See life and bliss around us flowing, Wherever space or being is, The cup of joy is full and flowing. _Bowring._ Another, whose numbers are choralled by worshipping crowds, observes with equal truth, and under the influence of high feelings, for seasonable abundance, that To enjoy is to obey. _Watts._ * * * * * Grateful and salutary spring the plants Which crown our numerous gardens, and Invite to health and temperance, in the simple meal, Unpoisoned with rich sauces, to provoke Th’ unwilling appetite to gluttony. For this, the bulbous esculents their roots With sweetness fill; for this, with cooling juice The green herb spreads its leaves; and opening buds, And flowers and seeds, with various flavours. _Dodsley._ * * * * * Sweet is thy coming, Spring!--and as I pass Thy hedge-rows, where from the half-naked spray Peeps the sweet bud, and ’midst the dewy grass The tufted primrose opens to the day: My spirits light and pure confess thy pow’r Of balmiest influence: there is not a tree That whispers to the warm noon-breeze; nor flow’r Whose bell the dew-drop holds, but yields to me Predestinings of joy: O, heavenly sweet Illusion!--that the sadly pensive breast Can for a moment from itself retreat To outward pleasantness, and be at rest: While sun, and fields, and air, the sense have wrought Of pleasure and content, in spite of thought! _Athenæum._ * * * * * In spring the ancient Romans celebrated the _Ludi Florales_. These were annual games in honour to Flora, accompanied by supplications for beneficent influences on the grass, trees, flowers, and other products of the earth, during the year. The Greeks likewise invoked fertility on the coming of spring with many ceremonies. The remains of the Roman festivals, in countries which the Roman arms subdued, have been frequently noticed already; and it is not purposed to advert to them further, than by observing that there is considerable difficulty in so apportioning every usage in a modern ceremony, as to assign each to its proper origin. Some may have been common to a people before they were conquered; others may have been the growth of later times. Spring, as the commencement of the natural year, must have been hailed by all nations with satisfaction; and was, undoubtedly, commemorated, in most, by public rejoicing and popular sports. CHRONOLOGY. Dr. Samuel Parr died on the 6th of March, 1825. A SPRING FESTIVAL. The Germans retain many of the annual customs peculiar to themselves before the Roman conquest. Whether a ceremony described in the “Athenæum,” as having been observed in Germany of late years, is derived from the victors, or from the ancient nations, is not worth discussing.