shelter when the winds become stormy or contrary to their direction. But even these asylums, which the quail has not always strength enough to reach, and the distance of which frequently occasions its loss, prove also places of destruction to it. Too much fatigued to escape, they permit themselves to be taken easily upon inhospitable shores; they are caught without difficulty by the hand on the rigging of ships; and when excess of weariness prevents them from rising high enough to perch upon it, they dash violently against the hull, fall back, stunned by the shock, and disappear in the waves. Whatever may be the dangers of a long voyage, which these birds seem unqualified to perform, whatever diminution of number the troops of these feeble travellers may undergo in the passage, there arrives, notwithstanding, so great a multitude in the neighbourhood of Alexandria, that the quantity to be seen there is really past belief. The fowlers of Egypt catch them in nets. During the first days after their passage, such numbers are on sale in the markets of Alexandria, that three, and sometimes four, may be bought for a medina, or for fifteen or sixteen deniers (not three farthings). The crews of merchant ships were fed upon them; and there existed at the consul's office at Alexandria several complaints preferred by mariners against their captains, for giving them nothing but quails to eat'.' The Many of the small billed birds that feed on insects. disappear when the cold weather commences. throstle, the red-wing, and the fieldfare, which mi grated in March, now return; and the ring-ouzel arrives from the Welsh and Scottish Alps to winter in more sheltered situations. All these birds feed upon berries, of which there is a plentiful supply, in our woods, during a great part of their * Sonnini's Travels in Egypt, by Dr. Hunter, vol. iii, p. 319. stay. The throstle and the red-wing are delicate eating. Hazel-nuts are now ripe, and the filberd-tree is laden with its agreeable fruit. See some beautiful lines on the filberd-tree in T. T. for 1815, p. 271. The oak begins to shed its acorns, and the beech nuts fall; both of which are termed mast. A luxurious pasturage is afforded for such hogs as are kept on the borders of forests, for about six weeks, from the end of September.-See our volume for 1816, p. 272. The autumnal equinox happens on the 22d of September, and, at this time, the days and nights are equal all over the earth. About this period, heavy storms of wind and rain are experienced, as well as at the vernal equinox. The heavy dews at morning and evening in this month lead us to reflect upon this common but most beautiful phenomenon of nature. The most recent and plausible theory of dew has been noticed in our last volume, p. 280; we shall now add some illustrations from the poets. In one instance only does Homer, who abounds in personifications and descriptions of the morning, mention the dew, when describing the bed of Jupiter :— Celestial dews descending o'er the ground, Perfume the mount, and breathe ambrosia round. POPE. Three other passages occur in Pope's translation of the Iliad and Odyssey, in which Aurora sprinkles the dewy dawn with light. But this is the embellishment of the translator; for in neither of these passages is the epithet dewy in the original. But Milton gives them more importance: he in-. troduces them into his descriptions with a peculiar felicity : Now Morn her rosy steps in th' eastern clime And the same divine bard, in speaking of the prodigious host of Satan, has introduced dew into a most beautiful simile : An host, Innumerable as the stars of night Or stars of Morning, dew-drops which the sun A favourite comparison with our English poets is that of tears to dew, or of dew to tears. Thus Shakspeare: And that same dew, which sometime on the buds Like tears that did their own disgrace bewail. In Samson Agonistes, when Dalilah comes to visit her eyeless husband, she is afraid to approach; and Milton has made her silence most beautifully expressive the Chorus tells Samson, 1 Yet on she moves, now stands, and eyes thee fixed, In Virgil, the Ros in tenera pecori gratissimus herba the dew on the tender grass grateful to the cattle," is rendered by Dryden the pearly drops of morning dews, and, by Dr. Warton, the Morning's earliest tears. It were easy to multiply these instances from the poets, but our limits forbid. The Holy Scriptures abound with admirable allusions to dew, familiar to every reader, and too numerous to be quoted. In a word, observes an elegant moral writer, these transparent beauties of the morn' not only furnish us with poetic images and philosophic knowledge, but with very powerful motives also for a life of piety, benevolence, and virtue. Their great utility to the vegetable kingdom, in particular, should lead us to the unceasing adoration of that gracious Being, who created nothing, which has existence, merely for an object of idle speculation. When we consider, moreover, how silently and insensibly the lightfooted dews' fulfil the gracious purposes of our common Benefactor; incessantly dispensing nutriment to vegetable life, and refreshment to animated being; how persuasively should this instruct the rich and opulent to let their secret bounty, unostentatious as the dew of heaven, descend continually to revive the drooping hearts of modest and unassuming worth! For what are the high and mighty of the earth without that bliss-diffusing spirit of humanity, whose exertions, while they tend every day to dignify its noble possessor, prepare and mature him for immortality? What, I repeat it, are illustrious titles and unbounded affluence, without this divine spirit, but the momentary radiance of the same morning dews, which glitter awhile, and then vanish for ever?(Contemplative Philosopher, No. xxiii.) When the harvest is gathered in by the farmer, and the gleaners have got all they can pick ear by ear,' then the herd, the sheep, pigs, and turkeys, take the stubble,' or, as it is sometimes called, the 6 stray.' The husbandman now prepares for seedtime; and the fields are again ploughed up for the winter corn, rye, and wheat, which are sown in September and October. The entrances to bee-hives are straitened, to prevent the access of wasps and other pilferers. OCTOBER. THIS month was called Domitianus in the time of Domitian; but after his death, by the decree of the Senate, it took the name of October, every one hating the name and memory of so detestable a tyrant. It was called wyn-monat, or wine month, by the Saxons. Remarkable Days In OCTOBER 1818. 1. SAINT REMIGIUS. REMIGIUS was born at Landen, where he so closely pursued his studies, that he was supposed to lead a monastic life. After the death of Bennadius, he was, on account of his exemplary piety and extraordinary learning, chosen bishop of Rheims. He converted to Christianity not only King Clodoveus, but also a considerable part of his subjects; hence he is honoured by some devotees with the title of the French Apostle. After he had held his bishopric 74 years, he died at 96 years of age, A.D. 535. The cruise which he used was preserved in France, their kings being formerly anointed from it at their coronation. *1. 1811.-BISHOP PERCY DIED. . He was promoted to the bishopric of Dromore in Ireland, in the year 1782, where he constantly resided, attending to the comfort and instruction of the poor with unremitting care, and superintending the sacred and civil interests of the diocese with vigilance and assiduity; revered and beloved for his piety, liberality, benevolence, and hospitality, by persons of every rank and religious denomination. Under the loss of sight, of which he was gradually deprived some years before his death, he steadily maintained his habitual cheerfulness; and, in his last painful illness, he displayed such fortitude and strength of mind, such patience and resignation to the Divine will, and expressed such heartfelt thankfulness for |