144 JUNE. 



Anon, the scythe is heard ringing, — a sound 

 happy in its immediate associations, but, in fact, 

 a note of preparation for winter, — a knell of the 

 departing year. It reminds us, in the midst 

 of warmth and fertility, that we must prepare 

 for nakedness and frost; and that stripping 

 away of the earth's glorious robe, which, when 

 it begins, will never cease till it leaves us in the 

 dreary, tempestuous region of winter ; so 

 That fair flower of beauty fades away, 

 As doth the lily fresh before the sunny ray. 

 Great enemy to it, and all the rest 

 That in the garden of fair nature springs, 

 Is wicked time, who, with his scythe addressed, 

 Doth mow the flowering herbs and goodly things, 

 And all their glory to the ground down flings, 

 Where they do wither, and are foully marred ; 

 He flies about, and with his flaggy wings 

 Keats down botli bud and leaf without regard, 

 Ne ever pity may relent his malice hard. 



Faery Queene, b. iii. 



Let us not, however, anticipate too sensitively 

 the progress of time : let us enjoy rather the 

 summer festivities which surround us. The 

 green fruits of the orchard are becoming con- 

 spicuous, and the young nuts in hedges and 

 copses peep from their fringed husks : the gar- 

 den presents ripe cherries, melting strawberries: 

 and gooseberries and currants, assuming tints of 

 ripeness, are extremely grateful. Grasses are 

 now in flower ; and when the larger species are 



