Thus have I made this wreath of mine And finished it featly. III. A chaplet me of herbs I'll make, And here and there a leaf of bay, With hyssop, as an herb most prime, Then balm and mint, helps to make up Costmary* that so likes the cup, flavour, for we read in Blount's Ancient Tenures, p. 133, of "a sextary of Julyflower wine." The custom of taking the real substantial sops in wine at weddings, is alluded to by Shakspeare, in his Taming of the Shrew, iii, 2:— But after many ceremonies done, He calls for wine: quaff'd off the muscadel, * The herb, Basamita vulgaris, also called Alecost, as it was put into ale, being an aromatic bitter. Gerarde, in his Herbal, says, "Costmarie is put into barrels, amongst those herbs wherewith they do make sage-ale." The leaves of the Burnet were used by our forefathers to give a grateful flavour to their cool tankards. In olden times the Borage, Alkanet, Roses, and Violets were reckoned, on account of their supposed exhilarating qualities, the four cordial flowers. Some chamomile doth not amiss, Then here and there, I'll put a sprig Thus not too little nor too big, 'Tis done if I can do it. DRAYTON, 1593. THE DIAL OF FLOWERS. 'Twas a lovely thought to mark the hours, By the opening and the folding flowers Thus had each moment its own rich hue, In whose colour'd vase might sleep the dew, To such sweet signs might the time have flow'd In a golden current on, Ere from the garden, man's first abode, The glorious guests were gone. So might the days have been brightly told— So in those isles of delight, that rest Which many a bark, with a weary guest, Yet is not life, in its real flight, Oh! let us live, so that flower by flower, A lingerer still for the sunset hour, A charm for the shaded eve. MRS. HEMANS. Linnæus, in his Philosophia Botanica, (§ 335,) has divided the solar Flowers into three classes:-1. Meteoric flowers, which less accurately observe the hour of unfolding, but are expanded sooner or later, according to the cloudiness, moisture, or pressure of the atmosphere ;-2. Tropical flowers, that open in the morning and close before evening every day, but the hour of their expanding becomes earlier or later, as the length of the day increases or decreases :-3. Equinoctial flowers, which expand at a certain and exact hour of the day, and for the most part close at another determinate hour.-Besides these particular hours of expansion, Flowers have their almost certain months of efflorescence. Hence Snowdrops have sometimes been called the Fair Maids of February; the Lily of the Valley, the May-lily; the Wild Chamomile, the May-weed; and the Pink, the Gilli-flower, or July-flower. It has also been observed by Linnæus, that the Thistle does not expand its flowers before the Summer solstice; the Grass of Parnassus, before the hay-harvest; and that the Autumn Crocus is the forerunner of cold and wintry weather. Do we not all look for the violet and primrose in Spring, and for the rose in Summer; and are not the words of the Prophet of old, as applicable to the flowers of the field, as they are to the fowls of the air?" Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow observe the time of their coming."Jer. viii. 7. THE PALM-TREE. THE Palm-tree in the wilderness And, though by man it lives unseen It rears its canopy of green, As smilingly and fair, As if young lovers pledg'd their vows That blossom all alone. Though there no passing warbler wings Her melancholy way, A voice amid the desert sings When winds-as o'er the air-harp's wire Half music and half moan Come stealing o'er its leafy lyre, That murmurs all alone. And 'neath its shadow, lull'd to sleep, Its soft and breezy whispers creep, Sojourner of a weary land, Where Nature never smil'd, Surrounded by no kindred band, Sole orphan of the wild!— Thou seem'st like one, whose trusting breast To live and die alone! JOHN MALCOLM. The Palm, called also the Date-tree, Phænix dactylifera, grows plentifully in the East. Its trunk is remarkably straight and lofty, and is crowned at the top with large tufts of evergreen leaves, about four or five feet long, and so broad as to be used for covering the roofs of houses. "The extensive importance of the Date-tree," says Dr. E. D. Clarke, "is one of the most curious subjects, to which a traveller can direct his attention. The inhabitants of Egypt, of Arabia, and Persia, subsist almost entirely on its fruit. They boast also its medicinal virtues. The camels feed upon the date-stone. From the leaves are made couches, baskets, bags, mats, and brushes; from the branches, cages for poultry, and fences for their gardens; from the fibres of the boughs, thread, ropes, and rigging; from the sap is prepared a spirituous liquor; and the body of the tree furnishes fuel "-Travels, Pt. ii. p. 302. This tree was greatly esteemed by the Israelites; in later times it became the emblem of their country, as may be seen from a medal of the Emperor Vespasian upon the conquest of Judea; on which is represented a captive woman sitting under a palm-tree, with this inscription, Judaa capta. Pliny calls Judea, palmis inclyta, renowned for palms.-Nat. Hist. xiii. 4. The leaves of the palm were in early ages used as a substitute for paper, and it has been supposed that the Scriptures were originally written on them. Mrs. Tighe pleasingly observes : With fruit and ever-verdant branches crown'd, She first inscrib'd her Oracles, and all Still mounting from its ashes, though depress'd, Among the eastern nations, the highest act of charity, by which a man could commend his memory to future generations, was the erection of a fountain shaded by palms in the dreary and parched desert, where the weary pilgrim might rest under the shelter of trees and refresh himself with the cool and pure stream. "He joyfully hailed the sight of two or three palm-trees, which arose beside the well which was assigned for his mid-day station."-The Talisman, p. 8. THE CORAL INSECT. TOIL on! toil on! ye ephemeral train, Who build in the tossing and treacherous main; Toil on, for the wisdom of man ye mock, With your sand-bas'd structures and domes of rock; And your arches spring up to the crested wave; A fabric so vast in a realm so drear. Ye bind the deep with your secret zone, |