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lakes, which we can not account for on any principle, either of optics or perspective. When there is no apparent cause in the sky, the water will sometimes appear dappled with large spots of shades. It is possible these patches may have connexion with the bottom of the lake, as naturalists suppose the shining parts of the sea are occasioned by the spawn of fish; but this is more probable that in some way they are connected with the sky, as they are generally in the country esteemed to be a weather-gage. The people will often say, it will be no hay-day to-day, the lake is full of shades! I myself never saw this appearance, or I might be able to give a better account of it; but I have heard it so often taken notice of, that I suppose there is at least some ground for the observation. Though after all, I think it probable these shades may be owing only to floating clouds. I have often, says Mr. Locke, remarked this appearance on the lake of Geneva, without being able to assign a satisfactory reason; and the people of the country, I mean the philosophic part of them, are equally at a loss. If the spots were the shadow of a passing cloud, a vapour dense enough to interrupt the rays of the sun would certainly when suspended in a clear sky be visible, and immediately account for the appearance. But perhaps the effect may be derived from a cause diametrically opposite to the density of vapour. Let us suppose a partial rareness of the vapours dissolved in the atmosphere just above the spot, while every other part of the sky sheds light, by the reverberation of rays on the surface of the lake, that part sheds but little, and leaves a corresponding spot on the water, which compared with the splendour of the surrounding parts appears dark. The state of the sky may very well be considered as a weather-gage, because partial rarefactions destroy the equilibrium of the air.

"The shades are here (Ullswater in Cumberland) called Kelds, probably from the Saxon or British word keld, sig

nifying a spring or fountain; and the particular spots, which are longest in freezing over, are thus denominated. We have generally observed the shades in a morning, sometimes succeeded by rain, and always by wind from a southerly point; there is a slight current of air, a gentle swelling of the surface, yet the water not ruffled, but crisped over with a gentle breeze; the keld appears dark, while the other parts are more silvery; at a distance, though the sun be obscured, the appearance continues invariably the same. It looks as if oil had been poured on the water; and prismatic colours are visible on the surface of the keld, which varies in diameter in various places, and at different times, from sixty to two hundred yards, is sometimes nearly circular, at others angular. A little oil poured upon the lake from a point of land will extend and calm the surface to a much greater distance than would at first be imagined.... Early on a calm sunny morning, the bottom of the lake may be seen at the depth of about twelve yards, and the fishes may be discovered as they play in shoals. Something like a glory, or faint halo, with a slight mixture of prismatic colours, may be observed round the head of a person, when the exhalation is great on a hot sunny day, particularly if leaning over the side of the boat.*"

Primroses and poppies.-In the whole parish of Bishopstone, near Swindon, in Wiltshire, there never has been a primrose seen to grow, though in the neighbouring parishes they abound. A stream parts Bishopstone from Hinton, and on the side of the latter primroses are to be seen by thousands. The same singularity prevails with regard to poppies in a certain district. About East Grinstead, in Sussex, there are no corn poppies, while a few miles both east and west, and particularly in Surrey-the fields are quite red with them all the summer.

*This account of the Kelds is from Hutchinson's Cumberland, but he himself in the first part quotes from Gilpin.

THE MONTHS-SEPTEMBER.

THIS month has retained its Latin name without the change of a single letter. By the Romans it was so called as being the seventh month from March,* and with them too it remained equally unaltered except for a short time in the reign of Domitian, when the tyrant, after two triumphs, having assumed the title of Germanicus, thought proper to give his new appellation to September, while he honoured October with his former name. This how

* "Dehinc quintus, Quintilis; et sic deinceps usque ad Decembrem a numero." VARRO DE LINGUA LATINA, lib. v. p. 54, 8vo. Paris, 1573.

Hone has some notable information on the derivation of the Latin word, September. He tells us that the word "is compounded of septem, seven, and imber, a shower of rain, from the rainy season usually commencing at this period of the year." This, I presume, he got in some way from Priscian or Isidore, both of whom have lent it the sanction of their authority. But with all due deference both for the grammarian and the saint, such a derivation is a palpable absurdity. As Gerard Vossius well observes, and as indeed must occur to every one of the least judgment," hoc si esset, Octimber diceretur "—if this were the case, we should say Octimber, and not October. The truth seems to be that the suffix, ber, which occurs in a multitude of Latin words, is either a mere intensitive, or else it is some Teutonic root, of which we have long since lost the meaning.

