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VERGREEN THORN. Mespilus Pyracantha. Class 12, ICOSANDRIA. Order: DIGYNIA. This well-known shrub is a native of the south of Europe: it also grows plentifully on Mount Caucasus, in the Chersonesus, and in China. It was introduced into England early in the seventeenth century, but has never yet got beyond the pale of the garden or shrubbery, notwithstanding Evelyn's hint that it might be cultivated, with little trouble, for fences and other common purposes.

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SOLACE IN ADVERSITY.

Thou wast not born when merry May

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Hangs out the virgin flag of spring,"
When birds from every bush and spray

Are carolling.

Thou wast not born when summer throws

Her glory over sky and earth,

Nor did the beam which wakes the rose

Smile on thy birth.

No; like this shrub which cheers the bower,
What time the threatening storm is rife,

A blessing for the wintry hour

Thou sprang to life.

And such art still-no summer friend,

Breathing smooth things in Pleasure's ear;

But, oh! let grief the spirit rend,

And thou art near.

What could I less than love the hour

Which stills the bird, and strips the lea,

Since, oh! to cheer the social bower,

It gave us thee.

ANON.

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One fire drives out another; one nail, one nail; Rights by rights founder, strengths by strengths do fa

SHAKSPEA

Hercules himself must yield to odds;

And many strokes, though with a battle-axe,

Hew down and fell the hardest timber'd oak.

SHAKSPEA

Blood hath bought blood, and blows have answer'd blo Strength match'd with strength, and power confronted po SHAKSPEAR

All the soul

Of man is resolution; which expires

Never from valiant men, till their last breath;
And then with it, like a flame extinguish'd
For want of matter; it does not die, but
Rather ceases to live.

If your resolutions be like mine,

We will yet give our sorrows a brave end.
Justice is for us, so may fortune be:
I'm a bright proof of her inconstancy.
But if no god will lend us any aid,
Let us be gods, and fortune to ourselves.

CHAPMAN.

CROWN.

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ERN. Filicia. Class 24, CRYPTOGAMIA. Order: FIRST OF THIS CLASS. Fern often affords an agreeable seat to lovers; its ashes are used in the manufacture of glasses for the convivial party; and all the world knows that love and wine make men sincere.

SINCERITY.

The green and graceful Fern,

How beautiful it is!

There's not a leaf in all the land

So wonderful, I wis.

Have ye ever watch'd it budding,

With each stem and leaf wrapp'd small,

Coiled up within each other

Like a round and hairy ball?

Have ye watch'd that ball unfolding
Each closely nestling curl,
And its fair and feathery leaflets
Their spreading forms unfurl?

Oh! then most gracefully they wave
In the forest, like a sea,
And dear as they are beautiful

Are these Fern leaves to me.

For all of early childhood-
Those past and blessed years
To which we ever wistfully

Look back through memory's tears

The sports and fancies then my own,
Those Fern leaves dear and wild
Bring back to my delighted breast-
I am once more a child.

TWAMLEY.

LAX. Linum. Class 5, PENTANDRI der: PENTAGYNIA. Truly we ough grateful to this useful plant! It yi the linen we wear, the paper we w on, and the lace which adorns o countrywomen. Nowhere can we c

eyes but we see evidence of its utili has been cultivated from time immemorial for the lint a it affords, and it was formerly the chief occupation of cott wives to spin this into yarn and linen cloth.

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I FEEL YOUR KINDNESS.

Ah! 'tis a goodly little thing,
It groweth for the poor,
And many a peasant blesses it,
Beside his cottage door.

He thinketh how those slender stems

That shimmer in the sun,

Are rich for him in web and woof,
And shortly shall be spun.

He thinketh how those tender flowers
Of seed will yield him store;

And sees in thought his next year's crop,
Blue, shining round his door.

Oh! the goodly Flax-flower!

It groweth on the hill;

And be the breeze awake or sleep,

It never standeth still!

It seemeth all astir with life,

As if it loved to thrive,
As if it had a merry heart
Within its stem alive!
Then fair befal the Flax-field;

And may the kindly showers

Give strength unto its shining stems,

Give seed unto its flowers.

MARY HOWITT.

OXGLOVE. Digitalis. Class 14, DIDYNAMIA. Order: ANGIOSPERMIA. Where is the Garden-guest that may outshine the stately, tall, magnificent Foxglove? This is as remarkable for its majestic, lofty demeanour, as the light, lithe Harebell for its modest playfulness. The tall spiral stem, springing up from the group of broad leaves, and thickly hung with the beautiful purple blossoms, gradually lessening in size from the large open bells on the lower portion of the stalk, to the little bud on the summit, still wrapped up in their close green calices, is an object so strikingly beautiful, that I should think any person who had once given it an attentive observance must inevitably be a lover of flowers to the end of his days.

STATELINESS.

The Foxgloves and the Fern,

How gracefully they grow
With grand old oaks above them

And wavy grass below!
The stately trees stand round
Like columns fair and high,
And the spreading branches bear
A glorious canopy

Of leaves, that rustling wave

In the whispering summer air,
And gaily greet the sunbeams

That are falling brightly there.
The miser-leaves! - they suffer
Not a gleam to twinkle through,
And in the Foxglove's hairy cup,
At noonday, drops of dew
Are hanging round like tears
Of sorrow, that the sun

Gives to other flowers his kisses,

But to her soft lips not one.

TWAMLEY.

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