[051] "I was ever more disposed," says Hume, "to see the favourable than
the unfavourable side of things; _a turn of mind which it is more happy
to possess, than to be born to an estate of ten thousand a year_."
[052] So called, because the grounds were laid out in a tasteful style,
under the direction of Lord Auckland's sister, the Honorable Miss Eden.
[053] _Songs of the East by Mrs. W.S. Carshore. D'Rozario & Co,
Calcutta_ 1854.
[054] The lines form a portion of a poem published in _Literary Leaves_
in the year 1840.
[055] Perhaps some formal or fashionable wiseacres may pronounce such
simple ceremonies _vulgar_. And such is the advance of civilization that
even the very chimney-sweepers themselves begin to look upon their old
May-day merry-makings as beneath the dignity of their profession.
"Suppose now" said Mr. Jonas Hanway to a sooty little urchin, "I were to
give you a shilling." "Lord Almighty bless your honor, and thank you."
"And what if I were to give you a fine tie-wig to wear on May-day?" "Ah!
bless your honor, my master wont let me go out on May-day," "Why not?"
"Because, he says, _it's low life_." And yet the merrie makings on
May-day which are now deemed _ungenteel_ by chimney-sweepers were once the
delight of Princes:--
Forth goth all the court, both most and least,
To fetch the flowres fresh, and branch and blome,
And namely hawthorn brought both page and grome,
And then rejoicing in their great delite
Eke ech at others threw the flowres bright,
The primrose, violet, and the gold
With fresh garlants party blue and white.
_Chaucer_.
[056] The May-pole was usually decorated with the flowers of the
hawthorn, a plant as emblematical of the spring as the holly is of
Christmas. Goldsmith has made its name familiar even to the people of
Bengal, for almost every student in the upper classes of the Government
Colleges has the following couplet by heart.
The _hawthorn bush_, with seats beneath the shade,
For talking age and whispering lovers made.
The hawthorn was amongst Burns's floral pets. "I have," says he, "some
favorite flowers in spring, among which are, the mountain daisy, the
harebell, the fox-glove, the wild-briar rose, the budding birch and the
hoary hawthorn, that I view and hang over with particular delight."
L.E.L. speaks of the hawthorn hedge on which "the sweet May has showered
its white luxuriance," and the Rev. George Croly has a patriotic
allusion to this English plant, suggested by a landscape in France.
'Tis a rich scene, and yet the richest charm
That e'er clothed earth in beauty, lives not here.
Winds no green fence around the cultured farm
_No blossomed hawthorn shields the cottage dear_:
The land is bright; and yet to thine how drear,
Unrivalled England! Well the thought may pine
For those sweet fields where, each a little sphere,
In shaded, sacred fruitfulness doth shine,
And the heart higher beats that says; 'This spot is mine.'
[057] On May-day, the Ancient Romans used to go in procession to the
grotto of Egeria.
[058] See what is said of palms in a note on page 81.
[059] Phillips's _Flora Historica_.
[060] The word primrose is supposed to be a compound of _prime_ and
_rose_, and Spenser spells it prime rose
The pride and prime rose of the rest
Made by the maker's self to be admired