"When, prompted by a mother's care, Thy warmth shall form th' imprisoned young, The pleasing task I'll gladly share, Or cheer thy labours with a song. "To bring thee food I'll range the fields, And cull the best of every kind, Whatever Nature's bounty yields, And Love's assiduous care can find. ' And when my lovely mate would stray, Then prove with me the sweets of love, He ceased his song-the plumy dame He led her to the nuptial bow'r, And perched with triumph by her side; Next morn he waked her with a song, Together through the fields they strayed, When O! with grief my Muse relates Sent by an order from the Fates, A Gunner met them in the vale. Alarmed, the lover cried, 'My dear, R At him the Gunner took his aim, Or shot as he was wont to do! Divided Pair! forgive the wrong, JAGO. JULY. THIS word is derived from the Latin Julius, the surname of C. Cæsar, the dictator, who was born in it. Mark Anthony first gave to this month the name of July, which was before called Quintilis, as being the fifth month in the year, in the old Roman calendar established by Romulus. July was called by the Saxons, heu-monat, or hey-monat, because therein they usually mowed, and made their hay-harvest. Remarkable Days. 2.-VISITATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. THIS festival was instituted by Pope Urban VI, in commemoration of that remarkable journey which the Mother of our Lord took into the mountains of Judæa, in order to visit the mother of St. John the Baptist. 3.-DOG-DAYS BEGIN. These are a certain number of days before and after the heliacal rising of Canicula, or the dog-star, in the morning. The dog-days in our modern Almanacks occupy the time from July 3d to August 11th; the name being applied now, as it was formerly, to the hottest time of the year. 4. TRANSLATION OF SAINT MARTIN. This day was appointed to commemorate the removal or translation of St. Martin's body from one tomb to another much more noble and magnificent ; an honour conferred upon the deceased saint by Perpetuus, one of his successors in the see of Tours. His festival is celebrated on the 11th of November, which see.. *6. 1189.-RICHARD I BEGAN TO REIGN. The most shining part of this prince's character was his military talents; no man ever in that romantic age carried courage and intrepidity to a greater height; and this quality gained him the appellation of the lion-hearted, cœur de lion. He passionately loved glory; and, as his conduct in the field was not inferior to his valour, he seems to have possessed every talent necessary for acquiring it: his resentments also were high, his pride unconquerable, and his subjects, as well as his neighbours, had therefore reason to apprehend, from the continuance of his reign, a perpetual scene of blood and violence. Of an impetuous and vehement spirit, he was distinguished by all the good as well as the bad qualities which are incident to that character. He was open, frank, generous, sincere, and brave; he was revengeful, domineering, ambitious, haughty, and cruel, and was thus better calculated to dazzle men by the splendour of his enterprizes, than either to promote their happiness, or his own grandeur, by a sound and well-regulated policy. As military talents make great impression on the people, he seems to have been much beloved by his English subjects; and he is remarked to have been the first prince of the Norman line who bore a sincere affection and regard for them. He passed, however, only four months of his reign in that kingdom; the crusade employed him near three years he was detained about four months in captivity; the rest of his reign was spent either in war, or preparations for war, against France: and he was so pleased with the fame which he had acquired in the east, that he seemed determined, notwithstanding all his past misfortunes, to have further exhausted his kingdom, and to have exposed himself to new hazards, by conducting another expedition against the infidels.-Hume. 7.-THOMAS A BECKET. This haughty prelate was born in London, in the year 1119, and was the son of Gilbert, a merchant, and Matilda, a Saracen lady, who is said to have fallen in love with him when he was a prisoner to her father in Jerusalem. In 1159 he made a campaign with King Henry into Toulouse, having in his own pay 1200 horse, besides a retinue of 700 knights or gentlemen. *7. 1816.-RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN died. He was your brother! bear his ashes hence !— *12. 1536.-ERASMUS DIED. Fox, Pitt, and Burke. 2 Drury Lane Theatre, where the whole of this monody was J livered. *14. 1789.-THE BASTILE DESTROYED. In forging chains for us, themselves were free. 15. SAINT SWITHIN. COWPER. Swithin, in the Saxon Swithum, received his clerical tonsure, and put on the monastic habit, in the old monastery at Winchester: he was of noble parentage, and passed his youth in the study of grammar, philosophy, and the scriptures. Swithin was promoted to holy orders by Helmstan, Bishop of Winchester; at whose death, in 852, King Ethelwolf granted him the see. In this he continued eleven years, and died in 868. For some verses on the popular superstition respecting this day, see our last volume, p. 189. *18. 1374.-PETRARCH Died. Petrarch thus describes his retirement to Vaucluse: Here (says he) I make war upon my senses, and treat them as my enemies. My eyes, which have drawn me into a thousand difficulties, see no longer either gold or precious stones, or ivory or purple; they behold nothing, save the firmament, the water, and the rocks. The only female who comes within their sight, is a swarthy old woman, dry and parched as the Lybian deserts. My ears are no longer courted by those harmonies of instruments or voices which have often transported my soul; they hear nothing but the lowing of cattle, the bleating of sheep, the warbling of birds, and the murmurs of the stream. I keep silence from morn to night. There is no one to converse with; for people constantly employed, either in spreading their nets, or taking care of their vines and orchards, have no knowledge of the intercourses of the world, or the conversations of society. I often content myself with the brown |