Dr. Warren, that he might breathe his last on that day*.

*MAY 1809.-HAYDN Died.

Haydn was born in 1732 of very humble parents, and distinguished himself by his musical genius before he was twelve years of age. He composed several pieces before he was eighteen. He used to practice from sixteen to eighteen hours every day; and was in a state of extreme poverty till 1758, when he got an establishment in the family of the Prince Esterhazy. After this, his life was very uniformthe whole morning being spent in composing, and the evening in performing and superintending the performers in the opera. The total number of his compositions amounts to no less than 990. When he sat down to compose, he always dressed himself with the utmost care-had his hair nicely powdered, and put on his best suit. Frederick II had given him a diamond ring, and Haydn declared, that, if he happened to begin without it, he could not summon a single idea. He could write only on the finest paper; and was as particular in forming his notes, as if he had been engraving them on a copperplate. After all these minute preparations, he began by choosing the theme of his subject, and fixing into what keys he wished to modulate it; and he varied the action, as it were, of his subject, by imagining to himself the incidents of some little adventure or romance.

Such singularities, however, seem to have been common among composers. Gluck, when he felt himself in a humour for composing, had his piano carried into a beautiful meadow, and, with a bottle of champagne on each side of him, transported his imagination to Elysium. Sarti, a man of gloomy imagination, preferred the funeral stilness of a spacious room, dimly lighted by a single lamp. Cimarosa de

Busby's History of Music, and Edinburgh Review, vol. xxxiii,

p. 377.

lighted in noise and mirth :-surrounded by a party of gay friends, he conceived his operas; and as the ideas presented themselves, he seized and embodied them. In this way he planned that beautiful comic opera, Il Matrimonio Segreto. Paesiello composed his Barbiere de Seviglia, and La Molinara, in bed :and Sacchini declared, that he never had moments of inspiration, except his two favourite cats were sitting, one on each shoulder'.

Astronomical Occurrences

In MAY 1821.

SOLAR PHENOMENA.

THE Sun enters Gemini at 3 m. after 11 in the morning of the 21st of this month; and he rises and sets during the same period as in the following

TABLE

Of the Sun's Rising and Setting for every fifth Day.

Equation of Time.

Instances repeatedly occur in which it is necessary to reduce apparent to true time, or that which is indicated by a good sun-dial to that marked by a well regulated clock. To do this for certain days of this month, the following numbers must be subtracted from the apparent time, and the remainders will be the time required, corresponding to the same moments, viz.

1 Lives of Haydn and Mozart, in Letters, 8vo; and Edinburgh Review, vol. xxxiii, p. 379.

LUNAR PHENOMENA.

New Moon. 1st day, at 32 m. after 11 night

First Quarter 8th

11

...

m. 6.

4

3

35

3

53

3 56

3

46

3 22

2

45

Full Moon. 17th

4 morning

4 afternoon

7 morning.

The Moon's Passage over the Meridian.

The Moon may be seen to pass the first meridian of this country at the following times during this month, provided the atmosphere be free from clouds in that direction, viz.

May 8th, at 12 m. after 6 in the evening

Eclipses of Jupiter's Satellites.

There will be 25 eclipses of Jupiter's first and second satellites this month, and 8 of his third; but not one of them will be visible at the Royal Observatory.

Other Phenomena.

The Moon will be in conjunction with 8 in Taurus at 46 m. after 2 in the afternoon of the 4th of this month; with a in Leo, at 4 m. after 6 in the afternoon of the 9th; with a in Virgo, at 16m. past 7 in the morning of the 14th; and with a in Scorpio, at 18 m. after 2 in the morning of the 18th. Venus will be in her superior conjunction at half past three in the morning of the 23d; and Mercury in his superior conjunction at 2 in the afternoon of the 30th.

The Naturalist's Diary

For MAY 1821.

By zephyrs led comes genial MAY,

With brighter green she decks the cheerful mead;
Breathes ether bland to wake the genial seed,
Bids the swoll'n buds their crimson folds disclose,
And with her own warm blushes tints the rose:
Then the plumed tenants of the copse and grove
Disport on circling wing, and chaunt of love.

THE Scenery of a May morning is, not unfrequently, as beautiful as possibly can be conceived; a serene sky, a refreshing fragrance arising from the face of the earth, and the melody of the feathered tribes, all combine to render it inexpressibly delightful, to exhilarate the spirits, and call forth a song of grateful adoration.

How fresh the breeze that wafts the rich perfume,
And swells the melody of waking birds!

The hum of bees beneath the verdant grove,

And woodman's song, and low of distant herds!

And yet there are some to whom these scenes are able to give no delight, and who hurry away from all the varieties of rural beauty, to lose their hours and divert their thoughts by a tavern dinner, the prattle or the politics of the day. Such was, by his own confession, MR. BOSWELL, the biographer of Johnson; and according to this 'honest chronicler's' report, the Doctor himself was alike insensible to the charms

of nature. We walked in the evening (says Boswell) in Greenwich Park. Johnson asked me, I suppose by way of trying my disposition, Is not this very fine?' Having no exquisite relish of the beauties of nature, and being more delighted with the busy hum of men,' I answered, 'Yes, sir; but not equal to Fleet street.' Johnson, 'You are right, sir.' I am aware that many of my readers may censure my want of taste. Let me, however, shelter myself under the authority of a very fashionable Baronet in the brilliant world, who, on his attention being called to the fragrance of a May evening in the country, observed, "This may be very well; but, for my part, I prefer the smell of a flambeau at the playhouse!!! To such persons, like the lady described by Young,

Green fields, and shady groves, and crystal springs,
And larks, and nightingales, are odious things!
But smoke and dust, and noise and crowds delight;
And to be pressed to death, transports her quite:
Where silv'ry riv'lets play through flow'ry meads,
And woodbines give their sweets, and limes their shades,
Black kennels' absent odours she regrets,

And stops her nose at beds of violets.

To meet the sun upon the upland lawn,' to watch his majestic rising from the gilded east, to contemplate the rosy-fingered morning, opening the day upon man, to view the prismatic colours reflected in the drops of dew, to brush that dew with early foot from the shrub and floweret in our healthful walk,-to behold the glories of the setting sun, or the silvery moonbeam playing on the surface of the quiescent lake—to admire the expanded rose-bud, and to watch the progress of nature in its spring, are amongst the loveliest and sublimest enjoyments, and are unknown in the busy haunts of vicious and populous cities. The country, retirement, health, order, sobriety, and morality, can alone furnish them.

There are fashionables, however, who expect to

1 Boswell's Johnson, 8vo ed. vol. i, p. 438, 12mo, p. 314.