Contrive things better than another man,
Yet when the task is done, he finds his pains
Sought but to fill his belly with his brains.
Is this the guerdon due to liberal arts,
To admire the head and then to starve the parts?
Timely prevention though discreetly used
Before the fruits of knowledge were abused.
When learning has incurred a fearful damp,
To save our oil, ’tis good to quench the lamp.
_Lady Alimony._
* * * * *
She had read
Her father’s well-filled library with profit,
And could talk charmingly. Then she would sing,
And play too, passably, and dance with spirit.
She sketched from nature well, and studied flowers,
Which was enough alone to love her for.
Yet she was knowing in all needlework,
And shone in dairy and in kitchen too,
As in the parlour.
_James N. Barker._
* * * * *
Art became the shadow
Of the dear star-light of thy haunting eyes!
They called me vain, some mad--I heeded not,
But still toiled on, hoped on, for it was surest,
If not to win, to feel more worthy thee.
_Bulwer._
VALERIAN.... _An accommodating Disposition_.
The Valerian was called by some of the old English writers the Setewale.
It is generally found growing by ruined walls or buildings, and from the
facility with which it propagates in these situations, it is made the
emblem of an accommodating disposition. The root of the Valerian is
considered a valuable remedy for many of those ailments which spring
from luxurious living. It exerts a peculiar influence on the nervous
system, revives the spirits, and strengthens the sight. The Valerian is
too large and scrambling a plant to hold a place in the parterre of
choice flowers.
* * * * *
How much more happy is that sweet estate,
That neither creeps too low nor soars too high;
Which yields no matter for contempt or hate,
Which others not disdain, nor yet envy,
Which neither does nor takes an injury,
But living to itself in sweet content,
Is neither abject, nor yet insolent.
_1629. Herbert._
* * * * *
My country, sir, is not a single spot
Of such a mould, or fixed to such a clime.
_Miller._
MARVEL OF PERU.... _Timidity_.
The Marvel is a native of Peru, and receives its name from the wonderful
diversity of colours in flowers of the same root;
Changing from the splendid rose
To the pale violet’s dejected hue.
_Akenside._
This plant retains its beauty for a great length of time, being
frequently covered with blossoms from the beginning of July to the end
of October. It is chosen as the emblem of timidity, because the flowers
are too timid to expand during the day, and open and give out their
fragrance at night.
* * * * *
Sure, ’twas his modesty. He might have thriven
Much better possibly, had his ambition
Been greater much. They ofttimes take more pains
Who look for pins, than those who find out stars.
_John Fountain._
* * * * *
I pity bashful men, who feel the pain
Of fancied scorn and undeserved disdain,
And bear the marks upon a blushing face
Of needless shame and self-imposed disgrace.
_Cowper._
* * * * *
“Call back your odours, lonely flowers,
From the night-wind call them back;
And fold your leaves till the laughing hours
Come forth in the sunbeam’s track.
The lark lies couched in her grassy nest,
And the honey-bee is gone;
And all bright things are away to rest--
Why watch ye here alone?”
Nay, let our shadowy beauty bloom,
When the stars give quiet light;
And let us offer our faint perfume
On the silent shrine of night.
Call it not wasted the scent we lend
To the breeze when no step is nigh;
Oh! thus for ever the earth should send
Her grateful breath on high!
And love us as emblems, night’s dewy flowers,
Of hopes unto sorrows given,
That spring through the gloom of the darkest hours,
Looking alone to Heaven.
_Mrs. Hemans._
* * * * *
That modest grace subdued my soul,
That chastity of look which seems to hang
A veil of purest light o’er all her beauties,
And by forbidding most inflames desire.
_Young._
* * * * *
He saw her charming, but he saw not half
The charms her downcast modesty concealed.
_Thomson._
[Illustration: ROSE BUD, YELLOW LILY, LILAC
_I confess Your majestic beauty Has awakened my first emotions of
love._]
STOCK.... _Lasting Beauty_.
