MAY. 113 



than our ancestors, but we have more poetry 

 and sentiment amongst the people at large. 

 We have conveyed from every region its most 

 curious and splendid plants ; and such is the 

 poetical perception of natural beauty in the 

 general mind, that wherever our wild flowers 

 spring up, in the grass, on the overhanging 

 banks of the wild brook, or in the mossy shade 

 of the forest, there are admiring eyes to behold 

 them. 



May is so called from the goddess Maia, a 

 name under which the earth was worshipped 

 at this daedal season of the year. The Saxons 

 termed it Trimilki, because they began to milk 

 their cows three times a-day in this month. 



The flowers of the chestnut-tree begin to 

 unfold : the tulip-tree has its leaves quite out ; 

 and the flowers of the Scotch-fir, the beech, the 

 oak, and the honey-suckle, climbing round its 

 neighbour for support, are now in full bloom. 

 The mulberry-tree puts forth its leaves ; the 

 walnut-tree is in flower ; so too are the lilach, 

 the barberry, and the maple. Towards the end 

 of the month that magnificent and beautiful 

 tree, the horse-chestnut, and the hawthorn flower, 

 the mountain-ash, the laburnum, the guelder- 

 rose, the alder, the elm, and the wayfaring tree. 



i 



