And drooping on its tender stem, As the low night-wind swells, Rung by the wind in frolic play, The Musk Rose loads the evening breeze, With its own rich perfume, Wafting far incense thro' the trees, From its thick clustering bloom; Charming, as Beauty's palmiest hours, Capricious as its smiles, One Summer sees it crown'd with flowers, The next no breezy wiles Can lure one bud, where thousands smiled, And hence capricious Beauty styled. And what is beauty?-lo, the sun That left the blooming spray, Shines once again the boughs upon — The Roses-where are they? Some strew with leaves the grassy plain, Some languish there, that ne'er again What brings the bright and shining leaf, The scarlet Poppy wears? A consolation for our grief, A solace for our cares; The ancients wreathed the brows of sleep, And in its scarlet blossom rests A healing balm for wounded breasts. Yes - flowers have tones A language of its own, God gave to each And bade the simple blossom teach Where'er its seeds are sown; His voice is on the mountain's height Where flowers blush in glowing light, We feel, o'er all the blooming sod, He spreads the earth an open book All where the human eye doth look Seems with his glory rife; He paints upon the burning sky In every gleaming star, The wonder of his homes on high, Shining to faith afar; His voice is in the tempest's wrath, For us, frail, feeble things of clay, And shall they plead in vain? Rocks, hills, and flowers, their homage p And shall we worship less than they? Let the soul's praises rise, The living temple of our God, Arch'd by his own blue skies. There, let thy grateful praise be heard, There, let thy prayers be given, And with the hymns of flower and bird, They shall ascend to heaven, And sooner reach the eternal bowers Breathed over beds of blushing flowers. CACIA. Robinia Pseudacacia. Class 17, DIADELPHIA. Order: DECANDRIA. The savages of North America have consecrated the Acacia to the genius of chaste love; their bows are made from the incorruptible wood of this tree, their arrows are armed with one of its thorns. These fierce children of the desert, whom nothing can subdue, conceive a sentiment of delicacy; perhaps what they are unable to express by words, but they understand the sentiment by the expression of a branch of blooming Acacia. The young savage, like the city coquette, understands this seducing language perfectly. The Acacia is a native of North America, and received its name from the botanist, Robin. PLATONIC LOVE. Our rocks are rough, but smiling there MOORE. Sweet Hesperus! thou diamond on the brow Where nightly thou art bound; and me allow, ΜΟΧΟΝ. CACIA ROSE. Robinia Hispida. Class 17, DIADELPHIA. Order: DECANDRIA. Art has produced nothing that may vie in freshness and in elegance of appearance with this beautiful flowering shrub; its inclining branches, the gaiety of its verdure,-its clusters of rose-coloured flowers, like bows of ribands, hung on branches clothed with hairs of a reddish brown, never fail to excite admiration, and have combined to render it a proper emblem of elegance. Its appearance has been compared to that of an elegant female in her ball dress. ELEGANCE. The fairness of her face no tongue can tell, SPENSER. There's no miniature In her face, but is a copious theme, Which would, discours'd at large of, make a volume. Who shall most set them off. What ruby lips ; Or unto what can I compare her neck, But to a rock of crystal? Proportion'd to love's wish, Every limb and in their neatness Add lustre to the richness of her habit, MASSINGER. |