The Stock has been made the emblem of lasting beauty; because, though it
is less graceful than the rose, and less majestic than the lily, its
splendour is more durable, and its fragrance of longer continuance. Few
flowering plants have been so much and so rapidly improved by
cultivation as the Stock. Within the last two centuries, its nature has
been almost entirely changed by the florist; and it is now a shrub whose
branches are covered with blossoms little inferior in dimensions to the
rose. Stocks are produced of various colours, but the bright red or
carmine must ever remain the favourite variety. The principal branches
of this fragrant family are the Ten-week Stock, so named from flowering
about ten weeks after it is sown; and the Brompton, which does not bloom
till about twelve months after sowing, and was first cultivated in the
neighbourhood of Brompton, England.
* * * * *
Without the smile from partial beauty won,
Oh, what were man!--a world without a sun!
_Campbell._
* * * * *
Beauty has gone; but yet her mind is still
As beautiful as ever; still the play
Of light around her lips has every charm
Of childhood in its freshness.
_Percival._
* * * * *
The lily may die on thy cheek,
With freshness no longer adorning;
The rose that envelopes its whiteness may seek
To take back her mantle of morning;
Yet still will Love’s tenderness beam from thine eye,
And ask for that homage no heart can deny.
_Dawes._
* * * * *
The glory of the human form
Is but a perishing thing, and Love will droop
When its brief grace hath faded. But the mind
Perisheth not, and when the outward charm
Hath had its brief existence, it awakes,
And is the lovelier that it slept so long.
_Willis._
Beauty lies
As naturally upon his cheek as bloom
Upon a peach. Like morning vapour, flies
Before his smile my mind’s infrequent gloom.
We tremble when we think that many a storm
May beat upon him in the time to come,--
That his now beautiful and fragile form
May bear a burden sore and wearisome.
Yet, so the stain of guiltiness and shame
Be never placed upon his soul and name,--
So he preserve his virtue though he die,--
And to his GOD, his race, his country prove
A faithful man, whom praise nor gold can buy,
Nor threats of vile, designing men can move,--
We ask no more.
_MacKellar._
SCARLET GERANIUM.... _Stupidity_.
There are many varieties of the Geranium, distinguished by the shape and
hue of the flowers and leaves, and the difference in their fragrance.
The Scarlet Geranium is a very beautiful flower, but its scent is
disagreeable. The following anecdote will give the reason of its being
chosen as the emblem of stupidity. Madame de Staël was always angry when
any of her acquaintance attempted to introduce a stupid person into her
company. One day, one of her friends ventured to bring to her a young
Swiss officer of most prepossessing exterior. The lady, pleased with his
appearance, was very lively, and said a thousand flattering things to
the new-comer, who seemed at first to be struck mute by surprise and
admiration. When, however, he had listened to her for above an hour
without opening his lips, she began to suspect the cause of his silence,
and put to him such direct questions that he could not help answering.
His answers were extremely silly! Madame de Staël, vexed at having
thrown away her time and her wit, turned to her friend and said:
“Indeed, sir, you are like my gardener, who thought to do me a pleasure
by bringing me this morning a pot of Geranium: but I can tell you that I
made him take back the flower, desiring him not to let me see it any
more.” “And why so?” asked the young man in astonishment. “It was, since
you wish to know, because the Geranium is a beautiful scarlet flower;
while you look at it, it pleases the eye; but when you press it ever so
slightly, it gives out a disagreeable smell.” So saying, Madame de Staël
rose and went out of the room, leaving the young fool abashed and in
confusion.
* * * * *
This fellow is wise enough to play the fool;
And to do that well, craves a kind of wit.
_Shakspeare._
* * * * *
Your blunderer is as sturdy as a rock,
The creature is so sure to kick and bite,
A muleteer’s the man to set him right.
