72 LENT 



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MARCH 12. St. Gregory the Great, pope, a.d. 604. 

 St. Maximilian, martyr. 

 St. Paul, bishop of Leon, c. 



Obs. St. Gregory was born at Rome about the year 540, where 

 his father Gordianus was senator. His mother Sylvia consecrated 

 herself to the service of the church, and the Saint was called 

 Gregory from a Greek word signifying watchman ; like the names 

 Vigilius and Vigilantius in Latin. St. Gregory restored the antient 

 missal, and ^lenard's edition of his Sacramentary is one of the most 

 curious books on the subject extant. What is called the Gregorian 

 Chant is also the work of this Saint. He is the great defender of 

 the celibacy of the clergy, to whom he enjoins humility and deep 

 learning as necessary qualifications. St. Gregory's Festival was 

 formerly kept throughout England by order of the Council of Oxford, 

 and his name is still annually recorded in the English Nautical 

 Almanack, where he is erroneously styled a martyr. 



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Channelled Ixia Ixia bulbocodiiim flowers. 



This is a greenhouse plant, which now comes into flower. At this 

 time also the greenhouse begins to produce Camelias Camelia 

 Japonica in great abundance and beauty. The nurserymen about 

 London make a great show of them ; jNIessrs. Loddidges of Hackney 

 were one 3 celebrated for a very fine display of these flowers. An 

 earth composed of light loam and peat mould is best suited to them. 



Frogs are now heard croaking in the pools, ditches, ponds, and 

 other shallow waters. They remind us of the well known line of 

 Virgil's Georgics: 



Et veterem in limo ranae cecinere querelam. 



Their much croaking is a sign of rain and of the changeable weather 

 so prevalent in this month. See notes to Forsiter's Arati Diosemea. 

 Reter also to Aristophanes' celebrated Chorus of Frogs in his 

 Barpap^oi. As the croaking of Frogs has been long known as a sign 

 of rain, we may remind the reader of the following aspiration of the 

 Floritegiuiit : — Hymns should rather be Prayers of Praise than 

 dirges, much less should they be chanted only against calamity. 

 Por some sinners do greatlie err who only pray and give praise when 

 they expect the storms of adversity, like Frogs that croak before rain 

 and against the coming of storms ; while true servants of our Lord 

 sing his praise day and night in the sunshine of prosperity, like 

 Grasshoppers, who fill the verdure with their music under a serene 

 and propitious sky. ^ 



