JULY. 179 



superstition, many a jocund folly have fled be- 

 fore it, I trust, and I think I know, that suffi- 

 cient simplicity of heart and manner remains, 

 and is likely to remain in what may be truly 

 called the country ; and instead of ignorance 

 and laughter, we have intelligence, industry sti- 

 mulated by higher views, and, whenever there is 

 occasion to display it, mirth and good fellowship 

 enough. This is never more conspicuous than 

 in harvest time. 



With the exception of a casual song of the 

 lark in a fresh morning, and the blackbird and 

 thrush at sunset, or the monotonous wail of the 

 yellow-hammer, the silence of birds is now com- 

 plete ; even the lesser reed-sparrow, which may 

 very properly be called the English mock-bird, 

 and which kept up a perpetual clatter with the 

 notes of the sparrow, the swallow, the white- 

 throat, etc. in every hedge-bottom, day and 

 night, has now ceased its song also. 



Boys will now be seen in the evening twi- 

 light, with match, gunpowder, etc. and green 

 boughs for self-defence, busy in storming the 

 paper-built castles of wasps, the larvae of which 

 furnish anglers with plenty of excellent baits. 

 The hornet is very uncommon now in the mid- 

 land counties. It is a difficult matter to find 

 a person who has seen a single insect, much less 

 a nest, a fact certainly not to be regretted, when 



