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SOLITUDE.

HEATH.

THE foliage of this plant is evergreen, of varied and beautiful shapes, and on examination is found as pleasing as its sin gular blossom. In our floral hieroglyphics it is made emblematical of solitude; and thus, when the rustic lover offers his mistress a bouquet of heath and pansies, she understands that if his solitude were charmed by her society his heart would be

at ease.

There are now about four hundred different species of heath, of such variety of colours and forms that no pen can describe them. On some we observe little waxlike flowers, and others present us with pendent pearls; some are adorned with coraline beads, while others seem to resemble the golden trumpet, or tempting berries, or porcelain of bell or bottle shape. Globes of alabaster hang on the slender spray of some, and others, again, remind us of Lilliputian trees, bedecked with Turkish turbans in miniature. "Their colours are not less varied than their shape, while the foliage is equally beautiful in its apparent imitation of all the mountainous trees, from the Scottish fir to Lebanon's boasted cedar."

A heath's green wild lay present to his view,
With shrubs and field-flowers decked of varied hue.

Oh! to lie down in wilds apart,

Where man is seldom seen or heard,

In still and ancient forests, where

Mows not his scythe, ploughs not his share,
With the shy deer and cooing bird!

To go in dreariness of mood,

O'er a lone heath, that spreads around,
A solitude like a silent sea,
Where rises not a hut or tree,

The wide-embracing sky its bound!

Oh! beautiful those wastes of heath,
Stretching for miles to lure the bee,
Where the wild bird, on pinions strong,
Wheels round and pours his piping song,
And timid creatures wander free.

MARY HOWITT.

SORROWFUL REMEMBRANCES.

PHEASANT'S-EYE, OR FLOS ADONIS.

Look, in the garden blooms the flos adonis,
And memory keeps of him who rashly died,
Thereafter changed by Venus, weeping, to this flower.

ANON.

ADONIS was killed by a boar when hunting. Venus, who had quitted the pleasures of Cythereus for his sake, shed many tears at his melancholy fate. The fable tells us that these were not lost, but mingling with the blood of Adonis, the earth received them, and forthwith sprang up a light plant covered with purple flowers. Brilliant and transient flowers; alas! too faithful emblems of the pleasures of life! you were consecra

ted by the same beauty as the symbol of sorrowful remembrances.

By this the boy, that by her side lay killed,
Was melted like a vapour from her sight;
And in his blood, that on the ground lay spilled,
A purple flower sprang up, chequered with white.
SHAKSPEARE.

One fatal remembrance, one sorrow that throws
Its bleak shade alike, o'er our joys and our woes;
To which life, nothing darker or brighter, can bring,
For which joy has no balm and affliction no sting!

SPLENDOUR.

MOORE.

LOBELIA.

THIS brilliant flower is frequent in the southern and western parts of the United States.

She stood 'mid the dazzling insignia of Wealth;

But the jewels, that shone o'er her beauty and bloom, Were less fair than the sunny ray smiling by stealth, Through the rose-teinted damask, that curtainel ne room.

F. S. O.

STRENGTH.

FENNEL.

A savoury odour blown, more pleased my sense
Than smell of sweetest fennel, or the teats
Of ewe, or goat, dropping with milk at even.

MILTON.

THE gladiators mingled this plant with their food, from a supposition that it tended to increase their strength. After the games were over, the conqueror was crowned with a wreath of fennel. The Romans named the plant anethum.

The wealth of rich feelings-the deep-the pure –
With strength to meet sorrow and faith to endure.

F. S. O

STOICISM.

вох.

THE tree box loves the shade, and will grow under the drip of trees. It maintains its verdant appearance in winter as well as summer. It requires no care, and endures for centuries. On account of its resistance to the changes of the seasons, and the power of time, it has been made the emblem of stoicism.

T

There is strength

Deep bedded in our hearts, of which we reck
But little till the shafts of heaven have pierced
Its fragile dwelling. Must not earth be rent
Before her gems are found?

MRS. HEMANS.

Strange heart of man! that even 'mid wo swells high, When through the foam he sees his proud bark sweep, Flinging out joyous gleams to wave and sky!

SUSPICION.

MRS. HEMANS.

MUSHROOM.

MANY species of mushroom are known to be deadly poison. The Ostiacs, a Siberian tribe, make a preparation from the Agaricus muscarius, which will kill the most robust man in twelve hours. Several mushrooms in our country are almost as dangerous; as there is a liquid hid within them of a nature so acrid, that a single drop put on the tongue will produce a blister. The Russians, during their long fasts, live entirely on mushrooms; and are often thrown into violent convulsions in consequence. We regard them as a dainty dish, but we ought to use them with great caution. Before using them they should be exposed to the heat of boiling water; this will ascertain their quality, as if they are not of a good kind their perfume will be evaporated.

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