JUNE. 



Come on therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are present ; 

 and let us speedily use the creatures like as\ in youth. 



Let us fill ourselves with costly wine, and ointments, and let no 

 flower of the spring pass by us. 



Let us crown ourselves with rose -buds, before they be withered. 

 The Wisdom of Solomon, ii. 6 — 8. 



Welcome once more to sweet June, the 

 month which comes 



Half prankt with spring, With summer half imbrowned. 



Yet it is almost startling to those who regret 

 the speed of time, and especially of those 



Who like the soil, who like the clement skies, 

 Who like the verdant hills, and flowery plains, 



to behold how far the season has advanced. 

 But with this we must be sensibly struck, if 

 we give a retrospective glance to the days 

 when, in our walks, we hailed with delight the 

 first announcements of a new spring; the first 

 snatch of milder air ; the first peep of green ; 

 the first flowers which dared the unsettled ele- 

 ments; — snowdrops, primroses, violets, and then 

 a thousand beautiful and short-lived blooms. 



