Was there without a honeysuckle linked
Around, with its red tendrils and pink flowers;
Or girdled by a brier rose, whose buds

Yield fragrant harvest for the honey-bee.

There dwelt the last red deer, those antlered kings-
But this is as a dream,-the plough has passed
Where the stag bounded, and the day has looked
On the green twilight of the forest-trees.

There are some singular facts related, relative to the antiquity of trees, in Major Rooke's Sketch of the Forest of Sherwood.' Upon some timber cut down in Berkland and Bilhaugh, letters have been found cut or stamped in the body of the trees, denoting the king's reign in which they were marked. The bark appears to have been cut off, and then the letters to have been cut in; after which, the next year's wood grew over it without adhering where the bark had been cut. The ciphers, in this case, were found to be of James the First, William and Mary, and (one) of King John. One of the ciphers of James was about one foot within the tree, and one foot from the centre; it was cut down in 1786. The tree must have been two feet in diameter, or two yards in circumference, when the mark was cut. A tree of this size is generally estimated at 120 years' growth; which number being subtracted from the middle year of James's reign, would make the year 1492, about the date of planting of the tree. The tree with the cipher of William and Mary displayed that mark about nine inches within the tree, and three feet three inches from the centre; this tree was cut down in 1786. The cipher of John was eighteen inches within the tree (which was cut down in 1791), and rather more than a foot from the centre. The middle year of John's reign was 1207, from which subtracting 120, the number of years requisite for a tree's growth to arrive at the diameter of two feet, the date of its planting would appear to have been 1085, or about twenty years after the conquest. But then this tree, when cut down in 1791, must have been 706 years old, a fact scarcely credible; for it

appears, from trees whose marks are better authenticated, that those exactly of the same size, when marked, had increased twelve inches in diameter in 173 years, whilst this tree had increased no more than eighteen inches in 584 years. Major Rooke says, that several trees with this mark have been cut down; so that deception or mistake is scarcely possible.

The LAST TREE of the FOREST.

Whisper, thou tree, thou lonely tree,
One, where a thousand stood!
Well might proud tales be told by thee,
Last of the solemn wood!

Dwells there no voice amidst thy boughs
With leaves yet darkly green?
Stillness is round, and noontide glows-
Tell us what thou hast seen!

'I have seen the forest-shadows lie
Where now men reap the corn;
I have seen the kingly chase rush by
Through the deep glades at morn.
'With the glance of many a gallant spear,
And the wave of many a plume,

And the bounding of a hundred deer,
It hath lit the woodland's gloom.

'I have seen the knight and his train ride past,
With his banner borne on high;

O'er all my leaves there was brightness cast
From his gleamy panoply.

"The pilgrim at my feet bath laid

His palm-branch 'midst the flowers,
And told his beads, and meekly prayed,
Kneeling at vesper-hours.

'And the merry men of wild and glen,

In the green array they wore,

Have feasted here with the red wine's cheer,

And the hunter-songs of yore.

“And the minstrel, resting in my shade,

Hath made the forest ring

With the lordly tales of the high crusade,

Once loved by chief and king.

'But now the noble forms are gone,
That walked the earth of old;

The soft wind hath a mournful tone,
The sunny light looks cold.

"There is no glory left us now
Like the glory with the dead :-
I would that where they slumber low,
My latest leaves were shed.'

Oh! thou dark tree, thou lonely tree,
That mournest for the past!
A peasant's home in thy shade I see,
Embowered from ev'ry blast.

A lovely and a mirthful sound

Of laughter meets mine ear;
For the poor man's children sport around
On the turf, with nought to fear.

And roses lend that cabin's wall

A happy summer-glow,

And the open door stands free to all,

For it recks not of a foe.

And the village-bells are on the breeze

That stirs thy leaf, dark tree!—

How can I mourn, amidst things like these,
For the stormy past with thee?

