laurel (daphne laureola) found in woods, are now in bloom. The common whitlow grass (draba verna) on old walls; the yellow Alpine whitlow grass (draba aizoides) on maritime rocks; and the mountain pepper-wort (lepidum petræum) among limestone rocks, flower in this month.

The sweet violet (viola odorata) sheds its delicious perfumes in this month.

The forward violet thus did I chide :

Sweet thief! whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smelis,
If not from my love's breath? The purple pride,
Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells,

In

my love's veins thou hast too grossly dyed.

To a TUFT of early VIOLETS.

SHAKSPEARE'.

Sweet flow'rs! that from your humble beds
Thus prematurely dare to rise,
And trust your unprotected heads
To cold Aquarius' wat❜ry skies;
Retire, retire! these tepid airs
Are not the genial brood of May;
That sun with light malignant glares,
And flatters only to betray.

Stern Winter's reign is not yet past

Lo! while your buds prepare to blow,
On icy pinions comes the blast,

And nips your root, and lays you low.
Alas, for such ungentle doom!
But I will shield you; and supply
A kindlier soil on which to bloom,
A nobler bed on which to die.

Come then-ere yet the morning ray

Has drunk the dew that gems your crest,
And drawn your balmiest sweets away;
O come, and grace my Anna's breast.
Ye droop, fond flowers! But, did ye know
What worth, what goodness there reside,
Your cups with liveliest tints would glow,
And spread their leaves with conscious pride.
For there has lib'ral Nature joined
Her riches to the stores of art,
And added to the vig'rous mind

The soft, the sympathising heart.

The gannets, or Soland geese (pelicanus bassanus), resort in March to the Hebrides, and other rocky isles of North Britain, to make their nests, and lay their eggs. In the months of May and June their nests are described as so closely placed together, that it is difficult to walk, without treading upon some of them; and it is said that the swarms of the old birds are so prodigious, that, when they rise into the air, they stun the ear with their noise, and overshadow the ground like the clouds.

Much amusement may be derived in this month, as well as in the last, from watching the progress of worms, insects, &c., from torpidity to life, particularly on the edges or banks of ponds. Myriads of worms may be seen unwinding their coiled forms, and tossing their sportive tails about in wantonness and revelry: whole series of creatures, whose torpid state before rendered them undistinguishable from the mud they lay among, begin to expand their little limbs, and creep or swim, or emerge above the surface. See an elegant paper on this subject by Sir John Hill, in the Gleaner, vol. ii, p. 28.

Towards the close of the month, bees (apis mel

Come then-ere yet the morning ray

Has drunk the dew that gems your crest,
And drawn your balmiest sweets away;
O come, and grace my Anna's breast.
O! I should think—that fragrant bed
Might I but hope with you to share—
Years of anxiety repaid

By one short hour of transport there.
More blest than me, thus shall ye live
Your little day; and when ye die,
Sweet flowers, the grateful muse shall give
A verse; the sorrowing maid, a sigh:
While I, alas! no distant date,

Mix with the dust from whence I came,
Without a friend to weep my fate,
Without a stone to tell my name.

W. GIFFORD.

lifica) venture out of their hives.-See T. T. for 1814, p. 72, and T. T. for 1815, pp. 111-115.

In the latter end of March, chickens run about; a brimstone-coloured butterfly (papilio rhamni) appears; sea-kale begins to sprout; black beetles fly about in the evening; and bats issue from their places of concealment. Roach and dace float near the surface of the water, and sport about in pursuit of insects. Daffodils are in flower; peas appear above ground, and the male blossoms of the yew-tree expand and discharge their farina. Sparrows are busily employed in forming their nests. Young lambs are yeaned this month.

We shall conclude our Diary for this month with a poetical Calendar of Nature for March,' by the Rev. R. Polwhele, which appeared in the eighth volume of the Poetical Register for 1810-1811. This representation of the season will not, universally, apply to the midland or northern counties of England, but is, we believe, tolerably accurate, if taken as descriptive of the appearances of nature in the S.W. districts, particularly in mild and forward springs.

