70 
LANGUAGE OP FLOWERS. 
Many a jest told of the Key's betraying 
This night and locks picked; yet we’re not a-Maying. 
Come, let us go while we are in our prime, 
And take the harmless folly of the time. 
Shakspeare notices with what eagerness the 
pleasures of May-day morning were pursued in 
his time :— 
’Tis as much impossible, 
Unless we swept them from the door with cannons. 
To scatter ’em as ’tis to make ’em sleep 
On May-day morning. 
The May-day diversions and May-poles were 
not confined to the country. In London there 
were anciently several May-poles, the last of 
which, near Somerset House, in the Strand, 
was not taken down till the year 1717 . 
In the scarlet berries of the Hawthorn, which 
are called haws, Providence has furnished an 
abundant supply of food for the small birds 
during winter: and it is a current notion that 
“ store of haws portend cold wfinters.” So says 
Lord Bacon, and no doubt experience might 
often be found to confirm the observation. 
A beautiful variety of this tree, with double 
red blossom of extraordinary fragrance, is culti¬ 
vated in our gardens. 
