LINES WRITTEN AFTER SEEING WINDSOR CASTLE. FROM beauteous Windsor's high and storied halls, Pleas'd I return, unenvious of the great :- VIOLETS. BEAUTIFUL are you in your lowliness; Bright in your hues, delicious in your scent; How gracefully, though mutely eloquent, Your buds unfolded to its sunbeams bright; And though your blossoms soon shall fade from sight, And from your clust'ring leaves the glow-worm fling B. BARTON. The sweet Violet, Viola odorata, has been in all ages a favourite, and is recognized by poets as the emblem of modesty and innocence. This flower of the field has been also made the badge of political feeling, the violet in France being the emblem of the liberal party.-When the corolla and calyx are removed, the stigma and anther are in shape not unlike the ostrich. It was from the examination of this flower that Mr. J. Bartram, the friend and patron of Alexander Wilson, was first induced to commence the delightful study of Botany. THE MELODIES OF MORNING. BUT who the melodies of morn can tell? The wild brook babbling down the mountain side; The cottage-curs at early pilgrim bark; Crown'd with her pail the tripping milkmaid sings; The whistling ploughman stalks afield; and, hark! Down the rough slope the ponderous waggon rings, Through rustling corn, the hare astonished springs: Slow tolls the village-clock the drowsy hour; The partridge bursts away on whirring wings; Deep mourns the turtle in sequester'd bower, And shrill lark carols clear from her aerial tour. BEATTIE. SPRING FLOWERS, BOWING adorers of the gale Unfold your cups in splendour, speak! Violets, sweet tenants of the shade, And match your MAKER'S skill. Daisies, ye flowers of lowly birth, CLARE. THE SUDDEN EFFECTS OF SPRING. WHAT prodigies can Power Divine perform But let the months go round, a few short months, Shall boast new charms, and more than they have lost. The scentless and the scented rose; this red Now sanguine, and her beauteous head now set Studious of ornament, yet unresolv'd Which hue she most approv'd, she chose them all; Copious of flowers the woodbine, pale and wan, But well compensating her sickly looks The Guelder-rose. Hypericum all bloom, so thick a swarm Of flowers, like flies clothing her slender rods, Shall be dismantled of its fleecy load, And flush into variety again. COWPER. SWALLOWS. YE gentle birds, that perch aloof, Ere Winter's angry threats commence ; Like you, my soul would smooth her plume, May God, by whom is seen and heard And guide me to the land unknown! HAYLEY. "When I used to rise in a morning last Autumn and see the Swallows and Martins clustering on the chimneys and thatch of the neighbouring cottages, I could not help being touched with a secret delight, mixed with some degree of mortification:with delight, to observe with how much ardour and punctuality those poor little birds obeyed the strong impulse towards migration, imprinted on their minds by the great Creator; and with some degree of mortification, when I reflected that, after all our pains and enquiries, we are yet not quite certain to what regions they do migrate."-GILBERT WHITE. |