GARDEN CONVOLVULI C. purpureus, C. Nil, and C. tricolor. HOLYHOCKS Althea rosea, numerous varieties. Various species of PASSION FLOWER, and other exotics too numerous to be named. &c. In the fields and hedges grow wild and flourish now The TOADFLAX Antirrhenum Linaria. BASTARD TOADFLAX Antirrhenum Peloria. NETTLELEAVED BELLFLOWER Campanula Trachelium under hedges, ROUNDLEAVED BELLFLOWER Campanula rotundifolia on dry heaths, walls, &c. HEDGE BINDWEED Convolvulus sepium. FIELD BINDWEED Convolvulus arvensis. ST. JOHN'S WORT Hypericum perforatum, H. pulchrum, and others. MUSK MALLOW Malva moschata. We may add a numerous tribe of Hieracinnes and Apargias, which are noticed in the course of this work. We may add the MONEYWORT, the various WILLOW HERBS, and PURPLE HEATH. Many Solstitial Plants remain in flower, as the White Lily, and some other liliacious plants. Roses now are fast decaying. Marygolds, Poppies, Stocks, Wallflowers, Foxgloves, many of the Senecious Plants, and others which blow all the year round, are of course still to be seen in profusion. August 20. St. Bernard Abbot. St. Oswin King and Martyr. O rises at IV. 50'. and sets at vII. 10. St. Bernard, the prodigy and great ornament of the eleventh age, was the third son of Tescelin and Alice, of noble family in Burgundy. He was born at Fontaines, a chateau near Dijon in 1091, and died in 1153. The monastery of the Grand St. Bernard in Switzerland is well known to travellers for its hospitable character and benevolent instructions, no less than for the remarkably sagacious Dogs kept there to conduct lost travellers through the almost impenetrable snow to the convent. Vinalia secundum Plin.-Rom. Cal. Virgil notices the end of the Vintage: Jam canit extremos effoetus vinitor antes. But we imagine that this feast of Vinalia at this time of year must have been at the commencement of the vintage. On the Subjects of Signs. We promised to resume the consideration of Signs discussed August 18. While treating E E of the Crescent, we noticed some inquiries why it became the usual form of the Moon on Signs instead of her full face. The following MS. lines, without date, seem to throw some light on it. It must be observed that the term Selina is used for the Moon, being the Greek word, instead of Luna, the Latin name. O Selina faire and bright, My mistresse thou shalt be this night. To all chaste Virgins that may follow thee, This sign upon her amber hair, Emblem of Virtue meek and heavenlie Chastitie. Again, in an old play : And I will tread the virtuous peaceful paths And wears the silverie Cresant on her own. It is remarkable that in the East, where being nearer the equator the young Moon would appear to set vertically, with her two horns pointing upwards, she is often drawn in this position, as may be seen in the Turkish mosques. We have observed a figure very like a Crescent on many Chinese ornaments stuck up on the poles before the houses, as in the streets of Nankin, and other Chinese cities. But though the Half Moon is the common sign, we have occasionally seen the sign of the Full Moon. Among the strange couplets on signs, we have the Sun and Whalebone, which may have been set up in commemoration of some remarkable success in Whale Fishery, the return of the Sun to the North being necessary in order to navigate the Polar Seas where Whales abound; but it is probable that in most instances, as the Spectator observes, the incongruous things which are put together on the same signpost, came together in consequence of one person taking the business of another, and thus quartering at the same time his own sign with that of the person whose stock in trade he might have purchased. Except by some such accidents as this, we could hardly expect to see such strange compositions as we do on tradesmen's signs. In the "Shows of London." To London let us bie to see The sights and shows that there may be, The Lions in the Tower, and The splendid shops where Commerce shines, Of creatures coupled, which to us Too many to be counted here. Three Sugar loaves where sweets are vended; The golden Grape of Raisins shine Where Bacchus sells his Beer and Wine; The Smoking Boy declares our need The Puss in Boots, and the Blue Boar, Trifling as the subject of Signs may seem, it has exceedingly engaged the attention of Antiquaries, who have written many treatises in explication of their origin. See the Gentleman's Magazine passim, word Sign in the General Indexes. Some apparently whimsical signs have certainly been well explained by Antiquaries. The Bull and Mouth, for