Spell-bound I stood by that sentinel tree,
And I could not choose but weep,

As one by one that sorrowing train,
Left the dead to her lonely sleep.

And as I mused on the fearful sights
That hoary yew had seen,

'Twas fancy, I know, but methought a voice Thus sounded the gusts between:

'Yes, mortal, yes I have that to tell
Would turn Beauty's bright cheek pale,
Would cause the sallies of mirth to cease,
And e'en warrior's heart to quail.

'I have seen the old, like a shock of corn,
Safe garner'd in the tomb;

I have seen the babe of a few brief days
Cut off in its early bloom.

'I have seen the maid, whose cheek was bright

As a rose in its summer prime,

Droop like that rose 'neath storms or blight, And die in youth's budding time.

'I have heard, o'er the grave of her only son, The widow her wailings pour;

Then I've seen her turn to her desolate home, Now reft both of fence and flower.

'Mortal thou know'st not how passing short

Thy number'd days may be,

Oh! then so live that, when comes the last,

Death may have no sting for thee.'

THE HAZEL.

CORYLUS AVELLANA.

"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun,
Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines, that round the thatched eaves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel-shells
With a sweet kernel."

THE setting in of autumn is characterised by an increase of splendour in the general aspect of nature.

How clear the cloudless sky! how deeply ting'd

With a peculiar blue! the ethereal arch

How swell'd immense! amid whose azure thron d

The radiant sun how gay! how calm below
The gilded earth!

At this time the garden assumes a more showy appearance than even summer boasts. The rose and the lily are followed, in quick succession, by hollyhocks,