SEPTEMBER. 223 



weather, too pleasant for confinement, and too cool for 

 indolent repose, invites even the weary to ramble. If 

 the early autumn in our climate be unhealthy, it is 

 owing to no insalubrity of the atmosphere, to no pes- 

 tilence borne upon the clear autumnal breezes, but to 

 the folly and improvidence of man, who revels without 

 restraint in the unbounded luxuries now placed before 

 him. Of all the months the climate of September is 

 the most equable and salubrious ; and nearly the same 

 temperature is wafted from every quarter of the heav- 

 ens. The sea-breezes spring up from the ocean, 

 almost with the mildness of the balmy south-west, and 

 the rude north wind has been softened into a delightful 

 blandness by his tender dalliance with summer. 



The principal landscape beauty of the present month 

 consists of the profusion of bright-colored fruits that 

 meet the eye on every side, in the now deserted haunts 

 of the flowers. The scarlet berries of the nightshade, 

 occasionally varied with blossoms, are hanging like clus- 

 ters of the purest gems, from the crevices in the stone- 

 walls, through which the vines have made their clam- 

 bering tour. In wet places the calla and the dragon-root 

 display their compact bunches of red fruit, side by side 

 with the spotted berries of the Solomon's-seal. On 

 each side of the walls, the elder-trees in interrupted 

 rows, are bending down with the weight of their dark 

 purple fruit, while here and there the loftier viburnums 

 stand firmly by their side, some species exhibiting their 

 slate-colored berries upon erect stems, others hanging 

 them from the extremities of their branches, like pendu- 

 lous clusters of grapes. The dark berries of the privet, 

 in conical bunches, are scattered among its prim 

 branches and myrtle-like foliage, and the berries of the 

 wild rose are beginning to redden, along with the daily 



