1471; Battle of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, gained by Edward IV. over the Lancasterians. 1677. Dr. Isaac Barrow died, aged 47. He was an eminent mathematician, a learned divine, and a high cavalier. Éducated at the Charter-house, he was disinclined to study; his recreation was in sports that led to fighting among the boys, yet he afterwards subdued his inclination to quarrels, and distinguished himself as a scholar. He became professor of mathematics at Cambridge, master of Trinity-college, served the office of vice-chancellor, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Charles II. used to say of him, that he exhausted every subject whereon he treated; yet he did nothing for him. After the Restoration, Barrow wrote a Latin distich, thus translated : 1736. Eustace Budgell drowned himself, at the age of 52, from vexation, that a bequest to him of 2,000l. in the will of Dr. Tindal, was set aside. He wrote in the "Spectator," "Tatler," and "Guardian ;" was a member of the Irish parliament, and lost his property in the South-sea bubble. writing-engraver, died, aged 74; and was 1758. George Bickham, the eminent buried at St. Luke's, Old-street. 1795. John James Barthelemy, the celebrated author of "The Travels of Anacharsis, the younger in Greece," died, aged 79. Ile was a man of deep learning and simplicity of character; unhappily he became involved in the troubles of the French revolution, and endured great hardships from the turbulence of men opposed to his views of social happiness. BIRDS. A distinguished naturalist obligingly communicates the subjoined table and prefatory remark. For the Every-Day Book. A notion prevails that birds do great injury in gardens and fields, and hence rewards are frequently offered to induce boys and others to kill them in spring. The notion and the practice are erroneous. A gentleman of long experience in horticulture, has ascertained that birds, in general, do more good by destroying vermin than they do harm by the little fruit and grain they consume; an entire district in Germany was once nearly deprived of its corn harvest, by an order to kill all the rooks having been generally obeyed. SPRING BIRDS. Table of the average terms of their arrival, deduced from a Journal of Natu ral History, kept during nearly sixty my years. O, how my breast did ever burn, To see my lawful king return! Yet, whilst his happy fate I bless, No one has felt his influence less. Barrow was a great smoker to help his thinking. He was a great wit: he met Rochester at court, who said to him, "doctor, I am yours to my shoe-tie;" Barrow bowed obsequiously with, lord, I am yours to the ground;" Rochester returned this by," doctor, I am yours to the centre;" Barrow rejoined, "my lord, I am yours to the antipodes;" Rochester, not to be foiled by "a musty old piece of divinity," as he was accustomed to call him, exclaimed, "doctor, I am yours to the lowest pit of hell;" whereupon Barrow turned from him with, there, my lord, I leave you." * Butler. bankrupt, was relieved in his misfortunes by Dr. Johnson, wrote the "Life of Garrick," "Dramatic Miscellanies," and other pieces; and acquired before his death the honourable appellation of "honest Tom Davies." He was intrusted by the rev. James Granger with the publication of his " Biographical History of England." 1789. Joseph Baretti, author of the "Italian Dictionary," &c. died, aged 73. 1821. Napoleon died at St. Helena, in the sixth year of his confinement. What he was all men pretend to know, and historians will tell. THE SEASON. "Here they are! blowing, growing, all alive!" This was an old London cry by little flower gardeners, who brought the products of their grounds to the metropolis, and wheeled them through the streets in a barrow, "blowing, growing, all alive!" to tempt purchasers in the humble streets and alleys of working neighbourhoods. Acts of Parliament have put down the flower-pots, which were accustomed to "topple on the walkers' heads," from the windows of houses, wherein flower-fanciers dwelt. Flower Garden. Fairhanded Spring unbosoms every grace, With shining meal o'er all their velvet leaves, Then comes the tulip race, where beauty plays To family, as flies the father dust, The varied colours run; and while they break As o'er the fabled mountain hanging still Nor broad carnations, nor gay spotted pinks, Nor showered from every bush the damask rose. FLORAL DIRECTORY. Apple Tree. Pyrus Malus. Thomson. St. John in the Isle of Patmos. There is no evidence that St. John suffered martyrdom; on the contrary, he is said to have returned to Ephesus in the reign of Nerva, who succeeded Domitian in the imperial dignity. Painters usually represent him in Patmos with an eagle by his side; though, as St. John Port Latin, there are many engravings of him in the legendary oil cauldron. Other representations of him put a chalice in his hand, with a serpent issuing from it, founded on another legend, that being constrained to drink poison, he swallowed it without sustaining injury. There is a further legend, that while St. Edward the Confessor was dedicating a church to St. John, a pilgrim demanded alms of him in the saint's name, whereupon the king gave him the ring from his finger. This pilgrim was St. John, who discovered himself to two English pilgrims in the Holy Land, bidding them bear the ring to the king in his name, and require him to make ready to depart this world; after this they went to sleep. On awakening they found themselves among flocks of sheep and shepherds in a strange place, which turned out to be Barham Downs in Kent, wherefore they thanked God and St. John for their good speed, and coming to St. Edward on Christmasday, delivered to him the ring with the warning; these the king received in a suitable manner, " And on the vigyll of the Epyphanye, next after, he dyed and departed holyly out of this worlde, and is buryed in the Abbey of Westmester by London, where as is yet unto this daye that same rynge." "Again it is said, that Isidore affirms of St. John, that he transformed branches of trees into fine gold, and sea-gravel into precious stones, with other like incredibilities.