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mistake of Noah in sending the Dove out of the Ark before the water had abated, on the first day of the month among the Hebrews, which answers to our first of April; and, to perpetuate the memory of this deliverance, it was thought proper, whoever forgot so remarkable a circumstance, to punish them by sending upon some sleeveless errand similar to that ineffectual message upon which the bird was sent by the Patriarch."

The Alchemysts are said to have esteemed this day, because it was the birthday of Basilius Valentinus, mentioned in the Spectator, Number 426.

Although we

On the high Antiquity of April Fooleries. commonly speak of the vulgar customs belonging to April Fool Day as being of recent invention, and introduced much subsequently to the Pagan rites and the Feast of Venus celebrated on the first of April in ancient Rome, yet there seems some reason for thinking that similar nugae and foolish customs were practised at this time of year in India at a very remote period of time, and whose origin is lost in the night of history; so that the custom of sending people for strap oil, pigeons' milk, and other modes of merry duping, is, in fact, the remains of Oriental customs of the highest antiquity, introduced into Europe subsequently to the fall of the Roman empire. Maurice, in his Indian Antiquities, speaking of this Feast of Fools, says, "The first of April was anciently observed in Britain as a high and general festival, in which an unbounded hilarity reigned. The proof of the great antiquity of the observance of this annual festival, as well as the probability of its original establishment in an Asiatic region, arises from the evidence of facts afforded us by Astronomy. Although the reformation of the year by the Julian and Gregorian Calendars, and the adaptation of the period of its commencement to a different and far nobler system of theology, have occasioned the festival sports, anciently celebrated in this country on the first of April, to have long since ceased; and although the changes occasioned, during a long lapse of years, by the shifting of the equinoctial points, have in Asia itself been productive of important astronomical alterations, as to the exact era of the commencement of the year; yet, on both Continents, some very remarkable traits of the jocundity which then reigned, remain even to these distant times. Of those preserved in Britain, none of the least remarkable or ludicrous is that relic of its pristine pleasantry, the general practice of making April Fools, as it is called, on the first day of that month; but this Colonel Pearce (Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. p. 334) proves to have been an immemorial

custom among the Hindoos, at a celebrated festival holden about the same period in India, which is called the Huli Festival. During the Huli, when mirth and festivity reign among the Hindoos of every class, one subject of diversion is to send people on errands and expeditions that are to end in disappointment, and raise a laugh at the expense of the person sent. The Huli is always in March, and the last day is the general holiday. I have never yet heard any account of the origin of this English custom; but it is unquestionably very ancient, and is still kept up even in great towns, though less in them than in the country. With us it is chiefly confined to the lower class of people; but in India high and low join in it; and the late Suruja Doulah, I am told, was very fond of making Huli Fools, though he was a Mussulman of the highest rank. They carry the joke here so far as to send letters making appointments, in the name of persons who, it is known, must be absent from their house at the time fixed upon; and the laugh is always in proportion to the trouble given.' The least inquiry into the ancient customs of Persia, or the minutest acquaintance with the general astronomical mythology of Asia, would have taught Colonel Pearce, that the boundless hilarity and jocund sports prevalent on the first day of April in England, and during the Huli Festival of India, have their origin in the ancient practice of celebrating with festival rites the period of the Vernal Equinox."

April 2. St. Theodosia. St. Francis of Paula. St. Ebba. St. Bronacha.

rises at v. 33'. and sets at vr. 27'.

Pleiades occidunt heliacè.-Rom. Cal.

The heliacal setting of the Pleiades signifies their first immersion into the Sun's light; they are accordingly no longer seen in the evening after sunset, and they continue, like other stars, to rise diurnally or exhorizontally earlier every day; so that in about a month they emerge again in the morning, and by the end of Autumn they may be seen rising up from the eastern horizon in the evening. During this period it must happen, some time in the course of the Autumn, that they rise as the Sun sets; and this period is called their acronychal rising, which must happen about the end of September: they then pass the meridian at midnight. This constellation, usually called the Seven Stars, from there having formerly been seven brighter than the rest, consists, when viewed with a telescope, of thirty or more. At present,

it is said, only six can be seen with the naked eye; but from the confusion produced by the light of the whole, no accurate observations with a glass can be made. Ovid observes :Pleiades incipient humeros relevare paternos: Quae septem dici, sex tamen esse solent.

Atlas, who is fabulously represented as bearing the whole group of these seven Ladies on his shoulders, is now said by the Poet to disburden himself of his load.

