As spirits from eternal day Look down on earth, secure, Look here, and wonder, and survey A world in miniature. A world not scorn'd by HIM who made But solemn in His depth of shade And splendid in His sight. ELLIOTT. THE MARIGOLD. WHEN, with a serious musing, I behold Wherewith we court these earthly things below, Many of our poets have noticed the property common to Syngenesious plants. GEORGE WITHER, 1635. closing of this flower at sunset,-a Chatterton thus remarks: "The Marybudde, that shutteth with the light." Browne in his Pastorals, and Shakspeare in his Winter's Tale, iv. 3., make a similar allusion to this circumstance. THE LIMPET. IN Nature's all-instructive book, We wonder that such strength should dwell In such a small and simple shell! And is not this a lesson worth The study of the sons of earth? By a just rule to estimate; If justly you can calculate, How great your need, your strength how frail, A moment of temptation near, By clinging closely to your Rock. MAYO, on Shells. The Shell of the Limpet, Patella vulgata, is conical but entirely destitute of a whorl or spire. Its generic name signifies a little dish, an appellation suggested by its shape. This form is well calculated to protect the living animal from injury. Indeed, in every part of Nature, we trace the hand of a wise and beneficent Creator. Everything we find adapted to the situation it has to fill. Dr. Paley, in his instructive work on Natural Theology, chap. xix., speaking of shells, remarks, "I do not know whether, the weight being given, art can produce so strong a case as of some shells: which defensive strength suits well with the life of an animal, that has often to sustain the dangers of a stormy element, and a rocky bottom, as well as the attacks of voracious fish." Limpets are generally found attached to rocks and sea-weed and adhere with such tenacity as not to be easily displaced. By the contraction of the muscles a vacuum is produced, and the pressure of the external air then keeps them firmly fixed to the spot. Their mode of locomotion is slow and peculiar, leaving tracks frequently visible on rocks. They abound on every sea-coast, and are used as an article of food by the poorer classes in most parts of the world.— See Mag. of Nat. Hist., vol. 4. p, 346. The Daffodil, Narcissus Pseudo-narcissus, presents its straw-coloured petals and deep yellow plaited nectary early in March. Shakspeare thus speaks of them in his Winter's Tale, iv. 3. Daffodils That come before the swallow dares, and take From a series of observations, similar to this of Shakspeare, the Rev. T. W. Bree has formed a Natural Calendar of Coincidence, by which, the flowering of a plant intimates the arrival of a migratory bird, and the appearance of an insect bids us look for the flowering of a plant.-See this truly interesting paper, Mag. of Nat. Hist. vol. 3. p. 17-21. ON THE LEEK. I LIKE the Leeke, above all herbes and flowers; The Leeke's the fairest emblym that is worne. FOSTER'S Peren. Calend. The origin of wearing the Leek, Allium porrum, on St. David's Day, can only be conjectured. Some have supposed the practice originated with a victory obtained by the Britons under Cadwallo, over the Saxons, March 1st, 640, when the Welsh, wanting a mark of distinction, wore leeks in their caps. the play of Henry V., Shakspeare mentions the ancient custom of their wearing this badge in honour of their patron saint. In THROUGH groves sequester'd, dark and still, In silent paths, the careless rill, Awhile it plays with circling sweep, O! let my years thus devious glide Through silent scenes obscurely calm, Nor wealth, nor strife pollute the tide, Nor honour's sanguinary palm. |