THE MONTHS MORALIZED.
(From our Correspondent, M.L.B.)
Januarius.
The fyrst six yeres of mannesbyrth and aege
May well be compared to Janyere,
For in this moneth, is no strengeth nor courage
More than in a chylde of the aege of six yere.
Februarius.
The other six yeres is like February,
In the end thereof beguyneth (1) the Sprynge,
That tyme chyldren is moost asst and redy
To receyve chastysement, nurture and lernynge.
Martinus.
March betokeneth the six yeres followynge,
Arayeng the erthe with pleasaunt verdure;
That season youth thought for nothynge,
And wothout thought dooth his sporte and pleasure.
Aprilis.
The next six yere maketh four-and-twenty,
And figured is to jolly Aprill
That tyme of pleasures man hath most plenty
Fresh, and louying (2) his lustes tofulfyll.
Maius.
As in the moneth of Maye all thing in mygth (3)
So at thirty yeres man is in chief lyking,
Pleasaunt and lustie to every mannes sygth, (4)
In beauti and strengthe to women pleasynge.
Junius.
In June, all thyns falleth to rypenesse,
And so dooth man at Ihirty-six yere old,
And studyetli for to acquyre rychesse.
And taketh a wyfe, to keepe his householde.
Julius.
At forty yere of aege, or elles never
Is ony man endewed with wysdome
For than forgth (5) his mygth fayleth ever
As in July doth every blossome.
Augustus.
The goodes of the erthe is gadered evermore
In August, so at forty-eight yere
Man ought to gather some goodes in store
To susteyne aege that then draweth nere.
September.
Let no man thynke, for to gather plenty
Yf, at fifty-four yere he have none
No more than yf his barne were empty
In September when all the come is gone.
October.
By Octobre betokenyth sixty yere
That aege hastely dooth man assayle,
Yf he have outgh (6) than (7) it dooth appere
To lyve quyetly after his travayle.
November.
When man is at sixty-six yere olde
Which lykened is to bareyne Novembre
He waxeth unweldy, (8) sekely (9) and cold
Than (7) his soule helth is time to remember.
December.
The yere by Decembre takelh his ende,
And so dooth man at three-score and twelve,
Nature with aege wyll hym on message sende
Tho tyme is come that he must go hymselve.
Glossary.
1. Beginneth. 3. Loving. 3. Might 4. Sight. 5. Waste or barren, applied to mind. 6. Aught, anything. 7. Then. 8. Unwieldy. 9. Sickly.
A few words at parting, or rather in closing our calendar. Whilst we have endeavoured to attract by the little emblematic display of art at the head of each month, we have not neglected to direct the attention of our readers to "the good in every thing" which is scattered through each season of the year, by constantly recurring to the beneficence of the OMNIPOTENT BEING—thus enabling them to look
"Through Nature up to Nature's God."
Her study will moderate our joys and griefs, and enable us to carry the principle of "good in every thing" into every relation of social life. Let us learn to cherish in our remembrance that (in the language of the sublime Sterne) "God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb;" and that the storms of the world, like those of nature, will at length clear off, and open to us a prospect unclouded and eternal.