dunstan's tide. 137 



MAY 16. St. John Nepomucon, martyr, a.d. 1383. 



St. Simon Stock, confessor, 1265. 



St. Ubaldus, bishop, 1160, 



St. Honoratus, bishop and confessor, 660. 



St. Abjesus, bishop and martyr. 



St. Abdas, bishop. 



St. Brendan the Elder, abbot in Ireland, 578. 



Ohs. St. John Nepomucon possessed in an eminent degree the 

 virtues of a perfect anchoret and of a zealous apostle, and by his 

 death merited the crown of a glorious martyr. He was cruelly tor- 

 mented, and thrown into the river Muldaw from the bridge of 

 Prague, by the orders of Wenceslos, fourth Emperor and King of 

 Bohemia, son of Charles IV, in 1383, for having refused to disclose 

 the confession of the Empress Jane, daughter of Albert of Bavaria, 

 — Butler. 



WhheSiar of BethlehemOrnithogalum umbellatumfi. 

 Laburnum Cytisus Laburnum flowers. 



The large White Star of Bethlehem is found wild about 

 Blechinglye in Surrey, and other places in England ; in our gardens 

 it is called the Greater Star of Bethlehem : it flowers till the end 

 of June, 



The rich yellow and hanging flowers of the Laburnum constitute 

 one of the chief ornaments of the garden and shrubbery at this sea- 

 son, mixing agreeably with the Lilacs, now in perfection ; they 

 continue till Midsummer : about Urban's Tide they begin to be 

 accompanied by the Guelder Rose and some other solstitial shrubs. 

 The Lilac Tree is called Syringa by the botanists, but has no connexion 

 with the Syringa, which blows later. Cowper mentions both, and 

 the bnes are so much to the purpose that we must quote them : 



In our spring gardens now Laburnum, rich 

 In streaming gold ; Syringa ivory pure ; 

 The scentless and the scented Bose, — this red 

 And of an humbler growth, the other tall 

 And throwing up into the darkest gloom 

 Of neighbouring Cypress, or more sable Yew, 

 Her silver globes, light as the foamy surf 

 That the wind severs from the broken wave. 



N 2 



