August 5. GIPSEY FUNERAL. On the 5th of August, 1830, died an individual of whom the "Oxford Journal" gives the annexed account: The mortal remains of an aged female, belonging to this singular race of people, were on Thursday last consigned to the earth in Highworth church-yard, attended by a great concourse of spectators, attracted to the spot by the novelty of the spectacle. The interment was conducted with the greatest decorum, the interest of the scene being heightened, instead of damped, by the incessant rain, which fell in torrents on the venerable uncovered locks of the husband. He acted as chief mourner on the occasion, and, with his numerous offspring forming the procession was by the pitiless storm assailed, unmoved?' They appeared fully impressed with the awful solemnity of the last duty they were about to perform for one who had been a wife and a mother for nearly threescore years and ten. When living, she was a perfect "Meg Merrilies" in appearance, and it is even said that she was the identical person whom Walter Scott had in view when he wrote that inimitable character in Guy Mannering. Be this as it may, for considerably more than half a century she exercised her oracular powers in propounding the "good or bad fortune" of all the fair-going damsels of the country round. She had inspired many a lovelorn maid, not merely with hope, but with a "dead certainty" that the joys of Hymen should be hers in less than one fleeting year; and the Delphic oracle never imparted half the satisfaction to its anxious enquirers that our aged sybil invariably did to hers. True it is, however, that her powers of divining good fortune in some measure depended on the generosity of her applicants; and while, for a shilling, or less, some poor maidens were constrained to put up with the promise merely of "a gentleman with a one-horse shay,"-the boon of half a crown would purchase "lord with a coach and six." a Often at "fair time" she was seen to retire with some expecting lass to a remote corner of Highworth church-yard, when, like a second Cassandra, "big with the mysteries of fate," she would unfold her anxious enquirer's future destiny; her predictions might not "always" come true to the exact letter, still while there was life there was hope, and who would not purchase a year of such hopes for the trifling sum of half a crown ?-besides, even in this case, the verifications of her predictions were only in unison with those of our great High Priest of Astrologers, that every thing shall come to pass "the Francis Moore, who wonderfully contrives day before, or the day after." It should have been stated before, that she made her mortal exit in a lane in the vicinity of Highworth, and that, in the coffin with her remains, were enclosed a knife and fork, and plate; and five tapers (not wax kept constantly burning till her removal we presume) were placed on the lid, and for interment; after which ceremony, the whole of her wardrobe was burnt, and her donkey and dog were slaughtered by her nearest relatives, in conformity to a superstitious custom remaining among her tribe, derived, perhaps, from the east, where, on the demise of a person of distinction, the whole of their appendages both living and dead, are destroyed, in order that the defunct may have the benefit of their services in the next world. It is said that a memorial is to be erected to her memory with the following simple epitaph: "Being dead yet speaketh." When this world's gaudy vision's gone, August 5. Day breaks sets Twilight ends August 6. THE SEASON. E. T. DYKE. The summer has so many characteristics, in the atmosphere, on the earth, and in the waters, and their changes are so many with change of place, and their succession so rapid with the lapse of time, that no words can convey any thing like an adequate idea of them; and therefore all that can be attempted is to excite, in those who "have eyes but see not," a desire to look around them at that which is produced without the art and labor of man, and they will find a resource, which while, by the spring and impulse it gives to the mind, it makes the business and the duty of life go smoothly on, is a citadel amid misfortune, an inheritance which none of the contingencies of life can impair,—an enjoyment which is, as it were, intermediate between that of the world of possession, and that brighter world of hope to which it is so delightful to look forward.* SUMMER AND THE POET. Oh! golden, golden summer, Thou hast chased each vernal roamer Glad was the cuckoo's hail; From the waving hawthorn bough. Thou hast made the small brook flee; And on the green sward dance. Singing 'midst shocks of corn, As if joy might not be borne. And dost thou of me complain, I have run my fervid race; I have wrought my task once more; I have fill'd each fruitful place With a plenty that runs o'er. British Naturalist, ii, 383. In 1817, the Caledonian Horticultural Society having appointed a deputation to survey and report the state of horticultures in the Low Countries, the gentlemen appointed to the tour arrived in London in August, and, preparatory to their departure for Flanders, they visited Covent Garden green and fruit market, in order to compare the quantity and quality of horticultural productions with those they might witness in the foreign cities they were about to visit. August 7, the Scottish tourists went early in the morning to the garden at Lambeth palace, in order, chiefly, to see two ancient fig-trees, said to have been planted by cardinal Pole, about 1558, or nearly 260 years ago. They were found to have been greatly injured by the severe