170 



THE 



BEAUTIES OF APRIL AND MAY. 



THE following article is submitted, as being well calcu- 

 lated to afford amateurs mental recreation, while engaged 

 in rural pursuits ; and it is presumed that the practical 

 gardener will not view the insertion of this article as a 

 digression, as it exhibits the beauty and order of the flowery 

 tribe in propitious climates, or when cultivated at the proper 

 season, in a truly appropriate and amusing light. 



APRIL. 



"Descend, sweet April, from yon watery bow, 

 And liberal strew the ground with budding flowers, 

 With leafless Crocus, leaf-veiled Violet, 

 Auricula, with powdered cup. Primrose * 



That loves to lurk below the Hawthorn shade." 



It is generally admitted, that the month of April gives the 

 most perfect image of Spring ; for its vicissitudes of warm 

 gleams of sunshine and gentle showers, have the most pow- 

 erful effect in hastening the universal springing of the vege- 

 table tribes, from whence the season derives its appellation. 

 Next comes the favourite month of the year, in poetical 

 description, 



MAY. 



"For thee, sweet month, the groves green liv'ries wear; 

 If not the first, the fairest in the year ; 

 Thou dost afford us many pleasant hours, 

 While Nature's ready pencil paints the flowers." 



The pious Hervey, in his Meditations on the Flower Gar- 

 den, has furnished us many sublime ideas respecting the 

 order, variety, and beauty of the flowery tribe.* It is in 



*Those who have read Hervey "s Meditations on the Flower Garden , 

 will discover that the pious author's phraseology, and several of his 

 sublime ideas, are interspersed through this article, which, from being 

 blended with other matter, could not be designated in the customary way. 