On the Setting of the Pleiades.

Soon as this night is past, and reddening skies
Appear, to sing the feathered songsters rise.
The laboring hind his daily work pursues,
And cattle grazing smack the early dews.
A lighter weight has Atlas to sustain,

For now the Pleiades sink beneath the main.
Of seven, no more than six the eye can trace,
But each of these has known a god's embrace;
For Sterope dissolved in Mars his arms,
Calaeno and Halcyoné their charms
To Neptune yielded in the feast of love;
Electra, Maïa, Taygete, to Jove;

But, Merope, thou didst a mortal wed,

For which she now repents, and hides her head;
Or does Electra shut her clouded eye,

In pain to see her Troy in ruins lie?

The fabulous history of Sterope, Calaeno, Halcyone, Electra, Maia, Taygete, and Merope, may be found in the writings of Ovid. They were called VERGILIAE, because they rose heliacally in Spring.

FAUNA.-The arrival and varied notes from vernal songsters constitute now the amusement of the Natural Historian. In some seasons a straggling Swallow appears even in cold weather, as was the case in 1806-a circumstance that is convincing as to the migration of this genus, although there has ever been a great discrepancy of opinion among the learned on this subject. The ancients all believed that the Swallow was a bird of passage. See April 15.

It appears that Olaus Magnus, Archbishop of Upsala, was the first who broached the opinion, that these birds spent. the Winter under water. This credulous man assures us, that they are frequently found clustered together in masses, at the bottom of the northern lakes, and that they creep down the reeds in Autumn to their subaqueous retreats.

Kalm thought that Swallows generally migrated from the temperate climates of Europe, but that those found in the more northern regions partook of the wintry torpors of some other polar creatures.

Klein was decidedly of opinion, that Chimney Swallows

wintered in the water, and Sand Martins in their holes in the banks of the rivers.

Linnaeus asserts that Chimney Swallows and Martins immerse themselves in the water in Winter, but supposes that Swifts lay concealed in holes in church towers, and other secure places.

Pontoppidan gives it as his belief, that Swallows spent the Winter in the water; and asserts, that they are frequently taken out of that element in large masses, by fishermen, in Norway and other northern countries.

Daines Barrington supposed that the Chimney Swallow remained during Winter immersed in water, but that the Martin lay hid in cavities of rocks, old towers, and other secluded retreats; in support of which opinion he adduces a great number of facts.

Bewick expresses himself decidedly in favour of migration. After having made a few remarks on the occasional torpidity of these birds, he adds-" On the other hand, that actual migrations of the Swallow tribe do take place, has been fully proved by a variety of well attested facts, most of which have been taken from the observations of navigators, who were eye witnesses of their flights, and whose ships have sometimes afforded resting places to the weary travellers.

Pennant believed that the bulk of each species migrated, but admits that some individual birds may have occasionally been found torpid in Winter; in which opinion Latham and White, and, in short, most modern naturalists, appear to have concurred.

If Swallows uniformly appear in Senegal when they disappear in almost every country of Europe, and at no other time; and if they regularly appear in most parts of Europe when they disappear in Senegal, and at no other time, which, according to Adanson and other travellers, is the case, it seems reasonable to conclude, that Senegal and other warm regions of Africa, and the cold and temperate countries of Europe and Asia, are alternately inhabited by the same birds.

In fine, the result of our researches on this subject has convinced us that the Swallow is a migratory bird, annually revisiting the same countries, in common with other birds of passage; and that the bulk of each species betake themselves to some warmer climate when they disappear in Autumn. There is sufficient evidence on record to establish the migration of birds of this genus; at the same time that, from the inaccurate observation of the witnesses, it is difficult, in most cases, to determine exactly the species alluded

to. But while it is pretty certain that the greatest number of Swallows migrate, it is not impossible that many individuals of each of the species may be concealed during Winter near their Summer haunts. Nature may have provided the Swallow with this power of accommodating itself to accidental circumstances, and have enabled it, when hatched late, or otherwise prevented from joining the annual emigration, to sleep in security through the season, when it could not obtain its proper food abroad, and to be revived again on the return of warm weather and of food.

To those who desire further information on the subject of Swallows, the subjoined alphabetical Table of Reference to Authors may be useful.

Index to Passages relating to the Swallow in the Works of Ancient and Modern Authors.