winter of 1813-14, and the principal stems had in consequence been cut over near to the ground. The stems, where cut, were as thick as a man's thigh. On one of the trees a large old branch still remained, and extended to a considerable distance along the wall. The whole breadth of this tree was then about thirty feet the branches had risen forty feet high, having been trained against the palace wall, which was marked with nails and shreds to that height. The tree, therefore, had covered a space of 900 square feet; and bid fair soon to equal its former self. The fruit is of the kind called the white-fig; but there was none upon the tree when the tourists saw it. They remarked that fruit seemed to have failed very generally in that year. MY LADY IN A GARDEN. This happy garden once, while I was happy, -I, without control, alone might spend, Her sweet discourses of the lily's whiteness, Sun rises sets Thos. May, 1617. Twilight ends. French marigold flowers. August 8. Lambeth palace garden usually produces abundant crops of very fine pears, apples, plums, and peaches; but, on account of the unfavorable state of the season previously, scarcely a specimen of any of these fruits was to be seen. They observed on the lawn in front of the palace some fine trees, of kinds not usual in Britain, and which in Scotland are common in the form only of shrubs. August 7. Day breaks The Carolina sumach-tree (rhus elegans), the scarlet oak (quercus coccinea), the three-thorned acacia (gleditschia triacanthos), may be mentioned; and likewise two excellent specimens of catalpa syringifolia, each about twenty feet high, which, in favorable seasons, seldom failed to produce large panicles of flowers. A very lofty American plane-tree (plantanus occidentalis) attracted the particular notice of the visitors. Its shape was highly symmetrical; the lower branches then extended not less than 48 feet in diameter, or 144 feet in circumference, and, projecting very considerably beyond those immediately above, they literally sweep the grass; while the upper mass of branches and foliage rose, bell-shaped, to the height of about eighty feet. three feet from the ground the trunk measured nearly eight feet in circumference. Some of the first-mentioned trees were of considerable age: this plane-tree, however, was then said to be little more than twenty years old, although it seemed double that age. It was in perfect vigor, and seemed to have completely escaped the effects of the winter, 1813-14, already alluded to, which proved fatal to many of the finest specimens of the occidental plane, both in England and Scotland. "We admired," say the tourists, "the taste displayed in preserving an ancient walnut-tree" (juglans regia), although one half of it was dead: for, as the bare spray of the walnut-tree speedily blackens with decay, a good contrast is formed with the light green foliage of the living part; and the whole seemed to us to accord well with the venerable antiquity of the archiepiscopal palace." At August 8, 1817, the Caledonian Horticultural Society tourists, on their way to Dover, observed-"The grand and massy ruins of Rochester Castle presented us with a botanical rarity, during a very hurried visit which we paid to it; in several places the mouldering walls are covered with single red carnations (dianthus caryophyllus), which were now in flower. We should have been apt to consider these as accidental wanderers from some neighbouring garden; but sir James Edward Smith, in his Flora Britannica, has not scrupled to describe the plant as indigenous to England, and to mention this castle as a principal habitat." They spent the afternoon at Canterbury, greatly pleased with the cleanliness of the streets, with the beauty of the terracewalks on the ramparts, and with the fine avenues of lime-trees below; but not a little disappointed to find workmen engaged in razing to the ground a keep, or stronghold, of Norman architecture, with walls ten feet thick. "This, we think, might have been spared, both as an ornament and as indicating the antiquity of the place. After having surveyed the famed cathedral, and made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Becket, we visited the ruins of the abbey of St. Augustine, said to have been the earliest Christian esta wealthy parishioners displayed when applied to for their assistance in aid of private charity. "I am sorry," said he, "that my own means do not enable me to do that which my heart dictates. I had rather be deceived in ten instances than lose the opportunity of making one heart glad the possession of wealth ought to stimulate the feelings of charity." blishment in England. In the neighbour- He that says well and doth well is commendable; but I like him better that doth well and saith nothing.