* * * * *
_Lines on finding a withered Primrose just before the opening of
spring._
The primrose has gone ere the Summer’s bright beam
Had enlivened the glade, or illumin’d the stream;
It died ere a bud of the forest was seen,
Or Spring had appeared in her tresses of green.
It bloom’d in simplicity’s meekest of form,
The spoil of the winds and the gust of the storm;
Like the offspring of want on a pitiless shore,
No hand to upraise it--no heart to deplore!
It knew not the fostering smiles of a friend,
Or the dew-drops of pity on sorrow that ’tend;
In its solitude drooping, like one in despair,
It shrunk ’neath the blast of the wintry air.
In the wildness of nature unnoticed it grew,
No solace or warmth from companions it drew;
Forsaken--unpitied--unwept for--unknown,
Like a child of the desert, it perished alone.
_Robespierre._--Mademoiselle Gabarcos, the daughter of a Spanish banker,
and one of the finest women of her time, married Talien, to save the
life of her father. At the epoch of the 8th Fructidor, some deputies who
had been placed on the proscription list by Robespierre, wished to delay
the attack upon him in the Convention. Madame Talien, who had brought
them together in her house, finding that they hesitated, addressed them
in the following terms:--“Cowards, since you will not deliver France of
this monster, you shall not live to see the destruction of your country,
for I will immediately send him your names.” This bold declaration
electrified them. Next day Robespierre ceased to exist.