* CHRONOLOGY. 1677. Samuel Bochart, a learned French Protestant divine and orientalist, died at Caen, aged 68 years. 1802. Died at Guernsey, aged 40, of water in his chest, serjeant Samuel M'Donald, of the 93d regiment, commonly known by the name of Big Sam. He served during the American war with his countrymen, the Sutherland Fencibles, and afterwards as fugelman in the Royals, till 1791, when he was taken into the household of his royal highness the prince of Wales, as lodge-porter at Carltonhouse, and remained in that capacity till 1793; he was then appointed a serjeant in the late Sutherland Fencibles, and continued to act in that corps, and the 93d regiment, formed from it, till his death.He was six feet ten inches in height, four feet round the chest, and well propor tioned. He continued active till his 35th year, when he began to decline. His strength was prodigious, but he was never known to exert it improperly. Several considerable offers were made to engage him as a public exhibition, all of which he refused, and always disliked being stared at. SPRING BLIGHT. The greatest misfortune that the cultivator of a garden apprehends at this season, is blight, of which, according to Dr. Forster, there are three "The first occurs in the early kinds. spring, about the time of the blossoming of the peach, and is nothing more than a dry frosty wind, usually from the north or north-east, and principally affects the blossoms, causing them to fall off prematurely. The two other kinds of blight occur in this month, affecting principally the apple and pear trees, and sometimes the corn. One of these consists in the appearance of an immense multitude of For oft engendered by the hazy north,, "In our opinion, an east wind more often brings blights. Many circumstances, indeed, favour the opinion that blights are animalculæ ; as the suddenness with which they appear, being generally in the course of a single night, and those trees that are sheltered from the wind being uninfected: indeed, it * Golden Legend. frequently happens that a single branch that chances to be screened, will escape unhurt, while the rest of the tree is quite covered with these minute destroyers. A third reason may be derived from the inactivity of these insects: they generally remain almost immovable on the branch or leaf where they are first seen, and are, for the most part, unprovided with wings; yet the places where they are commonly found are those parts of a tree which are farthest from the ground, and the most exposed to the wind. The last kind of blight is generally preceded by a south or south-west wind, unaccompanied by insects; the effects of which are visible in the burnt appearance of all leaves and shoots which are exposed to that quarter. Oaks and other large trees suffer from this blight."* To Blossoms. Fair pledges of a fruitful tree, What, were ye born to be An hour or half's delight? But your lovely leaves, where we May read how soon things have Their end, though ne'er so brave: And after they have shown their pride, Like you, awhile they glide Into the grave! Herrick. lifetime. William of Malmesbury relates, that the inhabitants of Beverley acknowledge the sanctity of their patron, because the fiercest bulls being dragged with the strongest ropes, by the lustiest men, into his church-yard, lose their fury, become gentle as lambs, and being left to their freedom, innocently sport themselves, instead of goring and trampling with their horns and feet all that come near them. It is related by another author that in 1312, on the feast of St. Bernard, wonderful oil miraculously issued from his sepulchre, which was a sovereign remedy against many diseases. Also, that king Ethelstan laid his knife on the saint's altar, in pledge, that if by his interference he obtained a victory over the Scots, he would enrich his church; by the merits of the saint he conquered, and desiring to have a sign as a perpetual testimony of prerogative over the Scots, he struck his sword into a rock near Dunbar-castle, which for many ages retained a mark of a yard in length from the blow, and this was referred to by king Edward I. before pope Boniface, in proof of his right over Scotland. Ethelstan, in consequence of his victory, granted right of sanctuary to the church of Beverley, with other privileges.t SEASONABLE STORY. If the north-east wind blow on this day, or on any other day in May, or in any other summer month, the nervous reader will experience the uneasiness which is sure to afflict him from that baleful quarter. The sun may shine, and the birds may sing, and flowers may give forth their odours, yet pernicious influences prevail against the natural harmony and spirit of the season. To one, therefore, so afflicted, the story of Daniel O'Rourke, from the "Fairy Legends," may be diverting. |