First appetite enlists him truth’s sworn foe,
Then obstinate self-will confirms him so.
Tell him he wanders; that his error leads
To fatal ill; that though the path he treads
Be flowery, and he see no cause of fear,
Death and the pains of hell attend him there.
In vain the slave of arrogance and pride,
He has no hearing on the prudent side.
His still refuted quirks he still repeats;
New raised objections with new quibbles meets;
Till sinking in the quicksand he defends,
He dies disputing, and the contest ends.
_Cowper._
* * * * *
A set o’ dull conceited hashes,
Confuse their brains in college classes!
They gang in stirks, and come out asses,
Plain truth to speak;
An’ syne they think to climb Parnassus
By dint o’ Greek.
Gie me a spark o’ Nature’s fire,
That’s a’ the learning I desire;
Then tho’ I drudge thro’ dub an’ mire
At pleugh or cart,
My muse, tho’ hamely in attire,
May touch the heart.
_Burns._
* * * * *
The man who looks around him as he walks
Sees objects often wonderful and new;
And he who thinks while his companion talks
In time may grow the wiser of the two.
An open eye--a quick, attentive ear
Will lead the mind into the ways of knowledge;
For all the world’s a universal college,
And every one may be a learner here.
Experience is the teacher: dear, indeed,
Her charges are to thoughtless folks and fools;
But those who follow carefully her rules
The various tongues of nature learn to read.
Who seldom ploughs his mind shall reap but little;
Weeds quickly overspread the fallow soil;
The toiler may be wearied by his toil,
But it shall yield sufficiency of victual,
Enough for his own use, and much to spare.
To him who hath, abundance shall be given;
From him who squanders wastefully his share,
All that he has shall righteously be riven:
The world shall make a proverb of his name,
And he shall fill a sepulchre of shame.
_MacKellar._
OAK GERANIUM.... _Friendship_.
The Oak Geranium does not present so beautiful an appearance as the
scarlet variety; but the pale blue colour of the flower, and the length
of time which it continues in bloom, endear it to us as the emblem of
true friendship.
* * * * *
What though on Love’s altar the flame that is glowing
Is brighter?--yet Friendship’s is steadier far!
One wavers and turns with each breeze that is blowing,
And is but a meteor,--the other’s a star!
In youth Love’s light
Burns warm and bright,
But dies ere the winter of age be past,--
While Friendship’s flame
Burns ever the same,
And glows but the brighter, the nearer its last!
_Anon._
* * * * *
Thanks to my stars, I have not ranged about
The wilds of life, ere I could find a friend:
Nature first pointed out my brother to me,
And early taught me, by her sacred force,
To love thy person, ere I knew thy merit,
Till what was instinct grew up into friendship.
Ours has severest virtue for its basis,
And such a friendship ends not but with life.
_Addison._
* * * * *
O! Friendship! in thy constant ray,
My heart is cheered and cannot sink,
Though gloom and storm around me play
And I am pressed to death’s cold brink!
_Peerbold._
* * * * *
The friend
Who smiles when smoothing down the lonely couch,
And does kind deeds, which any one can do
Who has a feeling spirit,--such a friend
Heals with a searching balsam.
_Percival._
* * * * *
Delightful is an evening’s cheerful chat
With pleasant friends, especially to one
Who has been long away. The minutes run
With speed that all the talkers marvel at.
So much to talk about--so much to tell--
So many sleeping memories to awaken--
The various fates that absent friends befell--
Whom time has spared, and whom the grave has taken;
The tear to shed for those who’ve passed away--
The sigh to breathe for those who’ve gone astray--
Our times of darkness, and our days of light--
Our purposes and plans for coming years--
Our heavenly hopes, our earthly human fears--
And lo! ’tis time to say, “Good-night, dear friends, good-night!”
_MacKellar._
TUBEROSE.... _Dangerous Love_.
