AUGUST. 215 



ries ; and many an anecdote and history from 

 " the simple annals of the poor" are there re- 

 lated, which need only to pass through the 

 mind of a Wordsworth or a Crabbe, to become 

 immortal in their mirth or woe. 



Whilst speaking of harvest, I must not omit 

 to notice the splendid appearance of the Har- 

 vest Moon. The circumstance of this moon 

 rising several nights successively almost at the 

 same time, immediately after sunset, has given 

 it an importance in the eyes of farmers ; but it 

 is not the less remarkable for its singular and 

 splendid beauty. No moon during the year can 

 bear any comparison with it. At its rising it 

 has a character so peculiarly its own, that the 

 more a person is accustomed to expect and to 

 observe it, the more it strikes him with asto- 

 nishment. I would advise every one who can 

 go out in the country, to make a practice of 

 watching for its rising- The warmth and the 

 dryness of the earth, the clearness and balmy 

 serenity of the atmosphere at that season, the 

 sounds of voices borne from distant fields, the 

 freshness which comes with the evening, com- 

 bine to make the twilight walk delicious ; and 

 scarcely has the sun departed in the west, when 

 the moon in the east rises from beyond some 

 solitary hill, or from behind the dark rich fo- 

 liage of trees, and sails up into the still and 



