146 JUNE. 



way magnificently amid views in the pride of 

 their bloom and greenness, amid the deepest 

 grass and the richest foliage ; and it is a merry 

 sight to see the little boys sporting like fishes in 

 the water where it has spread itself in shallow 

 expanses on the grass. 



Fishermen too, take the advantage of these 

 floods. The waters are rendered turbid, and 

 the fish are not only deprived of their ordinary 

 quickness of perception, but are washed out of 

 their usual haunts. Men may be seen hasten- 

 ing towards the rivers with their nets, and find 

 noble sport with carp and barbel and other large 

 fish, which lie luxuriating on the warm banks 

 amid the fresh herbage. 



Sheep-sheaiung, begun last month, is gene- 

 rally completed this. It is one of the most pic- 

 turesque operations of rural life, and, from the 

 most ancient times, it has been regarded as a 

 season of gladness and festivity. The simple 

 and unvitiated sense of mankind taught them, 

 in the earlier ages of society, that the bounty of 

 Nature was to be gathered in with thankfulness, 

 and in a spirit like that of the Great Giver, a 

 spirit of blessing and benevolence. Therefore 

 did they join with the brightness and beauty 

 of the summer the sunshine of their grateful 

 souls, and collect with mirth and feasting the 

 harvests of the field, of the forest, and of the 



