remarkable flowers save the colchicum 

 autumnale, the saflron crocus aulumnale and the 

 yellow amaryllis lutea which still blow in this 

 season ; yet the soft and lovely landscapes are orna- 

 mented with the various red and brown hues of 

 the decaying leaves. The creeper is of a deep and 

 beautiful scarlet, the dogwood of a fine purple ; the 

 sumac a fine deep red, the elms yellow, the beachen 

 leaves a fine chocolate brown, and so on of others. 

 The leaves now fall apace, and the wood and 

 grove are by degrees dismantled of every thing 

 but the evergreens, which have a pleasing contrast 

 with the mellow foliage in its decay. In this sea- 

 son the swallows, martins, and summer birds 

 leave us, and the winter birds arrive. 



Calendar. — Michaelmas, at the beginning 

 of this season : — noted for the goose eaten today. 

 After this comes the feast of the Rosary on the 



