NIGHT-SCENTED FLOWERS.

CALL back your odours, lovely flowers,
From the night-winds, call them back;
And fold your leaves till the laughing hours
Come forth in the sunbeam's track.

The lark lies couched in her grassy nest,
And the honey-bee is gone;

And all bright things are away to rest,
Why watch ye here alone?

"Nay, let our shadowy beauty bloom,
When the stars give quiet light;
And let us offer our faint perfume
On the silent shrine of night.

"Call it not wasted, the scent we lend
To the breeze, when no step is nigh;
Oh, thus for ever the earth should send
Her grateful breath on high!

"And love us as emblems, night's dewy flowers, Of hopes unto sorrows given,

That spring through the gloom of the darkest hours Looking alone to heaven."

FROM MRS. HEMANS' NATIONAL LYRICS.

ON PLANTING A TULIP-ROOT.

HERE lies a bulb, the child of earth,
Buried alive beneath the clod,
Ere long to spring, by second birth,
A new and nobler work of God.

'Tis said that microscopic power

Might, through his swaddling folds, descry

The infant image of the flower,

Too exquisite to meet the eye.

This, vernal suns and rains will swell,
Till from its dark abode it peep,
Like Venus rising from her shell,
Amidst the spring-tide of the deep.

Two shapely leaves will first unfold;
Then, on a smooth elastic stem,
The verdant bud shall turn to gold,
And open in a diadem.

Not one of Flora's brilliant race,

A form more perfect can display; Art could not feign more simple grace, Nor Nature take a line away.

Yet, rich as morn, of many a hue,

When flushing clouds through darkness strike, The Tulip's petals shine in dew,

All beautiful, but none alike.

Kings, on their bridal, might unrobe,
To lay their glories at its foot;

And queens their sceptre, crown, and globe,
Exchange for blossom, stalk, and root.

Here could I stand and moralise;
Lady, I leave that part to thee;
Be thy next birth in Paradise,
Thy life to come-eternity.

MONTGOMERY.

THE WREATH*.

WEAVE a wreath of varied hues,

Here are garlands twining,

For the gay, the brightest choose,
And drooping for the pining.

"LONDON PRIDE," for West-end beaux
Or belles, as fancy ranges;

“HEART'S-EASE" too, in plenty grows, To meet Dame Fortune's changes.

* See the Presentation Plate.

FLORA AND THALIA.

With the Heiress, "MARY-GOLD,"
For men who wish to marry;
"BACHELOR'S BUTTONS" now unfold,
For those who ever tarry.

"LOVE LIES BLEEDING " for the flirt
Its lonely bloom discloses;
Maidens, pray your frowns avert,
Prudes shall wear "PRIMROSES."

In this wreath, for city men
The "STOCK" its blossom raises;
"PINKS" for would-be dandies, then
The simple lack-a "DAISIES;"

Deep "BLUE BELLS" for belles who read,
"JONQUILS" for the scribblers;

"LAUREL" crowns the victor's meed, And "VIOL-ETS" the fiddler's.

"PASSION-FLOWERS" for lovers' vows,
When they dare confess them;
"ROSES" Sweet, for Beauty's brows,
My pray'r is, Heaven bless them.
Lady, may thy pathway be,
Through life, with flowers blended,
"FORGET ME NOT," I ask of thee-
With this, my "Wreath" is ended.

S. J.

187

ON THE LILY.

BOLD Oxlip, and

The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds,

The Flower-de-luce being one. Of these I lack
To make you garlands of, and my sweet friend
To strew him o'er and o'er.

wwwwww

WINTER'S TALE.

SHIPWRECKED upon a kingdom where no pity,
No friends, no hope, no kindred, weep for me;
Almost, no grave allowed me: like the lily,
That once was mistress of the field and flourished,
I'll hang my head and perish.

wwwwww.

KING HENRY VIII.

Observe the rising lily's snowy grace,
Observe the various vegetable race;

They neither toil nor spin, but careless grow,

Yet see how warm they blush! how bright they glow. What regal vestments can with them compare ;

What king so shining, or what queen so fair!