example, signifies really the Boulogne Mouth or Harbour, the Bull and Gate is the Boulogne Gate, both trophies of the capture of that town. The Bell Savage, commonly painted as a Black Man and a Bell, formerly was the Belle Sauvage. There are other signs also easy of explanation. The Golden Fleece, properly a woollen draper's sign, is a memorial of the Fleece sought by Jason in the Argonautic expedition. The Swan with Two Necks signified the Swan with two nicks, that is to say notches which used to be cut in the bills of Swans as marks whereby to know them. We do not pretend to ken the origin of the sign of a Drunken Fellow falling backwards, commonly called Tumble Down Dick; but as this sign is common in very distant parts of England, it has probably some particular meaning. At Diss in Norfolk many years ago, a new occupant of a house which had had this sign, thought proper to change it, and put in place thereof a figure of a tall straight man, intending thereby to pay himself a compliment, and subjoined the following couplet: Tumble Down Dick is dead and gone, And in his room comes Upright John. Many signs were set up as being either the crest or the coat of arms of noblemen residing in the neighbourhood; and to some such origin we must refer the Red Lion, Black Lion, Blue Boar, Black Swan, and many others of this sort. The Red Cross is the Banner of Knighthood. The Man of Legs, or three legs booted and spurred, so common in the North of England, is the arms of the Isle of Man; many coats of arms being there used for signs. The St. George, the St. Marguerite and the Dragon, the St. Michael, the Saracen's Head, the Turk's Cap, and many of this sort, are easily understood by the historian; and too much trouble has, we think, been bestowed on other intricate whimsicalities. For Of the high antiquity of signs there can be no doubt, and their use formerly seems to have been to direct people what was to be found in the shop, before reading was common among the lower classes of the populace. originally particular trades or callings had particular signs, of which we have many traces left, in the Bunch of Grapes at Alehouses, the Green Grasshopper at Teadealers, the Bible and Crown at Booksellers, the Cardinal's Cap at Hatters, so common in France, the Hand and Glove at Glovers, and many others. We remember also the Golden Teapot in Bishopsgate Street at a Teadealer's; the Sugar Loaves is also another Grocer's sign. The Indian Boy smoking at Tobacconists, the Mortar and Pestle, and also Galen's Head, at Apothecaries and Chemists, are also familiar examples. August 21. SS. Bonosus and Maximilian Martyrs. St. Jane Frances de Chantal Widow and Abbess. St. Richard Bishop and Confessor. St. Bernard Ptolemy Founder of the Olivetans. Orises at IV. 52'. and sets at VII. 8'. Vinalia rustica. Varro. - Rom. Cal. FLORA. The number of plants in flower is now very sensibly diminished. Those of the former months are running fast to seed, and few new ones supply their places. The uncultivated heaths and commons are now, however, in their chief beauty, from the flowers of the different kinds of Heath or Ling with which they are covered, so as to spread a rich purple hue over the whole ground. Low moist lands too are adorned with the Gentiana Amarella, and the beautiful pink blossoms of the Meadow Saffron Colchicum Autumnale. POMONA. To the Peaches, Nectarines, Plums, and other fruits enumerated on the 13th of this month, we may now add some of the early Pears. The Windsor, the Jargonelle, the Cuisse Madame, and some of the earlier sorts are now ripe and in full perfection. CHRONOLOGY.-Bernadotte elected Crown Prince of Sweden in 1810. In 1561, Mary the beautiful and virtuous Queen of Scots landed at Leith, after an absence of thirteen years, and her return is recorded as being accompanied with extreme regret at leaving France, which was strongly expressed as she passed the Channel in the vessel, insomuch that Rogers, in his Pleasures of Memory, says of her : So Scotia's Queen, as slowly dawned the day, The Scotch are perhaps as remarkable as the Swiss for their attachment to past scenes, and dwell with a strength of enthusiasm on days of olden time almost unknown to the inhabitants of their neighbourhood, as most of their popular ballads and romances will convince any one who takes the trouble to read them. The feelings of remorse at recollections past, and particularly infantine pleasures, and the delight which mixes itself up with these recollections, is well expressed in the following song of Robert Burns: |