THE FLOWER-GIRL. COME buy, come buy my mystic flowers, For those who late in life would tarry, I've Ragwort, Ragged-robins too, Cheap flowers for those of low condition; For sportsmen keen, who range the lea, I've Pheasant's-eye, and sprigs of Heather; For courtiers with the supple knee, I've climbing plants and Prince's-feather. For thin, tall fops I keep the Rush ; For pedants still am Nightshade weeding; For rakes I've Devil-in-the-bush; For sighing Strephons, Love-lies-bleeding. But fairest blooms, affection's hand MRS. COBBOLD. THE HARE-BELL, IN Spring's green lap there blooms a flower Though hid from the broad eye of day, In desert air thy sweets to shed The flaunting sun, th' embroider'd green. And bloom and fade, with chaste reserve unseen. MISS C. SYMMONS. The Hare-bell, or Wild Hyacinth, Scilla nutans, dedicated to St. George, the patron saint of England, is one of the earliest beautifiers of our woods and glens. Dr. Drummond, in his Steps to Botany, remarks, "The Hare-bell of Scotland is a very different plant from the English one. It is a species of Campanula, common in dry mountainous pastures, and has a wiry elastic stem instead of the soft brittle scape of the Scilla nutans. The description of Ellen's Foot in the fine poem of the Lady of the Lake, would be quite absurd, were the flower there mentioned, intended to be the English Hare-bell. A foot more light, a step more true, Ne'er from the heath-flower dash'd the dew; E'en the slight hare-bell raised its head Elastic from her airy tread. When applied to the Campanula these lines are very intelligible." Sir J. E. Smith, in his English Botany, observes in the description of the Blue-bell, Campanulia rotundifolia,-"We suspect Poets sometimes take this plant for the Hare-bell. We have somewhere read of The trembling rye-grass, and the hare-bell blue, growing on mouldering turrets, which could scarcely be the real Hare-bell." SPRING. THE sweet season that bud and bloome forth brings, Winter is worn that was the flower's bale, These descriptive lines were composed by the Earl of Surrey, one of the earliest cultivators of sonnet-writing. This accomplished scholar and soldier was charged with high treason, and without any evidence being brought against him, was cruelly beheaded in the reign of Henry VIII. * Deer shed their horns every year, in the spring, and it is not before the beginning of August, that they attain their full growth and firmness. The size of the horns and the number of branches increase with the age of the animal. In the Spring, Snakes always cast their skins. The slough is turned inside out, as if drawn off backward like a stocking or glove. Not only the whole skin but the scales of the very eyes are peeled off, and appear in the head of the slough like a pair of spectacles, with their concave sides outward.-See White's Selborne, vol. 2, p. 242. Shakespeare thus alludes to it in his Mids. N. Dream, ii. 2. + Mixes. And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin. TO THE SMALL CELANDINE. PANSIES, lilies, kingcups, daisies, They will have a place in story: See its varnish'd golden flowers In the time before the thrush Telling tales about the sun, When we've little warmth, or none. Comfort have thou of thy merit, But 'tis good enough for thee. WORDSWORTH. The small Celandine or Pilewort, Ranunculus ficaria, expands its bright golden flowers early in March The petals seem, as if they were varnished, and turn white from the action of light. THE BANYAN-TREE. 'Twas a fair scene wherein they stood, That venerable tree, For o'er the lawn, irregularly spread, Straight like a plummet, grew towards the ground. Others of younger growth, unmov'd, were hung Nor weeds nor briers deform'd the natural floor; So like a temple did it seem, that there A pious heart's first impulse would be prayer. SOUTHEY. The Banyan Tree, Ficus Indica, is remarkable for the singularity of its growth. Its lateral branches send shoots downward which take root, till, in course of time, a single tree extends itself to a considerable grove; as is beautifully expressed by Milton, Paradise Lost, B. ix. The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow High overarched, and echoing walks between. One near Mangee, in Bengal, overspreads a circle, whose diameter is 370 feet. The Hindoos worship this tree, and erect their temples near it. Southey here describes the Banyan, in the spirit both of a Poet and of a Naturalist. |