And the naïad Lily was glean'd afar, Her head on her gentle breast reclining; And another bud thou would'st idling bring, With impulse deeper, in darker hour, We gather'd, of brighter things unheeding— No, love, thou wilt never forget the hour, Nor the communings deep of the hallowed spot, Blackwood's Magazine. This is a variety of the wild pansy violet, or heart's-ease, Viola tricolor, -"the little western flower, made purple by Love's wound."-Mids. N. Dream, ii. 2. THE BOG-PIMPERNEL. AMID the lone and heathy wild, Of fairer form and brighter hue Than many a flower that drinks the dew, Amid the garden's brilliant show, Where scarce the roughening breeze may blow, Her charms the graceful flower unveils, Oh, it is thus, when grief's keen blast These, lovelier than the fragile flowers And thus it is, that Heaven can bless Wild Garland. The barren waste and mossy bog are not without their peculiar plants, to cheer the botanist in his rambles. In such wild situations, he will not unfrequently meet with the most beautiful specimens: as, the Bog-Pimpernel, Anagallis tenella, with its rose-coloured blossoms;-the Grass of Parnassus, Parnassia palustris, with its silver-white pencilled corolla; and the Bog-bean, Menyanthes trifoliata, with its delicately fringed petals :-flowers which yield to none of our wild plants either in beauty, or in elegance. There's not a heath, however rude, But hath some little flower, To brighten up its solitude, And scent the evening hour. There's not a heart, however cast TO THE WILLOW-TREE. THOU art to all lost love the best, Wherewith young men and maids distress'd When once the lover's rose is dead, Then willow-garlands, 'bout the head When with neglect, the lover's bane, For their lost love, their only gaine And underneath thy cooling shade, When weary of the light, The love-spent youth and love-sick maid Come to weep out the night. HERRICK. The Willow, from the earliest times, has been dedicated to grief and sadness. "I'll wear a willow-garland for his sake." Hen. VI. Old Fuller calls it, "a sad tree, whereof such who have lost their love, make their mourning garlands; and we know that exiles hung up their harps upon such doleful supporters. This tree delighteth in moist places, and is triumphant in the Isle of Ely; it groweth incredibly fast, it being a by-word in this country, that the profit of willows will buy the owner a horse before that by other trees will pay for his saddle." Sir J. E. Smith has enumerated no fewer than one hundred and forty-one species of willows, Salices, of which only sixty-six are British. To name the uses of the willow tribes Were endless task. The basket's various forms For various purposes of household thrift, The wicker-chair of size and shape antique, The rocking couch of sleeping infancy; These, with unnumbered other forms and kinds, GRAHAME. THE BLUE PIMPERNEL. WHILE cedar, beech, or oak, its head The daisy thus, and violet grow, These crops each little maid with joy, And decks her golden hair: As yet unknowing care. But say, of blushy lip and cheek When rambling pretty flowers to seek, O did you never spy, On sunny bank, or tilthy field, Or nigh the garden wall, That which to none in grace may yield, The lowliest of them all? When shines the sun, and fled the dew, Nor watery clouds arise, It fair unveils its face to view, A copy of the skies. The ruby and the amethyst In it are lovely met: This, in each petal bright impress'd, Ye know it not,-a friend intreats And mingle with your posy sweets And as within your hand it glows, O mark the PoWER DIVINE, Like Heaven's own blue to shine. J. R. The Blue Pimpernel, Anagallis cærulea, is only a variety of the Anag. arvensis, as proved by late experiments: Mag. of Nat. Hist., vol. 3, p. 537. Botanists should be particularly on their guard against being misled by the colours of flowers. Nimium ne crede colori, was the maxim of Linnæus, Phil. Bot. § 266 and in judging of Species, Colour, in which the Florist prides himself, ought, in a great measure, to be disregarded. Were this and other trivial points in Botany attended to, several modern authors would not so frequently convert varieties into species, and species into genera. Such needless changes in Natural History, as multiply synonyms, are always to be deprecated. THE HEART'S-EASE. THERE is a little flower that's found 'Tis lowly, but 'tis sweet : And if its name express its power, A more invaluable flower You'll never, never meet. No-not the wealth of Chili's mine, But if the wealthy will not bear I said in every garden ground; For there it was not wanted; |