The superb Tuberose is a native of the East Indies and South America,
and was introduced into Europe in 1632. It has since spread all over the
world. The flower is of a white colour, sometimes tinged with a blush of
pink. Its perfume is delicious and powerful; but if you would enjoy it
without danger, keep at some distance from the plant. If you come with
the object of your affection to inhale its perfume by moonlight, when
the nightingale is pouring forth its ravishing melody, these odours will
add an inexpressible charm to your enjoyment; but, if, regardless of the
precepts of moderation, you approach too near, this divine flower will
then be but an enchantress who will pour a dangerous poison into your
bosom. Thus the love which comes from above purifies and exalts; but
that which springs from earth debases and proves the bane of imprudent
youth.
* * * * *
Yes, Love is but a dangerous guest
For hearts as young as thine,
Where youth’s unshadowed joys should rest,
Life’s spring-time fancies shine.
Then, sweetest, leave the wildering dream,
Till Time has nerved thy heart
To brook the fitful cloud and gleam,
Which must in love have part.
_Mrs. Osgood._
* * * * *
The Tuberose, with her silvery light,
That in the gardens of Malay
Is called the mistress of the night,
So like a bride, scented and bright,
She comes out when the sun’s away.
_Moore._
* * * * *
If all the world and love were young,
And truth in every shepherd’s tongue,
These pleasures might my passions move,
To live with thee and be thy love.
So fading flowers in every field,
To winter floods their treasures yield;
A honeyed tongue, a heart of gall,
Is fancy’s spring, but sorrow’s fall.
_Sir Walter Raleigh._
* * * * *
Instability and change are written
On us and all our works. The loveliest things,
When full of promise, oftentimes are smitten;
And sweetest roses foster hidden stings.
The world, if loved too well, doth ever pall,
And the poor fool who set his heart thereon
Is doomed to see his hope in ruins fall,
Its frail foundation undermined and gone.
_MacKellar._
DAHLIA.... _Elegance and Dignity_.
The Dahlia is a native of South America, but is now extensively
cultivated in Europe and North America. The shrub grows to a
considerable height, and the flowers are large and beautiful. The most
common colours are crimson and purple. No more appropriate emblem of
elegance and dignity of carriage could have been selected. These
qualities strike us at the first view of the Dahlia.
* * * * *
I loved thee for thy high-born grace,
Thy deep and lustrous eye--
For the sweet meaning of thy brow,
And for thy bearing high.
I loved thee for thy stainless truth,
Thy thirst for higher things,
For all that to our common lot
A better temper brings.
And are they not all thine--still thine?
Is not thy heart as true?
Holds not thy step its noble grace?
Thy cheek its dainty hue?
And have I not an ear to hear?
And a cloudless eye to see--
And a thirst for beautiful human thought,
That first was stirred by thee?
_Willis._
* * * * *
Why, a stranger--when he sees her,
In the street even smileth stilly,
Just as you would at a lily.
_Miss Barrett._
* * * * *
Her grace of motion and of look, the smooth
And swimming majesty of step and tread,
The symmetry of form and feature, set
The soul afloat, even like delicious airs
Of flute and harp.
_Milman._
* * * * *
Her glossy hair was clustered o’er a brow
Bright with intelligence, and fair and smooth;
Her eyebrow’s shape was like the aërial bow,
Her cheek all purple with the beam of youth,
Mounting, at times, to a transparent glow,
As if her veins ran lightning.
_Byron._
* * * * *
Do but look on her eyes! they do light
All that love’s world compriseth;
Do but look on her hair! it is bright
As love’s star, when it riseth!
Do but mark,--her forehead’s smoother
Than words that soothe her!
And from her arched brows such a grace
Sheds itself through the face,
As alone there triumphs to the life,
All the gain, all the good, of the element’s strife.
_Jonson._
CAMELLIA JAPONICA.... _Modest Merit_.
