To sit and smoke between two rows of Limes,
Along the wall of some neat old Dutch town,
In noontide heat, and hear the jingling chimes
From Stadhouse Steeple; then to lay one down
Upon a Primrose bank, where Violet flowers
Smell sweetly, and the meads in bloomy prime,
’Till Flora’s clock, the Goat’s Beard, mark the hours,
And closing says, Arise, ’tis dinner time;
Then dine on Pyes and Cauliflower heads,
And roam away the afternoon in Tulip Beds.
To give an idea of the general face of nature at this period, Dr.
Forster composed the subjoined
_Catalogue of Plants which compose the_ VERNAL FLORA _in the Garden_.
COMMON PEONY _Paeonia officinalis_ in full blow.
SLENDERLEAVED PEONY _P. tenuifolia_ going off.
CRIMSON PEONY _P. peregrina_.
DWARF PEONY _P. humilis_.
TULIP _Tulipa Gesneriana_ in infinite varieties.
MONKEY POPPY _Papaver Orientale_.
WELCH POPPY _P. Cambricum_.
PALE POPPY _P. nudicaule_.
EUROPEAN GLOBEFLOWER _Trollius Europaeus_.
ASIATIC GLOBEFLOWER _Trollius Asiaticus_.
BACHELOR’S BUTTONS _Ranunculus aeris plenus_.
BIFLOWERED NARCISSUS _N. biflorus_.
POETIC NARCISSUS _N. poeticus_.
GERMAN FLEUR DE LIS _Iris Germanica_, two varieties.
LURID IRIS _Iris lurida_.
WALLFLOWER _Chieranthus cheiri_, numerously, both single and double
sorts.
STOCK GILLIFLOWER _Chiranthus fruticulosus_ beginning. Of this plant
there are red, white, and purple varieties; also double Stocks.
YELLOW ASPHODEL _Asphodelus luteus_.
COLUMBINE _Aquilegia vulgaris_ begins to flower, and has several
varieties in gardens.
GREAT STAR OF BETHLEHEM _Ornithogalum umbellatum_.
PERUVIAN SQUILL _Scilla Peruviana_.
YELLOW AZALEA _Azalea Pontica_.
SCARLET AZALEA _Azalea nudiflora_.
PURPLE GOATSBEARD _Tragopogon porrifolius_.
YELLOW GOATSBEARD _Tragopogon pratensis_.
MOTHERWORT _Hesperis matronalis_ begins to blow.
GREAT LEOPARD’S BANE _Doronicum pardalianches_.
LESSER LEOPARD’S BANE _Doronicum plantagineum_.
RAMSHORNS or MALE ORCHIS _O. mascula_ still blows.
FEMALE ORCHIS _Orchis morio_ still flowers.
_In the Fields._
THE HAREBELL _Scylla nutans_ makes the ground blue in some places.
BULBOUS CROWFOOT _Ranunculus bulbosus_.
CREEPING CROWFOOT _R. repens_ now common.
UPRIGHT MEADOW CROWFOOT _R. acris_ the latest of all.
ROUGH CROWFOOT _R. hirsutus_ not so common as the above. The fields are
quite yellow with the above genus.
MEADOW LYCHNIS _Lychnis Flos Cuculi_.
CAMPION LYCHNIS _Lychnis dioica_ under hedges in our chalky soils.
GERMANDER SPEEDWELL _Veronica chamaedris_ on banks, covering them with
its lively blue, comparable only to the Borage, or the _Cynoglossum
Omphalodes_, still blowing and luxuriant in gardens.
MOUSEAR SCORPION GRASS _Myosotus Scorpioides_.
OUR LADY’S SMOCK _Cardamine pratensis_.
BITTER LADY’S SMOCK _Cardamine amara_.
HEDGE GERANIUM _Geranium Robertianum_; also several other wild
Geraniums.
KIDLOCK _Sinapis arvensis_.
CHARLOCK _Raphanus Raphanistrum_.
STICHWORT _Stellaria Holostea_.
YELLOW WATER LILY _Nuphar luteum_ in ponds and rivers.
WHITE WATER LILY _Nymphea alba_ in the same.
We might add numerous others, which will be found noticed on the days
when they usually first flower. Besides these, many of the plants of the
Primaveral Flora still remain in blow, as violets, hearteases,
hepaticas, narcissi, some hyacinths, marsh marigolds, wood anemonies,
garden anemonies, &c. &c. The cuckoo pint, or lord and lady Arum, is now
in prime.
The nations among whom a taste for flowers was first discovered to
prevail in modern times, were China, Persia, and Turkey. The vegetable
treasures of the eastern world were assembled at Constantinople, whence
they passed into Italy, Germany, and Holland, and from the latter into
England; and since botany has assumed the character of a science, we
have laid the whole world under contribution for trees, and shrubs, and
flowers, which we have not only made our own, but generally improved in
vigour and beauty. The passion for flowers preceded that of ornamental
gardening. The Dutch system of straight walks, enclosed by high clipped
hedges of yew or holly, at length prevailed; and tulips and hyacinths
bloomed under the sheltered windings of the “Walls of Troy,” most
ingeniously traced in box and yew. A taste for gardening, which, however
formal, is found at length to be preferable to the absurd winding paths,
and the close imitation of wild nature by art, which modern
garden-makers have pretended to of late years. The learned baron Maseres
used to say, “Such a garden was to be had every where wild in summer,
and in a garden formality was preferable.”
_Proverbs relating to May._
A cold May and a windy
Makes a fat barn and a findy.
A hot May makes a fat churchyard.
_Proverbs relating to the Weather and Seasons generally._
Collected by Dr. Forster.
Drought never bred dearth in England.
Whoso hath but a mouth, shall ne’er in England suffer drought.
When the sand doth feed the clay,
England woe and welladay;
But when the clay doth feed the sand,
Then it is well with Angle land.
After a famine in the stall,
Comes a famine in the hall.
When the cuckoo comes to the bare thorn,
Sell your cow, and buy your corn;
But when she comes to the full bit,
Sell your corn, and buy your sheep.
If the cock moult before the hen,
We shall have weather thick and thin;
But if the hen moult before the cock,
We shall have weather hard as a block.
As the days lengthen, so the cold strengthen.
If there be a rainbow in the eve, it will rain and leave,
But if there be a rainbow in the morrow, it will neither lend nor
borrow.
A rainbow in the morning
Is the shepherd’s warning;
But a rainbow at night
Is the shepherd’s delight.
No tempest, good July,
Lest corn come off blue by.
When the wind’s in the east,
It’s neither good for man nor beast.
When the wind’s in the south,
It’s in the rain’s mouth.
When the wind’s in the south,
It blows the bait into the fishes’ mouth.
No weather is ill,
If the wind be still.
When the sloe-tree is as white as a sheet,
Sow your barley, whether it be dry or wet.
A green winter makes a fat churchyard.
Hail brings frost in the tail.
A snow year, a rich year.
Winter’s thunder’s summer’s wonder.
* * * * *