Excerpt from The Book of the Seasons, or the Calendar of Nature The increasing prosperity Of the British nation, and the expansion Of its empire by the new colonies which are issuing from it, and are forming, as they settle and enlarge, new branches of dominion toit in the distant regions of our globe, make its first rudiments and humble beginnings more interest ing to us. TO represent these faithfully, and to collect from the perishing or neglected memorials Of former times every circumstance that could exhibit them, before it became im possible to do so from the disappearance of the ancient docu ments, and from the overwhelming ow Of modern events, revolutions, and diversified knowledge, which have made the last fifty years so memorable, was the favourite Object of the author, when in his youthful days he conceived the idea, and attempted to execute it in the following work. That he should have lived to revise its sixth edition, was more than he expected; for it is now thirty-seven years since he published its first volume. This is pleasing: but it is a still greater gratification to Observe, that so much of the atten tion of the public continues to be directed to the transac tions, remains, and language of their anglo-saxon ancestors, and that so many able men still apply themselves to illustrate this truly national subject by various and valuable publica tions. It was one of his earnest wishes that men of talent and industry should be induced to do so, that what he could not but learn imperfectly on several points might be completed by subsequent research. This has been creditable to themselves, and just to our forefathers; and will now rescue our most important antiquities from future Oblivion. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."