The Camellia Japonica is a native of China and Japan. It is a large,
evergreen tree. The flowers are large, of the form of a rose of
variegated hues--the red prevailing--and without fragrance. It is made
the emblem of modest worth, because, as Roscoe observes, “it boasts no
fragrance, and conceals no thorn.”
* * * * *
Let other bards of angels sing,
Bright suns without a spot;
But thou art no such perfect thing,
Rejoice that thou art not.
True beauty dwells in deep retreats,
Whose veil is unremoved;
Till heart with heart in concord beats,
And the lover is beloved.
_Wordsworth._
* * * * *
Oh, that estates, degrees, and offices,
Were not derived corruptly! and that dear honour
Were purchased by the merit of the wearer!
How many then should cover, that stand bare?
How many be commanded, that command?
How much low peasantry would then be gleaned
From the true seed of honour? and how much honour
Picked from the chaff and ruin of the times,
To be new varnished?
_Shakspeare._
* * * * *
There’s a proud modesty in merit!
Averse from asking, and resolved to pay
Ten times the gift it asks.
_Dryden._
* * * * *
Oh, your desert speaks loud; and I should wrong it,
To lock it in the wards of covert bosom;
When it deserves with characters of brass
A forted residence ’gainst the tooth of time,
And razure of oblivion.
_Shakspeare._
* * * * *
Thine is a mind of maiden artlessness!
Unstained, undarkened, by the dross of earth;
A soul, that through thine eyes, bright beams express
Thy nature, e’en as noble as thy birth;
Whose every glance reflects the gem enshrined,
Worthy a form so fair; the diamond of the mind.
_Anon._
* * * * *
His resting-place is noted by a stone
Of whitest marble: truthful words are those
Inscribed thereon. The scene of his repose
Befits his life: ’twas beautiful and calm.
In meekness and in love he went his way,
Uprightly walking--filling up the day
With useful deeds. He often poured the balm
Of healing into wounded breasts; nor sought
The praise of men in doing good.
_MacKellar._
THORN-APPLE.... _Deceitful Charms_.
The flowers of the Thorn-Apple droop while the sun shines beneath their
dull-looking foliage, but on the approach of night, they revive, display
their charms, and unfold their prodigious bells, which nature has
coloured with purple, lined with ivory; and to which she has given an
odour that attracts and intoxicates, but is so dangerous as to stupify
those who inhale it even in the open air. It is a dangerous plant to be
allowed to grow where children go, as the beauty of its flowers and
fruit is liable to tempt them to their destruction; since it possesses
so poisonous a quality as to produce paralysis, and even madness, in
those who have eaten it. Its leaves have been recommended for coughs and
asthma. The charms of the Thorn-Apple flower are beautiful, but deadly;
like those of the corrupt and treacherous, to be found in every society.
* * * * *
But pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flower, its bloom is shed;
Or like the snow-falls in the river,
A moment white--then melts for ever;
Or like the borealis race,
That flit ere you can point their place;
Or like the rainbow’s lovely form
Envanishing amid the storm.
_Burns._
* * * * *
O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face!
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?
_Shakspeare._
* * * * *
Get thee glass eyes;
And like a scurvy politician, seem
To see the things thou dost not.
_Shakspeare._
* * * * *
Women of kind have conditions three:
The first is,--they be full of deceit,
To spinne also is their property,
And women have a wonderful conceit,
For they can weep oft, and all is a sleight,
And ever when they list, a tear is in the eye,
Beware, therefore,--the blind eateth many a fly.
_Chaucer._
* * * * *
Ah, that deceit should steal such gentle shapes,
And with a virtuous visor hide deep vice!
_Shakspeare._
* * * * *
Smooth runs the water, where the brook is deep;
And in his simple show he harbours treason.
The fox barks not, when he would steal the lamb.
No, no, my sovereign; Gloster is a man
Unsounded yet, and full of deep deceit.
