THE BLUE, OR HAREBELL.

In Spring's green lap there blooms a flower,
Whose cup imbibes each vernal shower,
That sips fresh Nature's balmy dew,
Clad in her sweetest, purest blue ;
Yet shuns the ruddy eye of morning,
The shaggy wood's brown shade adorning.
Simplest floweret! Child of May !
Though hid from the broad eye of day,
Doom'd in the shade thy sweets to shed,
Unnoticed droop thy languid head :
Still Nature's darling thou'lt remain ;
She feeds thee with her softest rain;
Fills each sweet bud with honied tears,
With genial gales thy bosom cheers.
Oh! then, unfold thy simple charms,
In yon deep thicket's sheltering arms.
Far from the fierce and sultry glare,
No heedless hand shall harm thee there;
Still, then, avoid the gaudy scene,
The flaunting sun, th' embroidered green,
And bloom and fade with chaste reserve, unseen.

CAROLINE SYMONDS.

But most I love thine azure braid,
When softer flowers are all decay'd,

And thou appearest,
Stealing beneath the hedgerow shade,
Like joys that linger as they fade,

Whose last are dearest.

Thou art the flower of memory ;
The pensive soul recals in thee

The year's past pleasures ;
And led by kindred thought will flee,
Till back to careless infancy

The path she measures.

Beneath autumnal breezes bleak,
So faintly fair, so sadly meek,

I've seen thee bending ;
Pale as the pale blue veins that streak
Consumption's thin transparent cheek,

With death hues blending.

Thou shalt be sorrow's love and mine,
The violet and the eglantine,

With spring are banished;
In summer's beam the roses shine,
But I of thee my wreath will twine,

When these are vanished.

ANON.

BLACK HELLEBORE, OR, CHRISTMAS ROSE.

(Helleborus niger.)

The Christmas Rose, so called from its flowering about January, is perennial, and a native of Austria and Italy. It was unknown in our garden, till cultivated by Mr. John Gerard, in 1596. It has a pleasing appearance in our parterres, at a time of the year when all around it looks dull and gloomy. The Ancients used to esteem this plant a powerful remedy in maniacal diseases ; but as the same effects may be produced with more certainty and safety by other medicines, the use of it is now almost entirely abandoned, as it is well known to be poisonous. However, as a great acquisition to the flower border, we recommend its cultivation.

Class, POLYANDRIA.

Order, POLYGYNIA.