HEYMONATH, i.e. July, by a mower; ARNMONATH, i. e. August, by a reaper; GERSTMONATH, i. e. September, by a thresher; WYNMONATH, i. e. October, (apparently) by a person pouring wine from a bottle into a cup or funnel; BLOTMONATH, i. e. November, by a man killing a hog; and GIUL ERRA, i.e. December, by a company feasting.* The name of July is from the Latin Julius, an appellation given to the month by Mark Antony in honour of Julius Cæsar,† who was born in it; before his time it had been called Quintilis,‡ or Fifth, because it was the fifth month, dating the commencement of the year from March. The Flora of this month is peculiarly abundant; the solstitial plants, many of which began to open early in June, are all in full perfection, and some even commence declining by about the ninth. At that time the æstival plants begin to flower, though it should be remembered that many of them blossomed at an earlier period, and indeed it is utterly impossible to draw a fixed and determinate line for the season of any vegetable productions. At the very commencement of the month, the Agrimony and the Bindweeds begin to flower, are abundant about the middle of it, and continue flowering till September; the Evening Primrose opens its yellow flowers towards sunset, blowing through the rest of the summer; while the Cockle flowers amongst the corn, wheat and barley in particular; the Pink Garden Hawksweed also flowers about Old Midsummer Day (July 5th), as also the Garden Hawksaye, whose bright Disquisitions, p. 257. "Sequitur Julius, qui cum, secundum Romuli ordinationem Martio anni renente principium, Quintilis a numero vocaretur; nihilominus tamen etiam post præpositos a Numa Januarium ac Februarium, retinuit nomen cum non videretur jam quintus esse sed septimus." Macrobii Saturnal, Lib. i. Cap. xii. p. 261. 8vo. Biponti, 1788. Denique quintus ab hoc fuerat Quintilis; et inde Incipit, a numero nomina quisquis habet." VOL. II. P. Ovidii Nasonis Fastorum, Lib. iii. v. 149. yellow flowerets, surrounding a dark disk, show the origin of its name; so too the Nasturtium, or Indian Cress, its orange - coloured flowers continuing to ornament the gardens during the whole of August; the White Lily, the Scarlet Martagon, and the Marsh Thistle, blow much about the same time; the Bearded Cats-Tail Grass, the Club Rush, the Bulbous Fox-Tail Grass, the Reflexed and Creeping Meadow Grass, the Field Eryngo, Parsley Water Dropwort, Smooth Seaheath, and the Golden Dock, all of them maritime plants, may be seen flowering in the salt marshes; on sandy shores will be found the Sea Matweed, Upright Sealime Grass, the Sea Longwort, the Sea Bindweed, Saltwort, Sea Holly; on maritime rocks, Prickly Samphire, and Sea Lavender; and on rocky shores the Sea-pea.* As the * The solstitial plants, which begin to open early in June, gradually give way about the time of St. Swithin, to the æstival plants. The following, which is taken from Forster, is a tolerably comprehensive catalogue of the former: Dutch or Garden Rose. The Provence Rose. Damask Rose, producing red and white flowers on the same tree. month advances and roses are beginning to fade, we have the Convolvulus Purpureus (the Larger Garden Bindweed) with its funnel shaped flowers either white, or of deep azure and gold; and the Convolvulus Tricolor (Lesser Garden Bindweed) mingles with it its three-coloured flowers of light blue, white, and yellow, in company with the Nasturtium, the Sweet William, and the Scarlet Lychnis ; while next in our calendar come many of the poisonous plants, the Deadly Night Shade, Hemlock, and Henbane. In regard to the FAUNA, this month, like August, has been called the Mute Month, because in both of them the birds are silent. The cuckoo has gone, the song of the nightingale has ceased, and swallows, from the succession of the young broods, are seen upon the wing in numbers. River-fishing is now in perfection. Towards the middle. of the month, the willow wrens, of which we have three sorts, begin to be numerous. The Wood-wren, with his yellow and olive green plumage is the largest, and is seen much amongst oaks and other great trees; the Willowwren, properly so called, is the next in size, and generally resorts to willow and osier grounds; the third sort, called Pettychaps, inhabits large trees, particularly the pine and fir, but