and the other beaux were to make verses on the choice of each of the ladies. Charlotte was requested to make her selection of a flower; the sprightly Amelia had taken a rose, others a carnation, a lily, or the flowers most likely to call forth a compliment; and the delicate idea of Charlotte, in selecting the most humble flower, by placing a sprig of mignionette in her bosom, would probably have passed unnoticed, had not the flirtation of her cousin with a dashing colonel, who was more celebrated for his conquests in the drawing-room than the battle-field, attracted the notice of the count so as to make his uneasiness visible, which the amiable Charlotte, ever studious of Amelia's real happiness, wished to amuse, and to call back the mind of her cousin, demanded the verse for the rose. The count saw this affectionate trait in Charlotte's conduct, took out his pencil, and wrote for the rose,

Elle ne vit qu'un jour, et ne plait qu'un moment,

which he gave to the gay daughter, at the same time presenting the humble cousin with this line on the mignionette:

Ses qualités surpassent ses charmes.

Amelia's pride was roused, and she retaliated by her attention to the colonel, which she carried so far as to throw herself into the power of a profligate, who brought her to ruin. The count transferred his affections from beauty to amiability; and, rejoicing in the exchange, to commemorate the event which had brought about his happiness, and delivered him from a coquette, he added a branch of the sweet reseda to the ancient arms of his family, with the motto:

Your qualities surpass your charms.

Your soul is fairer than your face,

Your genius brighter than your smile;

Yet in your every outward grace,

Is beauty that might well beguile,
Without the charm of heart and mind,
An angel, in yon heaven enshrined.

F. S. O.

YOUR LOOKS FREEZE ME

FICOIDES, OR ICE-PLANT.

With pellucid studs the ice-flower gems
His rising foliage, and his candied stems.

DARWIN.

THE leaves of this singular plant are covered with transparent vesicles full of water. When in the shade it seems to be gemmed with dewdrops; but when exposed to the burning sun, it appears scattered over with frozen crystals, which reflect with great brilliancy the rays of the sun on this account it is commonly called ice-plant.

The cold in clime are cold in blood,

Their love can scarce deserve the name;

But mine was like the lava-flood,

That boils in Etna's breast of flame.

BYRON.

YOU ARE PERFECT.

PINEAPPLE.

THE fruit of the pine-apple, surrounded by its beautiful leaves, and surmounted by a crown in which the germe of a plant is concealed, seems as though it were sculptured in massy gold. It is so beautiful that it appears to be made to please the eyes; so delicious that it unites the various flavours of our best fruits; and so odoriferous that we should cultivate it if it were only for its perfume.

Keep, keep the maiden's dowry,

Her hand, her heart I claim,
That little hand is more to me,

Than power, rank, or fame,

That heart's pure love is wealth, my lord,
No more your coffers name!

F. S. O.

YOU ARE DAZZLING BUT DAN-
GEROUS.

SNAPDRAGON.

THE flowers of the snapdragon are sometimes of so vivid a scarlet, that we cannot look upon them with a fixed eye.

7

Lips in whose rosy labyrinth, when she smiled,
The soul was lost; and blushes, swift and wild,
As are the momentary meteors sent

Across the uncalm, but beauteous firmament;

And then her look-oh! where's the heart so wise,
Could unbewildered meet those matchless eyes?

MOORE.

YOU ARE MY DIVINITY.

AMERICAN

COWSLIP.

ance.

Smile like a knot of cowslips on the cliff.

BLAIR.

THE elegant stem of a single root of this plant springs from the centre of a rosette of large leaves crouched on the earth. In April it is crowned with twelve pretty flowers with the cups reversed. Linnæus has given it the name of "Dodecatheon," which signifies "twelve divinities," a name, perhaps, somewhat too extravagant for a small plant so modest in its appearAn American writer says of them, in their indigenous soil, that they resemble a cluster of bright yellow polyanthuses. "Our gold cowslips," he adds, "look like a full branch of large clustering king-cups: they carelessly raise themselves on their firm stalks, their corollas gazing upward to the changing spring sky, as they grow amid their pretty leaves of vivid green. They adorn almost every meadow, and shed a glow of beauty wherever they spring."

One, who could change the worship of all climates,
And make a new religion wherever she comes,
Unite the differing faiths of all the world,

To idolize her face.

YOUR FROWN I DEFY.

DRYDEN.

ANEMONE.

THE delicate anemone hepatica is one of the earliest visiters in spring, flowering in sunny spots before the snow has left the ground.

Your coldness I heed not,
Your frown I defy,

Your affection I need not;

The time has gone by,

When a blush or a smile on that cheek could beguile My soul from its safety, with witchery's wile!

Then, lady, look kindly,

Or frown on me still,

No longer all blindly

I yield to your will!

Too tightly you drew the light reins of command,

And your victim is free for they broke in your hand.

F. S. O.