—Bp. Hall. comes off nearly at the upper extremity of the old trunk, and rises seven feet and a half before dividing; like the former, it is about three feet in circumference. Both of these form handsome heads, and, taken together, cover a space of thirty feet by twenty-four. On examination we perceived that a certain continuous portion of the bark was fresh all the way from the original root; and, by removing a little of the earth, we likewise ascertained that many new roots, though of smaller size, had been sent off from the base of the two branches which had formed themselves into stems and heads. The fruit of this aged tree is excellent; indeed, it is commonly said that the fruit of the oldest mulberry-trees is the best. In 1815 the berries, sold at two shillings a pottle, yielded no less than six guineas. We were told that they are commonly bought up for desserts, by the gentlemen of the cathedral,' who, like their predecessors, are probably no bad judges of such matters."" Dr. Andrews, Dean of Canterbury, disliked the nicety which a few of his Sun rises sets Twilight ends Devil's-bit in flower. h. m. 1 50 4 30 7 30 10 10 Filberts, in early years, fit to gather.' Leaves of lime-trees, and some of the elms, change color, and turning yellow. August 9. August 9, 1744, died John Brydges, He exthe "great" duke of Chandos. pended £200,000 in building the princely seat of Canons, in Middlesex, where he lived with a splendor to which no other subject had ever aspired. It was erroneously supposed that his means were not adequate to the maintenance of the establishment; but the bills of the tradesmen were regularly discharged until the duke's decease, when he was buried at StanmoreParva, or Whitchurch, the parish in which Canons is situated. There is a magnificent monument to his memory, in a chapel paved with marble over the vault: his "effigies" are represented as large as life, in a Roman dress, between his two first wives. The earlier part of the duke's manhood was spent in reflection and observation; his middle age in business, honorable to himself, and serviceable to his country; and his advanced years in " patience, resignation, and piety." His liberality was equalled only by his generous forgiveness of injuries. Pope disgraced his muse by unjust and sarcastic wit levelled at the duke, and the poet meanly disclaimed, and Hogarth punished it by representing the bard of Twickenham on a scaffold white-washing Burlington-house, and bespattering the duke of Chandos' carriage as it passed. Yet Pope's verse respecting the short-lived magnificence of Canons was prophetic : Another age shall see the golden ear Embrown the slope, and nod on the parterre: Deep harvests bury all his pride has planned, And laughing Ceres reassume the land. The stately mansion was sold, piecemeal, by auction, in 1747, and it became the rage of that day to buy something at Canons; hardly an attendant at the sale went away empty-handed, so numerous and so various were the lots. The duke of Chandos liberally patronized learning and merit. A clergyman, much esteemed by the duke, was one day viewing the library at Canons. His grace said, "Please, sir, to fix upon any book you like, and it shall be yours." The gentleman chose one, politely, of no great price; afterwards, on turning over the volume, he found a bank bill of considerable value between the leaves. Greatly surprised, he returned it with the book. The duke received the bill, but gave in exchange one of double the value, saying, "Accept that, sir, for your honesty. Few particulars are known of this munificent peer, and fewer respecting the edifice of Canons. Its site is now in arable, with the exception of a comparatively small stone edifice, since erected. The church of Whitchurch, almost set in solitude, was fitted up by the duke-it is a gem of which Londoners have no conception. They should make holiday to see it. A stroll from thence to Stanmore church, then to Harrow on the Hill, and back through meadows and green lanes, by the way of Willsden, is a delightful summer walk. by private property, to detain your attention a few moments. From 1750 I have been usher at the Free Grammar School here, with an appointment of £19 16s. a year; seven years curate of St. Mary's, my native parish, in this borough; then six years curate at St. Martin's with All Saints', lately bestowed by your lordship on Mr. Gregory of this place; and now an opportunity occurs to your lordship, to give me an occasion to pray for my benefactor, and those that are dear to him, during my life: 'tis this, a dispensation is expected every day, by the head-master of the school where I serve, the Rev. Mr. Pigot, vicar of Great Wigston, in this county, to connect a fresh acquisition in Lincolnshire with it; and he urges your lordship's petitioner to try for the living of St. Nicholas here, which he must relinquish. It is simply £35 a year; but, as this corporation grants an annual aid to each living in Leicester of £10 a year, St. Nicholas, joined to my school, might render me comfortable for life, and prevent the uncertainty of a curacy, and the hard necessity, at my time of life, of being harassed, in all weathers, by a distant cure." In a letter to a friend on the same subject, he urges interference on his behalf, "The living is yet undisposed of: the lord chancellor is, or lately was, at Buxton, and I remain uninformed of any thing further: there is no room to expect a smile of favor till the gout is more civil. It seems like a chancery suit. The present chancellor is said to be a leisurely gentleman in these matters. He keeps livings in suspense. This may be designed to accumulate an aid, to pay for the seals and induction. Swift says, 'Lord treasurer, for once be quick.' Should you tell the lord chancellor, It would suit him, and that I say it,' it might cost me the loss of his slow favors. At my age, i could tell him, with strict propriety, Bis dat, qui cito.'" 6 Mightier interests prevailed, and Mr. Bickerstaffe remained till his death, in 1789, without preferment. The duties of his functions he discharged assiduously; and, being possessed of much medical knowledge, he employed it in comforting the afflicted, as he did the small surplus of his little income in alleviating distress. He gave two guineas a year out of his pittance towards a Sunday school, which he labored to establish in his parish. His industry and humility are apparent from a passage in one of his |