88 Retrospective Criticism. 



an accuracy as certain as they are detailed in our calendars. 

 The season of spring is always announced as approaching by 

 the notes of the rookery, by the jangle or wooing accents of 

 the dark frequenters of its trees ; and that time having passed 

 away, these contentions and cadences are no longer heard. 

 The cuckoo then comes, and informs us that spring has 

 arrived ; that he has journeyed to us, borne by gentle gales 

 in sunny days ; that fragrant flowers are in the copse and 

 the mead, and all things telling of gratulation and of joy : the 

 children mark this well-known sound, spring out, and cuckoo 1 

 cuckoo ! as they gambol down the lane ; the very ploughboy 

 bids him welcome in the early morn. It is hardly spring 

 without the cuckoo's song ; and having told his tale, he has 

 voice for no more — is silent or away. Then comes the dark, 

 swift-winged marten*, glancing through the air, that seems 

 afraid to visit our uncertain clime ; he comes, though late, 

 and hurries through his business here, eager again to depart; 

 all day long in agitation and precipitate flight. The bland 

 zephyrs of the spring have no charms with them ; but bask- 

 ing and careering in the sultry gleams of June and July, they 

 associate in throngs, and, screaming, dash round the steeple 

 or the ruined tower, to serenade their nesting mates ; and 

 glare and heat are in their train. When the fervour of sum- 

 mer ceases, this bird of the sun will depart. The evening 

 robin, from the summit of some leafless bough, or projecting 

 point, tells us that autumn is come, and brings matured fruits, 

 chilly airs, and sober hours ; and he, the lonely minstrel now 

 that sings, is understood by all. These four birds thus indi- 

 cate a separate season, have no interference with the intelli- 

 gence of the other, nor could they be transposed without the 

 loss of all the meaning they convey, which no contrivance of 

 art could supply ; and by long association they have become 

 identified with the period, and in peculiar accordance with the 

 time." (p. 266.) 



This passage is both just and beautiful, and in unison vrith 

 the rest of the pages. The author, indeed, in treating of the 

 most ordinary occurrences of nature, paints the scene with 

 that descriptive faithfulness, feeling, and vivacity, which never 

 fail to rouse our recollections, and set the objects before us in 

 a manner that is at once striking and delightful. We almost 

 fancy that we hear the melody of the birds, and behold the 

 beauty and splendour of the plants and insects. 



* The swift, i^irundo ^'pus. The unobservant reader may perhaps be 

 misled by this passage, to suppose that the swift does not arrive in our cli- 

 mate till the month of June j whereas it is well known that the bird makes 

 its appearance in May, and sometimes by the end of April. The author, 

 however, very justly represents the season of June and July as being par- 

 ticularly marked by its joyous scream. 