the best time to watch their habits is in the rainy weather that oftens follows St. Swithin's day, when Longbearded Prickly Poppy. Corn Poppy. Doubtful Poppy. Mongrel Poppy. Yellow Horned Poppy. Blue Cornflower. Cockle. Foxglove. Yellow Fleur de Lis; and others of this kind in gardens. Yellow Centaurea. they may be seen flitting and running about the boughs of trees and shrubs in pursuit of insects. About this time too (July 19) the young frogs leave their ponds for the tall grass; Swallows and Martins congregate for a long time previous to their departure, resting in flocks on the roofs. of buildings, and the former sometimes alighting on trees; Partridges are found among the corn; Poultry moult; the Hoary Beetle appears; Bees begin to expel and kill their drones; and the flying Ants quit their nests. Towards the end of the month Salmon fishing is in season; Mackarel still continue to be taken off our coast, and in the West of England the Pilchard fishery commences, and continues through August. Turning from this subject to POMONA, we find Strawberries of all sorts plentiful, Gooseberries, Cherries, Currants, Early Apricots, and Peaches, though the last as yet are not very plentiful. There are few days of importance in this month either in regard to astronomy or to ancient observances. The first, however, to be noticed are the DOG-DAYS. These are now made to commence with the 3rd of the month and end with the 11th of August, a very proper change, though only dating from the correction of the British calendar, which brings it in harmony with the ancient idea of the Dog-Days, that is to say, a certain number of days preceding and ensuing the heliacal rising of Canicula or Sirius, i.e. the Dog-star.* It must be obvious that the rising of the star must in the first place vary with the latitude; and secondly, that the precession of equinoxes * In an old calendar given by Bede, (De Temporum Ratione) the commencement of the Dog-days is placed on the 14th of July; and in one prefixed to the common prayer printed in the time of Elizabeth, they are made to begin on the 6th of July, and to end on the 5th of September; this last continued till the restoration, when the Dog-days were omitted. For a long period subsequent they were said to begin on the 19th of July, and end on the 28th of August. would in the course of centuries make so great a change in the seasons that the Dog-Days, if restricted to their original place in the calendar, would by this time bring with them frost and snow instead of intense heat. It is to Egypt that the various notions, connected with these days, are most probably to be attributed. As the star had its heliacal rising much about the time of the summer solstice, when the Nile also began to rise, the ancient Egyptians imagined that it in someway influenced the overflow of the waters and the consequent fertility of the soil. With them therefore it was worshipped as something holy, and often under the names of Isis and Thoth, the usual appellations of their great goddess and of Mercury, while, among other strange dogmas, they believed there was a wild beast called Oryx,* whose wont it was to stand full against the star, watching it, and seeming to worship it by sneezing. But with other nations it was held in very different estimation. The time of its heliacal rising to them brought no particular benefit, but on the contrary was a season of intense heat, and consequently of disease, and hence arose many popular superstitions, both ancient and modern. According to the Roman faith, at the rising of Sirius, the seas boil, the wines ferment in the cellars, and standing waters are set in motion; the dogs also beyond all question go very mad indeed,† and the silurus, or sturgeon is blasted. In more modern times the belief that the intense heat proceeded from Sirius, must have been deeply rooted, when we find Gassendi gravely arguing that as the Dog : 64 Orygem appellat Ægyptus feram, quam in exortu ejus contra stare et contueri tradit, ac velut adorare cum sternuerit." C. Plinii, Nat. Hist. Lib. ii., cap. 41. "Fervent maria, exoriente eo, fluctuant in cellis vina, moventur stagna.... Canes quidem toto eo spatio maxime in rabiem agi non est dubium." Id. "Silurus caniculæ exortu sideratur, et alioqui totum mare senti exortum ejus sideris." Id. Lib. ix., cap. 25. |