266 



MICHAELMAS TIDE. 



SEPT. 22. SS. Maurice and his companions, mar- 

 tyrs, A.D. 286. 

 St. Emmeran, bishop of Poictiers in 653. 



Obs, St. Maurice was a general officer of the Thebean legion, 

 which consisted of about 6600 men, who were all well armed ; but 

 they had learned to give to God what is God's, and to Caesar what 

 is Caesar. Maximian having commanded them in vain to sacrifice 

 to the idols, ordered his whole army to surround them : they suf- 

 fered themselves to be butchered like innocent lambs, not opening 

 their mouths but to encourage one another. 



Tree Boletus Boletus arboreus fr. 



Loose Starwort Aster laxus fl. 



Brittle Starwort Aster fragilis fl. 



Annual Sunflower Helianthus annuus still fl. 



Sunflowers are still abundant, and, like Holyhocks, stand up very 

 loftily above the rest of the inhabitants of the garden. The Annual 

 .Sunflower Helianthus annuus is a native of Mexico. The Perennial 

 Helianthus mult iji or us comes from Virginia. 



In Canada Sunflowers are much admired and cultivated by the 

 inhabitants, in gardens, for their beauty ; in other parts of America 

 they sow whole acres of land with them, for the purpose of preparing 

 oil from their seeds, of which they produce an immense number. 

 This oil is very pure, fit for salads, and for nearly all the purposes 

 for which Florence oil is used. 



Thomson says tlie Sunflower turns ever towards the Sun : 



Wlio can unpityiiig see tlie flowery race, 



Shed ny the morn, their iiewflmhed bloom resign, 



Before the parching beam ? So fade the fair, 



When fevers revel throui;h their azure veins. 



But one, the lofty follower of tlie Sun, 



Sad when he sets, shuf^ up her yellow leaves. 



Drooping all niglit, and, when lie warm returns, 



Points her enamoured bosom to his ray. 



Moore has used the same idea : 



As the Sunflower turns to her aod when he sets 

 The same look which she turned when he rose. 



Clare the rural poet gives a natural picture of the Sunflower in 

 the following description of the flowery ornaments of a rustic cottage : 



Where rustic taste at leisure trimly weaves 



The Rose and strag. ling Woodbine to the eaves; 



And on the crowded spot that pales enclose. 



The white and scarlet Daisy rear > in rows ; 



Training the trailing Peas in hunches neat, 



Perluming evening witii a luscious sweet ; 



And Sunflowers planting for their gilded show, 



That scale the window's lattice ere they blow, 



Then sweit to habitants within the slieds, 



Peep thiongh the diamond jianes their golden heads. 



Fillage Minstrel, ^x. vol. ii. p. 80. 

 On the evening of this day in 1781 the Ignis fatuus was seen in the marshy 

 grounds nervr Tottenham. Uf late years it has not been noticed there. 



