ORSE CHESTNUT. Esculus Hippocastanum. Class 7, HEPTANDRIA. Order: MoNOGYNIA. In the beginning of spring, one rainy day is sufficient to cause this beautiful tree to cover itself with verdure. If it be planted alone, nothing surpasses the elegance of its pyramidal form, the beauty of its foliage, or the richness of its flowers, which sometimes make it appear as an immense lustre or chandelier, all covered with pearls. Fond of ostentation and richness, it covers with flowers the grass which it overshadows, and yields to the idler a most delightful shade. To the poor man it is of little service, supplying him with nothing more than a light and porous timber, and a bitter fruit. Naturalists and physicians have attributed to this child of Asia a thousand good qualities which it does not possess.

LUXURY.

It is a shame, that man, that has the seeds
Of virtue in him, springing unto glory,
Should make his soul degenerous with sin,
And slave to luxury; to drown his spirits
In lees of sloth; to yield up the weak day
To wine, to lust, and banquets.

MARMYON.

War destroys men, but luxury mankind
At once corrupts; the body and the mind.

Fell luxury! more perilous to youth

CROWN.

Than storms or quicksands, poverty or chains.

Sofas 't was half a sin to sit upon,

MORE.

So costly were they; carpets, every stitch
Of workmanship so rare, they made you wish
You could glide o'er them like a golden fish.

BYRON.

OUSELEEK. Sempervivum Tectorum. Class 11, DODECANDRIA. Order: DODECAGYNIA. The Houseleek is made the emblem of vivacity, because it retains its vivacious nature even on the hot tiles of cottage roofs. In such situations it generally bespeaks the residence of some good old dame well skilled in simples, and reposing implicit faith in their efficacy.

VIVACITY.

The sprightly Sylvia trips along the green;
She runs, but hopes she does not run unseen.
POPE.

Tower'd cities please us then,
And the busy haunts of men,

Where throngs of knights and barons bold,
In weeds of peace, high triumphs hold;
With store of ladies, whose bright eyes
Rain influence, and judge the prize
Of wit or arms, while both contend
To win her grace whom all commend.
There let Hymen oft appear
In saffron robe with taper clear,
And pomp and feast and revelry,
With mask and antique pageantry;
Such sights as youthful poets dream
On summer eves by haunted stream,
Then to the well-trod stage anon,
If Jonson's learned sock be on,
Or sweetest Shakspeare, Fancy's child,
Warble his native wood-notes wild.

MILTON.

YACINTH. Hyacinthus. Class 6, HEXANDRIA. Order: MONOGYNIA. The hyacinth, so celebrated in the songs of the poets, from the time of Homer to the present day, is made emblematical of games, or play, in allusion to the fabulous origin of this flower, which, according to mytholo

gists, sprang from the blood of Hyacinthus, who was killed by a quoit, through the agency of Zephyr, who blew it from its course as it passed from the hand of Apollo, and smote the unfortunate youth on the head. Hurd mentions

The melancholy hyacinth that weeps

All night, and never lifts an eye all day;

probably in allusion to the melancholy fate of Hyacinthus.

PLAY.

Oh! mournful, graceful, sapphire-colour'd flower,
That keep'st thine eye for ever fix'd on earth!
Gentle and sad, a foe thou seem'st to mirth
What secret sorrow makes thee thus to lower?

Perhaps 't is that thy place thou canst not change,
And thou art pining at thy prison'd lot;

But oh! where couldst thou find a sweeter spot,
Wert thou permitted earth's wide bounds to range?

In pensive grove, meet temple for thy form,
Where, with her silvery music, doth intrude
The lucid stream, where nought unkind or rude
Durst break of harmony the hallow'd charm.

Thy beauties, all unseen by vulgar eyes,

Sol, in his brightness, still delights to view;
He clothes thy petals in his glorious hue,
To show how much of old he did thee prize.

ANON.

YDRANGER. Hydrangea Hortensis. Class 10, DECANDRIA. Order: DIGYNIA. The Chinese Guelder Rose is presented as an emblem of a boaster, because its magnificent flowers are never succeeded by a fruit, thus resembling the vaunting words of a braggadocia which are not followed by suitable results. It is a native of China and Japan, where it is cultivated in gardens. It was brought to England by Sir Joseph Banks in 1790.

BOASTER.

The honour is overpaid,

When he that did the act is commentator.

He that vaunts

SHIRLEY.

Of a received favour, ought to be
Punish'd as sacrilegious persons are,

'Cause he doth violate that sacred thing,
Pure, spotless honour.

CARTWRIGHT.

I'll turn two mincing steps

Into a manly stride: and speak of frays

Like a fine bragging youth; and tell quaint lies
How honourable ladies sought my love,

Which I denying, they fell sick and died:
I could not do with all:. then I will repent,

And wish, for all that, that I had not kill'd them,
And twenty of these puny lies I'll tell,

'That men shall swear I have discontinued school
Above a twelvemonth.

SHAKSPEARE.

We rise in glory, as we sink in pride;
Where boasting ends, there dignity begins.

YOUNG.

CE PLANT. Mesembryanthemum Crystallinum. Class 12, ICOSANDRIA. Order: PENTAGYNIA. The leaves of this singular plant are covered with transparent vesicles full of water. When in the shade it seems to be gemmed with dew-drops; but when exposed to the burning sun, it appears scattered over with frozen crystals, which reflect with great brilliancy the rays of the sun; on this account it is commonly called ice plant.

YOUR LOOKS FREEZE ME.

With pellucid studs the ice-flower gems
His rising foliage, and his candied stems.

DARWIN.

Tell me, perhaps thou think'st in that sweet look
The white is beauty's native tapestry?

"Tis crystal, friend, iced in the frozen sea.

Be she constant, be she fickle,

Be she fire, or be she ice.

FLETCHER.

COTTON.

Those glances work on me like the weak shine
The frosty sun throws on the Appenine,
When the hills' active coldness doth go near
To freeze the glimmering taper to his sphere.

BEAUMONT.

Then, taught both impudence and wit,
I singled out my foe, used all the arts
That love could think upon, and in the end
Found a most absolute repulse.

SHIRLEY.