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ever did not last long. He was shortly after murdered, when the unlucky title was erased from every brass and stone, and September restored to its birth-right, the caution of succeeding princes preventing them from any interference to retain a name so ominous.*

By the Anglo-Saxons this month was called Gerstmonath, Haligemonath. The first of these appellations it had, as Verstegan tells us, "for that barley, which that moneth commonly yeelded, was anciently called Gerst, the name of barley being given unto it by reason of the drink therewith made, called beer; and from beerlegh it came to be berlegh, and from berlegh to barley. So in like manner beerheym, to wit, the overdecking or covering of beer,came to be called berham, and afterwards barm, having since gotten I wot not how many names besides.Ӡ

The name of Haligemonath, i.e. holy month, was given to it, according to a Saxon menology in Wanley's addition to Hickes, "for that our forefathers, the while they heathens were, in this month celebrated their devil-gild." These devil-gilds (deofol-gild) were the sacrificial gilds of heathenism, and to them, according to Wilda and Lappenberg, may be traced the origin of the municipal system

* These facts are mentioned by Macrobius and Suetonius. "Mensis September principalem suam retinet appellationem, quem Germanici appellatione, Octobrem verò suo nomine, Domitianus invaserat. Sed ubi infaustum vocabulum ex omni ære vel saxo placuit eradi, menses quoque usurpatione tyrannicæ appellationis exuti sunt. Cautio postea principum cæterorum diri ominis infausta vitantium mensibus a Septembri usque ad Decembrem prisca nomina reservavit."-Macrobii Saturnal. lib. i. cap. 12. What Seutonius says is much to the same effect: Post autem duos triumphos, Germanici cognomine assumto, Septembrem mensem et Octobrem ex appellationibus suis Germanicum Domitianumque transnominavit, quod altero suscepisset imperium, altero natus esset."-C. Suetonii Domitianus, s. 13, p. 407, vol. ii. 8vo. Parisiis, 1828.

+ Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, p. 49, 12mo. London, 1655.

of the Saxons, for they seem to have combined the double character of a feast and of a court-day for settling disputes and trying offences, the priests exercising the crimi nal jurisdiction and lending it the consecration of religion. Hence the Christians condemned them under the name of devil-gilds, and would fain have forbidden the people from feasting in honour of the demons,* as they chose to term it; but amongst the German race it was a difficult matter to put them down altogether.†

The Flora and garden of this month are somewhat barren when compared with those of its predecessors, yet still they are not without interest. The Mushroom tribe are now very numerous, constituting the first link in the great chain of vegetable life, which connects organized bodies with inorganic matter. Their seeds are so light as to be easily dispersed by the air, and fasten on every kind of decaying matter. The kinds most popularly known are the Truffle, the Morel, and the Mushroom-so called par excellence-which is used for making catchup; but these fungi appear in a variety of shapes; the Boleti,

*

"Si quis in honorem dæmonum comederit," &c. Leg. Withredi, 12, 13.-Canuti Leges, Eccl. 5. Capitulare de Part. Saxon. c. 21.

"Die Anfänge des Sächsischen Städt-wesens sind auf die Gilden zu heidnischen Opfern zurückzuführen. Diese Festen waren mit den Gerichts-und-Mark-tagen verknüpft und konnten auf der dem Feste folgenden Morgensprache (Morgenspace) durch den den Priestern zustehenden Blutbann haüfig einen sehr ernsten Charakter annehmen. Das gemeinschaftliche Mahl, welches einen gar wichtigen Anfangspunct vieler politischen Einrichtungen gebildet hat, erhielt die Weihe des religiosen Cultus, welcher in den später erhaltenen Trinksprüchen der Angelsachsen noch wiedererkannt werden möchte. Jene Teufelsgilden, wie die Christliche Gesetzgebung sie nannte, ganz zu unterdrücken war in den germanischen Ländern sehr schwer, und es musste nicht für den Cultus selbst, sondern auch für die mit demselben, mit grösserer oder geringerer Willkührlichkeit, verknüpften Einrichtungen ein Ersatz dargeboten werden."-Lappenberg's Geschichte von England. Erster Band, s. 609.

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