NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE THE MONTHS-JUNE. THERE can be no doubt whatever that the English name of this month is derived from the Latin Junius, though in regard to the etymology of the latter the opinions of the classic writers are exceedingly various and contradictory. Macrobius* tells us that it was so named either * Junius Maium sequitur, aut ex parte populi, ut supra diximus, nominatus; aut, ut Cincius arbitratur, quod Junonius apud Latinos ante vocitatus, diuque apud Aricinos, Prænestinosque, hac appellatione in fastos relatus sit; adeo ut, sicut Nisus in commentariis fastorum dicit, apud majores quoque nostros hæc appellatio mensis diu manserit; sed post, detritis quibusdam literis, ex Junonio Junius dictus sit; nam et ædes Junoni Monetæ Kalend. Juniis dedicata est. Nonnulli putaverunt, Junium mensem a Junio Bruto, qui primus Romæ consul factus est, nominatum, quod hoc mense, id est Kalendis Juniis, pulso Tarquinio, sacrum Carnæ Deæ in Cælio monte voti reus fecerit. Hanc Deam vitalibus humanis præesse credunt. Ab ea denique petitur, ut jecinora et corda, quæque sunt intrinsecus viscera, salva conservet, et quia cordis beneficio, cujus dissimulatione Brutus habebatur idoneus emendationi publici status, exstitit, hanc Deam, quæ vitalibus præest, templo sacravit, quód his maxime rebus vires corporis roborantur; nam et Kalendæ Juniæ fabariæ vulgo vocantur, quia hoc mense adultæ fabæ divinis rebus adhibentur.—Aur. Macrobii Saturnaliorum, lib. i. p. 260, vol. i. from Juniores, the younger part of the Romans, to whom Romulus assigned the defence of the city, or from the old word Junonius; or from Junius Brutus, because in this month Tarquinius being driven from the city, he in pursuance of his vow dedicated a temple upon Mount Cælius to Carna, the Goddess of the Hinge (Cardinis) who, according to Óvid, by her power opens or shuts all things.* Amongst our Saxon ancestors this month had various names, and all of them much more appropriate than the one we have borrowed, and retained, from the Romans. It was called Weydmonath, from the German weiden, to pasture;† Medemonath; Midsumormonath; Braeckmonath, or Brachmonat, i. e. breaking the soil, from the Saxon bræcan; Solstitialis; Woedmoneth, i. e. weed-month; and Lida-erra.‡ The month opens with an abundant Flora, the vernal flowers being gradually succeeded by those which we may call the solstitial. the two Yellow Day Lilies; the * Prima dies tibi, Carna, datur; Dea cardinis hæc est ; P. Ovidii N. Fastorum, lib. vi. 1. 101. The poet then goes on to detail the amours of Janus and Carna, but they are neither very delicate, nor particularly worth repeating. Dr. Sayers, in speaking of this name, has fallen into a most unaccountable blunder; he says "weyd is probably from the German weyden, to go about, as if to pasture." (Disquisitions, p. 255.) Weyden, or as it is now written, weiden, signifies to feed, to pasture; and the "going about," which he imagines to be the real signification of the verb, is nothing more than a necessary concomitant of the action. No doubt the sheep while feeding, or pasturing, are constantly in motion. "I can find no satisfactory account of the word Lida; Lida, or Litha, signifies in the Icelandic tongue, to move, or pass over (Gloss. to Soemundar Edda); and I am in some degree supported by Bede's remarks on this month, in conjecturing that Lida implies the sun's passing its greatest height, and that LIDA ERRA consequently means the first month of the sun's descent. Lida is by some deemed the same as set-lift or smooth-air."-Sayer's Disquisitions, p. 255. earliest, or Orange Lily; the Yellow Flag, with various other species of Iris. The Papaver Argemone, the earliest of our field poppies, is now in blow. The Monkey Poppy; pinks of all kinds; and roses, both wild and of the garden, come forth in profusion; while the peonies are going out, the tulips fading, and the blossoms on the latest fruit-trees fall off and are succeeded by a full green foliage. The yellow colour of the fields still remains, and continues till the grass is mowed towards the end of the month, the buttercup (Ranunculus acris) being the latest of this genus. As the month advances we have Clover in blossom, both white and red; beans and peas putting forth their blossoms: gooseberries; the Madock Cherry, commonly called the May-Duke; cauliflowers and various sorts of garden vegetables; the corn-flag or sword-lily; the Indian Pink in full flower; and a variety of sea-plants, such as the Sea-barley (Hordeum maritimum), Sulphurwort (Pucedanum Officinale), Loose Sedge in salt marshes (Carex Distans), the Sea-Plantain (Plantago