APRIL. 77 



all the myriads of living creatures has given 

 so peculiar a difference of figure, habits, and 

 disposition. 



April is so called from the Latin Aprilis, 

 which is derived from Aperire, to open. The 

 allusion is obvious. The Saxons called it Oster 

 or Easter-monath, from the feast of the goddess 

 Eastre. 



The following description of this season of the 

 year is by Gawain Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld, 

 as modernized by Dr. Warton. 



Fresh Aurora, the wife of Tithonus, issued 

 from her saifron bed and ivory house. She was 

 clothed in a robe of crimson and violet colour ; 

 the cape vermilion, and the border purple. She 

 opened the windows of her handsome hall, 

 overshadowed with roses and filled with balm 

 or nard. At the same time the crystal gates of 

 heaven were thrown open to illumine the world. 

 It was glorious to see the winds appeased, the 

 sea becalmed, the soft season, the serene firma- 

 ment, the still air and the beauty of the watery 

 scene. The silver-scaled fishes, on the gravel 

 gliding hastily, as it were from the heat, or seen 

 through clear streams, with fins shining brown 

 as cinnabar, and chisel-tails, darted here and 

 there. The new lustre enlightening all the land, 