Aelian, wig wav. lib. i. 52, 58; iii. 24, 25; viii. 6; x. 34; xii. 15. Arat. Dios. 212. Aristot. OT. (way. lib. viii. 12; ix. 35. Anacreon Carm. 12, 33. Aristoph. 1, 47; B. 93, 693; E. 801; 0. 715, 1412, 1417, 1680; A. 177; 0. 1. Anthol. Vet. Lat. Epig. de Vocibus Av. et Quadrup. 1. 22, 39; Epig. Sequens, lin. 5; Carm. in Obit. Maecenat. lin. 101. Catul. Carm. Ixiv. 13. Claudian. in Eutrop. lib. i. 117. Columel. XL. ii. 21; iii. 5. Hesiod. Opera et Dies, lin. 566. Homer, . . 411; x. 240; Hymn, xlviii. 10. Herodot. lib. ii. 22. Hor. Carm. lib. iv. 12, lin. 5.; Epist. lin. i. 7, lin. 13. Jeremiah, viii. 7. Isidor. Orig. multis in locis. Juvenal. Sat. x. 231. Lucian. Tim. 21; Vuriae. Hist. 15; Tragop. lin. 49. Lucret. de Rer. Nat. lib. iii. 6. Mosch. Idyl. iii. lin. 39. Martial. lib. v; Epig. 68. Nonnus Dionys. lib. ii. Ovid. Fast. lib. ii. 853; Trist. iii. 12, 9; de Art. Amand. ii. 149; Epist. ex Pont. lib. iv. 14, 13; Met. vi. 437. Oppian. Hulieut. lib. iii. 244; Cyn. iii. &c. Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. ii. 47; iv. 2; viii. 27; x. 12, 24, 33, 39, 45, 53; xi. 37; xviii. 26, 31, 35; xix. 35; xxix. 4, 6; xxx. 4, 7, 10. Plutarch, Sympos. lib. viii. 7. Plaut. Rud, act, iii. scen. i. lin. 1. Prosp. Alpin. Hist. Aegypt. vol. i. p. 198. Q. Seren, Samon. de Med. cap. lxii. 13; Ixiii. 6. Statius Thebaid. lib. viii. 616; xii, 488. T. Culp. Sicul. Buc. Ecl. v. 16. Theocrit. Idyl.7. Varro de Etym. Hir. Virgil, Georg. lib. i. 377; iv. 307; Aeneid. xii. 474. Aldrov. Őrn. 1. xvii. c. 6, 7, 8, 19. Albert. Hist. An. lib. i. c. 3. Albin. i. p. 43, t. 45. Buff. Hist. d'Ois. 4to. Par. 1780; Plan d'Ouvr. p. 13. Bell, au. 100, a. Bewick's Brit. Birds, p. 248. Barrington's Miscell. p. 225. Bochart. Hieroz. vol. ii. p. 59. Bingley's Anim. Biog. vol. ii. p. 382. Brown's Jamaica, 467. Bris. Orn. ii. p. 486. Catesby Carol. i. 51, app. 8. Dodsley's Miscel. vol. v. p. 72, 75. Derham Phys. Theol. book vii. chap. i. note p. 378. Cavellat Port. d'Oyseaux, pp. 99, 100. Eckmarck Migr. Av. Amaen. Academ. Essay 75, vol. iv. 589. Forster's Trans. Kalm, Amer. P. 140. Ephemerides Soc. Meteor. Palat. An. 1781 to 1786. Fauna Suecica, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, p. 90 and 270. Forster Research. Atmos. Phenom. c. iv. sect. i. p. 133; c. x. p. 242. Forster's Brumal Retreat of Swallows, Lond. 1813. Galenus Euporiston, lib. iii. 283. Gesner Hist. An. vol. iii. pp. 160, 528. Gray's Elegy, Ch. Yd. l. 18. Ionst. Orn. 115, t. 42. Kalm's Voyage, vol. i. p. 24; ii. 270. Kiranides, lib. iii. et ult. Klein. Hist. Av. 204. Lath. Synop. iv. p. 560; Ind. ii. 572. Lin. Syst. Nat. II. vi. 117, 1, 3, 4, 6. Lewin Birds, vol. iii. p. 38. Mer. Pin. 177. Montagu, Ornith. Dict. and Supp. Ornithologia Nova ii. 156. Pen. Brit. Zool. vol. i. No. 168.; ii. 248. Pult. Gen. View Lin. p. 81.

Philosoph.

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