Part 25

Barnaby bright, Barnaby bright, The longest day and the shortest night.

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The ignorant believe that any person fasting on Midsummer eve, and sitting in the church porch, will, at midnight, see the spirits of the persons of that parish who will die that year, come and knock at the church door, in the order and succession in which they will die.

Hone.

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When mack'rel ceaseth from the seas, John Baptist brings grass-beef and pease.

Tusser.

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1570(?)

Then doth the joyfull feast of John the Baptist take his turne, When bonfires great with loftie flame, in every town doe burne; And yong men round about with maides doe daunce in every streete, With garlands wroughte of motherworth, or else with vervain sweete.

Barnaby Googe.

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'Twas midsummer; The warm earth teemed with flowers; the kingcups gold, The perfumed clover, 'mid the crested grass; The plantains rearing high their flowery crowns Above the daisied coverts; overhead, The hawthorns, white and rosy, bent with bloom, The broad-fanned chestnuts spiked with frequent flowers, And white gold-hearted lilies on the stream.

Lewis Morris.

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OLD KENTISH SONG.

My one man, my two men, Will mow me down the medda'; My three men, my four men, Will carry away togedda'; My five men, my six men, And there ain't no more, Will mow my hay, and carry away, And mow me down the medda'.

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Soon will high midsummer pomps come on, Soon will the musk carnation break and swell, Soon shall we have gold-dusted snapdragon, Sweet William with his homely cottage-smell, And stocks in fragrant blow.

Matthew Arnold.

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SIGNS OF RAIN.

The hollow winds begin to blow, The clouds look black, the glass is low, The soot falls down, the spaniels sleep, The spiders from their cobwebs creep, Last night the sun went pale to bed, The moon in halo hid her head, The boding shepherd heaves a sigh, For see! a rainbow spans the sky. The walls are damp, the ditches smell, Clos'd is the pink ey'd pimpernel. Hark! how the chairs and tables crack; Old Betty's joints are on the rack. Loud quack the ducks, the peacocks cry, The distant hills are looking nigh. How restless are the snorting swine! The busy flies disturb the kine. Low o'er the grass the swallow wings; The cricket, too, how loud it sings. Puss on the hearth, with velvet paws, Sits smoothing o'er her whiskered jaws. Through the clear stream the fishes rise, And nimbly catch the incautious flies. The sheep are seen at early light Cropping the meads with eager bite. Tho' June, the air is cold and chill; The mellow blackbird's voice is still. The glow-worms, numerous and bright, Illumed the dewy dell last night. At dusk the squalid toad was seen Hopping, crawling, o'er the green. The frog has lost his yellow vest, And in a dingy suit is dress'd. The leech disturb'd is newly risen Quite to the summit of his prison. The whirling winds the dust obeys, And in the rapid eddy plays. My dog, so altered in his taste, Quits mutton bones on grass to feast; And see yon rooks, how odd their flight, They imitate the gliding kite, Or seem precipitate to fall, As if they felt the piercing ball. 'Twill surely rain--I see with sorrow, Our jaunt must be put off to-morrow.

An excuse for not accepting the invitation of a friend to make a country excursion.

Edward Jenner.

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Pondweed sinks before rain.

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