Maritima), among rocks on the coast; the Slender-leafed Buffonia (Buffonia Tenuifolia), the Tassel Pondweed (Ruppia Maritima) in saltwater ditches; the common Alkanet (Anchusa Officinalis), the Narrow-leafed Pepperwort (Lepidum Ruderale), the Roman Nettle (Urtica Pilulifera), in sea-wastes; the Black Saltwort (Glaux Maritima), on muddy shores; the Sea Chickweed (Arenaria Peplaides), and the common Sea-Rocket (Bunias Cakile), on sandy shores and the Perfoliate Cabbage (Brassica Orientalis), among maritime rocks. As the month still farther progresses, St. Barnaby's Thistle, the Corn-Rose or Red Poppy, the Doubtful or Pale Red-Poppy, begin to flower and arrive at their greatest abundance about the solstice, from which time they continue to blow all the summer; Pinks; Sweet Williams; Canterbury Bells; Deadly Night-Shade; Jas mine; Scarlet Lychnis; and the great Viper Buglos. Some fields are still adorned with the later of the Yellow Crowfoots, while others are purple with Sainfoin, and in others again the haymaking has begun; the Wheat is tall and green; our Lady's Slipper, St. John's Wort, and the Blue Sow-thistle and Foxglove, or Digitalis, begin to blow. To sum up the Flora of the month in the words of a popular author," nearly all the plants of the Vernal Flora now remain in blow when not molested. The Stinking or Oxford Groundsel is in full flower. Marigolds are abundant, and continue all the rest of the summer and autumn. The Orange and some other Lilies are in flower; and in early years we may look for the opening of the White Lily. In the fields, the Mallows begin to blow. By this time the Midsummer Daisy is abundantly in flower, and in some places certain fields are as much covered with it as others are in May with Dandelions, Crowfoots, and Buttercups. The two latter of these plants continue to flower, and would do so as late as the middle of July were they not mown down in the grass for hay. The several sorts of Corn Camomile, and others of this sort begin to blow, and St. John's Wort begins to be seen in the hedges. The Cistus Helianthemum begins to show its yellow flowers by the way-sides; and the Mulleins or Verbasca to grow and show signs of flowering. The Red Poppies still paint the young corn-fields with their bright scarlet flowers. Roses and Pinks are still in the greatest perfection. Here and there in the fields the bright strawcoloured yellow of Sinapis Arvensis (i. e. Wild Mustard or Charlock) abounds, and its distant effect is beautiful." In the early part of this month mackarel are taken abundantly on our southern coasts; some young birds of the early broods are on the wing, though hardly to be recognized in their first plumage; the Bat is now less frequently seen than during the two preceding months;* the Cuckoo changes his tune, but often sings early and late, as in May, though usually with a hoarse note, and is heard, more or less, till July; the Fern Owl may be seen in the evening, among the branches of oaks, in pursuit of its favourite repast, and the Fern-chaffer (Scarabous Solstitialis) is also abroad; the May-fly of the angler appears about the fourth, and continues nearly a fortnight, emerging from the water, where it passes its aurelia state about six in the evening, and dies about eleven at night;† in warm, dry weather the Snake, the Viper, and the Slow worm begin to be seen on dry banks and beside ponds; and frogs are numerous among the mowed grass and in the swamps and stagnant pools. But it is more in the general, than in the individual appearance of things that this month is striking. The eglantine and woodbine have superseded the blossom of the hawthorn; the full concert of the birds is on the decline, and in two or three weeks will almost entirely cease till the autumn, though the nightingale, the woodlark, the skylark, the black-cap, and the goldfinch may still be heard; the clear shrill voice of the field cricket resounds on the wayside banks, where the sun falls hot, all day long and even at midnight, as he sits at the mouth of his cell chirping forth his cheerful though monotonous song. The woods and groves are in full foliage, even the old oak looking young in virtue of his new green, * Bats indeed are more commonly seen flitting about in spring and autumn than during midsummer. It should, however, be recollected that there are many sorts of May-flies, and that the hour of rising from the water is not the same for all the species; some rise two hours before sun-set; others at different periods of the day: and others again, according to Cuvier, never see the sun, being born after he has set, and dying before he again appears on the horizon. |