April is so called from Aphrodite, a word exactly similar in sound, and meaning Venus. This was the goddess of Love, wherefore her month opens with All Fool’s Day. There were two Venuses, one called Urania, who presides over the dreary orreries with which poor little children are afflicted in Lent, and the other Popularia, who sends them, happy, to see the Easter-pieces. No pigs were offered to Venus (though Lord Bacon died in April), and no greedy man is ever liked by the ladies. She is represented with a poppy, and the Exeter Hall speeches begin this month. She was called Telessigama, because she presided over marriage, and people had better be married (if they can afford it) in this month, because there is a proverb against marrying in May, and if they care about proverb against marrying in May, and if they care about proverbs, they might have to wait till June.
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