March! how mild thy genial hours,
Soft azure skies, and gilded showers,
The blaze of lights, the deepening shade,
Tints that flush the cloud, and fade;
Now the young wheat's transient gleam,
Where sunfits, chasing shadows, stream;
Now, in quick effulgence seen,
On yonder slope, its sparkling green;
And sprinkled o'er the mossy mould,
Crocuses, like drops of gold,

And the lent-lily's paler yellow,

Where flower the asp and water-willow;

And the polyanthus, fair'

Its hues, as bathed in summer-air;
And the white violets that just peep,
And, sheltered by the rosemary, sleep;
Bursting lilacs, and beneath

Currant-buds that freshly breathe

The first Spring scent, light gooseberry leaves
With which the obtrusive ivy weaves

Its verdure dark (this day, though late,
Cut off, to meet a cruel fate).

The cherry too, that purpling glows,
And, full of leaf, the hedgerow rose;
On this south-wall, the peachbloom pale,
Where huddles many a clustering snail;
And round the trunk of yon hoar tree,
Here and there, a humming bee
That wanders to the sunny nook,
Or seeks, hard by, the glittering brook;
The blackbird's trill, and every lay
That, warbling wild love, dies away;
And on each ash and elm's gray crest,
Cawing rooks, that frame the nest
Anew, or with parental care
Their cradles worn by time repair-
These, this moment, meet my eyes,
Or my charmed ear surprise ;-
Sounds that melt, and sights that scem
To wave o'er Winter like a dream.

Yet, ere, in recent brightness born,
The Moon shall fill each silver horn,
Clear as now we hail its rays

Where Evening's crimson vest decays,
Yet shall thy storm, impetuous March!
In blackness shroud the ethereal arch,
Sweep those dewy meads serene,
And rifle all this garden-scene!

Then shall we not, my Phoebe! seize

Fleeting pleasures, such as these?
Scar'd by winds and rushing rain,
Will Spring visit us again?

Are we sure, when floods subside,

This amber stream shall dimpling glide,

And again so softly steal

The pastoral tufts to yonder dale?

Haste, let us ravish, ere it fly,

Bliss so fugitive and coy;

Muse on each colour's opening glow,

Trace the blossoms as they blow;

Listen to the choral grove,

And drink the soul of life and love.

In this month the farmer dresses and rolls his

meadows; spreads ant-hills; plants quicksets, osiers,

&c.; sows flax seed, artificial grasses, beans and peas, broom and whin seeds, and grass seeds among wheat. About the 23d, he ploughs for and sows oats, and hemp, and flax. A dry season is very important to the farmer, that he may get the seed early into the ground.

Description of Forest Trees.

[Continued from p. 68.]

Box (buxus sempervirens).-The common box-tree, which has oval leaves, is rarely found wild, except at a few places, where it grows in woods and thickets, as at Box-hill, in Surry; Boxley, in Kent; Boxwell, in the Cotswould, Gloucestershire; also in the chalkhills near Dunstable. There are two other species, the angustifolia, or narrow-leaved box; and the suffruticosa, or Dutch box; but the sempervirens only is indigenous; that and the angustifolia grow in great abundance upon Box-hill, near Dorking, Surry, where there were formerly large trees of this kind. Various have been the disquisitions concerning the antiquity of this plantation, which, for any thing that appears to the contrary, may have been coeval with the soil. The late Sir Henry Mildmay, when in possession of this estate, sold the box upon Box-hill for fifteen thousand pounds; the purchaser was to be allowed fourteen years to cut it down. In 1802, forty

tons were cut.

Of the first species of box there are two or three varieties, which are propagated in gardens; and this, as well as the second, may be either raised from seeds or cuttings'.

'MY BOXEN BOWER. By John F. M. Dovaston, Esq.

I love my little boxen bower,

Fringed with April's early flower;
On its leaves of glossy green

The climbing sunbeams shed their sheen;

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