_Shakspeare._
LADY’S SLIPPER.... _Capricious Beauty_.
The Lady’s Slipper is well known in Europe and America. The plant is
small, but produces a considerable number of flowers, of variegated
hues. This flower is made the emblem of capricious beauty, because she
seems,
----With her changeful hues,
As she were doubtful which array to choose.
* * * * *
I saw thee in the gay saloon
Of Fashion’s glittering mart,
Where Mammon buys what Love deplores,
Where Nature yields to Art;
And thou wert so unlike the herd
My kindling heart despised,
I could not choose but yield that heart,
Though Love were sacrificed.
The smile which hung upon thy lips,
In transport with their tone,
The music of thy thoughts, which breathed
A magic theirs alone!
The looks which spake a soul so pure,
So innocent and gay,
Have passed, like other golden hopes
Of happiness, away.
_Dawes._
* * * * *
Her eyes
Are blue and beautiful, and flash out gleams
Of diamond light, like that which brightly beams
On stilly summer nights from starlit skies.
Her cheeks are tinted with the blushing dyes
Which Heaven--so wisely bountiful--bestows
In virgin freshness on the modest rose.
_MacKellar._
* * * * *
Most fair is e’er most fickle. A fair girl
Is like a thousand beauteous things of earth,
But most like them in love of change.
_Peerbold._
* * * * *
We gaze and turn away, and know not where,
Dazzled and drunk with beauty, till the heart
Reels with its fulness.
_Byron._
* * * * *
Beauty gives
The features perfectness, and to the form
Its delicate proportions: she may stain
The eye with a celestial blue--the cheek
With carmine of the sunset; she may breathe
Grace into every motion, like the play
Of the least visible tissue of a cloud:
She may give all that is within her own
Bright cestus--and one glance of intellect,
Like stronger magic, will outshine it all.
_Willis._
ALTHEA.... _Consumed by Love_.
The name and signification of the Althea is derived from the Grecian
fable of Althea and her son, who lost his life in consequence of his
love for the beautiful Atalanta. His consuming away as the fatal brand
was burning, suggested the emblem of consumed by love. The Althea is a
shrub from five to seven feet in height, and is a native of the East
Indies. The flowers are about the size of the common rose, and either of
a white or pink hue.
* * * * *
There is an all-consuming passion here;
But ’tis a vestal flame, which worships thee!
_Anon._
* * * * *
Like Ixion,
I look on Juno, feel my heart turn to cinders
With an invisible fire; and yet should she
Deign to appear clothed in a various cloud,
The majesty of the substance is so sacred
I durst not clasp the shadow. I behold her
With adoration, feast my eye, while all
My other senses starve; and oft, frequenting
The place which she makes happy with her presence,
I never yet had power, with tongue or pen,
To move her to compassion, or make known
What ’tis I languish for; yet I must gaze still,
Though it increase my flame.
_Massinger._
* * * * *
With thee conversing, I forget all time;
All seasons and their change, all please alike.
_Milton._
* * * * *
Love is a region full of fires,
And burning with extreme desires;
An object seeks, of which possest,
The wheels are still, the motions rest,
The flames in ashes lie opprest;
The meteor, striving high to rise,
The fuel spent, falls down and dies.
_Beaumont._
* * * * *
What scenes appear where’er I turn my view!
The dear ideas, where’er I fly, pursue,
Rise in the grave, before the altar rise,
Stain all my soul, and wanton in my eyes.
I waste the matin lamp in sighs for thee,
Thy image steals between my God and me;
Thy voice I seem in every hymn to hear,
With every bead I drop too soft a tear.
When from the censer clouds of fragrance roll,
And swelling organs lift the rising soul,
One thought of thee puts all the pomp to flight,
Priests, tapers, temples, swim before my sight:
In seas of flame my plunging soul is drowned,
While altars blaze, and angels tremble round.
_Pope._
LARKSPUR.... _Flights of Fancy_.