F. H.

In September and October, the generality of our singing birds are to be no longer distinguished by their voices. One little bird, however, yet delights us with the sweetest harmony: in the calm mornings of this season of the year, the woodlark carols in the air, chiefly in the neighbourhood of thickets and copses, with a soft quietness perfectly in unison with the sober, almost melancholy stillness of the hour. The sweet, simple note of the robin is again heard, and the skylark delights us with his melody.

Although Flora is not lavish of her beauties in this month, she still presents specimens worthy of our admiration. There are in blow, in September, heart'sease, nasturtia, marigolds, sweet peas, mignionette, golden rod, stocks, tangier pea, holly-hock, ivy, and michaelmas daisy.

Within my little garden is a flower

A tuft of flowers, most like a sheaf of corn,
The lilac-blossomed daisy that is born
At Michaelmas, wrought by the gentle power

Of this sweet Autumn into one bright shower

Of blooming beauty; Spring hath nought more fair,
Four sister butterflies inhabit there:

Gay, gentle creatures! Round that odorous bower
They weave their dance of joy the livelong day,
Seeming to bless the sunshine; and at night
Fold their enamelled wings, as if to pray.
Home-loving pretty ones! would that I might
For richer gifts as cheerful tribute pay,

So meet the rising dawn, so hail the parting ray.

MISS MITFORD.

The dahlia, unless it have been injured by excessive rains, exhibits an abundance of beautiful flowers in this and the succeeding month. If, however, they are trained against walls, the flowers will be superior both in number and magnitude, and there will be a certainty of the seeds ripening. The marvel of Peru is another showy plant at this season, and flowers most vigorously when taken up annually and replanted, like the dahlia.

China asters and African marigolds are now leading ornaments, with some Chelones and Phloxes. In the shrubbery, this is the season of althea frutex, some late azalias, and china roses; but the grand ornaments are the fruits of the mountain-ash, and others of the sorbus family, of different varieties of crab, and of oxyacantha. The Tartarian and Moscow crabs are splendid ornaments at this season; the All Saints cherry is also now covered with fruit; those of the Arbutus are just beginning to colour, and the blossoms of the scarlet-flowering variety to expand. The Guernsey lily, colchicum, amaryllis lutea, and the tigridia pavenia and saffron crocus, are the bulbs of the month.

LINES with the AUTUMNAL CROCUS.

[Written for Time's Telescope by Mary Howitt,]

Thy bower, with vine unshaded,

Stands desolate and lope;

The flowers of spring have faded,

The summer birds are flown.

Y

Thy home-whose claims are stronger
Than time can e'er efface;

Thy garden-thine no longer

Have lost each look of grace;

For the stranger's foot has gone there, and left a ruined place.

The past came o'er my spirit-
Thy kindness, and thy faith;
And must thou grief inherit,

And life's undreamed-of scathe?
Is it thou- the gentlest, fairest,

Like man must nerve thy heart, And teach him how thou darest Meet fortune's keenest dart;

Then look on all thou loved from youth, and patiently depart?

'Twas so in vain I sought thee

Within my garden-bower;
And from the fields I brought thee,
Pale autumn's faithful flower.
Spring flowers, like fortune's lightness,

With calm skies pass away;

But this reveals its brightness

'Mid silence and decay;

Like thy pure stedfast spirit, strong in sorrow's darkest day.

The flowering rush, smallage, and the great burnetsaxifrage, are now in flower. The convolvuli, or bindweeds, adorn almost every hedge with their milkwhite blossoms.

"Though in these islands we have many scandent and twining plants, yet we must turn our view to tropical countries before we shall be fully able to comprehend their importance. Here, we seldom find them reaching higher than the top of a hedge; but in tropical regions they mount to the summits of the highest trees, and sometimes, by their weight, when a tree is standing alone, bring it to the earth. The climbing and voluble plants of Jamaica, especially the convolvuli, abound so much in reclaimed lands that have been suffered to run wild again, that it is necessary to cut one's way through them with a billhook. In forests, they serve to bind the trees together; and this may, perhaps, on many occasions, prevent