GLEANINGS IN NATURAL HISTORY. SECOND SERIES. 'I solitary court 'Th' inspiring breeze, and meditate the book Of nature ever open.' THOMSON'S SEASONS. I WAS seated the other day (it was about the middle of the month of May) on a fine projecting root which helps to support one of the old magnificent oaks in Richmond Park. The scenery about me was beautiful-the day was perfect, and there was that freshness and sweetness in the air which is seldom felt but in the spring. I held the bridle of my horse whilst he grazed, taking care however that he did not touch a little bunch of" freckled cowslips," which were growing under the protection of the root whereon I sat. All nature seemed in its most agreeable mood, and every thing around me appeared smiling and cheerful. Sometimes I heard the laugh of the Green wood-pecker, for it can be called nothing else: |