GLORIES OF A GARDEN, pp. 234-241. Earliest Gardens.-Roman Gardens.-A Paradise.-Gerarde on ancient Gar- EARLY GARDENERS AND WRITERS ON GARDENING, The Tradescants at South Lambeth.-Catalogue of the Tradescants' Garden.— LORD BACON, JOHN EVELYN, AND SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE, Bacon lays out Gray's Inn Gardens. - His Delight in Husbandry.-His chambers in Gray's Inn.-York House Gardens.-The Water-gate ascribed to Inigo Jones.-John Evelyn's foreign Gardening Tour. -Sayes Court Garden and Peter the Great.-Evelyn and Cowley.-Acetaria.-Evelyn at Wotton : the House and Gardens.-The Elysium Britannicum.-Evelyn planting Oaks. Sir Thomas Browne at Norwich.-Sir William Temple at Moor Park and at East Sheen.-English Climate and Gravel.—Cobbett's Predi- lection for Sir William Temple. A DAY AT HATFIELD, pp. 255-258. The Lady Elizabeth at Hatfield. The old Park and Vineyard described.- Royal Gardens, Westminster, and the Tower.-Gardens on the Thames.- Style of Gardening in the Poet's Time.-William Kent.-Pope completes the Wilton.-Chatsworth.-Alton Towers.-Windsor Castle.-Hampton Court Aristotle, Pliny, and Virgil.-Recent Discoveries.-Glass Hives not new.- Jones of Nayland.-The Commonwealth of Bees.-Number, Weight, and Eyes. The Sting.-Workers.-Queen Bee.-Swarming.-How the Bee approaches a Flower and makes Honey.-Solitary Wanderings.-Cells of Bees.- Improved" Hives. -Enemies of Bees.-Hum of Bees.-Bees and Soot, and the Weather.-Bees, and Deaths and Funerals.-Local Superstitions.—Bee Proverbs and Sayings.-Bees in New Zealand and PROMPT REMEDIES AND SMALL SERVICES, pp. 298-305. Reading Medical Books.-Medical Men.-"God is with the Patient."-To master impediment of Speech.-Hoarseness, Harvest Bug, Nettle-sting, and Nose-bleeding. Keep out Cold.-Choking.-Quinsey.-Pitting in Smallpox. Cure for Burns.-Prussic Acid. — Whooping Cough. Lettuce. Blisters.-Surgical Operations.-Tonic Cup.-Simple Restora- tive. Strong Beef Tea.-Warts.-Water-drinking.-Effects of Nar- cotic. Dr. Reid's Ventilation.-The Fire.-Sea-sickness.-Colour of Eyes. -Short-sight.-How to go to Bed.-Bedsteads. Col. Shawe's Hints to Pedestrians.-Dr. Kitchiner's Hints.-Points of Danger in a ADDENDUM. Writers on Gardening, p. 247.-To a long list of authors should be added the name of John Claudius Loudon, F. L.S., who died in 1843. He first showed his taste for Gardening in the little garden which his father had given him when a child. One of his earliest efforts was in recommending the lighter trees, as the Oriental plane, the sycamore, the almond, and others, which are now generally cultivated, and add greatly to the beauty of the London squares. As a practical farmer and landscape gardener, his Encyclopædias of Agriculture and Gardening, Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture, and his Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum, evince an extent and variety of knowledge upon the several subjects as astonishing as it is accurate, and accumulated at the cost of the author's valuable life: he continued working till the day of his death, and "died standing on his feet." His Encyclopædia of Gardening, and his Gardener's Magazine, present the largest amount that we possess of the history of ancient and modern Gardening; and in his several Tours he has described all the most celebrated gardens of his time, from his own personal visitation: indeed, so much energy, truthfulness, and integrity of purpose are rarely found combined, as in the life and labours of Mr. Loudon. ERRATA. Page 59.-The Maypole which stood opposite St. Andrew's Church was hung on iron hooks over the doors and under the "pentices" of Shaft-alley-not Maypole-alley—which cannot now be traced. The Maypole-alleys of Wych-street, Strand, and St. Margaret's Hill, Southwark, doubtless denote the sites of Maypoles. Page 161.-For Steel's read Steele's. A GARLAND FOR THE YEAR. A world of things must curiously be sought, New Year's Day. JANUARY is named from Janus, to whom it was dedicated, because, from its situation, it might be considered to be retrospective to the past, and prospective to the opening year. Cotton, the cheerful poet of the seventeenth century, sings: Hark, the cock crows, and yon bright star Tells us the Day himself's not far, And see, where, breaking from the night, Peeping into the future year, With such a look, as seems to say, And frown upon the ills are past, But that which this way looks is clear, There are few persons of a reflective turn of mind, who do not feel a sort of mirth-melancholy at the close of one year, and the commencement of another. This feeling, probably, led Coleridge to observe, "If I were a moralist, I might disapprove the ringing in the new, and ringing out the old year: Why dance ye, mortals, o'er the grave of time!" A living divine remarks, "It is a merciful provision that the stream of time does not run on in one continuous flow, but that it is broken B up and separated into larger portions, which are for signs and for seasons, and for days and years.' These changes and vicissitudes present us, successively, with renewed occasions and encouragements to amend our lives, and to set out, as it were, on a new course.' Among the Northern nations, the feast of the New Year was ob served with more than ordinary jollity; thence, as Olaus Wormius and Scheffer observe, they reckoned their age by so many Iólas; and Snorro Sturlson describes this New Year's Feast just as Buchanan sets out the British Saturnalia, by "feasting and sending presents or New Year's Gifts to one another." Hence some think the name of this feast was taken from Iólu, which, in the Gothic language, signifies "to make merry."-(Stillingfleet's Origines Britannica.) The custom of making New Year's Gifts has existed from the earliest times. The Romans had their Xenia, and Strenæ, during the Saturnalia, which were retained by the Christians; whence came the French term étrennes, a very ancient word, occurring in a mystery in the thirteenth century. The Greek word strenæ is translated in our New Testament, "delicacies." These "diabolical New Year's Gifts," as some called them, were denounced by certain councils in the seventh century. In the twelfth century, Jocelin of Brakelond, when about to make a gift to his abbot, refers to it as a custom of the English; and, in very early times, the nobility and persons connected with the Court gave these New Year's Gifts to the monarch, who gave, in return, presents of money, or of plate; and the messenger bringing the gift had also a handsome fee given him. Edward II. gave, in his eleventh year, sumptuous presents of plate to several knights, at Westminster. Edward III. gave New Year's Gifts to his minstrels, and made the usual oblations at Epiphany. The presentation of these gifts now became organized into a system, with its graduated scale of giving and receiving. At New Year's Day, in the morning, an usher of the chamber came to the door of the King's chamber, and said, "There is a New Year's Gift come from the Queen, to which the King answered, "Sir, let it come in;" the usher with the gift was then admitted, and then the ushers with gifts from nobles, these messengers receiving fees. The giver received gifts in return, though of less value. Henry VIII. kept a New Year's Night magnificently at Greenwich, where was erected in the hall a castle, with gates, towers, and dungeon, garnished with artillery and other weapons. In this castle were six fair ladies, superbly dressed; gallant knights assaulted the fortress, and the ladies capitulated; then the ladies conquered, and took the knights into the castle, which suddenly vanished out of sight. In the great hall at Eltham Palace, Henry gave a similar fête; and next year, at Greenwich, Mary Queen of Scots was present at the New Year's disguising. The Lady Anne Boleyn received 1007. at a time towards her New Year's Gift; and the Princess Mary, when only three years old, received from Wolsey a cup of gold; the French Queen, a pomander; |