And Barry Cornwall sing "And there the frail-perfuming Woodbine strayed Churchill also makes it emblematical of conjugal affection : "The Woodbine who her elm in marriage meets, And brings her dowry in surrounding sweets." 66 And Phillips, again, whose idea, by the way, is used without acknowledgment, and by no means improved upon, by the author of the Language of Flowers"-says: "As the gentle Desdemona clung to the dark warrior, so have we seen, the delicate and supple stalks of the Woodbine endeavour to embrace the trunk of the sturdy oak, and in the bold attempt it is often seen thrown off to perish on the ground, unless caught by humbler shrubs, who seem proud to display the flowery festoons which the monarch of our woods had rejected. So have we seen modern Desdemonas turn from support within their reach, aspiring to climb by means too large for their grasp; they have been drawn up, in weak hopes, by a slight hold, which the first winds severed, throwing them to the earth, too feeble to catch the most lowly plant. "Will our fair readers allow us to dwell for a moment upon this floral lesson, and pardon us if we venture to call attention to the fine moral which it contains? May we whisper into their ears a word or two of caution against pride and vain aspiring? May we tell them, unchecked by a frown or a scornful look, that it is better to cling to faithful and loving friends, although they be humble ones, than to throw out the tendrils of the heart around an object too large for their weak span and grasp, too rugged for their delicate nature, and too lofty to reciprocate their true affections, or to understand and sympathize with their tastes and feelings? Let them not desire, or expect, in merely amorous play "To breathe their fragrant lives away; Like her who flaunts in air sublime, The Woodbine, queen of Summer's prime." for life hath harsh and stern realities; there are clouds as well as sunshine, stormy days and tempestuous nights are not uncommon, even in the midst of the balmy summer-tideperiods when the wild winds seem to take a savage delight in rending and scattering the fair and fragrant blossoms, in which, erewhile they breathed so soft and wooingly-deceitful flatterers that they are! The human flower, like that of nature, may be laid low in an instant, by some unforeseen accident, or decree of providence. At one moment, lost in admiration, we may sing "See the gay Woodbine how it spiral twines, And in the next say, with Mason,— "E'en while I sing Yon wanton lamb has cropt the Woodbine's pride So do mourning friends hang o'er the lifeless corse of one who was but lately fresh, and fair, and fragrant with youth and health as the wreathing Honeysuckle "Whose thoughts were garlands of new-tinted flowers But a truce to moralizing! We have shewn that the Woodbine has been made emblematical of fidelity, by the "Father of English Poetry," and that many of his children, no doubt taking the cue from him, have also likened it to generous and devoted affection, conjugal love, and other forms and manifestations of the great ruling passion of the human heart. Other writers, however, have not viewed it in so favorable light; one, that is Carew, terms it "the inconstant Woodbine," and asks of it "Wherefore rove With gadding stem about my bower?" Milton calls it "the flaunting Honeysuckle ;" and Shakspeare likens its embowering stems and blossoms to ungrateful court favorites: in "Much Ado About Nothing," alluding to Beatrice, he makes Hero say, "And bid her steal into the pleached bower Made proud by princes, that advance their pride Then again, it is termed a gad-about, a wanderer, as well as a flaunter in the sunshine; it is here, and there, and everywhere, as the bees and the butterflies well know, and rejoice in knowing. John Clare, in his own sweet and natural manner, speaks of the floral beauties of the summer, and of "the rambling Woodbine which outgrows them all:" and Ambrose Phillips, says "The wandering Woodbine, how it climbs to breathe Barry Cornwall makes use of both of these terms, and adds another: e. g. "You'll find some books in the arbour, on the shelf, Half hid by wandering Honeysuckle." "The poplar there Shoots up its spire, and shakes its leaves i' the sun Rambles the sweet breathed Woodbine." "And there the frail perfuming Woodbine strayed." Mason, again, makes use of two terms of reproach, if they may be so called, in a single line : "There flaunts the gadding Woodbine; swells the ground In grassy hillocks, and around its sides Through blossom'd shades the secret pathway steals." and old Robert Herrick, inviting his friend to enjoy the pleasures of the country, makes this allusion to the plant: "Come live with me, and thou shalt see Shall bless thy bed, shall bless thy board: 1nen again we have the terms creeping Woodbine, trailing Woodbine, tangled Woodbine, and well-attired Woodbine: this last is Milton's phrase, and he makes it one of the plants which occupied the attention of Adam, in Paradise:— "Let us divide our labors, then where choice The clasping ivy where to climb." Indeed, no bower of bliss,-no place of rest or retirement for happy and loving spirits would be complete, without the Woodbine, "Of velvet leaves, and bugle blooms divine," as Keats hath it; and accordingly we find it frequently alluded to in descriptions of those spots where lovers, and poets, have their brightest dreams, and pass their most soul-entrancing hours; Wharton's beau ideal of a poetic haunt was "A rustic, wild, grotesque, alcove, Its sides with mantling Woodbines wove." John Walker Ord describes the Woodbine fair "Shrouder of lovers from intruding eye." The Ayrshire ploughman says to his Mary— "And when the welcome simmer shower The lively and flicsome Beatrice, you know, was "couched in the Woodbine coverture," and in the Midsummer Night's Dream," there is no spot that the imagination loves so dearly to rest upon, as that— 66 bank whereon the wild thyme blows, Where cowslip and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied, with lush Woodbine." And where can we find so sweet a place to wander, as that described by Charlotte Smith, between "Hedgerows engarlanded with many a wreath, Where the wild roses hang their blushing treasures, But we might multiply such examples as these ad infinitum. In descriptions of rustic dwellings, too, and old fashioned cottage gardens, how conspicuous is the Woodbine, Honeysuckle, Suckling, or Caprifoly, as it was variously called in old times, the latter term being a corruption of the Latin name Caprifolia, signifying Goat's-leaf, applied to it, as is said, on account of the fondness of the goat for the leaves of the plant: the French say Chevre-feuille, which has the same meaning. Cunningham, describing the Cottage of Content, says— "Green rushes were strewed on the floor, Her casement sweet Woodbines crept wantonly round, And that "lost Pleiad," L. E. L.-we shall never call her by any other name-preludes her description of one of "the Cottage Homes of England," thus : "There seems so much of quiet happiness But, oh! what a host of beautiful allusions are we obliged to omit for want of space; one more extract, however, we must find room for; it is from J. A. Wade's "Asleep Among the Flowers," which only a poet could have written, and which appeared some years since in "Bentley's Miscellany :"-" Looking down an avenue to my left, I perceived there was an open glade at the further end, that slanted off a dark brown wood, where some old oaks, remnants of themselves,' still seemed to assert their ancient monarchy. A crowd of gently obtrusive tendrils, (I hate the term parasitical as applied to weak things seeking succour from the strong) clambered up their sides, like children up a grandfather's knees. As they swung to and fro in the breeze, I distinctly caught THE SONG OF THE WOODBINE FLOwers. 'Wild daughters of woodlands are we, Bear the prettiest gems That ever graced mountain or lea! And robin or wood-lark is heard, To mingle so meet As ours, with the song of the bird. |