THE UNIVERSAL FAMILY PAPER FOR INTER-COMMUNICATIONS ON 



NATURAL HISTORY-POPULAR SCIENCE— TH1N8S IN GENERAL, 



Conducted by WILLIAM KIDD, of Hammersmith,— 



Author of the Familiar and Popular Essays on ''Natural History;" "British Song 

 Birds;" "Birds of Passage;" "Instinct and Beason;" "The Aviary," &c. 



"the OBJECT OF OUR WORK is to make men WISER, WITHOUT obligino them to turn over folios and 

 QUARTOS.— TO FURNISH MATTER FOR THINKING AS WELL AS READING."— EVELYN. 



No. 26.— 1852. 



SATURDAY, JUNE 26. 



Price l%d. 



Or, in Monthly Parts, Price Id. 



PROGRESS OF THE SEASONS. 



JUNE, AND " THE LONGEST DAY." 



Now misty clouds of purple hue 



Are fading from the eye ; 

 And ruddy streaks, which morning drew, 



Have left a dappled sky. 

 The sun has called the bees abroad, 



Wet with the early hour, 

 By toiling for the honeyed load 



Ere dews forsake the flower. 



We have, from time to time, been 

 severe on this changeable climate of ours ; 

 and surely not without reason. It is only 

 just now, so to speak, that we have bade 

 adieu to fires on the domestic hearth ; and 

 that we have been able to open wide our 

 windows and our doors, to give entrance to 

 the air of heaven. Let us, however, kindly 

 draw a curtain over the trying past, in anti- 

 cipation of the pleasing future, — for now 



Every bathed leaf, and blossom fair, 

 Pours out its soul to the delicious air. 



Yet is it distressing to think, that the 

 " longest day " has already passed, and that 

 the coming days have even now begun to 

 shorten ! This, before we have experienced 

 any of the warmth of Summer ! We have 

 long been trying to feel poetical, and to 

 imagine we could write beautifully about 

 " Spring ;" but alas ! our pen has been 

 nerved to the task full many a time, and as 

 often has it failed in the attempt. Nature has 

 " looked lovely " in her vernal attire ; but 

 the air has been cold, and the winds have 

 been from that stereotyped quarter — the 

 East. Hard work is it for a poet to " sing," 

 during the prevalence of an Easterly wind ! 



But we believe the time is now come, 

 or is coming, when those who are gifted with 

 an elegant and accomplished mind can walk 

 about at large amid the gay creations of the 

 material world ; when they can imbibe 

 images at every step, to form their objects 

 and illustrate their positions. Delightful, 

 truly delightful, is the analogy which exists 

 between the external appearances of nature, 



and the particular affections of the soul ; 

 and most strikingly do they exemplify that 

 general harmony which subsists in all the 

 universe. 



We love to study this analogy. By it, 

 we associate good fortune with a fine morn- 

 ing ; ignorance with darkness ; youth with 

 Spring ; manhood with Summer ; Autumn 

 with that season of life, known as " the sere 

 and yellow leaf." Winter we associate with 

 age. Thomson thus beautifully embodies 

 the thought : 



" Behold, fond man! 

 See here thy pictured life : pass some few years, 

 Thy flowery Spring, thy Summer's ardent 



strength, 

 Thy sober Autumn fading into age,— 

 And pale concluding Winter comes at last, 

 And shuts the scene." 



We assimilate Summer and Winter too, 

 with good and ill fortune ; and the compari- 

 son is not inapt. 



Availing ourselves of these analogical 

 licences, we may improvise a few pretty 

 ideas — pretty, because seasonable. Perhaps 

 they never ought to be out of season ! Thus 

 for instance, we may compare a dingle to a 

 smiling infant ; a glen to a beautiful girl ; a 

 valley to a captivating virgin. When the 

 valley opens into a vale, it may not inele- 

 gantly be associated with the idea of a well- 

 formed, finished matron. Then, when we 

 would speak of Sol, the glorious sun, we 

 might almost be excused for saying that he 

 rises from behind beds of coral ; that he 

 glides in a universe of sapphire over fields 

 of emerald ; mounting his meridian among 

 seas of crystal, and tinging every cloud with 

 indigo, till he finally sinks to slumber among 

 beds of amethyst. 



But a truce to lofty flights in the regions 

 of fancy. The season is fast advancing, and 

 we must hasten to enjoy it whilst we may. 

 We will say nothing to-day about strolling 

 through the lovely lanes and enchanting 

 hedge-rows, which are now tempting us all 

 abroad; nor will we dwell upon the delights 



Vol. I. —New Series. 



