THE MONTHS
On the woods are hung
With many tints, the fading livery
Of life, in which it mourns the coming storms
Of winter.
PERCIVAL.
Change is the characteristic of the month of October; in short, it includes the birth and death—the Alpha and Omega—of Nature. Hence, it is the most inviting to the contemplatist, and during a day in October, the genius of melancholy may walk out and take her fill, in meditating on its successive scenes of regeneration and decay.