Marched armies o'er thy tomb with thundering tread, If the tomb's secrets may not be confessed, A heart has throbbed beneath that leatnern breast, Statue of flesh2-Immortal of the dead! Posthumous3 man, who quitt'st thy narrow bed, Why should this worthless tegument endure, Horace Smith. THE ALPS AT DAY-BREAK. THE Sun-beams streak the azure skies, From rock to rock with giant-bound, 1 Osiris, &c.-names of Egyptian divinities, worshipped under various forms. 2 Statue of flesh, &c.-this is a very striking passage. The opposition in the terms excites and interests the mind. Statue of-what? marble? no-flesh. Immortal-undying-of the-dead. Imperishable-undecaying-type of decay. 3 Posthumous-from the Latin post, after, and humus, the ground-after being put into the earth-after death. Mute,1 lest the air, convulsed by sound, The goats wind slow their wonted way,3 And while the torrent thunders loud, Rogers. THE CALENDAR OF FLORA.4 FAIR rising from her icy couch, The snow-drop marks the Spring's approach, Or peers the arum6 from its spotted veil, Or odorous violets scent the cold capricious gale. Then thickly strewn in woodland bowers, 1 Mute-i. e. at particular spots, where danger was to be apprehended. 2 Frozen mass-an avalanche or huge mass of snow. 3 Way-this line and that in the first stanza, "with hounds and horns the hunters rise"-supply instances of what is called alliteration or the frequent occurence of the same initial letter. It is an artifice of composition which ought to be very judiciously employed, to satisfy a cultivated taste -though its occasional introduction is pleasing. The poet Churchill has at once ingeniously ridiculed and exemplified it in the following verse : "And apt alliteration's artful aid." * In the "Calendar of Flora"-the flowers, by their appearance at different parts of the year, serve as a sort of register, or calendar, of the seasons. 5 Herald-synonymous with harbinger and messenger. All these words convey the idea of going before, but differ in the purpose. A herald is one who goes before to declare something harbinger messenger. . . . prepare ...... take a message 6 Arum maculatum-spotted arum, or cuckoo-pint. 7 Anemonies-called also wind-flowers. There spring the sorrel's veined flowers, From calyx pale the freckled cowslips born, Lo! the green thorn her silver buds And, where the slowly-trickling stream In the lone copse, or shadowy dale, Wild clustered knots of harebells grow, And droops the lily of the vale O'er vinca's matted leaves below. The orchis race with varied beauty charm, Wound o'er the hedge-row's oaken boughs, Hangs high her beauteous blossoms there; To later Summer's fragrant breath Clematis' feathery garlands dance; The hollow foxglove nods beneath; While the tall mullein's yellow lance,— And the weak galium weaves its myriad fairy flowers. Sheltering the coot's or wild-duck's nest, 1 Vegetable gold-an expression borrowed from Milton, (Paradise Lost iv, 218,) and somewhat affectedly employed here to denote the golden colour of the cowslips. 2 Hottonia-the water-violet. 3 Menyanthes- -buck-bean or bog-bean. 4 Vinca-periwinkle. 5 Brionia-briony. 7 Halcyon, the kingfisher. 6 Galium-the yellow bed-straw. And there the bright nymphæa1 loves to lave, And thou, by pain and sorrow blest, Contrasting with the corn-flower blue, Bend in the rustling gale amid the tawny sheaves. From the first bud, whose venturous head All are for health, for use, for pleasure given, And speak, in various ways, the bounteous hand of Heaven. THE HOROLOGES OF FLORA. In every copse and sheltered dell Charlotte Smith. The green-robed children of the spring Mark where transparent waters glide, But, conscious of the earliest beam, 2 1 Nymphæa-the white water-lily-the "golden orbs" in the next line, belong to the yellow species. Papaver-poppy. There seems to be an error here; it is the white poppy-papaver somniferum, which produces opium-the "opiate dew" of the text. 3 Horologe—(from Lat. horologium, which is from wg an hour, and λɛyɛ to tell) that which tells the hour, a clock, watch, &c. In the "horologe of Flora," or, as it is sometimes called, "the dial of flowers," certain flowers, which open or shut at regular intervals, fancifully serve the purpose of a time-piece. And sees reflected on the stream Till the bright day-star to the west See hieracium's1 various tribe Of plumy2 seed and radiate3 flowers, Broad o'er its imbricated+ cup, The goatsbeard spreads its golden rays, Pale as a pensive cloistered5 nun, Among the loose and arid sands, And those small bells so lightly rayed, But shut their plaits against the dew. 1 Hieracium-hawkweed. 2 Plumy-feathery, from the Latin pluma, a feather. 3 Radiate from the Latin radius, the spoke of a wheel, or a line or ray of light, emitted from a luminous body. As a botanical term, the adjective "radiate" signifies having florets set round a disk in the form of a star. 4 Imbricated from Latin imbrer, a gutter-tile for carrying off rain-cut or indented like a gutter-tile. 5 Cloistered-shut up in a cloister-from the Latin claustrum, an enclosed place— by modern usage, for religious purposes. 6 Arenaria-from the Latin arena, sand, which is from arere, to be dry sandwort. 7 Calyx-another form of the Latin calix, a cup-the outer covering of a flower. S Plaits-folds; same as plat, from the Latin plicare, to fold, through the French plier. In old English the word was plite. Chaucer writes:-" to sowe (i.e. to sow) and plite." |