It is remarked by the gentleman-usher of the year, that “the fruit garden is one scene of tempting 
profusion. 
“Against the wall, the grapes have put on that transparent look which indicates their complete ripe- 
ness, and have dressed their cheeks in that delicate bloom which enables them to bear away the bell of 
beauty from all their rivals. The peaches and nectarines have become fragrant, and the whole wall where 
they hang is ‘musical with bees.’ Along the espaliers, the rosy-cheeked apples look out from among their 
leaves, like laughing children peeping at each other through screens of foliage ; and the young standards 
bend their straggling boughs to the earth with the weight of their produce. 
“Let us not forget to add, that there is one part of London which is never out of season, and is never 
more in season than now. Covent-garden market is still the garden of gardens ; and as there is not a month 
in all the year in which it does not contrive to belie something or other that has been said in the foregoing 
pages, as to the particular season of certain flowers, fruits, &c., so now it offers the flowers and the fruits of 
every season united. How it becomes possessed of all these, I shall not pretend to say : but thus much I 
am bound to add by way of information, — that those ladies and gentlemen who have country-houses in the 
neighbourhood of Clapham-common or Camberwell-grove, may now have the pleasure of eating the best 
fruit out of their own gardens — provided they choose to pay the price of it in Covent-garden market.” 
September is the month of in-gathering, when the produce of the year is warehoused for our subsis- 
tence while nature reposes during winter, and is awakened in the spring, and while she is doing her summer 
business, until, in the ensuing autumn, she offers to our use the provision for another year. 
Autumn is aptly termed by Dr. Drake the “Evening of the Year.” At this season we may advan- 
tageously indulge with these beautiful passages from his “ Evenings in Autumn.” He says — 
“Evening, when the busy scenes of our existence are withdrawn, when the sun descending leaves the 
world to silence, and to the soothing influence of twilight, has been ever a favourite portion of the day with 
the wise and good of all nations. There appears to be shed over the universal face of nature, at this period, 
a calmness and tranquility, a peace and sanctity as it were, which almost insensibly steals into the breast 
of man, and disposes him to solitude and meditation. He naturally compares the decline of light and ani- 
mation with that which attaches to the lot of humanity ; and the evening of the day, and the evening of life, 
becomes closely assimilated in his mind. 
“ It is an association from which, where vice and guilt have not hardened the heart, the most beneficial 
result has been ever experienced. It is one which, while it forcibly suggests to us the transient tenure of our 
being here, teaches us, at the same time, how we may best prepare for that which awaits us hereafter. The 
sun is descending, after a course of beneficence and utility, in dignity and glory, whilst all around him, as 
he sinks, breathes one diffusive air of blessedness and repose. It is a scene which marshals us the way we 
ought to go ; it tells us, that after having passed the fervour and vigour of our existence, the morning and 
the noon of our appointed pilgrimage, thus should the evening of our days set in, mild yet generous in their 
close, with every earthly ardour softened or subdued, and with the loveliest hues of heaven just mingling in 
their farewell light. 
“ It is a scene, moreover, which almost instinctively reminds us of another world ; the one we are yet 
inhabiting is gradually receding from our view; the shades of night are beginning to gather round our 
heads; we feel forsaken and alone, whilst the blessed luminary now parting from us, and yet burning with 
such ineffable majesty and beauty, seems about to travel into regions of interminable happiness and splen- 
dour. We follow him with a pensive and a wistful eye, and, in the vales of glory which appear to open 
round his setting beams, we behold mansions of everlasting peace, seats of ever-during delight. It is then 
that our thoughts are carried forward to a Being infinitely good and great, the God and Father of us all, 
who, distant though he seem to be, and immeasurably beyond the power of our faculties to comprehend, 
we yet know is about our path, and about our bed, and careth for us all ; who has prepared for those who 
love him, scenes of unutterable joy, scenes to which, while rejoicing in the brightness of his presence, the 
effulgence we have faintly attempted to describe shall be but as the glimmering of a distant star.” 
We are indebted to that charming Work, “the Botanist,” for the Figure and Description. 
