On every side, In a thousand valleys far and wide, Fresh flowers; while the sun shines warm, WORDSWORTH. SPENSER shall paint " fair May" and her train in noble words Then came fair May, the fairest maid on ground, SPENSER. JAMES I. welcomes the May, as if Scotland had no cutting winds to shame his song of Away,' winter, away!" Now was there made, fast by the Toure's wall, A garden fair, and in the corners set Ane herber green, with wandes long and small Was all the place, and hawthorn hedges knet, So thick the bewes and the leaves green And on the smale greene twistes sate Of love's use, now soft now loud among, Worshippe, ye that lovers been, this May, For of your bliss the kalends are begun, Come, summer, come, the sweet season and sun; Hark, Love, that list you to his mercy call. JAMES I. OF SCOTLAND. A poet of the Shaksperean age has the same lesson, “Rejoice in May:" When May is in his prime, Then may each heart rejoice: When May bedecks each branch with green, Each bird strains forth his voice. The lively sap creeps up Into the blooming thorn: The flowers, which cold in prison kept, Now laugh the frost to scorn. All Nature's imps triumph May makes the cheerful hue, May breeds and brings new blood, May pricketh tender hearts Their warbling notes to tune. Full strange it is, yet some, we see, Thus things are strangely wrought, Take May in time: when May is gone, All ye that live on earth, And have your May at will, Use May, while that you may, Your liking and your lust Is fresh whiles May doth last : The pleasant time is past. EDWARDS. After this old English Epicurean philosophy of "Take May in. time," the Transatlantic child of our native muse can scarcely be called original: The sun is bright,-the air is clear, The darting swallows soar and sing, It seems an outlet from the sky, That gild the elm-tree's nodding crest, All things rejoice in youth and love, Maiden, that read'st this simple rhyme, Enjoy the spring of love and youth, To some good angel leave the rest; There are no birds in last year's nest! LONGFELLOW. But who can be original with a theme upon which poets in all ages have written? We forgot the ditty which Master Touchstone calls "a foolish song:" It was a lover and his lass, With a hey, with a ho, with a hey, no nee no, That o'er the green corn-fields did pass, In spring time, the only pretty ring-time, Between the acres of the rye, With a hey, and a ho, and a hey, no nee no, &c In spring time, &c. This carol they begun that hour With a hey, and a ho, and a hey, no nee no, &c. In spring time, &c. Then pretty lovers take the time, With a hey, and a ho, and a hey, no nee no, &c. In spring time, &c. * * We print this, as it is Songs, from an ancient MS. Like It.' given in Mr. Chappell's excellent collection of old English The reader may compare it with the version in As You After this lively carol, which Touchstone says has “ no great matter in it, Milton's song-a young student's offering to Nature-sounds solemnly amidst its beauty: Now the bright morning star, day's harbinger, Hail, bounteous May, that dost inspire, MILTON We conclude with a few lines in honour of the Hawthorn tree-the glory of May-from a true old English poet : Amongst the many buds proclaiming May, Doth neither handle card nor wheel to spin, Nor changeth robes but twice, is never seen In other colours than in white or green. Learn then content, young shepherd, from this tree, And richest ingots never toil to find, BROWNE. 66. THE PROGRESS OF THE GREAT PLAGUE OF LONDON. PEPYS' DIARY. [SAMUEL PEPYS, Secretary to the Admiralty in the reigns of Charles II. and James II., left behind him one of the most curious records of the 17th century—a Diary, which was first published in 1825. Pepys |